“The United States Senate passed landmark legislation today that expands the coverage and protection of federal hate crime laws to now include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability. While a 1994 federal law technically covered gays, the scope of the law was so narrow that it was hardly ever used. Today’s legislation is expected to be signed by President Obama soon. It marks the first practical expansion of the most broadly applicable criminal civil rights law since 1968. The House passed its conference version earlier this month. An earlier version is here.
“The law entitled the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act (18 USC 249) passed two critical votes on Thursday. The law is named after two murder victims from 1998 who were targetted for attack because of bigotry. One vote to end a possible filibuster passed by a 64-35 vote, and the final vote on the provision and bill passed later by a vote of 68-29. The bill was included in a large 2010 Department of Defense Authorization Act. At least four Republicans voted with nearly every Democrat to end a possible filibuster: Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, as well as George Voinovich of Ohio, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
“The Anti-Defamation League’s Civil Rights Policy Planning Center Director Michael Lieberman reached in Washington, DC late Thursday said:
“‘ADL has been privileged to lead a broad coalition of civil rights, religious, educational, professional, law enforcement, and civic organizations working in support of this legislation for more than a decade. The incredible dedication and persistence of our Hill champions – led by Senator Kennedy – and coalition activists across the country brought us to this day.’
…SNIP…
“The Human Rights Campaign’s Joe Solmonese said on HRC’s website: ‘We look forward to President Obama signing it into law; our nation’s first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.’
“Not everyone was pleased, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins told the Associated Press that act was a ‘part of a radical social agenda that could ultimately silence Christians and use the force of government to marginalize anyone whose faith is at odds with homosexuality.’”
“Update (5:14PM): As reported by Marc Ambinder, the White House denying — on the record — reports that it is trying to weaken the public option.
The White House is denying reports that officials are pressuring Sen. Harry Reid to scale back the scope of the “public option” that’ll be attached to the Senate health insurance bill. Talking Points Memo reported, based on unnamed sources close to the negotiations, that the White House is ‘skeptical’ of a public option that includes a state opt-out choice, preferring — and advocating for — a public option that would kick in only if the private exchange failed to lower costs.
‘The report is false. The White House continues to work with the Senate on the merging of the two bills,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a top White House aide whose portfolio includes health care. “We are making good progress toward enacting comprehensive health reform.’
Original post:
“We’re hearing all sorts of conflicting stories today about the public option and the Snowe Trigger.
“On the record, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and deputy press secretary Bill Burton have reaffirmed President Obama’s support for the public option.
“Off the record, several sources (not necessarily from inside the administration) have said or indicated the opposite (Politico, CNN, TPM, Sargent): that President Obama is actively pushing for the Snowe Trigger, which would strip the public option from health care reform and implement it if and only if certain thresholds are met in the 2015 time frame.
“So what’s going on here? Perhaps the best answer is that we don’t know, and we won’t know until the last vote has been cast and the bill is on its way to the President’s desk. For some perspective, think back to 2003′s prescription drug coverage vote in the House. The vote was literally kept open for hours as Republican leaders scrambled to find members willing to support their legislation. This one could easily be just as close. There’s too much at stake. It’s too big a fight.
“Still, even though we don’t know the final outcome, there is a lot that we do know, including:
The Snowe Trigger isn’t the public option nor is it a form of it. Politicians who support it have every right to do so, but if they are doing it to appease progressives, they are making a huge mistake. Not only will they be opposing the public option, they will insulting our intelligence.
Most Americans support the public option, and they want health care reform to include it, even if that means no Republican support.
The insurance industry hates the public option and would do anything to kill it.
Congressional leadership and the Obama administration both support the public option, but there is a clear willingness to drop the public option in favor of the Snowe Trigger if that’s what it takes to declare ‘Mission Accomplished.’
“Once you take stock of these basic facts, it becomes apparent that despite the flurry of noise today, nothing much has changed. We’re still in the middle of the biggest legislative battle in ages, and the only way we’re going to win it is by continuing to make sure our voices are heard.
“It’s fairly clear from the volume of leaks that nobody on our side of the aisle wants to be seen as the one who killed the public option — not the White House, not Majority Leader Reid, not Speaker Pelosi. That’s an indication that they understand just how important the public option is to the Democratic Party base and voters across the country.
“Unfortunately, it is still apparent that there are some in leadership who believe we will accept something like the Snowe Trigger as a substitute. Our next task is to disabuse them of that notion.”
See The Health Care Reform Political Time Bomb, Firedoglake, FDL Action, October 23, 2009, by Jon Walker: “I think the single greatest political disaster in store for Democrats over the issue of health care reform is not about policy, mandates, or taxes; it is about time. Americans for the most part do not know that they will be forced to wait for three years before reform really starts.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is just one or two Senate votes shy of having a filibuster-proof majority in favor of a public option for health insurance coverage with a provision allowing states to opt-out, multiple sources tell the Huffington Post.
The Nevada Democrat, according to Hill sources, is furiously working the phones today to ensure that 60 Senators (including him) will back the provision. The work will continue through the weekend and comes despite reports that the president prefers a public option that would be triggered in by economic conditions over the “opt-out” alternative.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the lone congressional Republican to hint that she would support health care reform, favors the trigger proposal and has said she would oppose the opt-out version. The White House, Democratic sources say, is keen on ensuring there is bipartisan support for the final package — which would explain its support for the trigger proposal.
“He certainly didn’t embrace it and he seemed to indicate a preference for continuing to work on a strategy that involved Senator Snowe and a trigger,” said a senior Democratic source who was briefed on the meeting. A second aide whose boss was in the room confirmed the general nature of the exchange.
But administration officials stressed on Friday that the president “did not express a preference” between triggers or opt-outs during the meeting with Senators.
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ramped up the pressure on wavering Democrats Friday morning, calling on them to state in front of their colleagues where they stand on a ‘robust’ public health insurance option.
“Robust has become a code word on the Hill that means a public option tied to Medicare rates; it is the preferred policy of progressives.
“At a closed door meeting of the Democratic caucus, Pelosi ordered the party roll to be called. Reporters outside the room could hear names being called out loudly.
“The question they faced, according to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.): If the health care bill has a robust public option, will you vote for it on the House floor?
“The framing of the question is key. The Speaker is not asking whether the member supports or opposes the public option, but rather whether he or she could support a final bill that included such an option. ‘The leadership clearly wants to do that if they have the votes,’ Nadler told reporters.
“Some members left the meeting in an apparent attempt to avoid the roll call. Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kansas), a key swing vote, left before the roll was called and told HuffPost he has yet to be surveyed. Asked if he’d back the robust public option, he demurred. ‘I’m gonna wait and see,’ he said.
“House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), exiting the meeting, told reporters that the survey would continue throughout the day.” ….
“The story leaked by politico’s Mike Allen, that the ‘robust’ public option has no votes in the House is fake and lies solely to pressure the House from proposing it. Luckily it has been immediately and effectively shut down by both the White House and Nancy Pelosi because
House leadership sources are telling TPMDC they think news on the ‘robust’ public option is leaking out to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the health care discussions are getting hotter, and closer to the final deal.
Politico’s story this morning suggests Pelosi doesn’t have the votes, but our sources insist the leadership isn’t yet at that stage. The Democratic whip’s office has been surveying members on the public option for the last several days to get a sense of where they stand on different elements of the bill, a strategy that will inform the final version of what the House introduces.
“Mike Allen knew it was fake and false yet he published it because
House sources think Democrats may have spoken with Allen to apply pressure on Pelosi at this late stage in the game.
“Also the White house quickly and effectively put an end to this and the other rumors that has been floating around that Obama prefers a trigger.
In denouncing the report Presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett went further when she jabbed at the Politico story while appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, saying of the reporter who penned the piece, “I don’t know whether Mike Allen can actually count votes or not.”
“This is not a coincidence. It is a coordinated attack by the opponents of the Public Option. They want to control the story in order to kill the Public Option. I am glad that the quick reaction from the Whitehouse and the House has put that to an end. But they will stop here. Politico’s Mike Allen an ineffective Whitehouse reporter for the Washington Post during the Bush administration is back to his old tricks of fake news reporting.”
*****
Public Option Looking Good in the Senate … Baucus Ballistic According to ABC News
“After weeks of hand-wringing over the alleged inevitability of a filibuster against any health-care reform bill that contains a public insurance plan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now thinks he has the votes, according to Jonathan Karl of ABC News, to bring a bill with a public option to the Senate floor, where it is almost sure to win. Karl writes:
Reid is now convinced that Democratic critics of the public option will support him when it counts – on the procedural motion, which requires 60 votes, to defeat a certain GOP-led filibuster of the bill. Once the filibuster is beaten, it only takes 51 votes to pass the bill.
“And one health-care camper is said to be very unhappy: Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of Senate Finance Committee, whose bill purposefully omitted any public health plan. As Karl explains:
I am told that Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) – who worked for months to get Olympia Snowe’s support for the bill and has consistently said a public option cannot pass the Senate – was apoplectic when Reid told him he wanted to include the public option. ‘Baucus went to DEFCON 1,’ said a source familiar with the negotiations, referring to the alert level the military uses for an imminent attack on the homeland.”
See Not Dead Yet, Truthout, October 23, 2009, by William Rivers Pitt.
