GovTrack: House Vote On Passage: H.R. 3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act

GovTrack: House Vote On Passage: H.R. 3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act

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Correction: Morning Must Reads — Harried Reid

Wall Street Journal — Health Bill Faces Senate Heat

As Examiner colleague Susan Ferrechio observed today “[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi lost almost 15 percent of her members. If Reid loses one member of his 60-vote majority, his bill might be doomed.”

That’s the conclusion reached by Janet Adamy and Naftali Bendavid and everyone else looking at the Senate prospects on health care today: the House passage of an extreme bill by a tiny margin will rile up moderate members of the Senate who can now be more demanding. There’s running room to the right on a final compromise bill but none to the left (Dennis Kucinich was the only liberal “no” vote).

The question Senate liberals are now asking themselves “What is better than nothing?”

“But its narrow passage in the House, where the Democrats have a large majority, underscores the difficulties ahead. Senate Democrats are struggling to agree on how to pay for the overhaul and whether to create a new public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, as the House did. Friction over how the bill treats abortion, which almost derailed the House vote, is likely to divide the Senate too.

‘If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote,’ Sen. Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.) said on Fox News Sunday.”

Wall Street Journal — In Final Hours, an Intense Push for ‘Yes’ Votes

My column today looks at the political arguments the president used to get nervous Democrats to walk the plank for the Pelosi health plan.

But the degree to which he and his tem had to work to get the bill passed in the House reveals that lawmakers understood the danger of what they were doing.

Jonathan Weisman and Naftali Bendavid show us the process.

“For wavering lawmakers, Democratic leaders used a ratcheting-up strategy, aides said. Calls would come first from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), then the speaker, then White House senior adviser David Axelrod, then White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and finally the president.

Sometimes it worked. Reps. Kurt Schrader, a freshman from Oregon, Jim Cooper of Tennessee and Melissa Bean of Illinois weren’t convinced that the bill’s cost — at more than $1 trillion — would be covered by spending cuts and tax increases, as predicted by the Congressional Budget Office. They pressed leaders for assurance that final negotiations with the Senate would yield a tax that House leaders hadn’t been willing to accept — a levy on high-cost insurance plans. Negotiators ultimately conceded that a final deal likely would.”

New York Times — For Opponents of Abortion, a Victory in Health Care Vote

The left side of the Internet is howling over the concessions Speaker Nancy Pelosi made on abortion – barring federal subsidies for insurance policies that offer coverage for elective abortion. Some who believe abortion is a right suggest that to get in on the new federal health entitlement program, insurers will drop elective abortion coverage altogether.

The Guttmacher Institute estimated that the average cost of an abortion was less than $400, so it seems unlikely that lack of insurance coverage would be that great a barrier to the more than 800,000 abortions performed each year. It seems unlikely that cost would have stopped the 13 percent of the procedures covered by insurance.

But the point, as writers David Kirkpatrick and Robert Pear point out, is about the future.

Liberals are enthusiastic about the slippery slope to single-payer health care, but now worry that the socialized medical future would be more like Spain (morally proscriptive) than Sweden (morally permissive).

But abortion-rights activists were also shocked at how dismissively they were treated – their lack of clout compared to the influence of the influence of the Catholic Church within their party.

“On Sunday, some abortion rights advocates lashed out at the bishops. ‘It was an unconscionable power play,’ said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, accusing the bishops of ‘interceding to put their own ideology in the national health care plan.’

Now some Senate Democrats, including Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, are pushing to incorporate the same restrictions in their own bill. Senior Senate Democratic aides said the outcome was too close to call.”

Washington Post — Authorities scrutinize links between Fort Hood suspect, imam said to back al-Qaeda

The gunman who killed 12 soldiers at Ft. Hood kept some pretty radical company, including the imam of a northern Virginia mosque who had counseled with the 9/11 bombers and is now on the lam in Yemen.

While the president and Army leaders are quick to warn about a backlash against Muslim soldiers (hear, hear), the idea that members of our officer corps could be so openly sympathetic to the Islamists we are fighting without getting yanked from duty is shocking.
A backlash is bad. So is intentional blindness.

“Still, terrorism experts say they expect future cases of conflicted individuals who become radicalized and take up violence. ‘I don’t see any conspiracy, and I don’t see at this stage any real tie to 9/11 per se,’ [Charles Allen, former chief intelligence officer for the Homeland Security Department] said. However, he added, Hasan ‘seems to me to be very much a self-radicalized or inspired individual. . . . I feel this will be our problem over the next five years.’”

Anthony Dolan — Four Little Words

Today we celebrate a pivot point in history: the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Reagan speechwriter Dolan illuminates the backstory of the battle to keep the 40th president’s exhortation of Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in Reagan’s now-famous 1987 speech.

Dolan’s larger point is that words in the mouth of the president of the United States have real consequences.

“This was the sort of moral confrontation, as countless dissidents and resisters have noted, that makes these regimes conciliatory, precisely because it heartens those whom they fear most—their own oppressed people. Reagan’s understanding that rhetorical confrontation causes geopolitical conciliation led in no small part to the wall’s collapse 20 years ago today.

The current administration, most recently with overtures to Iran’s rulers and the Burmese generals, has consistently demonstrated that all its impulses are the opposite of Reagan’s. Critics who are worried about the costs of economic policies adopted in the last 10 months might consider as well the impact of the administration’s systematic accommodation of criminal regimes and the failure to understand what ‘good vs. evil’ rhetoric can do.”

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Monday Links « Maddmedic

Monday Links « Maddmedic

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Kline Line Alert: Brace Yourself for a Government Takeover of Health Care

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Brace Yourself for a Deficit-Growing, Job-Killing, Bureaucracy-Creating Government Takeover of Health CareDear Friends, As you probably know, the Democrats passed Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page health care bill tonight that will grow an already bloated federal deficit by trillions of dollars, kill millions of jobs, and create endless programs and additional layers of bureaucracy. No wonder the Wall Street Journal calls the proposed government takeover of health care “The Worst Bill Ever;” the New York Post calls it a “Pelosi-Reid train wreck;” and the Washington Post reports the bill “is not financed in a sensible, sustainable way.” Consider some of the devastating facts on the Pelosi bill: A price tag of $1.3 trillion… and counting $730 billion in new taxes $500 billion in cuts to Medicare 118 new office, bureaus, commissions, and programs 5.5 million lost jobs Coverage for 2.5 million more illegal immigrants 43 entitlement programs created, expanded, or extended Since the Pelosi-Reid government takeover of health care was first introduced in July, Americans made their voices heard loud and clear. Unfortunately, the Democrats didn’t listen, and the consequences of a deficit-growing, job-killing, bureaucracy-creating takeover of health care could be devastating for our economy. Keeping in Contact with You Please feel free to share this update with your friends and family. You can also keep up to date by visiting my Kline for Congress website or visiting my Facebook page. If you aren’t already, please become a Facebook “supporter” and encourage your friends and family to do the same. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please e-mail me or visit the Kline for Congress website.

Sincerely,

John Kline

Prepared and Paid for by Kline for Congress

Kline for Congress | 101 W Burnsville Pkwy, Suite 104 | Burnsville | MN | 55337

eekly Articles

Conservative base sends a warning shot across the GOP establishment bow and spooks ‘em good. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28975.html
….and the base was right, she was a RINO
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NY_SPECIAL_ELECTION?SITE=ALOPE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
….Here’s the analysis of the results http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34260

Gay marriage fails as a ballot measure in Maine. The New York Times is reporting this is especially serious to the gay marriage movement because it was a vote that failed in the hyper-liberal northeast. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/us/politics/05maine.html

From my favorite magazine, their analysis http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14792114

Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words (or maybe 1900). The GOP healthcare proposal on the left, Pelosi’s bill on the right. http://twitpic.com/o8zuh

Interesting list of 2012 GOP contenders I found on a link from the site of firm that consults for Republican candidates.
http://hubpages.com/hub/2012-Republican-Presidential-Contenders

Pelosi lies! (I’m sure you’re all shocked) http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/11/pelosi_breaks_pledge_to_put_he.asp

Injury to insult for those of us struggling and who’ve cut back: no jobs saved and pay raises for one of the least productive segments of the workforce.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33619884/ns/business-economy_in_turmoil/

Obama’s Strategy: Continue to blame Bush (a Swiss view) http://www.thedailybell.com/index.asp

Fun With Numbers, Obama Style

This came in PatriotPost email this morning. Oh so telling…….! – David

Fun With Numbers, Obama Style

The Department of Labor released its jobs numbers this morning and the
news is not good: 10.2 percent unemployment, up 0.4 percent from last
month. For some reason, we’re reminded of Vice President Joe Biden’s Sept.
24 statement: "In my wildest dreams, I never thought [the stimulus] would
work this well."

Of course, Barack Obama has promised to "save or create" 3.5 million jobs
by the end of next year, so he had better start showing some progress. The
White House reports that so far this year, 640,000 jobs were "saved or
created," but the Associated Press, of all places, didn’t buy it. The
normally reliable Obama news organ actually reviewed the report and found
it to be a little bit off. "An Associated Press review of the latest
stimulus reports — which the White House promised would undergo extensive
reviews to ensure accuracy — found that more than two-thirds of 14,506
jobs credited to the recovery act under spending by just one federal
office were overstated because they counted pay increases for existing
workers as jobs saved," the AP reports. "The inflated job count is at
least partly the product of the administration instructing local community
agencies that received money to count the raises as jobs saved."

The AP says that White House claims were overstated by more than 9,300
jobs just counting the $323 million in "stimulus" cash passed out by the
Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.
Furthermore, 250 other community agencies also reported "saved" jobs that
in reality were pay raises, training expenses, extended work hours or
equipment purchases. HHS spokesman Luis Rosero defended the fuzzy math,
saying, "If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your
job."

Speaking of fuzzy math, Southwest Georgia Community Action in Moultrie,
Georgia, which accepts Head Start money, claimed all its existing
employees’ jobs were saved. Strangely, though, 935 jobs were saved in an
agency that employs only 508, though they say they were only following
administration guidelines. Coming from the community organizer in the
White House this is no surprise — it’s the same way they count Democrat
votes in Chicago.

Pelosi bill requires monthly abortion premium!

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

The House is rushing toward a Saturday vote on a
massive healthcare bill-and shocking revelations keep
coming across my desk. See below. – Mat

I have recently learned that Speaker Pelosi’s version of
ObamaCare includes the requirement of a monthly abortion
premium to be paid by enrollees in the plan!

This means that not only does ObamaCare mandate
abortion coverage and taxpayer funding, it also
mandates that all enrollees must specifically pay
an abortion "premium" every month!

No matter how hard Nancy Pelosi tries, there is no hiding
the fact that ObamaCare will be the largest expansion of
abortion since Roe v. Wade! And this is just one of the
MANY reasons we find this bill to be so outrageous.

+ + Please keep the calls and faxes coming!

The latest word from Capitol Hill is that the House vote
could take place any time between Saturday afternoon and
Tuesday. Reports indicate that Pelosi is having trouble
securing enough votes and the abortion issue is turning
out to be the key!

We have carefully targeted the most crucial pro-life and
moderate Democrat Representatives to get the best leverage
at this crucial hour. So PLEASE continue to take action…

+ + Fax and Call Congress NOW!

EVEN IF YOU HAVE DONE SO ALREADY THIS WEEK…

I need every Liberty Counsel team member to call their
Representative and take part in our powerful Fax Barrage.

If you can, go to the link below to schedule a round of faxes
to be delivered as soon as possible (even on the weekend) to
your Representative and other key leaders:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=22842&CID=297&RID=20967065

After you send your faxes, please call your Member of Congress.
Here is the contact information:

Rep. Kline 202-225-2271

Or, call the Congressional switchboard and ask for your member
of Congress: 202-224-3121.

Also, I have prepared a special audio message with the latest
information. Go here:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=22843&CID=297&RID=20967065

Thank you and God bless you!

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

P.S. ObamaCare is an affront to every taxpaying American. Help
me embolden the courageous lawmakers standing against the
Obama/Pelosi arm-twisters! We can not let up! I assure you
the other side is mustering all of its strength to PUSH
this monstrous government takeover of our healthcare system.
The President himself will be visiting Capitol Hill to add
further pressure on moderates who are standing up to his
attempt to take over our healthcare system. THANK YOU for
your perseverance and God bless you!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Note: Please do not "reply" directly to this e-mail message. This e-mail
address is not designed to receive your personal messages. To contact
Liberty Counsel with comments, questions or to change your status,
see the link at the end of this e-mail.)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + Comments? Questions?

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=22844&CID=297&RID=20967065

Liberty Counsel, with offices in Florida, Virginia and Washington, D.C.,
is a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to
advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the
traditional
family. Liberty Counsel . PO Box 540774 . Orlando, FL 32854 .
800-671-1776

Unemployment hits 10.2 percent, shows it’s now a ‘leading indicator’

HopenChange hard at work!!!

From Tapscott’s Copy Desk

Tapscott’s Copy Desk

Fresh and insightful opinion from Tapscott’s Copy Desk, by the Washington Examiner’s Editorial Page Editor Mark Tapscott. Got a tip or an oped to place? Send an e-mail to mark.tapscott.

EXAMINER EDITORIAL HOT ZONE ALERT

Unemployment at 10.2 percent is a leading indicator Obama policies must change.

Examiner Editorial Hot Zone Alert

"Unemployment may now be something of a leading indicator because business executives make decisions about whether to invest in new jobs much quicker and based on more accurate data."

Obamacare is government-by-coercion, not consent

From Tapscott’s Copy Desk

Tapscott’s Copy Desk

Fresh and insightful opinion from Tapscott’s Copy Desk, by the Washington Examiner’s Editorial Page Editor Mark Tapscott. Got a tip or an oped to place? Send an e-mail to mark.tapscott.

EXAMINER EDITORIAL SECTION FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS

Obamacare is government-by-coercion, not consent.

Examiner Editorial

"Welcome to America, land of the formerly free, and home of citizens covered by a nationalized health care system crafted by the same government that can’t care for American Indians on their reservations or deliver swine flu shots on time."

Berlin Wall is worth remembering, Mr. President.

Newt Gingrich, Examiner Columnist "When the Wall fell, truth and human dignity, in a rare moment in the 20th century, triumphed over power. But that victory is not permanent."

Congress may stifle recovery before it can grow.

Irwin Stelzer, Examiner Columnist

"There is a nagging fear among those who closely watch not only the economy but government policy that these nascent economic forces might be murdered in their crib by the current administration."

China buys into U.S. off-shore oil leases.

Mark Tapscott, Beltway Confidential

"If the administration approves the deal, it will be more vulnerable to charges that the White House is being careless with U.S. national security issues in the energy sector, and that it is putting the interests of a foreign power before those of U.S. energy consumers."

TAKE ACTION: House to Vote on Pelosi Healthcare Bill TOMORROW!

Dear Kevin, The House of Representatives is expected to vote TOMORROW on H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) disastrous healthcare reform bill. I urge you, if you haven’t already, to tell your U.S. Representative that you OPPOSE this absolutely unaffordable government takeover of healthcare! As if the original House healthcare reform bill that sparked outrage at congressional town hall meetings in August weren’t bad enough, Speaker Pelosi has now crafted a 1,990-page regulatory and fiscal nightmare. Kevin, H.R. 3962 poses a fundamental threat not only to our nation’s and your own financial health and prosperity, but to every American’s individual liberties and right to free choice! According to an initial estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), H.R. 3962 will cost our country a minimum of $894 billion over 10 years. Robert Pear of The New York Times reported on October 30, “By the most commonly used yardstick, the bill would cost $1.05 trillion over 10 years.” Historically, healthcare programs have cost more than predicted — in 1990 Medicare spending was nearly 10 times what was originally estimated in 1967 — and this is the biggest healthcare plan in history. Quite frankly, America cannot afford even the minimum price tag for Speaker Pelosi’s healthcare scheme when the federal deficit stands at an all-time record and the national debt is projected to nearly double over the next 10 years. What’s more, President Obama has said that his healthcare “reform” will cut costs in the long run, but CBO’s preliminary analysis of H.R. 3962 found that the bill would bend the federal cost curve for healthcare UP, not down. H.R. 3962 would also inflict a whole host of new taxes and costly mandates on individuals and businesses as American families struggle to make ends meet and unemployment approaches double digits. For example, the bill would impose an individual mandate tax of up to 2.5 percent of income on individuals earning as little as $9,350 who do not purchase “acceptable health care coverage.” The National Federation of Independent Business estimates that the employer mandate in H.R. 3962 will disproportionately affect small businesses, triggering up to 1.6 million lost jobs. The direct impact on families of all the new rules, regulations, and tax increases will be an additional $500 per year in the cost of insurance. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, Kevin, but the financial burden of this healthcare plan to our government and the costs to American businesses, taxpayers, and our economy aren’t even the worst of it. The most dangerous part of Speaker Pelosi’s healthcare “reform” bill is that it paves the way to a complete government takeover of healthcare in this country that will dramatically expand the size of government; allow bureaucrats and politicians to dictate your choice of doctors, treatments, and medicines; and ration quality care to control costs. H.R. 3962 creates 111 new federal boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs. It also expands Medicaid to all individuals with incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty level, an estimated 10 million Americans. President Obama has repeatedly vowed that "if you like your health plan, you can keep it,” but the so-called “public health insurance option” that Speaker Pelosi included in her bill at the urging of her pro-socialized medicine backers will quickly undermine private insurance by undercutting its costs. A study earlier this year by The Lewin Group, a respected economics consulting firm, projected that 83.4 million Americans would lose the private coverage they have today if a “public option” becomes law. On top of everything else, Speaker Pelosi proposes to pay for this government takeover of healthcare with massive cuts to Medicare. Those include more than $170 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage Plans that will gut the program, forcing the more than 10 million seniors who opt for it back into traditional fee-for-service Medicare, which has higher out-of-pocket expenses. Make no mistake. With these cuts to Medicare coming as the Baby Boomers are retiring and the program is facing bankruptcy in just seven years, seniors will be the first to experience rationing and a decline in their quality of care! Kevin, that’s why it’s so vitally important that you tell your U.S. Representative to vote NO on H.R. 3962 today! If we don’t succeed in blocking this very dangerous government takeover of our healthcare, you and I and all Americans will have no choice but to live under the mandates, restrictions, and rationing that federal bureaucrats and politicians in Washington will impose to curb costs. The goal of Speaker Pelosi and her pro-socialized medicine backers is clear: to put all Americans under a single-payer, government-run healthcare system, like those in Canada and Great Britain, that will dictate our choice of doctors, treatments, and medicines and ration the care we can receive. Time is short! The House will vote TOMORROW, Saturday, November 7. Tell your U.S. Representative today to vote NO on this costly and dangerous government takeover of healthcare. Sincerely, Thomas A. Schatz President P.S. Kevin, if you’re still not convinced that the real goal of Speaker Pelosi’s healthcare legislation is to force all Americans into a one-size-fits-all, government-run and rationed healthcare system, heed the words of Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who said: “I think if we get a good public option, it could lead to single payer. And that’s the best way to get to single payer.” Please tell your U.S. Representative that America cannot afford and you do not want Speaker Pelosi’s misguided vision of healthcare “reform.” *** The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), the nation’s largest taxpayer watchdog organization with more than one million members and supporters nationwide. CCAGW is a 501(c)(4) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that lobbies for legislation to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Contributions to CCAGW are not tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes. For more information about CCAGW, visit www.ccagw.org. Make a contribution today to help CCAGW wage and win this battle against the Obama/Pelosi/Reid healthcare "reform" legislation. To win the battle against this disastrous healthcare legislation, our elected representatives need to hear from as many Americans as possible. Please help us by forwarding this message to your friends and neighbors.