Unfortunately for taxpayers, patients and health care professionals, the Senate successfully invoked cloture on its health care plan last Saturday. With only 60 votes needed to proceed to consideration of the bill, Harry Reid got his 60 votes.
Since few Senators likely read the entire 2,074-page piece of legislation, here’s a quick breakdown, courtesy of Senator Coburn, of what was in the bill.
This weekend, I will vote for the motion to proceed to bring that debate onto the Senate floor. The Senate should start trying to fix a health care system that costs too much and delivers too little for Nebraskans.
Throughout my Senate career I have consistently rejected efforts to obstruct. That’s what the vote on the motion to proceed is all about.
According to Politico, this means that the health care bill will likely make it through its first procedural hurdle. Senator Nelson cited the ability to amend the bill as a reason for his “yea” vote tomorrow, but unless he removes the tax increases, the mandates, the government-run public option, and the thousands of new federal regulations, then any attempt to “amend” the bill will be pointless.
Given his public statement, it’s unlikely that Senator Nelson’s position will change in the next 24 hours, but if you live in Nebraska you can still give him a call and urge him to oppose the Senate’s health care bill.
This time, the Senate has scheduled a midnight vote on health care, when the nation will once again be engaging in less destructive activities, like watching college football.
According to Senate sources, the actual vote on cloture will take place around 8:00 this Saturday night. If the cloture motion garners 60 votes, then it will only take 51 Senators to pass the final version, and all indications are that Democrats have at least 55 votes to pass the health care bill.
The Senate will actually begin its Saturday session in the morning, so citizens have all day to lobby against the largest government takeover of health care in history.
You can call Congress at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote “No” on the Senate’s health care bill. Don’t let moderates off of the hook. A vote for cloture is a vote for final passage of the bill.
Indications are that at least two Democrats are hesitant to support the legislation but it is up to taxpayers across the country to keep the pressure on moderate Senators.
Late last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the newest iteration of health care “reform.” Seeking to outdo Speaker Pelosi’s 1,990 page bill, Reid’s version measures in at 2,074 pages, longer than War and Peace. You can read and search through the full version here.
The Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation have released cost estimates of the bill. Don’t let Senate Democrats fool you, however. The actual cost of the bill is not $849 billion, mainly because federal subsidies don’t even kick in until 2014.
When fully implemented, the actual cost of Harry Reid’s bill is over $2.5 trillion, from 2014 to 2023.
If you like tax increases, you’ll love the new bill. It contains over $500 billion in new taxes. The bill taxes health insurance, Botox, Health Savings Accounts, drug devices, and some employers and employees. No one escapes Uncle Sam’s scalpel in Harry Reid’s version of “reform.” Click here for a full list of tax hikes.
Here’s an exercise: ask a liberal to identify a single commentator from the left who rivals such conservative commentators as George Will or Charles Krauthammer. Their usual answer? The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, Jr. This is very revealing, because it appears that Dionne has difficulty counting, let alone rivaling his conservative counterparts in intellectual stature.
In his column today, Dionne attempts to excoriate Senate Republicans for their obstructionism, including their alleged tendency to filibuster. In one passage, he states that, “the extra-constitutional filibuster is being used by the minority, with extraordinary success, to make the majority look foolish, ineffectual and incompetent.”
No, Mr. Dionne, the Democrats are doing a splendid job of that themselves. But regardless, this commentary raises a larger question: can Dionne even count? After all, does he not realize that the Republicans don’t even possess the number of members sufficient to filibuster?
Republicans spent the last eight years trying to ensure an up-or-down vote for their judicial nominees. Democrats, for the first time in history, decided to take the extraordinary step of filibustering all of the nominees that they deemed “out of the judicial mainstream.”
The Democratic standard for mainstream: ‘We don’t like them and we’ll do everything possible to keep them off the bench.’
Now, Democrats are having problems with the judicial confirmation process, even though they hold 60 seats in the U.S. Senate.
Today the Senate will hold a cloture vote on the nomination of Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Senate Republicans are currently mulling political payback and will likely filibuster Judge Hamilton’s nomination. If successful, Hamilton’s nomination will wind up just like dozens of blocked judges during the Bush Administration.
It appears that Democrats, too, have a problem with judges. What goes around comes around in Washington, D.C.
No one knows our health care system better than doctors. Thankfully, there are several in Congress, including Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who understand that a government-run system would lead to rationing and a lower quality of care.
Here is a clip from one of the recent “Senate Doctors Show.”
Here is a summary of the amendments considered during yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing. Chairman Baucus plans to finish work today and there is a possibility that the full Senate could take up consideration next week. Be sure to call Congress and tell them what you think about higher taxes and government-run health care: 202-224-3121. HT: Peter Roff
Menendez C4: Ensure and clarify that children qualify as exchange eligible individuals and that there shall be the option of a child-only health insurance option and subsides in the exchanges. Agreed to by Voice Vote
Enzi C6: To provide additional choices to individuals who would otherwise be enrolled in Medicaid throught expansions in this bill. Rejected 10-13.
Ensign C14: Protecting states that saw a Medicaid increase of more than 1 percent from an unfunded mandate. Rejected 10-13.
Stabenow C6: To ensure high quality, specialized care for children and youth with special medical, psychological, social and emotional needs who can accept and respond to the close relationships within a family setting, but whose special needs require more intensive or therapeutic services than are found in traditional foster care. Agreed to by Voice Vote
Menendez C9: Ensuring quality health care for those with autism and other behavioral health conditions.
Crapo C2: The amendment would prohibit any expansion of the Medicaid program that would result in any additional costs for the States, now or in the future.
Enzi C9: To exempt any State that the State‘s revenues have declined for 2 consecutive fiscal year quarters from any mandatory Medicaid expansions.
Enzi C3: Prior to implementing the employer assessments or fees described in Title 1, Subtitle D, the Secretary of Labor must certify that the implementation of such fees and assessments would not result in a reduction of workers‘ wages or an increase in the unemployment rate. Passed 21-2.
Rockefeller #D10: Revised the Medicare Commission provisions. Passed 15-3.
Nelson C1: Strike provisions in Chairman‘s mark (pages 12-13) to allow states to form ―health care choice compacts. Agreed to on voice vote.
Grassley C9: This amendment requires states to raise reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers (such as pediatricians, children‘s hospitals, and dentists) providing care for an eligible child to 100% of Medicare levels starting in 2014. Rejected 10-13.
Bunning C3: Amendment amends the Chairman‘s mark to require that any taxpayer who requests an exemption on their tax return from the personal responsibility excise tax be granted an exemption. Rejected 9-14.
Cornyn C7: The amendment would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to annually submit to Congress for consideration the flat dollar amount required of employers under Subtitle D. In order to take effect, Congress must enact and the President must sign the penalty into law. Failed on a point of order 8-8.
Nelson D10: Eliminate the Part D Coverage Gap and Require Drug Maker Rebates for Full-Benefit Dual Eligible Individuals. Failed 13-10.
The Boston Globeis reporting that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will announce his choice to fill U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy’s seat on an interim basis. He is schedule to make the announcement at a press conference at 11:00 a.m.
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul G. Kirk, Jr., who served as an assistant to Senator Kennedy from 1969-1977, appears to be the choice.
Earlier this week, the Massachusetts legislature changed state law to permit Governor Patrick to appoint an interim Senator, but the legislature stipulated that the Governor would have to wait 90 days or, alternatively, declare an “emergency situation” to name Kennedy’s successor immediately. Not surprisingly, the Governor is choosing to do the latter.
According to Senate staff, the Senate Finance Committee just rejected a proposal to require the full legislative text (not the summary) and final CBO cost estimate to be placed online 72 hours before a vote.
Before the Committee votes, taxpayers and even Senators won’t have a chance to read the bill or determine its projected cost. So much for transparency and open government.
The Associated Press is reporting that the “end of life counseling” provision passed in the HR 3200 will not be included in the Senate bill. According to the article:
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Thursday that the provision had been dropped from consideration because it could be misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly.
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