Thursday
Mar042010
Democratic Party Not In Crisis, Health Care Bill Will Satisfy Members, Says Pelosi
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 2:41PM
By Sofia Sanchez
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Despite the fact that the recently-resigned head of the House Ways and Means Committee and his possible replacement are both engulfed in controversy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) downplayed any concerns that she may be leading a party in crisis.
“I feel very strong, we have been very effective in terms of passing the full Obama agenda in 2009. The House Democrats stepped up to the plate," said Pelosi on Thursday.
The Speaker said she and other top Democrats in the House have put the scandal involving Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) -- who earlier this week, after being found guilty by an ethics committee of accepting corporate junkets to the Caribbean, announced that he would be taking a temporary leave from his chairmanship of the tax writing committee -- “behind us." Pelosi promised that work on health care reform and a jobs bill would continue to be a top priority for the House.
“Our members are strong, and they know that we have to be stronger on our message as to what it is we’ve done,” she said. “We have a new chairman of the Ways and Means committee, that is a big change.”
Pelosi, however, was not referring to Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), the number two on the committee before Rangel stepped down. Stark, who has also faced ethics inquiries in the past, announced on Thursday that he would decline the job of committee chair, deferring to the committee's number three person Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.).
When asked if she still intended to honor her 2006 pledge to preside over the most ethical Congress in history, Pelosi responded by saying, “the public trust will always be honored.”
On healthcare reform, Pelosi said she was optimistic that she had the votes necessary to pass the bill in the House.
“I feel very confident that the up or down vote on the majority rule proposal that will come to the House will satisfy Members' concerns about the Senate bill…This is not about doing health care reform under reconciliation. This is about doing corrections to the Senate bill under reconciliation. The bulk of the bill, 75 to 80 percent of it, is already in the Senate bill."
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Despite the fact that the recently-resigned head of the House Ways and Means Committee and his possible replacement are both engulfed in controversy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) downplayed any concerns that she may be leading a party in crisis.
“I feel very strong, we have been very effective in terms of passing the full Obama agenda in 2009. The House Democrats stepped up to the plate," said Pelosi on Thursday.
The Speaker said she and other top Democrats in the House have put the scandal involving Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) -- who earlier this week, after being found guilty by an ethics committee of accepting corporate junkets to the Caribbean, announced that he would be taking a temporary leave from his chairmanship of the tax writing committee -- “behind us." Pelosi promised that work on health care reform and a jobs bill would continue to be a top priority for the House.
“Our members are strong, and they know that we have to be stronger on our message as to what it is we’ve done,” she said. “We have a new chairman of the Ways and Means committee, that is a big change.”
Pelosi, however, was not referring to Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), the number two on the committee before Rangel stepped down. Stark, who has also faced ethics inquiries in the past, announced on Thursday that he would decline the job of committee chair, deferring to the committee's number three person Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.).
When asked if she still intended to honor her 2006 pledge to preside over the most ethical Congress in history, Pelosi responded by saying, “the public trust will always be honored.”
On healthcare reform, Pelosi said she was optimistic that she had the votes necessary to pass the bill in the House.
“I feel very confident that the up or down vote on the majority rule proposal that will come to the House will satisfy Members' concerns about the Senate bill…This is not about doing health care reform under reconciliation. This is about doing corrections to the Senate bill under reconciliation. The bulk of the bill, 75 to 80 percent of it, is already in the Senate bill."
Reader Comments (1)
Health Care Reform is Easy
The republicans have used reconciliation on health care before plenty of times - heck they created the whole CHIP program - via reconciliation. Dear lord stop swallowing the kool-aid - this isn't a sporting event my side versus your side (do you think the status quo might be aware of the concept of divide and conquer - don't be such dupes)
People, people, people - this is about getting our dollars back from the richest 1% that hoard them at the top (there is no such thing as trickle down) or For Profit insurance wouldn't be killing the middle class, driving people with health insurance into bankruptcy, and tying a dead weight around small business and even the bigger national corporations - this has to get done - our politicians are playing games to get elected....
they are not "governing" but manipulating voter sentiment to whip up turn out to try and win elections - not based on any specific philosophy of governing but for plain old self interest.
Actual governing takes a huge back seat to "will I get re-elected" - the easiest way to solve the health care debacle of for profit health care is simple - but handing a success to the other party - isn't how the political "game" is played.
Unfortunately our lives are caught in the cross fire of their STUPID GAME. And because of game playing we deregulated everything and created the global financial meltdown - ooppps - maybe proper management would have prevented that - but politics has never been about properly managing our resources - its about GETTING RE-ELECTED.
Healthcare is easy - here's how -
“Use Senate reconciliation and expand Medicare via the Senate’s buy-in provisions. The CBO has already signed off on this as a means of saving money.
More importantly, if more Americans can do a buy-in with Medicare, it creates more cost control (because there’s a genuine competitor to for-profit healthcare).
It also helps to solve the problems of pre-existing conditions, because Medicare does not deny coverage on this basis.
Allowing a Medicare buy-in to Americans under 65 would give people a genuine alternative to private insurance and thereby render the pre-existing question moot.
It would also lower Medicare costs by expanding the risk pool of patients (the great bulk of medical expenses are accounted for by a small number of people, mostly the elderly, requiring very expensive treatment).
And it would substantially enhance the global competitiveness of American corporations. After all, in what other country in the world is health care a marginal cost of production for business?” - Roosevelt Institute Marshall Auerback
Now get out there tell your neighbors, your friends, pick up the phone and email your representatives - because whether you like it or not we are all in this together - and it's us versus the politicians - not each other.
Paul Burke
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Democracy For America