Democrats Launch Campaign To Inform Seniors On Health Care Reform

By Alexa Gitler-Talk Radio News Service

House Democrats will soon launch a campaign aimed at informing older Americans about the benefits of the health care reform law.

“This week a brochure will be mailed out to 40.2 million seniors outlining the new changes to Medicare under [the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act],” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during a press conference Wednesday.

“The purpose of this brochure is for older Americans who have faced misinformation about health care due to political reasons to be informed,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said.

The brochure features detailed information about what benefits stay the same for seniors, what changes will be seen immediately, and changes that will be seen in the future. It also features important information about coverage for people who have pre-existing conditions and the expansion of health coverage for young people.

“This is only the beginning of an aggressive outreach plan. Our hotline and website will continue to be up and running and hopefully we can set the record straight,” Pelosi said.

This Time, Pelosi Lets The Kids Do The Talking

By Sofia Sanchez
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

“Why are there so many problems with the government?” A question commonly asked by anti-government tea party'ers came straight from the mouth of a child during House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) weekly press conference.

On the annual ‘Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day,' the Speaker fielded hard-hitting questions not from Washington journalists, but rather mainly from children in attendance.

“I am getting a tenure of the dinner conversations at home,” joked Pelosi. "Here come the real tough questions."

During her time at the podium, Pelosi took questions on topics ranging from the environment, to politics, to how she became the elected Speaker of the House.

Surely, not being bombarded by seasoned reporters with follow-up questions on Wall Street reform and ethics investigations was a nice change for Pelosi.

Democratic Party Not In Crisis, Health Care Bill Will Satisfy Members, Says Pelosi

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."

Pelosi: Dems, GOP Not Seeing Eye To Eye After Summit

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) emphasized Friday that there are still many issues that Democrat and GOP members do not see eye to eye on.

Starting from scratch is an idea that was suggested numerous times by GOP leaders at the summit, but Pelosi reiterated “you just can’t do it.”

“There are certain things that, unless you do them together, it doesn’t have the impact, it doesn’t have the synergy, it doesn’t hold the insurance companies accountable,” the Speaker said during a press conference.

According to Pelosi, another issue that is not being met with support from both sides of the aisle is the denial of health coverage to patients with pre-existing medical conditions. Pelosi said this is something that “Democrats stand fully behind and Republicans don’t have it in their bill.”

Pelosi commented on the possible use of reconciliation in the Senate to pass legislation.

“What you call a complicated process is called a simple majority,” Pelosi said. “That’s what we’re asking the Senate to act upon.”

Pelosi said that there is some bipartisan support in Congress for health care reform, saying that Wednesday’s vote to remove the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies shows this.

Pelosi Received In China With Pomp And Circumstance

By Michael Combier-Talk Radio News Service

Last week’s diplomatic trip to China, the bi-partisan congressional delegation led by the U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that the government of China was very attentive to what the delegation had to say on the environmental issue and that they were eager to find common ground policies with the United States to resolve the climate change crisis, Pelosi said

“On our way to China, we visited Alaska. And in our own country, we saw the impact of climate change and of the global warming crisis. We saw that the polar cap is melting, the thermal control of the planet is affected... It is urgent to meet the issue of global warming crisis,” said Pelosi today at a press conference in the Capitol.

Pelosi pointed out that the Chinese have observed the same kind of effect in their own country with the melting of the glacier in Himalaya which made the finding of solutions more urgent between the two country.

The focus of the trip was “on climate change and what we can do between our two countries to help reach some agreement that will help serve us all well in the multilateral decision that will be made” in the United Nations - Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen from December 7-18, Pelosi said.

The passing on May 21 by the Energy and Commerce Committee of the American Clean Energy and Security Act had equipped the U.S. delegation “with the assurance to the Chinese that action will be taken by the Congress of the United States on this subject” and that a significant movement is already underway said Pelosi.

Another issue that was dealt by the U.S. delegation was human rights and the twentieth anniversary’s of the Tiananmen Square protest. The memory of this event was raised by a great majority of Chinese during the trip said Pelosi.

The delegation delivered a letter to the President of the People’s Republic of China, Hu Jintao, and the Chinese government “for the release of prisoners of conscience in accordance with the principles of the Chinese constitution,” said Pelosi.

Pelosi recalled how, 18 years ago, she held a banner “in memory of those who were so brave and courageous” during the Tiananmen Square protest, and now as Speaker of the House, she was able to discuss directly to the President of China and “express to him the concern in Congress on a bi-partisan basis of concern for human rights in China and Tibet.”

On the issue of North Korea, the delegation has worked with the Chinese government to “help bring North Korea back to the six-party talks. In light of the tests that happened while” the delegation was in China, “it came even more urgent for them to exercise their good offices... and to get the six-party talk moving again,” said Pelosi.