Health Care:The GOP’s Health Care Flip Flop

05/12/2011 Nativegrl77

In Oct. 2009, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) urged Congress to use the insurance program he created in Massachusetts as a model for nationwide health reform. This proved to be excellent advice, since President Obama signed a law that is based on Romney’s health plan several months later. Nevertheless, Romney plans to deliver a “major policy speech” later today disawowing the very advice he gave Congress less than two years ago — laying out a plan to repeal “Obamacare” and replace it with an unambitious array of minor health reforms. Moreover, Romney’s speech comes just two days after a federal court of appeals heard the first appellate case challenging the ACA on the grounds that it is unconstitutional to require someone to either carry insurance or pay slightly more income taxes. Even though the the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent both unambiguously establish that the ACA is constitutional, the GOP has nearly unanimously endorsed the meritless constitutional attack on the ACA. It wasn’t always this way, however.

THE MANY FACES OF MITT ROMNEY: Romney’s support for a health plan that provides life-saving, affordable health care to nearly every Massachusetts resident has not endeared him to the GOP primary electorate, which is why he’s tried to distance himself from his own single most significant accomplishment. Earlier this year, Romney tried to excuse his decision to sign the prototype for the ACA by explaining that it was just fine for him to sign a state health care plan, but absolutely unacceptable for Obama to sign an almost identical federal health care plan. Needless to say, this kind of hairsplitting did nothing to rescue Romney’s incipient campaign. Sixty-one percent of Republicans in the crucial state of Iowa indicate that they will not vote for someone who “supported a bill at the state level mandating that voters have health insurance.” More importantly, Romney’s bizarre state/federal distinction is at odds with his longstanding position on federal health reform. As far back as 1994, Romney indicated that he would support a Republican health plan that included an insurance coverage mandate. Today’s speech is Romney’s second attempt to wash away his proudest achievement. In it, Romney will recycle a discredited McCain-Palin proposal that would cost 20 million people their employer provided health care, he will embrace the GOP’s plan to gut Medicaid, and he supports a completely unworkable scheme that will allow patients to wait until they get sick to buy insurance, draining all the money out of an insurance plan that they have not previously paid into and leaving nothing left for the rest of the plan’s consumers.

THE GOP’S INDIVIDUAL MANDATE: In 1991, four conservative health policy scholars proposed requiring all Americans to carry health insurance in an effort to “persuade President George H.W. Bush and his administration to adopt a universal health-care proposal that would keep the government from eventually taking over the sector.” Two years later, Sen. John Chafee (R-RI) and 21 mostly Republican co-sponsors introduced a bill which took up this proposal for an individual insurance mandate. Five senators who opposed the ACA — Robert Bennett (R-UT), Kit Bond (R-MO), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Richard Lugar (R-IN) — co-sponsored Chafee’s bill. In mid-2006, Romney became the first elected official to sign an individual insurance mandate into law. Two Republican Senators even voted for an insurance mandate before they voted against it. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) voted in support of a Senate Finance Committee proposal which included an insurance mandate, and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) voted in support of Romney’s health plan as a member of the state legislature. In other words, for all their strident rhetoric against insurance coverage requirements, the truth is this requirement was invented, nurtured and supported for nearly two decades by the GOP.

TEARING UP THE CONSITUTION: Hypocrisy, incoherence, and unworkable plans are the least of the GOP’s sins. They are prepared to tear up the Constitution as well. In a series of lawsuits challenging the ACA, Republicans claim, falsely, that Congress has never before passed a law that imposes a consequence on people who don’t buy a product, and that this somehow makes the ACA unconstitutional. Yet, as a panel of federal judges pointed out on Tuesday, this claim has no basis in the actual text of the Constitution. Rather, the Constitution provides that Congress may “regulate Commerce…among the several states,” and the very first Supreme Court decision interpreting this language made clear that this power is “plenary,” meaning that Congress may choose whatever means it wishes to regulate interstate marketplaces so long as it does not violate another textual provision of the Constitution. Thankfully, it is very unlikely that the Supreme Court will take the GOP up on its offer to replace the actual Constitution with a tenther manifesto, but the fact that one of the nation’s two great political parties believes that they can rewrite the Constitution shows nothing less than utter contempt for the nation’s founding document.

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Red to Blue …Jim Dean

05/12/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Paul Ryan‘s plan to kill Medicare is killing the Tea Party Republican majority in the House.

Right-wingers are running scared as poll after poll shows the vast majority of Americans oppose any cuts to Medicare — and now Republicans are falling behind in a special election in the most Republican congressional district in New York.

This is a Republican district — Barack Obama won New York State by 25 points in 2008 and still lost District 26.

Now, Democrat Kathy Hochul’s grassroots campaign has pulled ahead in the polls and the Republican establishment is throwing everything it has at her. Just yesterday, Karl Rove’s shady corporate front group American Crossroads announced they were dropping $650,000 into the district to prop up the right-wing Republican candidate.

Republicans took a majority saying they were going to create jobs. Instead, all they’ve done is attack American women, students, seniors and the poor — and the American people are sick of it.

www.democracyforamerica.com

The only thing that can beat big corporate money is people power — Please, contribute $10 to Kathy’s grassroots campaign right now and deliver a knock-out punch to a right-wing Republican in a red district.

The most recent poll has Kathy up just four points over the Republican candidate, so it’s going to be a tough fight in these final weeks. Believe me, Republicans across the country are watching this race. They know that if they can lose districts like NY-26 then they can lose the House in 2012.

But it’s not just Republicans watching. If Democrats win this seat by exposing the Republican plan to kill Medicare, they’ll be emboldened to go all out on offense defending it.

Your support today can make the difference. Now is the time to put Kathy over the top.

Contribute $10 now and help put an end to the Tea Party Republican majority.

The Republican attack on middle class families in Washington DC, in Wisconsin and across the country is backfiring on them. Join Kathy’s campaign today and we can really turn the heat up on them.

Thank you everything you do.

-Jim

Jim Dean, Chair

Democracy for America

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BREAKING: New attacks on DADT repeal

05/12/2011 Nativegrl77

Late last night, right-wing Republicans in the House launched a desperate attack on the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT).

The House Armed Services Committee passed unnecessary, hostile amendments to delay DADT repeal – and to prevent equal access to military facilities all while infringing on the religious liberties of military chaplains.

These Republicans are so desperate to keep gays and lesbians from serving America that they’d reverse the course set by Congress and the Pentagon, and undo the work the Defense Department has already done to prepare for repeal.

Now the bill goes to the House floor – where House Speaker John Boehner can strip out these amendments if he chooses. With a large public outcry right now, we can show Republicans that they will pay a political price if Speaker Boehner puts anti-gay discrimination before national security.

Sign now: “Mr. Boehner, stop the underhanded attacks on repeal – focus on keeping us safe.”

www.hrc.org

We passed the bill to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” last year. The nation’s top military leaders supported it. President Obama signed it. But anti-equality House members haven’t given up. They’re trying to bury repeal under a mountain of delays, distractions, and scare tactics – amendments to the National Defense Authorization bill that would:

Delay repeal by demanding that all service chiefs “certify” it before repeal is finalized – even though it already has to be certified by the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The chiefs themselves testified in October that this step is unnecessary.

Prevent equal access to military facilities and infringe on religious liberty by prohibiting the use of Department of Defense facilities for marriages between same-sex couples even in states where those marriages are legal – and prohibiting military chaplains from performing same-sex marriages even when their religious traditions recognize them.

Reaffirm the Defense of Marriage Act even though every federal agency is already bound by the discriminatory law – a blatant attempt by Vicky Hartzler, the representative once termed “the most anti-gay candidate in America,” to distract and delay repeal.

The American public wants Speaker Boehner and the House to focus on the real work of our nation – keeping us safe and getting our economy back on track – not a hateful crusade to prevent open military service. The speaker still has time to strip these amendments from the bill before bringing it to the floor. But it’s up to us to show that there’s a political cost to thwarting the will of Congress and the nation.

Tell Boehner: Stop undermining repeal. www.hrc.org

The American people want an end to discrimination in our nation’s military. Speaker Boehner must stop his party’s delaying tactics and allow repeal to move forward – now.

Repeal first passed because so many of you raised your voices. I know we can count on you to speak up yet again.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese

President

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Thursday in Congress: the Republican led House -the Senate

05/12/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

The Senate Convenes at 9:30amET May 12, 2011

Following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in morning business for debate only until 1pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the first hour equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the Majority controlling the next 30 minutes.

Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider Calendar #47, the nomination of Michael Francis Urbanski, of Virginia, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Virginia with one hour of debate equally divided and controlled between Senators Leahy and Grassley or their designees.

There will be no further roll call votes this week.

Votes:

70: Confirmation of the Urbanski nomination; Confirmed: 94-0

Unanimous Consent:

Passed S.498, the Independent Task and Delivery Order Review Extension Act of 2011

Discharged Intelligence and adopted S.Res.86, recognizing the Defense Intelligence Agency on its 50th Anniversary

Adopted S.Res.181, designating May 15, 2011, as “National MPS Awareness Day”;

Adopted S.Res.182, expressing the condolences of the U.S. to the victims of the devastating tornadoes that touched down in the South beginning on April 25, 2011; and

Adopted S.Res.183, designating May 14, 2011, as “National Police Survivors Day”.

Adopted H.Con.Res.16, authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the Greater Washington Soap Box Derby

Adopted H.Con.Res.46, authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service.

Adopted H.Con.Res.50, providing for a conditional adjournment of the House of Representatives

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next meeting in the House is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on May 12, 2011

CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS

LEGISLATIVE DAY OF MAY 12, 2011

112TH CONGRESS – FIRST SESSION

4:22 P.M. – SPECIAL ORDER SPEECHES – The House has concluded all anticipated legislative business and has proceeded to Special Order speeches.

H.R. 754: to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes

4:20 P.M. – Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union rises leaving H.R. 754 as unfinished business.

On motion that the Committee rise Agreed to by voice vote.

4:19 P.M. – Mr. Rogers (MI) moved that the Committee rise.

POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Carney amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the noes had prevailed. Mr. Carney demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption until a time to be announced.

4:09 P.M. – DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 264, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Carney amendment No. 8.

Amendment offered by Mr. Carney.

An amendment numbered 8 printed in House Report 112-75 to establish the sense of Congress that railway transportation should be included in transportation security plans for intelligence agencies.

4:08 P.M. – POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Hinchey amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the noes had prevailed. Mr. Hinchey demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption until a time to be announced.

3:58 P.M. – DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 264, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Hinchey amendment no. 7.

Amendment offered by Mr. Hinchey.

An amendment numbered 7 printed in House Report 112-75 to require the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to report to the House and Senate Intelligence panels on information it has regarding the human rights violations of the military government in Argentina that resulted in 30,000 disappearances between the mid-1970’s and mid-1980’s. The amendment also seeks to help shed light on the unknown fate of hundreds of Argentine children who were born in captivity and distributed to members of the Argentine security forces.

3:57 P.M. – On agreeing to the Ruppersberger amendment Agreed to by voice vote.

3:52 P.M. – DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 264, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Ruppersberger amendment no. 6.

Amendment offered by Mr. Ruppersberger.

An amendment numbered 6 printed in House Report 112-75 to require, within 180 days after enactment, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community to submit to Congress a report on the degree to which racial and ethnic minorities in the United States are employed in professional positions in the intelligence community and barriers to the recruitment and retention of additional racial and ethnic minorities in these positions.

3:49 P.M. – POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Gibson amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Ruppersberger demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption until a time to be announced.

3:44 P.M. – DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 264, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Gibson amendment no. 5.

Amendment offered by Mr. Gibson.

An amendment numbered 5 printed in House Report 112-75 to require the Director of National Intelligence to submit to Congress a report containing recommendations the Director considers appropriate for consolidating the intelligence community.

3:42 P.M. – By unanimous consent, the Dent amendment was withdrawn.

3:38 P.M. – DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 264, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Dent amendment no. 3.

Amendment offered by Mr. Dent.

An amendment numbered 5 printed in House Report 112-75 to require the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the CIA within 90 days of enactment of this Act to submit to the congressional intelligence committees all information possessed by the DNI and the CIA relating to the pursuit and targeting of Anwar al-Awlaki by the Federal Government, as well as an analysis of the legal impediments to pursuing the capture of Anwar al-Awlaki.

On agreeing to the Barrow amendment Agreed to by voice vote.

3:35 P.M. – DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 264, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Barrow amendment no. 2.

Amendment offered by Mr. Barrow.

An amendment numbered 2 printed in House Report 112-75 to task the Director of National Intelligence with creating a pilot grant program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities to assist in creating and maintaining academic curricula that teach advanced critical foreign languages, and for study abroad programs. Amendment aims to help intelligence community meet strategic, diversity and critical language goals.

3:34 P.M. – POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Rogers (MI) amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Ruppersberger demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption until a time to be announced.

3:31 P.M. – DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 264, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Rogers (MI) amendment no. 1.

3:30 P.M. – Amendment offered by Mr. Rogers (MI). An amendment numbered 1 printed in House Report 112-75 to clarify that Section 411 of the bill, which provides certain authorities for Defense Intelligence Agency Expenditures, applies only to National Intelligence Program funds. Would also strike Section 412 of the reported bill, providing for the establishment of certain transfer accounts for intelligence funds.

2:42 P.M. – GENERAL DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole proceeded with one hour of general debate on H.R. 754.

The Speaker designated the Honorable Kevin Yoder to act as Chairman of the Committee.

House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union pursuant to H. Res. 264 and Rule XVIII.

2:41 P.M. – Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 754 with 1 hour of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. Specified amendments are in order. The resolution waives all points of order against the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute. The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence now printed in the bill shall be considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule.

Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 264.

2:40 P.M. – The House received a message from the Clerk. Pursuant to the permission granted in Clause 2(h) of Rule II of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Clerk notified the House that she had received the following message from the Secretary of the Senate on May 12, 2011 at 11:30 a.m.: Appointments to the Board of Visitors of the United States Air Force Academy.

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen asked unanimous consent That, it may be in order at any time on Tuesday, May 24, 2011, for the Speaker to declare a recess, subject to the call of the Chair, for the purpose of receiving in Joint Meeting His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel. Agreed to without objection.

2:39 P.M. – Ms. Ros-Lehtinen filed a report from the Committee on Foreign Affairs on H. Res. 209.

H. Res. 264: providing for consideration of the bill ( H.R. 754) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes

2:38 P.M. – Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 251 – 133 (Roll no. 322).

2:32 P.M. – Considered as unfinished business.

H. Con. Res. 50: providing for a conditional adjournment of the House of Representatives

2:31 P.M. – Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 227 – 158 (Roll no. 321).

2:26 P.M. – Considered as unfinished business.

2:25 P.M. – UNFINISHED BUSINESS – The Chair announced that the unfinished business was the question on adoption of H. Con. Res. 50 and H. Res. 264, both of which had been debated earlier and on which further proceedings had been postponed.

H.R. 1231: to amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require that each 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing program offer leasing in the areas with the most prospective oil and gas resources, to establish a domestic oil and natural gas production goal, and for other purposes

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On passage Passed by recorded vote: 243 – 179 (Roll no. 320).

2:18 P.M. – On motion to recommit with instructions Failed by recorded vote: 180 – 243 (Roll no. 319).

2:00 P.M. – The previous question on the motion to recommit with instructions was ordered without objection.

1:50 P.M. – DEBATE – The House proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Holt motion to recommit with instructions. The instructions contained in the motion seek to require the bill to be reported back to the House with an amendment to require each oil and gas leasing program in the underlying bill to specify that all oil and natural gas produced from such leases under the program, is offered for sale in the United States and not exported. It would also require the Secretary of Interior, in developing a 5-year oil and gas leasing program, to seek to reduce the number of nonproducing offshore oil and gas leases by 50 percent by 2017.

1:49 P.M. – Mr. Holt moved to recommit with instructions to Natural Resources.

1:48 P.M. – The House rose from the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union to report H.R. 1231.

On agreeing to the Inslee amendment Failed by recorded vote: 160 – 256 (Roll no. 318).

1:43 P.M. – On agreeing to the Thompson (CA) amendment Failed by recorded vote: 156 – 263 (Roll no. 317).

1:40 P.M. – On agreeing to the Brown (FL) amendment Failed by recorded vote: 134 – 279 (Roll no. 316).

1:35 P.M. – On agreeing to the Tsongas amendment Failed by recorded vote: 195 – 223 (Roll no. 315).

1:11 P.M. – UNFINISHED BUSINESS – The Chair announced that the unfinished business was the question on agreeing to the amendments to H.R. 1231 which had been debated earlier and on which further proceedings had been postponed.

1:10 P.M. – The House resolved into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for further consideration.

1:09 P.M. – Considered as unfinished business.

H. Con. Res. 50: providing for a conditional adjournment of the House of Representatives

POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on H.Con.Res. 50, the Chair put the question on agreeing to resolution and by voice vote, announced that the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Hastings(FL) demanded the yeas and nays and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question on agreeing to the resolution until later in the legislative day.

1:07 P.M. – Considered as privileged matter.

POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on H.Res. 264, the Chair put the question on adoption of H.Res. 264 and by voice vote, announced that the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Hastings(FL) demanded the yeas and nays and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of H.Res. 264 until later in the legislative day.

The previous question was ordered without objection.

12:22 P.M. – DEBATE – The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H. Res. 264.

12:19 P.M. – Considered as privileged matter.

12:03 P.M. – ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with one minute speeches which by direction of the Chair, would be limited to 15 per side of the aisle.

12:02 P.M. – PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair designated Mr. Sires to lead the Members in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

12:01 P.M. – The Speaker announced approval of the Journal. Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved.

Today’s prayer was offered by Monsignor Craig Harrison, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Bakersfield, California

The House convened, returning from a recess continuing the legislative day of May 12.

10:58 A.M. – The Speaker announced that the House do now recess. The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 P.M. today.

10:00 A.M. – MORNING HOUR DEBATES – The House proceeded with Morning-Hour Debates. At the conclusion of Morning-Hour, the House will recess until 12:00 p.m. for the start of legislative business.

The Speaker designated the Honorable Tom Graves to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

The House convened, starting a new legislative day.