Articles Tagged ‘Senate’

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Senate Approves Motion to Proceed on Obamacare

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

With a 60 to 39 vote, the Senate has passed the motion to proceed to move on with the debate over Obamacare. Again, it is important to note that this is only a vote to begin the floor debate on the bill. It is not a vote to pass Obamacare.

In the Washington Examiner, Byron York has an excellent point when he asks, “why was it so hard for Democrats even to start the healthcare debate?”

The extraordinary thing about the dramatic events surrounding the health care bill in the Senate is that there is any drama in it at all. Lawmakers are simply voting to begin debate on their version of health care reform. Just begin debate — not end it, and not move on to a final vote.

If Democrats, with a 60-vote majority in the Senate, were not able to begin debate on the top Democratic policy priority in a generation — well, that would be a devastating turn of events, both for the party and for President Obama. And yet just starting debate has proved difficult, and only today did the 60th Democratic vote fall in place in favor of beginning the process.

I have made this point myself as it happens. On Nov. 19, I was writing about the sly, underhanded tricks that Reid was using to advance the Senate debate on Obamacare but why, I wondered, are these tricks even necessary? If this bill has the wide-spread support that the Democrats keep claiming it has, why all the dirty tricks, obfuscations, and rules bending?

If this bill was a legitimate bill would all of these dirty tricks be necessary? Further, if this bill had such wide acceptance and agreement among Congress and the people alike, why are Democrats afraid to let everyone see the bill?

York is essentially echoing my point and adding that this bill does not have wide support in Congress or among the voters that Reid, Pelosi, and the President are pretending it has. The fact that Reid had to work so hard to get this thing even to a stage where further debate could be had is telling.

We still have a chance to kill this bill, people. We must keep the pressure on our Congressmen.

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Senate has 60 Votes to Proceed

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, Nev.) now seems to have his 60 votes for the motion to proceed. Blanche Lincoln (D, Ark.) and Mary Landrieu (D, Louisiana) have both announced that they will vote yes on Reid’s motion.

This is not a vote on the actual bill, mind you. This is a motion to proceed to debate and vote the bill out of committee and onto the floor. The Senate will now take up Obamacare after its Thanksgiving break.

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Some Key Points in The Senate Healthcare Bill

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Smoke and mirrors abound. Reid says we’re “saving” money, that Medicare is “saved” and that taxes aren’t being raised, but the truth argues against Reid’s obfuscations.

Some points according to the CBO and the Senate Republican Policy Committee:

  • Spending: The cost of the bill is $2.5 trillion over 10 years of full implementation (2014-2023).
  • Taxes Increases: Taxes will go up $493.6 billion — nearly half a trillion dollars.
  • Medicare Cuts: Medicare will be cut $464.6 billion — another half a trillion dollars.
  • Government Plan: The bill includes a government run plan and provides states with the possibility of opting out of participating in that plan. According to CBO, the government run plan “would typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges.”
  • Employer Mandate: The bill will impose $28 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide government approved health plans.

Additional CBO Background:

  • The bill would bend the federal cost-curve up.
  • 24 million people would be left without insurance.
  • States will have to spend an additional $25 billion in Medicaid expenditures
  • Taxes on uninsured individuals will total $8 billion.
  • Taxes on employers from the “free-rider” penalty would total $28 billion.
  • 5 million Americans would lose their employer coverage.
  • Only 19 million people will get a subsidy to help them buy health insurance. None of the 162 million people with employer-based care will even be eligible for a subsidy.
  • The costs of the subsidies in the exchange would grow at 8 percent a year.
  • The tax on high value plans will quickly be applied to almost all plans. CBO expects the revenues from the Cadillac plan tax to grow at 10-15 percent per year outside the budget window.

(H/T John Goodman)

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Harry Reid Wants to Vote on a Phantom Bill (Dem Dirty Tricks Edition)

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Either today or later this week, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev) wants the Senate to vote on a “motion to proceed” on the Senate’s version of the healthcare bill. That wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that it has barely been seen by anyone in the Senate. At least not as far as most Senators are concerned. Why is that? Because the bill has not been shown to them with sufficient time to study it, that’s why.

What Reid wants is for the Senate to vote to proceed on a bill that has not been seen, not read, not studied by the very Senators from whom he wants to force a vote. If this bill is so important, why isn’t it imperative that our Senators actually get to see the thing they are expected to vote on?

And that isn’t the worst of the unconscionable dirty tricks that Reid is playing with this “important” legislation. He’s also planning on a bait and switch tactic once he gets his vote to proceed.

News is that Reid wants to use a Senate procedure where a bill can be swapped out with another on the floor. He wants to bring an unassociated bill to the floor and once it gets there he wants to swap that bill out with the healthcare bill. In other words, he wants to bring a fake bill to the floor and pull a bait-and-switch act to suddenly plop before the Senate the heretofore unseen healthcare bill. Then he wants to force a quick vote.

Alarmingly, Reid is making an effort to eliminate any time for Senators to see what is in this economy killing, liberty slaying, big government leviathan before a vote is forced down their throats.

If this bill was a legitimate bill would all of these dirty tricks be necessary? Further, if this bill had such wide acceptance and agreement among Congress and the people alike, why are Democrats afraid to let everyone see the bill?

Reid isn’t a fool, though. He knows that once America gets to see what is in this mess it will become nearly impossible to pass this thing. Naturally, that is why he is trying to eliminate any possibility that anyone might get a glimpse of what is in the bill before it is passed.

The fact is, though, if Reid cannot get his 60-vote “motion to proceed” his sly maneuvers will be stymied for now. So, call your Senators and tell them where you stand on these underhanded tactics, won’t you? Tell them not to vote to proceed until they’ve at least gotten a chance to see this mysterious, invisible healthcare bill.

Lastly, one wonders why the most “transparent” president in history is allowing the Congress to continue day in and day out to press votes on legislation no one has ever seen on bills that haven’t been written? What ever happened to the hoary days of campaigning when Obama kept promising that we’d all get 5 days to see a bill before a vote?

How times change.

Note: As of today, the bill has been posted online so that we can see it. But Reid wants to vote on it today or tomorrow. This is hardly the 72 hours timeline that transparency advocates have pressed for, nor is it the five days that President Obama promised us all.

You can see the bill at http://www.scribd.com/doc/22734971/Senate-Democrats-Health-Care-Reform-Bill.

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S.C. Democrat: ‘Cadillac Tax’ Violates Obama’s Promise

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Representative James Clayburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, is expressing reservations about the “excise” tax on so-called Cadillac healthcare plans currently in the Senate’s version of Obamacare.

Clayburn, the House Democratic Whip, said that this excise tax violated Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class.

“I do not want to see anything jeopardize the president’s promise not to raise taxes on the middle-class,” Clyburn told MSNBC. “And that could very well get us there.”

Clayburn joins Big Unions in denouncing the tax plan as an attack on the middle class.

The high-end healthcare excise tax plan in the Senate’s Baucus bill is supposed to be levied on insurance companies, but it is clear that these taxes will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums. And then only if insurance companies even bother to offer such high-end plans to tax in the first place.

In place of the tax on Cadillac plans in the Senate bill, the House plan would penalize taxpaying families with a combined income of $1 million annually and individuals that earn more than $500,000 a year.

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Obama’s Healthcare Failures, Enemies Lists

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Is Obama “Nixonifying” the White House? Many think he is…

During the campaign, Obama promised transparency on healthcare as he is wont to do. So far, all the Democrats have done, however, is meet behind closed doors. That’s bad enough but as the days pass we are discovering that the White House has assembled its own Nixonian enemies list.

Apparently, this is a video that the GOP leadership played for Senate Republicans during a recent policy luncheon to help them in their deliberations. These videos are not often seen outside the offices of the Senate.

Senator Kyle mentioned this during a press conference today:

…we saw a little film clip of the president during the campaign, in his shirt sleeves, out talking to a group of folks. He said, “When I’m elected president you’re going to see this health care legislation written in the open. It’s going to be on C-SPAN, and you’ll be able to see all the different people arguing to see whether they’re on your side or they’re on the side of the drug companies and the insurance companies and so on. But you’ll be able to see that process on C-SPAN.

Republican senators and members of the media highlight President Obama’s failure to live up to his pledge to conduct health care negotiations in full view of the public. Senators and media members also highlight the White Houses alarming tendency to seek to punish those who dont share its views.

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Senate Defeats Dem Leader Reid’s ‘Doc Fix’ Plan

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Roll Call is reporting that the $250 billion extension to the Medicare physician payment program was defeated in the Senate today. Reid couldn’t even get a simple majority losing in a 47 to 53 vote.

Naturally Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev) blames the Republicans. Reid complained that the loss was a result of “activities and actions by the Republican-dominated Washington.” Seriously. A “Republican dominated Washington”? Did Harry Reid miss the fact that the Democrats have majorities in both the House and the Senate as well as holding the White House? How could Washington be “Republican dominated” when the GOP has little capability to affect the debate through the power of majority control?

Roll Call pinpoints the most salient question here, though. If Reid can’t even get this one through with a Democrat majority how is he going to get the rest of Obamacare passed? The GOP, for its part, was ecstatic.

“In the Senate’s first vote on health care spending this year, a bipartisan majority rejected the Democrat leadership’s attempt to add another quarter trillion dollars to the national credit card without any plan to pay for it,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after the tally. “With a record deficit and a ballooning national debt, the American people are saying enough is enough. Today’s vote shows that this message is finally starting to get through to Congress. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come in the health care debate ahead.”

I have to say, for all the talk of wishy washy Republicans crossing the aisle and thumbing noses at their constituents, the GOP has been startling resolute in the face of Obamacare. With but one exception in the Senate (the left-leaning Olympia Snowe of Maine) the GOP has voted consistently against Obamacare. And this bill even saw Snowe siding with her GOP brethren against Reid for a change.

In the end, 12 Democrats and one Independent joined all 40 Republicans in voting against the bill. Among those in the Democratic Conference voting no were: Sens. Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Robert Byrd (W.Va.), Kent Conrad (N.D.), Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) Jon Tester (Mont.), Jim Webb (Va.), Mark Warner (Va.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Herb Kohl (Wis.), Russ Feingold (Wis.) Bill Nelson (Fla.), Evan Bayh (Ind.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.). The primary argument among opponents of the measure is that it should contain offsets.

If you are a Republican that is mad at your leadership — and you have a lot of reason to feel that way — this issue should warm your heart. The GOP has been stalwart in opposition to Obamacare thus far.

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Rumors of Sneaking Senate’s Healthcare Bill into Another Bill

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring joined Neil Cavuto on his Fox News show earlier this week to talk of his new effort, wethepeoplecanread.com. This effort is echoing that being made by Representatives like Joe Wilson and his comrades in trying to get a 72 hour period where the healthcare bill will be posted online for everyone to read before Congress gets to vote on it.

Hanna told Cavuto that there is news that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid intends to sneak the Senate’s healthcare proposals in as an amendment to an unrelated House tax bill so that it will bypass the debating process.

Reports are that Reid plans to attach the Senate’s entire healthcare bill as an amendment to H.R. 1586, a bill passed by the House back in March that imposes a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to employees of certain bailed-out financial institutions.

Under the procedure, the substance of House Resolution 1586 would be removed and replaced with the entire Senate health care package. The maneuver would initially require the support of 60 senators to vote for cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 1586 (i.e., end debate on the congressional procedure and move forward).

Reid appears to want to eliminate any actual debate on top of the fact that no one can read the bill before a vote.

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Baucus Plan Hides Nearly $1.2 Trillion in Additional Spending

Monday, October 12th, 2009

-By Rep. John Shadegg (R, AZ), Posted at RedCounty.com

Now, more than ever, American families are living on strict budgets. If we have learned anything from the economic downturn, it’s that we must be cautious about how we spend our hard-earned money.

However, Congressional Democrats continue to set the rules of the health care debate on their own terms, using budget gimmicks that defy logic and saddle future generations with trillions in new debt.

The latest salvo comes in the form of the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) score of the Senate finance bill. One day after the CBO announced that our record deficit has tripled in just one year, Senator Baucus and friends in the media were busy running victory laps with the latest CBO “score” of his health plan. In reality the Baucus plan hides nearly $1.2 trillion in additional spending from the American people.

Amid pages of description and complicated budget tables lies the heart of what this bill means for the American taxpayer. On page 10 of the “score,” CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf writes that the expansion provisions in the bill are estimated to cost $180 billion in 2019, with projected growth at 8 percent beyond 2019. However, also revealing, the “score” assumes taxes on health insurance plans will total $46 billion by 2019, and receipts from these taxes are expected to grow by 10 to 15 percent in the following decade. Other taxes in the bill will total $52 billion in 2019, and are expected to grow by 10 percent in the following decade.

What do all these figures mean? Simply stated, it means the costs of the Democrats’ program will continue to grow and taxes will have to increase exponentially to pay for this growth. This is the story that Democrats don’t want you to know. Higher spending means higher taxes. Period. Americans know that if they spend more than they should, there will be less in their savings account at the end of the month. American families aren’t playing fast and loose with their dollars. Their government shouldn’t either.

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More Big Labor Angst over Obamacare

Friday, October 9th, 2009

It is often portrayed by the Old Media that Big Labor is lining up behind Obamacare with gusto. While many unions are doing just that, the not all unions are so happy with Congress’ current plans. We discussed this last month when we reported that the various propositions to tax so-called Cadillac healthcare plans has gotten some unions nervous.

Now, 157 House Democrats have sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi (D, Calif.) declaring their opposition to taxing high-end healthcare plans. One of those reasons is that many unions have given away pay raises in order to enlarge their benefits packages and such a tax will hit union members hard.

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., who organized the petition, said the tax would hurt too many middle-class people in addition to the wealthier people it is intended to hit.

“This would have an impact far wider than just the Paris Hiltons of the world,” Courtney told reporters Wednesday.

Leading the charge against these tax plans is the AFL-CIO. As IBD reports:
(more…)

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