Daily Archives: 03/30/2010

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A message from Dr. Biden …


In Spring 2007, on a conference call with students, then-Senator Barack Obama called for major reform to federal student loans:

“We shouldn’t be providing billions in taxpayer-funded giveaways to private banks. We should be providing an affordable, accessible college education to every American.”

This morning, President Obama signed those historic reforms into law.

Dr. Jill Biden, an educator for 29 years, just recorded a short video explaining what these groundbreaking reforms mean for education in America. Click here to watch.

Watch the video

The bill the President signed this morning includes historic investments to make education more affordable, and delivers on a key campaign promise. The legislation:

— Ends subsidies to special-interest private lending companies.

— Doubles funding for Pell Grants to help more students afford a college education.

— Will cap a graduate’s annual student-loan repayments at 10 percent of his or her income.

— Helps an additional 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates over the next decade, by revitalizing programming at our nation’s community colleges.

It’s a tremendous achievement, but the news may get lost in the excitement around the passage of comprehensive health care reform. So we need to make sure that when folks in Seattle open the local paper to the letters page this week, they’ll see notes from their neighbors supporting these important reforms.

Can you help? Watch Dr. Biden’s video and write a letter to the editor now — we’ll provide helpful talking points to get you started:

http://my.barackobama.com/StudentLoanReform

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Under The Radar … thinkprogress.org … must read info


HEALTH CARE — HEALTH INSURERS WILL FOLLOW NEW REGULATIONS MEANT TO CLOSE LOOPHOLE ON INSURING CHILDREN: Despite trying to take advantage of loopholes in the new health care law that may allow insurers to deny coverage to uninsured children with pre-existing medical conditions, health insurers said Monday that they would accept new regulations that dispel any uncertainty that “children with medical problems can get coverage starting this year.” Insurers had previously said that the new law “does not require them to write insurance for the child and it does not guarantee the ‘availability of coverage’ for all until 2014,” when the majority of law’s provisions come into effect. In a harshly-worded letter, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius criticized insurers for seeking loopholes “that preserve a broken system” and do not “follow the spirit of the law.” To clarify the intent of the law, Sebelius will issue regulations “making it clear that the term ‘pre-existing exclusion’ applies to both a child’s access to a plan and to his or her benefits once he or she is in the plan.” The health insurance industry’s announcement appears to lessen the risk that new regulations will be challenged under the so-called Chevron test, which was named for a Supreme Court decision that found that federal agencies hold broad authority in interpreting statues as long as that interpretation is found to be reasonable. But at the same time, the decision was expected because as the Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky noted, the insurers will “simply increase premiums as a result.”

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News on Tuesday … and education reform bill


Today, the President will sign the reconciliation part of HCR and the education reform bill into law; I am hopeful that when people actually read both bills instead of listening to the noise that Republicans are hoping will block out the facts… like, this Bill could possibly help more than 32million people because HCR is also a Jobs Bill; it’s not talked about but the number of people needed to handle all the people who will now be eligible for coverage will increase our labour force.  As far as the education reform bill ? What person would think saving money is a bad thing; the money from the educational reform bill will be re-invested and more Pell grants given instead of becoming bank merit raises.   I don’ t know anyone sane who would vote or be against that, who would be against students being covered by their parents insurance until 26, who in their right mind doesn’t want what our Congress is already getting? the plans might be a little different but ask any former state, city or federal worker and you will see that HCR is in fact similar.  There is also news that repeal/replace is just another smokescreen Republicans plan to feed Americans.  Repeal/Replace can not be done without a majority vote in Congress to help bring it down; people need to do more fact-checking for themselves before assuming leaders in the Republican Party truly are telling the … truth. Our Congress is still on Easter Break, though cable coverage of right-wing behavior toward representatives and their reactions have been in the news quite often.  Is it just me or does it appear as if cable prefers to cover not only the negative side of Democrats but it also has been questioning just exactly what is the meaning behind the protests, the nasty signs, and word or spitting and name-calling instead of doing what might seem like a common-sense approach … question is what is the common sense approach.