Tag Archives: Repeal

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Congress -what is going on in the Senate 2/2, 2/3 & 2/4


 The Senate Convenes at 10:00amET Friday 4, 2011

Following any Leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

There will be no roll call votes during Friday’s session of the Senate.

By unanimous consent, the Senate locked in the agreement outlined below with respect to Executive nominations. As a result of this agreement, there will be 2 roll call votes at 5:30pm on Monday.

On Monday, February 7, 2011, at 4:30 pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider the following nominations:

– Calendar #3 Paul Holmes, of AR, to be US District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas;

– Calendar #6 Diana Saldana, of TX, to be US District Judge for the Southern District of Texas;

– Calendar #8 Marco Hernandez, of OR, to be US District Judge for the District of Oregon.

There will be one hour for debate equally divided in the usual form. Upon the use or yielding back of time, Calendar #8 will be confirmed and the Senate will proceed to vote on confirmation of Calendar #3 and Calendar #6 in that order.

As a result of this agreement, at 5:30pm on Monday, February 7, there will be 2 roll call votes on confirmation of the following nominations:

– Calendar #3 Paul Holmes, of AR, to be US District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas; and

– Calendar #6 Diana Saldana, of TX, to be US District Judge for the Southern District of Texas;

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The Senate Convenes at 9:30amET February 3, 2011

Morning business until 10:30am.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S.223, the FAA Authorization bill.

The following amendments are pending to S.223:

– Whitehouse amendment #8 (laser pointers)

– Wicker amendment #14 (Excludes TSA from collective bargaining)

– Blunt amendment #5 (private screening company)

– Nelson (FL) #34 (NASA)

– Paul #21 (reduce authorization for FAA to FY2008 levels)

– Wyden #27 (increase test sites for unmanned aerial vehicles)

– Paul #19 (Davis Bacon)

Other Senators are waiting to offer their amendments. Senators will be notified when any votes are scheduled.

1-3pm morning business for the purpose of giving remarks relative to the upcoming centennial of the birth of President Ronald Reagan.

3:00pm Senator Manchin will give his maiden speech to the Senate.

The Senate has entered into an agreement that provides for 2 roll call votes around 5:20pm, if all time is used. Please note that some time may be yielded back and the votes could begin earlier.

Under the agreement, Senator Paul will call up amendment #19 (Davis Bacon). There will then be up to 30 minutes for debate equally divided between Senators Paul and Rockefeller, or their designees. There will then be up to 10 minutes for debate equally divided on the Whitehouse amendment #8 (laser pointers) between Senators Whitehouse and Hutchison, or their designees.

Upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate will proceed to vote in relation to the following amendments:

– Whitehouse #8 (laser pointers)

– Paul #19 (Davis Bacon)

There will be no amendments or points of order in order prior to the votes.

Votes:

10: Whitehouse amendment #8: (laser pointers);

Agreed To: 96-1

11: Rockefeller motion to table the Paul amendment #19: (Davis Bacon);

Tabled: 55-42

Unanimous Consent:

Adopted S.Res.42, a resolution making Majority Party committee appointments.

Adopted S.Res.43, a resolution making Minority Party committee appointments.

Adopted S.Res.44, a resolution supporting democracy, universal rights, and the peaceful transition to a representative government in Egypt.

Adopted S.Res.45, a resolution congratulating the Eastern Washington University Football team for winning the 2010 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision title.

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 the Senate Convenes at 10:00amET Wednesday

Following any Leader remarks, Senator Paul will be recognized for up to 20 minutes in morning business to deliver his maiden speech.

Following his remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of S.223, the Federal Aviation Administration bill.

The following amendments are pending to S.223, FAA Authorization:

– Stabenow #9 (1099 Reporting)

– McConnell #13 (Health Care Repeal)

– Levin #28 (1099 repeal)

This morning in his opening statement, Senator Reid announced to his colleagues that he spoke to Senator McConnell and they agreed to work towards having up to 3 roll call votes in the 5-6pm range this evening.

Those votes would be in relation to the following amendments to S.223, FAA Authorization:

– Possible Democratic amendment (1099 Reporting);

– Stabenow amendment #9 (1099 Reporting); and

– McConnell amendment #13 (Health Care Law Repeal).

At 5:15pm, the Senate will proceed to a series of 3 roll call votes in relation to the following amendments to S.223, FAA Authorization:

– Levin amendment #28 (repeal of 1099 with oil and gas offset);

– Stabenow amendment #9 (repeal of 1099 with unspent discretionary funds offset, exempts DoD, VA and Social Security Administration); and

– McConnell amendment #13 (repeal of health care reform).

The Levin amendment is subject to an affirmative 60-vote threshold for its adoption. No other amendments, points of order or motions are in order to these amendments prior to the votes except a Budge point of order, if applicable.

There will be 2 minutes for debate prior to each vote. The first vote will be 15 minutes in duration and the remaining 2 votes will be 10 minutes in duration.

Votes:

7: Levin amendment #28: (repeal of 1099 with oil and gas offset) (60-vote threshold);

Not Agreed To: 44-54

8: Stabenow motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to Stabenow amendment #9: (repeal of 1099 with unspent discretionary funds offset, exempts DoD, VA and Social Security Administration);

Waived: 81-17 (subsequently agreed to by consent)

9: McConnell motion to waive Budget Act with respect to McConnell amendment #13: (repeal of health care reform);

Not Agreed To: 47-51

There will be no further roll call votes tonight.

Unanimous Consent:

Adopted S.Res.30, a resolution celebrating February 2, 2011, as the 25th anniversary of ‘National Women and Girls in Sports Day’.

Adopted S.Res.36, a resolution raising awareness and encouraging the prevention of stalking by designating January 2011 as “National Stalking Awareness Month”.

Adopted S.Res.37, a resolution recognizing the goals of Catholic Schools Week.

Adopted S.Res.38, a resolution congratulating Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on its 100th anniversary.

Adopted S.Res.39, a resolution congratulating the Auburn University football team for winning the 2010 Bowl Championship Series National Championship.

Adopted S.Res.40, a resolution congratulating the University of Akron men’s soccer team on winning the National Collegiate Athletic Associate Division I Men’s Soccer Championship.

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HEALTH CARE:Repealing Progress

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This week, conservatives in the House and Senate plan to push to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health care reforms that President Obama signed into law last March. By repealing this legislation, these lawmakers plan to make good on a major campaign promise that they championed during the election season. But the truth is that repealing the legislation would undermine these same lawmakers’ stated goals of fostering job growth and slashing the deficit. Most importantly, repealing the legislation would remove access to health care for millions of Americans, and continue to lead to the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of people. Furthermore, while the right may claim that Americans want to see the legislation repealed in favor of a more free-market approach to health care — which has no history of working anywhere — the truth is that more Americans want to see the law made more progressive, not less.

REPEAL AND REPLACE? : The Republican-controlled House of Representatives was originally scheduled to vote for repealing the federal heath care law on January 13, but the measure was postponed due to the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and eighteen others. In order to repeal the law, House Republicans have introduced H.R. 2, the Repealing The Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. While one of the rallying cries of the Republican Party was that it planned to “repeal and replace” the health care law, their bill includes no replacement for the expanded coverage and protections found within the text of the recently-passed federal health care legislation. The Washington Post reports that, in the “absence of a plan, Republican leaders nevertheless are eager to convey that they have ideas about health care,” yet the only resolution they have drafted to accompany the repeal legislation simply lays out “broad, long-held GOP health-care goals, but no specifics.” This lack of specificity about what exactly the Republicans will be replacing the bill with irked Dan Fonte, a constituent of Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH), who confronted his representative during a recent town hall meeting. “Why don’t you make a replacement plan before you repeal it so we can look at it?” he asked, receiving applause from the audience. “Let’s think about this before we jump and do whatever we wanna do.” Renacci had no response for Fonte. Of course, those pushing for repeal may not seriously be thinking about fixing the American health care system at all, considering they know that their repeal push will likely not make it past the U.S. Senate or the president’s veto pen.

THE COSTS OF REPEAL: What would happen if the conservatives actually succeeded in repealing the health care law without replacing it with any meaningful legislation? For one, many of the GOP’s own campaign promises of growing the economy and lowering the debt would be undermined. While House Republicans have given their legislation an Orwellian title that suggests that the health care law kill jobs, the opposite is actually true: repealing the bill would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. “The claim has no justification,” said Micah Weinberg, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation‘s Health Policy Program, of the GOP’s job-killing claims. As CAP’s David M. Cutler notes in his report “Repealing Health Care Is A Job Killer ,” repealing the law would slow annual job growth by “250,000 to 400,000 jobs annually.” Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that repealing the bill would increase the deficit by $230 billion over the next ten years. Even more importantly, repealing the new law would cause 32 million Americans to lose health care coverage and put insurance companies back in charge by allowing them to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. This would be particularly tragic when looked at in the light of a new Health and Human Services study released this week that finds that nearly half of the population under the age of 65 has one or more pre-existing conditions. Additionally, as Richard Kirsch of the Roosevelt Institute writes, repealing the new law would lead to the death of 32,000 Americans every year simply because they couldn’t afford to get the health care they need to live.

NOT WHAT AMERICANS WANT : The right often claims that it has a wide mandate from the American people to repeal the health care law and pursue a right-wing ideological approach that leaves more individuals to fend for themselves in the private market. Yet the most recent polling on the subject shows that this simply isn’t true. An Associated Press-GfK poll released yesterday found that “only about 1 in 4” Americans support repealing the health care law (the strongest support for repeal is from Republicans, where 1 in 4 actually want to keep it). Meanwhile, polling suggests that Americans actually either support the law or want it to be made more progressive, not less. A CNN/Opinion Research poll published last month found that 56 percent of Americans either favor the law or want it to be more “liberal.” A recently released Marist poll finds that more Americans want to change the law “so it does more” than want to “change it so that it does less” and that more Americans want to keep the law than replace it. Indeed, a large majority of Americans support progressive policies like adding a Medicare-style public option and allowing re-importation of drugs from Canada. What is clear from all this polling is that Americans are ready to fix our broken health care system and want to continue to make progress, not repeal the law and force the country down the old path with more than 50 million people uninsured and a health care system that is bankrupting Americans and causing thousands to die simply because they can’t afford to live.

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a message from OFA


Organizing for America

House Republicans are moving forward to repeal all provisions of health reform, with a final vote scheduled for next week.

If they get their way, insurance companies will once again have the right to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, drop or limit coverage if you become sick, and charge women higher premiums than men. Seniors will lose critical prescription drug savings and free preventive care under Medicare.

It’s sad but not surprising.

The motivations here have little to do with good policy. Repeal is just the first agenda item of a new Republican majority that is much more interested in appeasing their right-wing base and looking out for special interests than working together to create jobs and grow the economy.

Behind the scenes, insurance-industry lobbyists are working overtime with Republicans to take us back to the days when their clients were able to do whatever they wanted.

But this movement is different. We don’t take our cues from special interests or lobbyists, and we never will. We don’t take their money either, relying solely on support from folks like you — and it only makes us stronger.

Right now, Organizing for America is putting together a team of dedicated organizers and volunteers to defend our progress, stop repeal, and expose the Republican plan for what it really is.

Will you donate $5 or more to help protect our progress — and stop the repeal of health insurance reform?

We fought to pass the Affordable Care Act because it was the right thing to do.

Its provisions are fair, reduce the deficit by more than $230 billion over the next 10 years, cut costs, and protect all Americans from the worst insurance industry abuses. The law is already making a difference in people’s lives.

Among other provisions, the Affordable Care Act:

— Prevents insurers from raising premiums by double digits with no recourse or accountability;
— Requires insurers to spend 80 to 85 percent of premium dollars on health care, not CEO bonuses — and if they don’t, they have to provide you a rebate;
— Frees families from the fear of losing their insurance, or having it capped unexpectedly, after an injury or illness; and
— Prohibits insurance companies from discriminating against pregnant women or denying coverage to children born with disabilities.

The Republican alternative at this point consists of a two-page addendum to the two-page repeal bill. It’s a plan to make a plan to have a plan.

Even without a coherent proposal, they won’t have trouble raising money to drum up support for repeal. Republicans’ close relationship with entrenched interests has benefited them in campaigns that did not begin — and will not end — with health reform.

But we’re fighting back with everything we’ve got — building a large-scale, grassroots effort to stop this repeal and protect our progress. Your support will fund the organizing that generates calls to Congress, neighborhood canvasses, and letters in our local papers.

Together, we’ll make sure our message is heard and understood: We stand by health reform and will not tolerate attempts to put insurance companies back in charge.

Donate $5 or more to fight repeal and protect our progress:

https://donate.barackobama.com/NoRepeal

Thanks,

Yohannes

Yohannes Abraham
Political Director
Organizing for America

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Hold Republicans accountable for their health care repeal vote.


 

CREDO Action | more than a network. a movement.
Make Republicans own their opposition to popular health care reforms.

Tell Dems: Use the repeal vote to send a strong message.
Take action!
Clicking the text below will add your name to this petition to your Democratic Representative.

The health care repeal vote is an important opportunity to frame Republican extremism and opposition to popular health care reforms.

Please fight this repeal effort and force Republicans to go on the record against reforms that help millions of Americans.

Click to sign.

Click here to add your name

In a tip of the hat to radical Tea Party extremists who helped elect them, Republicans in the House will vote next Wednesday to repeal President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

This symbolic vote has virtually zero chance of success, as it is unlikely to pass in the Senate. And even if it does, there’s no way Republicans could overcome Obama’s veto.

House Democrats should use this opportunity to send a strong message.

Click here to automatically sign the petition asking your representative to fight the health care repeal effort and force Republicans to publicly oppose popular reform provisions.

If Dems fight back fiercely against this inane repeal vote, they can force Republicans to publicly oppose the bill’s broadly popular reforms. Republicans who support repeal should be forced to vote in favor of denying insurance to children with pre-existing conditions or expanding health care coverage for young adults.

Republicans are already trying to shut down debate, and prevent Democrats from offering amendments to protect popular provisions of the bill. Republicans used such amendments successfully when they were in the minority, and now Democrats should follow suit and do everything they can to force Republicans to take painful votes.

At CREDO, we worked hard for a stronger health care bill and fought to the end for the public option. Our position has always been in favor of single payer health care and our members were deeply disappointed when Democrats caved on the public option, essentially compromising on a position which was already a compromise.

But repealing the bill won’t do anything to make it stronger — in fact it will reverse provisions that help tens of millions of Americans get affordable health insurance. And it will actually increase the size of the deficit.

If Dems fight back, they can seize the opportunity they failed to embrace before — clearly and powerfully framing this issue, as, in the words of Rep. Anthony Weiner:

“Republicans are against a lot of things, but they are for kicking young Americans off their parents’ insurance plans, for reinstating copayments for preventive measures like cancer screenings, and for denying children coverage based on preexisting conditions.”1

If Republicans want shine a spotlight on their rejection of these popular health care reforms in order to pledge allegiance to Tea Party extremism (to say nothing of Big Pharma and the health insurance giants who would profit from repeal), that’s their problem — or it will be, if we make sure our Democratic representatives stand up and fight back against the health care repeal vote next Wednesday.

Click here to automatically sign the petition asking your representative to fight the health care repeal effort and force Republicans to publicly oppose popular reform provisions.

Thank you for fighting for affordable health care.

Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

1 The Washington Post, January, 3, 2011

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House DADT victory! Now to the Senate…


Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Human Rights Campaign

 

 

 

UPDATE
What has HRC done for me lately?
US – House passes stand alone repeal bill; Now to the senate. More »
WV – HRC and SLDN bring veteran voices to Sen. Manchin. More »
ME – HRC organizers brave the cold for DADT repeal. More »
MA – HRC volunteers and vets ask Sen. Brown to vote to repeal DADT. More »
US – HRC offers guidance on TSA screenings for transgender travelers. More »
IL – HRC joins successful phonebank-a-thon for civil unions. More »
ACT
Now that the House has once again voted to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Senate faces its last, best chance to end DADT this year. Last week, the Senate was just three votes shy of moving forward to repeal this discriminatory law. But seven key senators who voted against us last time will make all the difference this time around. We need your help to reach out to everyone you know in ANY of these senators’ states: Alaska, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Ohio, and West Virginia. We’ve made it easy – just post this action on Facebook and tell your friends about this critical vote!
post this on facebook »
SUPPORT
Days after the New Year’s Eve decorations come down, we’ll be facing a newly energized, far more right-wing Congress. We will be working around the clock to protect pro-equality victories, go toe-to-toe with radical hate groups, and spread marriage equality across the nation – but we need your support. Become an HRC member – or renew your membership – and you’ll be an integral part of this fight in 2011.
donate »
NEWS

Video
VIDEO: Whoopi raises profile for marriage equality in New York.

VIDEO: Broadway actress Daphne Rubin-Vega offers voice to NY Marriage Equality

VIDEO: Uncovering NOM’s shock and awe

 

 

 

What has HRC done for me lately?
Facebook campaign: Tell seven key senators to repeal DADT
A membership to help secure our rights
News: All eyes on the Senate as House passes DADT repeal bill
Video: Whoopi raises profile for marriage equality in New York
Her HRC
HerHRC Thousands of women will come together in cities across the country for a national weekend of celebration, Jan 15-16, 2011.
Buyer’s Guide
Buyer's Guide Support businesses that support workplace equality! View online, search, print, or download the iPhone app »
The Goods
Love and Pride Pendant Introducing the Love and Pride Pendant – exclusively for HRC.
Check it out »
HRC Debit Card

With the HRC Debit Card, you can help support equality with every purchase.*
Wedding Registry
Registry Photo
 Laina & Xoe: Designer meets photographer. Sparks.

Sponsor Spotlight
Microsoft This month we salute Microsoft, celebrating its first year as an HRC Platinum National Sponsor. Microsoft also is a generous supporter of the HRC Foundation and for several years has been a sponsor of both the HRC National Dinner and the HRC Pacific Northwest Gala. The company’s strong commitment to LGBT workplace inclusiveness has earned it a perfect 100% score on the HRC Corporate Equality Index since 2005.

Full list of National Corporate Partners »