Dean Of The House Challenges Congress To Stay In Session

Dean of the House Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) challenged Congress to stay in session until ” we can accomplish something of value, something worthwhile for the American people.”

In a Politico Op-Ed published late Wednesday evening, Dingell expressed his frustration with the political atmosphere that has engulfed Capitol Hill and argued that, thus far, the 112th Congress has been spinning its wheels and has failed at being a productive legislative body. 

“We’ve wasted the time of this great institution in a fashion worthy of the dreamiest kindergartener,” Dingell said. “I’m not willing to say Congress is broken. I am, however, ready to say that we need some repair work.”

Dingell, the longest-serving member in the House, challenged Congress to remain in Washington until it takes significant steps towards resolving the wide-array of issues currently facing the country. 

“There are traditionally bipartisan proposals in these areas,” Dingel wrote. “There is no reason there shouldn’t be today if members of Congress are willing to put their country ahead of their career.”

Click Here to read the full text of Dingell’s challenge to Congress… 

Protestors Stage Mock Death Outside RNC Headquarters

By Mike Hothi

Dozens of protestors gathered outside the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters Tuesday to stage the mock death of an emergency room patient. 

The demonstrators, calling themselves Code Blue, were rallying against cuts to Medicare and Medicaid proposed in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis) budget plan. Under the proposal, Medicaid reform would cut roughly $1 trillion over 10 years, turning it into a block grant to the states. 

One demonstrator dressed as a hospital patient was laid out on a gourney and pretended to go into cardiac arrest. As the demonstration continued, a man calling himself the budget cutter went around and forced nurses to quit helping the dying patient because they couldn’t afford it. 

“Nurses from big cities and small towns have gathered here to call a code blue on our healthcare system. We are also here to call a code blue on the Republican mission to shift more healthcare costs onto seniors and working families,” one activist shouted.

Diane Palmer, a nurse from Wisconsin stated, “this is dangerous to our patients and its dangerous for jobs in America. We are saying no cuts.”

House Dems Urge Super Committee To Cut Oil Subsidies

By Mike Hothi

Leading a group of 35 House Democrats, Representatives Peter Welch (D-Vt) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore) have proposed that the Super Committee cut subsidies for oil companies in order to reduce the nation’s debt.

“In the current budgetary environment, the United Stated can no longer afford to give away billions of dollars every year to corporations earning billions of dollars in profits and costing American Taxpayer twice; at the pump and through the tax code,” a letter signed by the 37 Congressman states.

The proposed cuts could reduce the national debt by up to $122 billion over ten years, Welch notes.

According to data from the Treasury Department, cutting these subsidies would reduce domestic oil production less than one half of one percent and increase exploration and production costs less than two percent.

Welch and Blumenauer do not believe the increase in production costs would affect American consumers.

“The United States is only a small producer of the world’s oil, a slight increase in costs for domestic producers will not increase the price Americans pay for gas,” a statement from the two Congressmen reads.

The Congressional Super Committee is tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade. The deadline to act is November 23 and if the Super Committee fails to meet the bar, there will be automatic cuts across the board, divided between domestic and military programs.

Former CBO Director Doubts Supercommittee Can Prevent Further Decline

Former Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Robert Penner said Wednesday that he believes the Congressional supercommittee will be unable to prevent the U.S. government from facing a debt crisis similar to Greece.

Speaking at a meeting with the National Economists Club, Penner said he believes ideological differences between the group’s members will prevent them from finding the $4 trillion in savings Penner says are needed to stabilize the debt-GDP ratio.

“We will get enough from the committee to ease the pain from sequester but they wont make real structural changes,” Penner, who served in the CBO during the Reagan administration, said.

The supercommittee, a 12 member body evenly divided among party and chamber, is currently tasked with finding over $1.5 trillion in savings. If they are unable to advance a plan by late November, then $1.2 trillion in autmoatic cuts will be made among the U.S. military and domestic programs.

Bloomberg, Governors Stand Behind Planned Parenthood

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I-N.Y.) and Governors Peter Shumlin (D-Ver.) and Dan Malloy (D-Conn.), stood in strong opposition to House Republicans’ plan to cut funding and access to women’s health care and reproductive services.

The House Appropriations Committee’s Fiscal Year 2011 resolution would eliminate completely the National Family Planning Program, consequently denying preventive care to five million women nationwide. Furthermore, the House has passed Rep. Mike Pence’s (R-Ind.) amendment, which prohibits Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding.

All three politicians dismissed the House Republicans’ initiative as “politics, not policy,” and detrimental to deficit reduction as well as women’s health.

Gov. Shumlin noted that in largely rural states such as Vermont, Planned Parenthood is, for many, the only accessible source for women’s health care. In urban areas like New York City, some 800,000 women rely on the resource due to their income levels, added Mayor Bloomberg.