Coburn, Crapo Support Debt Commission's Plan

By A.J. Swartwood

The recommendations made by the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform this week will be supported by Senators Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), two Republican members of the Commission.

“Our debt crisis is a threat to not just our way of life, but our national survival,” Crapo said during a press conference Thursday. “Doing nothing will sooner rather than later, guarantee that this nation becomes a second rate power with less opporutunity and less freedom.”

Although both Senators called the plan “flawed and incomplete” they acknowledged that it will help put the U.S. back on the track to fiscal responsibility.

Calling it a “matter of national survival,” Sen. Coburn said he was “scared to death” at what might face the nation if no action was taken.

The move divides the conservative GOP members of the commission, with Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) having already expressed opposition to the plan.

The commission requires that 14 of the 18 members approve the plan in order for a formal recommendation to be sent to Congress. Crapo said he is still hopeful that getting those 14 votes is possible.

It is expected that the entire panel will vote on the plan by tomorrow.

AIDS Funding Advocates Want More From Obama

President Barack Obama’s $25 million package to fund AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) nationwide was helpful but not enough, say advocates of the program.

In July, the White House announced that it would distribute the funds to states in which waiting lists for HIV and AIDS treatment had developed. That figure fell far short of the $126 million that lawmakers and groups had asked for from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Though the initial investment helped some states stave off immediate crisis - the state of Iowa, for example, used its funds to eliminate its ADAP waiting list entirely - waiting lists in other states have grown since then, and some states, including Iowa, have been forced to cap enrollments. Currently, over 3,200 Americans in nine states are waiting to receive treatment.

“The president deserves credit for [the $25 million package] but it’s not enough,” says Brandon Macsata, CEO of the ADAP Advocacy Association. “The numbers back it up, the waiting lists are growing.”

Created in 1987 and then incorporated by Congress into the Ryan White Care Act three years later, ADAP has provided hundreds of thousands of low-income AIDS-stricken Americans who are ineligible for Medicaid, access to affordable drugs.

During a Democratic fundraiser in Manhattan on Wednesday night, Obama was interrupted during his speech by protestors demanding more AIDS funding. The president responded by saying his administration has increased funding, despite a tightening budget. He then added that if Republicans win back Congress this fall, “I promise you they’ll cut AIDS funding.”

Macsata, however, says that while federal funding of ADAP is technically higher now than it has been in the past, the federal share of the program’s annual budget is dwindling. Non-profit groups like his and the Community Access National Network are contributing far more to ADAP than the government these days. As a result, people are starting to take action.

“The waiting lists are the tip of the iceberg, Macsata told me. “There are hundreds of people who have been dis-enrolled [from ADAP] and are not eligible for the program anymore, and that’s why you see the protests.”

Activists lament the fact that Congress has yet to come up with the leftover $101 million that has been requested, particularly at a time when spending $1 billion causes few in Washington to bat an eye. Democrats have proposed emergency legislation, but have been unable to muster support due to concerns that their bill isn’t paid for, and a GOP-led effort in the Senate has stalled.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), co-sponsor of a bill that would direct unobligated Recovery Act funds towards ADAP, says the White House has turned a blind eye to what it considers a relatively minor issue. The administration, says Burr, is so preoccupied with large-scale healthcare reform “that they’re willing to let some go without the products they need.”

Burr told me that he will attempt to bring his bill to the floor one more time before the Senate adjourns, but doubts whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will allow it to proceed.

Stimulus Has The "Summertime Blues"

By Rob Sanna - Talk Radio News Service

Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released a report Tuesday entitled “Summertime Blues,” which lists 100 stimulus bill funded projects that to do not create jobs.

“We have a total now of over 300 projects [and] over $15 billion,” said Coburn. “Could we have used that 15 billion in a way that would have given us a greater economic return, a greater multiplier effect and actually had greater impact on the country? I think so.”

With unemployment rates hovering in the ninth percentile, McCain said he believes that, coupled with sinking GDP levels, unemployment is set to increase throughout the year, digging the country a deeper hole to climb out of.

“The American people have the summertime blues, as unemployment is at 9.5%, over half the homes in my homestate of Arizona are still underwater, and we have seen a decline in the Gross Domestic Product,” he said. “That indicates we are in for a long, difficult year of high unemployment.” 

Diagnosis Pending On Undercover Patients

One the few bipartisan moments from Thursday’s health care summit came from a proposal by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to deploy undercover patients to detect waste and fraud in the medical system. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) voiced his enthusiastic support and called it a “great idea ... that we can come together on.”

Despite apparent bipartisan support, the proposal has yet to receive the backing from a key group: the American Medical Association. In 2008, the organization tabled an endorsement for undercover patients.

Critics within the medical community have cited concerns that asking doctors to spend time with patient’s feigning ailments was essentially a misuse of resources that could be better spent on individuals with pressing medical issues.

Brooke Billingsley, the co-founder of Perception Strategies, an Indiana-based company that deploys secret patients, downplayed these fears.

“A lot of the studies that we do involve the patient and shopper aligning together as family members to go through the whole interaction so they’re not taking up an actual patient bed,” Billingsley told Talk Radio News Service.

Billingsley added that the use of undercover patients is an important tool in providing effective medical care.

“It’s the only true way to get an unbiased assessment of what the process is and what’s really occurring,” said Billingsley. “When you’re sending somebody in, they have no vested interest in the outcome.”

Reid Moves Forward With Health Care Bill, Despite Serious Obstacles

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Tuesday addressed major obstacles facing the Senate’s health care reform legislation, including a possible move by pro-life Senators to introduce language barring federal funding for abortions, similar to the Stupak amendment that made its way into the Affordable Health Care for Americans Act.

“We’re going to continue to work with the pro-choice folks and the pro-life folks in the Senate and come up with something fair and reasonable,” Reid said during a late-morning press conference.

The majority leader added that the public option will continue to be included in the legislation, despite the objections levied by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who has threatened to filibuster any legislation with the provision.

“We’re going to move forward, I believe strongly, with the public option,” said Reid. “I had a conversation with Joe Lieberman an hour ago, it was a good conversation and I’m confident we’ll work something out.”

Reid, and the Democratic Senators that joined him, appeared at Tuesday’s conference flanked by U.S. servicemen and women. They took the opportunity to highlight the Caregiver and Veterans Affairs Act, a piece of legislation Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) has put a hold on.

Coburn has stated that although he supports the aim of the bill, which would give families of wounded veterans the resources for home treatment, he is uncomfortable passing the legislation until payment is addressed.

“Where was he when we were spending a trillion dollars on the war in Iraq? That wasn’t paid for,” Reid argued. “I have no ability to comprehend the illogic of [Senator] Coburn.”