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Jobs Bill Officially Stalls Out in the Senate

Evans Liberal Politics
June 17, 2010

 

Jobs Bill Officially Stalls Out in the Senate

 

Jobs Bill Officially Stalls Out in the Senate, The Washington Independent, June 16, 2010, by Annie Lowrey, quoted verbatim:

Yesterday evening, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) withdrew his filing for cloture on the jobs bill, also known as the tax extenders bill or H.R. 4213, currently in the Senate. Instead, today, the Senate voted on whether to waive paygo rules on the $140 billion provision that would keep up Medicare payments to doctors, provide states with money for Medicaid and extend unemployment insurance.

The measure lost, 45-52, with a 12 Senate Democrats voting in opposition. Essentially, the Senate said the $80 billion the bill would add to the deficit does not qualify as “emergency” spending and therefore is not exempt from paygo. Deficit concerns trumped concerns about the plight of the jobless. Already, 903,000 Americans have not received checks due to the expiry of the unemployment insurance exemption at the beginning of June.

So how do Democrats move forward? Likely by finding funding for some of the provisions, or continuing to argue they are emergency. It is not clear what will get cut and what will get paygo funding at this point.

See Jobless aid bill hits deficit wall in Senate, AP hosted on Yahoo! News, June 17, 2010, by The Associated Press, excerpt quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s plea for more stimulus spending as insurance against a double-dip recession hit a roadblock in the Senate on Wednesday, the victim of election-year anxiety over huge federal deficits.

A dozen Democrats joined Republicans on a key 52-45 test vote rejecting an Obama-endorsed, $140 billion package of unemployment benefits, aid to states, business and family tax breaks and Medicare payments for doctors because it would swell the federal debt by $80 billion.

Posted on June 17, 2010 by , 1 comment

Video: Bernie Sanders reads the RIOT ACT to the Federal Reserve on the Senate Floor (Transparency Amendment)

Evans Liberal Politics
May 7, 2010

 

Bernie Sanders reads the RIOT ACT
to the Federal Reserve on the Senate Floor
(Transparency Amendment)

 

Posted on May 7, 2010 by , Reply

Republicans Relent, Will Let Debate on Financial Reform Begin

Evans Liberal Politics
April 29, 2010

 

Republicans Relent, Will Let Debate
on Financial Reform Begin

 

Republicans Relent, Will Let Debate Begin, Talking Points Memo, April 28, 2010, by Rachel Slajda, quoted verbatim in somewhat different order than originally presented:

Senate Republicans announced this afternoon that they will allow financial reform legislation onto the chamber floor for a debate after bipartisan talks hit an impasse.

…Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced (…) that the bill would move forward.

“Now that those bipartisan negotiations have ended, it is my hope that the majority’s avowed interest in improving this legislation on the Senate floor is genuine and the partisan gamesmanship is over,” he said in a statement. (Emphasis is ours.)

McConnell maintained that the three-times-over Republican block of the bill gave them enough time to get important assurances from Dodd. He even praised Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who voted with Republicans to block the legislation, by name.

“The time afforded by my Republican colleagues and Sen. Ben Nelson was instrumental in gaining assurances from the Chairman that changes will be made to end taxpayer bailouts and the dangerous notion that certain financial institutions are too big to fail.”


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Earlier:

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee who has been in bipartisan negotiations with chairman Chris Dodd, released a statement announcing talks could go no further.

“We have been unable, however, to make any meaningful progress on other important components of the legislation. It is now my belief that further negotiations will not produce additional results,” Shelby wrote.

Shelby said he had gotten assurances from Dodd that “he will address a number of concerns” about ending taxpayer-funded bailouts. Those assurances, however, aren’t enough for Shelby to support bringing the bill to the floor.

“I thank my Republican colleagues for their support and defer to their individual judgments on whether the Senate begins a floor debate on this bill,” he wrote.

(It was at this point that McConnell announced that debate would move forward)

See, Barofsky Is Going After Geithner/AIG: Its Never the Crime, Its’ the Cover Up, Daily Kos, April 29, 2010, by Badabing, an excellent piece on Geithner and the AIG bailout and the secrecy and coverup on details of the bailout and a hero of the Treasury Department, Neil Barofsky.

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Posted on April 29, 2010 by , 1 comment

Mitch McConnell’s funny definition of ‘democracy’

Evans Liberal Politics
April 23, 2010

 

Mitch McConnell’s funny definition of ‘democracy’

 

Mitch McConnell’s funny definition of ‘democracy’, Daily Kos, April 23, 2010, by kos, quoted verbatim:

First, the awesome:

Schumer opened a scheduled hearing on the 200-year history of the legislative tactic by serving notice that he intends to strongly consider some kind of change to the chamber’s rules in order to prevent legislation continuing to be blocked by small numbers of senators.

“The filibuster used to be the exception to the rule. In today’s Senate, it’s becoming a straightjacket,” Schumer said. “The truth is, both parties have had a love-hate relationship with the filibuster, depending on if you are in the majority or the minority at the time. But this is not healthy for the Senate as an institution.”

Sunday Earth Day rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C., advertisement

Then the stupid:

McConnell was resistant, saying that Democrats are simply frustrated they cannot amass 60 votes to move legislation, and blaming Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for the situation by blocking Republicans from offering amendments.

“I submit that the effort to change the rules is not about democracy. It is not about doing what a majority of the American people want. It is about power,” McConnell said.

If you are frustrated about the 60-vote threshold, then it is about democracy, since majority rule implies just that — majority rule.

And if democracy isn’t about power, then what is?

Elections should have consequences. The party that wins a majority of each chamber should have the ability to deliver on its campaign promises to the tune of 50+1 votes.

This is also more than just the filibuster. It’s secret holds, and all manners of legislative hijinks that allow even a minority of one to hold legislation and nominations hostage.

The Senate is broken. It’s time to fix it. And it can be done at the start of the next Senate, when the chamber’s organizing resolution passes on a simple majority vote.

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Senate Democrats here are playing fire using a two-edged sword. The 2010 elections are coming up and Republicans hold a 25 percentage point lead in measurements of party voter enthusiasm, with Democratic enthusiasm running at 30 percent versus 55 percent of Republicans. I can only hope and pray the Democratic Party has counted up the seats — counted up the votes — and is reasonably certain the Senate will stay Democratic before they go removing the filibuster rule. Purely as an American, I do realize that the filibuster is an undemocratic institution, and in that sense does not contribute to our popular government, but the public, sir, is a great beast, and Senate Republicans are beastly beasts indeed! Perhaps we should think of a time, perhaps in the not too distant future, when the shoe will be on the other foot, to once again use idioms from our folk vocabulary. The thought of the Senate in the hands of Republicans with no filibuster leaves me with cold sweats. It seems to me here as though ambition is trumping common sense.

Highly Recommended: Read, Speculating Banks Still Rule — Ten Ways Dems and Dodd Are Failing on Financial Reform, AlterNet, April 14, 2010, by Nomi Prins.

See, Friend to Wall Street, Schumer Is Suddenly Quiet, The New York Times, April 22, 2010, by Carl Hulse:

WASHINGTON — Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York has long been known as one of Wall Street’s best friends on Capitol Hill, but there are apparently limits to that friendship.

After years of being a go-to guy for the elite of high finance, Mr. Schumer has embraced new legislation that would put constraints on his hometown’s leading industry.

The stance has put him at odds with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, caused consternation among his allies at the investment houses and led to suggestions that he was putting political ambition ahead of protecting New York’s interests.

“There are some on Wall Street who want me to say Wall Street right or wrong, and I’m not going to do it,” Mr. Schumer said in interview on Thursday, a few hours after Democrats brought their overhaul of financial rules to the floor.

“Clearly they did a lot of things wrong,” he said. “Too many Wall Street firms had no one looking over their shoulder, and they went off the deep end.”

See, Republicans talk tough on pending Wall St vote, Reuters, April 23, 2010, by Thomas Ferraro.

See, WellPoint, Rescissions, Fraud and Reform, Daily Kos, April 23, 2010, by mcjoan:

Yesterday Reuters had a blockbuster story on WellPoint’s practice of cancelling policies for breast cancer patients.

…snip…

The White House responded, with a statement that this is precisely the kind of “scenarios that motivated the President to work so long and so hard to pass health reform.”

See, Obama to Wall St.: ‘Join Us, Instead of Fighting Us’, The New York Times, April 22, 2010, by Peter Baker and David M. Herszenhorn.

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Posted on April 23, 2010 by , 8 comments

Health Care Reform Passes: “And the Rest Is Just Noise”

Evans Liberal Politics
March 22, 2010

 

Health Care Reform Passes:
And The Rest Is Just Noise:
(Why the health care bill is the greatest social achievement of our time.)


The New Republic, DECEMBER 24, 2009, by Jonathan Chait:

American liberals have a habit of withdrawing into cynicism and ennui at the most inopportune moments. The 2000 presidential election, and subsequent recount, was one such moment. The most die-hard reaches of the left, deeming the Democratic Party hopelessly corrupt, rallied to Ralph Nader’s fulsome populist denunciation of Al Gore’s subservience to the corporate agenda. Among more moderate quarters, an attitude of wry detachment prevailed. (“G.O.P.-lite, Democrat-lite,” sighed Frank Rich, “For the 95 percent of the country unwilling to go for Ralph Nader or Pat Buchanan, that is the choice, it always has been the choice, and it will still be the choice on Nov. 7.”) Those liberals who did see something large at stake took on an almost apologetic tone, conceding the lack of any inspired positive choice and focusing instead on the dangers of Bush.


The right, meanwhile, was engulfed in passion that occasionally flared into rage. Mobs of chanting conservatives harassed Gore at his residence day after day. Another such mob intimidated Miami canvassers into abandoning a recount then seen as potentially decisive. The left met all this with a shrug.

The denouement of the health care debate has brought about a similar moment in the political culture. The opponents of the bill are full of passionate intensity. The right, of course, is subsumed in rage and paranoia. Conservatives have been joined by fiery liberals like Howard Dean and a slew of left-wing blogs, denouncing the bill as a corporate giveaway and urging its defeat. The attitude closer to the center is more resignation and disappointment. (Frank Rich again: “Though the American left and right don’t agree on much, they are both now coalescing around the suspicion that Obama’s brilliant presidential campaign was as hollow as Tiger [Woods]’s public image.”) The endorsements invariably have a defensive tone—the bill “has some imperfections but is worthy of support,” concludes a New York Times editorial.

At some level, it is possible to understand the roots of liberal frustration. The machinery of Congress has ground away at the health care bill, as it does to almost any bill. But at a broader level, the liberal mood is insane. What has emerged from that machinery is not merely “better than nothing” or “a good start.” It is the most significant American legislative triumph in at least four decades. Why can so few people see that?

Read the full article, here.

See, House sends health care bill to Obama’s desk, MSNBC, March 22, 2010, © by The Associated Press.

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Posted on March 21, 2010 by , 1 comment

Healthcare — President Obama: ‘Now is the time to make a decision’

Evans Liberal Politics
March 4, 2010

 

Healthcare — President Obama:
‘Now Is the Time to Make a Decision

 

Originally Published as President Obama: ‘Now is the time to make a decision’, Politico, March 3, 2010, by Carrie Budoff Brown and Carol E. Lee, excerpt quoted verbatim:

President Barack Obama called on Congress to schedule a final up-or-down vote on health reform in the next few weeks, saying the time for talking is done and making clear that’s he’s prepared to pass reform on a party-line vote.

“Now is the time to make a decision about how to finally reform health care so that it works, not just for the insurance companies, but for America’s families and businesses,” Obama said at the White House, kicking off what he promised would be a full-on campaign to pass reform.

And without saying the word “reconciliation,” Obama signaled that he’ll pass reform with Democratic votes only if necessary – all but daring the Republican to get on board or watch Congress go ahead without them, using the parliamentary tactics that would require just 51 votes in the Senate.

He laid down a timetable – which would wrap up the bill before the Easter break in Congress – and a Democratic line of attack: we’re not passing this in a backroom deal, we’ve already passed it in both the House and the Senate under the traditional rules. All that’s left now is the clean-up.

“No matter which approach you favor, I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform. We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades,” Obama said.

The White House announced that Obama would travel to Philadelphia Monday and St. Louis on Wednesday to stump for reform – his most hands-on pitch for health care since last summer, when Obama was doing events daily to make the case for his plan.

Obama signaled that part of his pro-reform push would be an attack on Washington ways, the theme he rode to the presidency.

“I know there’s a fascination, bordering on obsession, in the media and in this town about what passing health insurance reform would mean for the next election and the one after that. Well, I’ll leave others to sift through the politics. Because that’s not what this is about. That’s not why we’re here,” Obama said.

Republicans have already given Obama their answer – a resounding no – to his offer to add GOP ideas to his bill in hopes of getting their votes. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said after the speech that the president is calling on members of Congress “to ignore the wishes of the American people” and said November midterms could turn into a referendum on health care reform.

…..

For a president who Democrats grumbled didn’t do enough early on to guide them, Obama couldn’t have been more clear in the 15-minute address, giving Democrats a calendar, a campaign plan and talking points to sell reform to skeptical voters. And he pledged his own involvement as well.

Read the full article, here.

See Updated: Obama’s final march for health reform (and more good news), Daily Kos, March 3, 2009 ,by Blackwaterdog.

Healthcare Reform Now!

Posted on March 4, 2010 by , 1 comment

Ohio’s Own Sherrod Brown on Healthcare Reform

Evans Liberal Politics
March 3, 2009

 

Ohio’s Own Sherrod Brown
on Healthcare Reform

 

Ohio’s Own Sherrod Brown on Healthcare Reform, Evans Politics from U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, March 3, 2010, by Sherrod Brown, quoted verbatim.


When it comes to health care, the cost of inaction is simply too high. More than 390 Ohioans lose their health insurance every day. Small businesses and the self-employed often pay double or triple what large businesses pay for coverage. By 2007, 62 percent of bankruptcies were due to medical costs. And forty-five thousand Americans die each year because they are uninsured and can’t get the care they need. American families and businesses deserve better.

On November 7, 2009, the House of Representatives passed legislation, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), by a vote of 220 to 215. A consolidated Senate health reform bill, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (H.R. 3590) was passed on December 24, 2009, by a vote of 60 to 39. Though similar in many respects, these bills are not identical. Congress is currently working to produce a final piece of legislation.

The bill passed by the Senate late last year, with my support, would lower costs for middle class families with insurance, while providing help to 31 million Americans who lack it. This legislation would also invest in small businesses by providing an immediate tax credit to help employers afford health benefits for their workers, and would place an immediate ban on pre-existing condition exclusions for children. Despite the great deal of misinformation circulating about health reform, seniors on Medicare would see their prescription drug costs cut in half, not increased, and for the first time, would have access to free annual check-ups and preventive screenings. The bill, which has been endorsed by AARP, would also extend Medicare’s solvency by nearly a decade.

Overall, passage of both the House and Senate legislation means that Americans are one step closer to having affordable insurance options if they change or lose their jobs. It means we are one step closer to ending insurance industry practices that cut off access to medically-necessary care or discriminate against women or individuals with pre-existing medical conditions. And it means we are one step closer to ensuring that insurance companies will have to spend premium dollars on medical care – rather than on lavish sales trips and exorbitant CEO salaries – or else give rebates to consumers.

Your views on this and other aspects of health reform are welcomed, and I will keep them in mind as Congress moves forward. If you wish to learn more about my work on health reform as well as the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that Ohioans have posed to my office, please visit my website at:

Sen. Brown’s Calendar of Events on Health Reform

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown
United States Senator

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Sign up here for regular updates on the issues you care about the most:
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See Politico Exclusive: RNC document mocks donors, plays on ‘fear’, Politico, March 3, 2010, by Ben Smith.

Posted on March 3, 2010 by , 6 comments
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