Step it up, Obama!

Senator Durbin asks Obama to get involved while Congress is in recess.

"I say this as a member of Congress who's been an observer: The president is in the driver's seat in August," Durbin told reporters Wednesday. "Congress is gone and scattered to the winds with personal family and constituent service. And the White House is still there, generating a message and activity. So I think the president will have a chance to tell the American people a little bit more about why this process is so important."

Progressive Obama supporters are beginning to worry that a public health care option is doomed. Democratic senators have begun voicing skepticism about the direction the debate is going.

But some liberal Democrats, like Senators John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, expressed reservations about concessions being made by Democrats to keep a few Republicans on board.

Mr. Rockefeller said he was unhappy that the legislation would end the Children's Health Insurance Program and could reduce the scope of benefits for 11 million children in the program.

Asked if he would support the bill, Mr. Rockefeller shot back a somber, stony look. "Can't you see the joy on my face?" he asked.

The president had wanted legislation before recess, but negotiations in the Senate have made it unlikely. And in the House, conservative Blue Dogs made a deal with leadership that there will not be a vote until after the break.

From the NY Times:

Mr. Rockefeller said he was unhappy that the legislation would end the Children’s Health Insurance Program and could reduce the scope of benefits for 11 million children in the program.

Asked if he would support the bill, Mr. Rockefeller shot back a somber, stony look. “Can’t you see the joy on my face?” he asked.

snip

Democrats in Congress plan to finance about half the cost of the legislation by squeezing savings from Medicare. The White House says benefits will not be cut and beneficiaries will not be hurt.

“Nobody is talking about cutting Medicare benefits,” Mr. Obama said.

But Representative G. K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina, said he heard many expressions of concern from constituents when he answered telephone calls to his office on Tuesday.

“The longer we wait to vote,” Mr. Butterfield said, “the more opportunity our opponents have to put out false messages. Seniors fear they will lose Medicare. They worry they will have to discuss plans for end-of-life care every five years.”

A provision of the House bill would provide Medicare coverage for the work of doctors who advise patients on life-sustaining treatment and “end-of-life services,” including hospice care.

Conservative groups have seized on this provision as evidence that the bill could encourage the rationing of health care. The Family Research Council, for example, said the bill would “limit end-of-life care.”

The House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, said, “This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.”

Representative Robert E. Andrews, Democrat of New Jersey, said, “I have met seniors who think their Medicare will be taken away, which is false.”

So the Republicans, like the Iraq war, are trying to scare people into voting against theor best interest again. Why do people still believe these Republicans after all that has happened in the past 8 years. Everything they put in place or took away, like regulations for our banks and financial, have crashed. And yet these people still believe these idiots!

Blue Dogs were able to Water Down House Health Care Bill

From Jeff Muskus at Huffungton Post:

Conservative Blue Dog Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are celebrating their success in delaying a full floor vote on health care legislation past the August recess and in weakening two key provisions during their negotiations with committee Chairman Henry Waxman.

"We have successfully pushed a floor vote to September," Mike Ross (D-Ark.) told reporters Wednesday afternoon. "The American people want us to slow down, and that's what we're doing here."

The Blue Dogs wrestled major concessions out of Waxman (D-Calif.), particularly related to a public health care option and employer mandates. The committee's current version of the public option now more closely resembles that of the health committee in the Senate, Ross proudly announced.

For instance, rather than linking the public option to the rates enjoyed by Medicare, the new language would require a separate agreement with significantly higher charges, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius would also have to sign off on any deal between the public option and service providers, while the plan would lack Medicare's bargaining power.

"The public option must go out and negotiate with providers, just like private health insurance companies do," Ross said. "It's strictly optional. It won't be mandated on anyone. It will not be based on Medicare rates."

Close to 86 percent of small businesses -- those with an annual payroll of $500,000 or less -- will be exempt from the mandate to provide employees with health insurance, according to the terms of the compromise. Those with an annual payroll between $500,000 and $750,000 must provide graduated partial assistance.

"That's as close as you can get to totally removing the mandate without removing it," Ross said. "Quite frankly, once you get up to three-quarter million a year in annual payroll, as a former small business owner myself, most of them are already providing health insurance, and if they're not, they should."

Under the original draft legislation, Ross said, barely one-fifth the number of businesses would have been exempted.

The Blue Dog negotiators -- Ross, Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), Baron Hill (D-Ind.) and Zack Space (D-Ohio) -- account for a majority of the seven swing Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and their approval marks a big step toward passing the bill out of committee and onto the floor, where it will be reconciled with the two other health reform bills from the Ways and Means and Education and Labor committees.

Ross said he and the other committee Blue Dogs are determined to keep the cost of the final bill under $1 trillion over 10 years. He stumbled a bit, however, on the question of how many Americans he expects a weaker bill to cover.

"As many as when we went into these -- our objective has always been to make health insurance affordable for as many people as we can in this country," he said, but estimated another 10 steps between the current bill and the one that will reach President Obama's desk. "There's going to be a lot of changes between now and then." more at link.

Lets hope there will be alot of changes for the better because we can't afford not to have a good bill with a good Public Option. I am hoping more people will demand that of their Senators and Reps. If not, we are doomed to a bad bill like Medicare part D.

Watch the New Ad for a Public Option by Act Blue

If you're interested in putting your name--literally--on this ad, please go to WeWantThePublicOption.com and add your name to the list. The people need all the voices we can get on the public option and I applaud BoldProgressives for making this great ad and allowing citizens to get involved.

Ted Kennedy still pushing for Health Care Bill from his Sick bed

Ted Kennedy's passion to pass a bill for health care for everyone is keeping him alive right now. He's working from his home in Cape Cod and directing his Aides by phone. But his influence is sorely missed on the Hill.

From the LA Tiimes:

As Congress wrestles with legislation to give Americans access to quality care, which the Democrat worked toward for 46 years, the senator is sidelined with brain cancer, but not out of the game.

Reporting from Washington -- Ted Kennedy wakes up mornings in his house on Cape Cod to a packet of news clippings put together by his wife. If there's a hearing going on in Washington, he watches on his computer.

Five hundred miles away, Congress is wrestling with historic legislation to give every American access to quality healthcare. It is the moment the Massachusetts Democrat has worked toward for 46 years. But instead of marshaling the crowning achievement of his political career, he is sidelined, battling brain cancer.

"He has lived for this day when America would finally extend this right to every citizen. There's no doubt if he could, he would be here in the thick of this," Kennedy's son Patrick, a Democratic congressman from Rhode Island, said in a recent interview, sitting on a bench on the Capitol grounds with tears in his eyes.

But history's third-longest-serving senator isn't out of the game yet. Exerting what influence he can from his sickbed, he advises his aides in Washington over the phone. He has made himself the poster child of what he calls "my life's cause," and is using his illness in a final press for universal healthcare.

Kennedy, 77, seems determined not to miss this. He has outlasted medical expectations since doctors diagnosed a malignant tumor last spring, and is not above expending every last bit of his political capital to deliver the bill he will be most remembered for. Democratic leaders plan to bring him back to the Senate floor later this year in a wheelchair, or a bed if necessary, to cast his vote for healthcare reform.

"I have enjoyed the best medical care money (and a good insurance policy) can buy. . . . Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to," Kennedy wrote in an unusually personal essay published in this week's Newsweek, adding near the end of the article: "We're almost there."

snip

"One of the things Teddy has going for him is the remarkable caliber of staff. Arguably they may be one of the best, if not the best, staff on the Hill. The staff's professionalism and reputation and credibility also go a long way to helping fill the void," said Tom Daschle, former Senate majority leader and an informal White House advisor on healthcare issues.

But Kennedy's aides, who have fiercely defended their boss' bill, have not been in a position to broker compromises and have caused tension at times, trying to carry on in Kennedy's stead while lacking his stature.

Few senators possess the types of friendships that have brought Republicans to the table or the gravitas that holds the party rank and file in line.

"He's the only Democrat who really has the sway with the unions, the trial lawyers, gays and lesbians, environmentalists, feminists," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, a conservative Republican who has teamed with Kennedy on healthcare legislation for three decades. "We've linked arms on a lot of things for the good of the country. And I give him a lot of credit because it hasn't always been easy to link arms with me."

snip

Now an overhaul seems more possible than it has in years, and Kennedy's absence is keenly felt on both sides.

Life is strange. He has fought all of his political life for a good health care bill and just when it could very well happen, he is having health problems himself. And what he has fought for is the opportunity for everyone to have the good care he is getting. And he believes it is a right for all Americans, not just the privileged.

Rahm Emanuel meets with Blue Dogs

Rham Emanuel had a meeting with the House Blue Dogs and Huffington Post is reporting that Rahm said there could be a vote next week.

"I can tell you what I know, which is that the speaker today announced to the caucus that their intention is to go next week, and she is working toward that goal," Emanuel said.

Emanuel also said he was pleased by Republicans' vows to obstruct the bill.

Emanuel shrugged off Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) comments Wednesday that health care is Obama's "Waterloo" and remarks Thursday by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) that Republicans are plotting the bill's demise on a "week by week" basis.

"At least they're honest about their motivation. Their view about health care is about defeating President Obama," he said. "Politically, I actually appreciate what they said."

I don't know how to take this view by Emanuel. I am hoping he is being facetious. I am still very leary of Emanuel.

Also in the article was a blurb about Waxman that maggiesboy already reported:

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) announced that he may let the health care bill bypass his Energy and Commerce Committee, saying there is "no alternative" if Blue Dog Democrats don't accept a deal worked out Friday.

"I won't allow them to hand over control of our committee to Republicans," Waxman told reporters.

Asked about Waxman's suggestion, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told the Huffington Post that he'd prefer at this point to go through the regular committee process.

I'd like to see the House bill on the floor and voted on before the recess so that the Senate would be forced to keep it as a priority after recess.

UPDATE: From Huffington Post:

Health care reform negotiations between conservative Democrats and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) collapsed Friday afternoon, a leading Blue Dog Democrat said.

"It pretty much fell apart this afternoon," Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) told reporters just off the House floor. Ross has been the lead Blue Dog negotiator in the committee.

Waxman met with Blue Dogs this afternoon and took a hard line, Ross said. The Blue Dogs thought they had agreement on an independent commission to reduce Medicare reimbursement rates and on using Senate HELP Committee language to create a public option that Americans could buy in to.

Waxman, said Ross, came into a meeting with Blue Dogs this afternoon and said both were off the table.

"That leaves the chairman with not enough votes to get the bill out of committee," said Ross.

Earlier Friday, Waxman suggested he was willing to go around the Blue Dogs in his committee if need be.

Ross had little hope of reaching an agreement any time soon. "It's my understanding that will be the last meeting we have. He's talking about a full meeting of the full Democratic caucus of Energy and Commerce," said Ross. "It's a Friday afternoon. We've got about an hour's worth of votes. I have no idea if it's actually going to happen or not."

A reporter asked Ross as he walked on to the House floor: "So there's no possibility of a deal now?"

"No," he said firmly.

--

Doesn't look good. Hope they can pull something off.

UPDATE II: From TPM:

Earlier today, Waxman lashed out at the conservative Democrats for trying to "eviscerate" house health care legislation, and threatened to bypass their concerns completely in order to get a timely floor vote on a healthy bill. That seems to have sent tempers flaring.

"It pretty much fell apart this afternoon," said key Blue Dog Mike Ross (D-AR), who called Waxman's rhetoric "not helpful," according to Congressional Quarterly.

"It's my understanding that will be the last meeting we have," Ross said.

Now the ball is in Waxman's court. Will he try to mark the bill up anyhow? Or will he freeze them out completely. Democratic leaders will host a caucus meeting on Monday to address all members' concerns about the bill--a sign, perhaps, that they aren't going to wait for this intra-panel tiff to be resolved. If that's the case, all eyes will return again to the Blue Dogs to see whether they'll revolt against the bill. Showdown!

Go Waxman!!!

Reid Confirms no Health Care bill til after Recess

The decision was made to give them more time,' says majority leader

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., delivered the official word on what had been expected for weeks, saying, "It's better to have a product based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than try to jam something through."

Well that's that for the Senate! Will the House follow suite? This puts pressure on the President to keep up the momentum for the Public Option.

The process will be difficult since Finance, led by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., is seeking a bipartisan deal while the health committee bill was passed by Democrats on a party-line vote.

Reid said the decision to delay a vote was made Wednesday night in the hopes of getting a final bill that can win at least 60 votes in the Senate.

Reid said he had listened to the requests from senior Republicans working with Baucus to allow more time for a compromise to emerge.

"The decision was made to give them more time and I don't think it's unreasonable," he said.

The news of the delay came just hours before the president's appearance at a health care forum in Ohio.

Recess time means the Senators will be in their home districts and States. Lets get to work and confront them in their own States! We, the people, have to keep up the momentum.

GOP pushing to delay Health Care Bill

The AP has an article out this morning saying:

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor charged on Thursday that too much of the burden of bankrolling a new health care system would fall on small businesses at a time when job creation is virtually nonexistent.

At the same time, the Virginia Republican said he doubts that a version of the plan in the House can win passage before members of Congress leave for their August recess. "If they're going to get this passed next week, it's going to have to be a changed bill," he said.

Rep. Eric Cantor was on c-span this AM touting his and the GOP stance on this. Will it work? Will the Blue Dogs hold up the bill helping the GOP postpone the bill until after the August Recess?

The article goes on to quote David Axelrod:

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod reiterated President Barack Obama's plea for lawmakers to act now.

"The bottom line here is right now health care premiums have doubled over the last decade. Out-of-pocket costs up by a third," he said. "Health care costs are growing three times the rate of wages."

"It's an unsustainable path," Axelrod added, "and the government is being crunched by it, businesses are being crushed by it. We have to respond."

And the moderates (Blue Dogs) are holding up the works:

In the House, Democratic leaders struggled to win over rebellious moderates and conservative rank-and-file party members who are demanding changes to the bill. The dispute has forced Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to postpone work on the legislation for three straight days while he negotiates.

Waxman's committee is the last of three panels trying to finish the legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday she has the votes to pass a bill in the House, which is scheduled to break for its monthlong recess at the end of next week. However, the Speaker hasn't scheduled a vote.

So what is the solution? We need to get at least one Bill passed before the break. It would be good if it were the House bill.

FireDogLake is circulating a petition. Here's their email about it and a link to sign the petition:

Great news - in just one day, more than 17,000 people signed our petition to tell the House to not go on vacation until it passes health care reform. Thank you for your support!

Can we make it to 25,000 by tomorrow? Forward this email to your friends and ask them to sign our petition

.

Tomorrow we'll deliver your signature to the Representatives who'd rather go on vacation than pass health care reform - and we'll show you what happens afterward.

Thanks for your help,

We have to get moving on this or, as Obama said, we will lose the opportunity "The Stars are aligned".

What are your thoughts?