Pelosi Urges Auto Workers To Denounce Health Care Repeal

By Rachel Whitt

Speaking from the United Auto Workers (UAW) Conference in Washington D.C., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called upon workers to stand against Republicans’ efforts to repeal President Obama’s healthcare overhaul bill.

“To pass health care, you flew into action: making calls, activating your enormous retiree base, and lobbying your representatives,” Pelosi said. “We need you to do so again.”

According to Pelosi, protecting health care reform is the next step to continuing America’s economic growth. The top House Democrat said her party was able to prevent the unemployment rate from reaching 16% and wants to continue “restoring prosperity for all Americans.”

The UAW openly endorsed healthcare reform in October of 2010, saying “the need for reform has never been clearer.” At that time, UAW cited the Census Bureau’s statistic that 29.3 million Americans with no health insurance coverage exemplifies America’s broken health care system.

“We call on the UAW again: make your voice heard,” Pelosi said. “Join us as we stand against repeal and for creating jobs.”

Democrat Lee To Texas Attorney General: Shame On You!

By Chingyu Wang
Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) accused attorneys general who have filed suit against the "Patient Protection and Affordable Act" of treating sick Americans as second class citizens.

"The lawsuits remind me of the approach that was taken as the Civil Rights Movement was able to exercise its authority," said Lee. "State rights activists wanted to use the Commerce Clause then. African American were second class citizens. Now, sick Americans seem to be second class citizens. So I would say to them, shame on them...to use these kinds of tactics to marginalize and permanently declare there is a second class status for Americans who happen to sick," scolded Lee.

Lee took a swipe at Texas Attorney General (AG) Greg Abbott, one of 13 AG's across the U.S. that claim the new law is unconstitutional, accusing him of "seeking to circumvent Federal law because he is of the opposite political party."

The AG's are challenging that a provision within the law that requires individuals and businesses to purchase health insurance or else pay a fine violates the nation's 10th Amendment.

Lee, however, said "the Federal government has the authority to legislate a health insurance mandate under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution...Congress can avoid legal challenges related to the 10th Amendment and states' rights by pre-empting state insurance laws and implementing the mandate on a federal level."

"Why, when you have a bill that will provide 100% Medicaid reimbursement the first year, 95% the second year and 90% the third year, are you suggesting that your states will lose billions or millions of dollars?" Lee asked. "Why do you rebut and refute the opportunity for relief."

Cantor, Kyl Rail Against Reconciliation

A pair of leading Republican lawmakers said Wednesday that Democrats are attempting to bend the rules by using reconciliation to try and pass health care reform.

“If the Senate bill was acceptable to most Americans...we wouldn’t even be having a discussion about reconciliation,” said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who added that Democrats are making a “deliberate attempt...to circumvent the rules.”

Cantor suggested that Democrats favor using the quickest means possible to pass healthcare in order to have it finished before the Easter break. Failure to do so, he said, would produce a repeat of what occurred last August, when members who held town-hall meetings were confronted tempestuously by constituents who peppered them with questions over the bill.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding reconciliation,” said Cantor. “If [the Democrats] ram this bill through the House...they’ll lose their majority.”

Senate Minority Whip John Kyl (R-Ariz.) said the debate over how to pass healthcare has created an even larger wedge between the two parties, and has shoved several other important issues, such as energy, non-proliferation and immigration reform to the back-burner. According to Kyl, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is to blame for imposing a “take-it-or-leave-it” approach on the GOP.

Turning to face Cantor, the number two Republican in the Senate said he understands why House members might be leery of the Senate passing a healthcare bill that meets their wishes. “I can see why House members don’t trust the Senate to go along with this charade.”

In fact, Kyl might have been right. In late January, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told Talk Radio News Service that "The House, as you know, has some problems trusting the Senate."

While Kyl admitted that his party’s objective moving forward is to defeat the bill, he refuted the notion that the GOP is simply the ‘party of no’

“We are actually willing to work with [the President],” Kyl said. “We’re in conversations with [Democrats] all the time,” added Cantor.