Breaking: Blue Dogs win delay on ObamaCare vote; Agreement is on cuts only, not on floor vote
Despite rumors floating around Capitol Hill earlier, Democrats will not rescue Barack Obama’s credibility by getting him a floor vote on ObamaCare this week.
The Hill reports that Blue Dogs have successfully stalled the process until after the August recess as they try to win concessions in the bill’s composition:
The Blue Dogs and House leaders have struck a deal to guarantee that the House will not vote on a healthcare bill before August, according to a leading Blue Dog Democrat.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/29/breaking-blue-dogs-win-delay-on-obamacare-vote/
Support Slips for Democrat Health Scheme
Obama Push Faces Growing Doubts in Poll; Overhaul Advances in House.
Senate Support for President Barack Obama's health-care effort has declined over the past five weeks, particularly among those who already have insurance, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found, amid prolonged debate over costs and quality of care.
Among those with private insurance, the proportion calling the plan a bad idea rose to 47% from 37%. Obama lost big time with the delay until after the recess.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124890178435291341.html
Freshmen Democrats Brace for Attacks resulting from bad positions on issues
Freshman Democrats came to Congress this year ready to take tough votes, but some are worried that the breakneck pace and their party leaders’ failure to match GOP messaging could translate into losses in the 2010 elections.
Such voter uprisings as the Panama City ambush of Blue Dog Democrat Allen Boyd are keeping awake at night. the freshman Democrats who told their voters they are conservative when they were not.
Tea party protesters are gearing up to welcome home Congressmen and Senators on the wrong side of key issues such as Cap and Tax and government-run healthcare schemes.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_16/news/37382-1.html
Opinion:
We will do all we can, but we cant do it all alone. Normal America faces a time to stand for its own freedom and liberty – Democrat liberals threaten both.
The Senate and Congress will depart shortly for three weeks of vacation. They will come home and most plan to meet in person with the “folks back home”.
This is an opportunity to tell these people just what we think, and just how strongly we feel about it.
Here in Panama City, local tea party protesters confronted their Blue Dog Democrat, Allen Boyd, and effectively ambushed him with angry signs and shouts. Boyd had voted for the Obama tax scam Democrats call “Cap and Trade”. If passed by the Senate, “Cap and Trade” will force EVERY AMERICAN FAMILY to pay additional THOUSANDS of Dollars in new taxes and in increased prices for many goods and services. (Goods such as gasoline.)
Boyd had to escape angry voters by sneaking out a back door.
California liberals have spent huge amounts of money trying to provide cover for Boyd's vote for new and very high taxes.
The humiliation Boyd was forced to face reflected grass root anger at liberal Democrat schemes and scams against the interests of normal America. The incident has sent shock waves throughout the Blue Dog community (and has had more than a little impact on the 8 Republican turncoats who voted for the Cap and Trade tax.)
Cap and Trade faces Senate passage. If it DOES pass, every family will lose several thousand dollars every year.
Just as threatening is the Obama government-run healthcare threat.
To “cut to the chase” the issue is one of a choice. The choice is between quality healthcare and Obama’s “healthcare on the cheap”. NO government run healthcare can produce quality.
For seniors, its even worse. The Obama-sponsored schemes include ventures into euthanasia – echoing liberal Democrat calls for old people to “just go ahead and die and get out of the way”.
Believe me, that is the actual sentiment or a reflection of it, as expressed by Obama, his choice for health secretary, Tom Daschle, and other Democrats such as former Colorado governor, Dick Lamm.
We are planning to replicate the Boyd ambush by helping grass root protesters to target Blue Dog Democrats and others – including the real villains in all this, the Democrat liberals. But we cannot do it all alone.
We need your help. America needs your help. The future of this nation needs your help.
Call your Congressman or Senator’s office nearest you and ask when they plan to appear in your neck of the woods. Then alert all your friends and neighbors who share resentment of the Cap and Trade tax and the fear of government-run healthcare, and greet the Congressman or Senator.
ALERT: Not all incumbents are enemies of normal America. With the exception of the 8 turncoats who voted wrong on Cap and Trade, Republicans support our freedoms and oppose the new taxes and government take over of our healthcare.
For incumbent Republicans, an outpouring of support is necessary. They have held off the Democrat healthcare scheme, and came close enough in holing back the Cap and Trade tax scam to force the Senate to delay consideration. Applaud their efforts, cheer the Republican success.
However, Democrats have chosen to make themselves targets of grass root resentment and outrage. Call their offices. Determine when they will make themselves vulnerable to public opinion. Pass the word and sound the alarm.
This recess is a chance to Tell Washington No when it comes to liberal conspiracies such as Cap and Trade and the Democrat government-run healthcare threat.
Do it. Capture it on video. Send it to us and we will share it with America.
This is our chance to speak up, speak out, and save our nation’s future.
Buddy
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574318334081271414.html
Obama’s Great Health Scare
The president resorts to the politics of fear.
KARL ROVE
On the campaign trail last year, Barack Obama promised to end the “politics of fear and cynicism.” Yet he is now trying to sell his health-care proposals on fear.
At his news conference last week, he said “Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage, or lose their job. . . . If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction.”
A Fox News Poll from last week shows that 84% of Americans who have health insurance are happy with their coverage. And because 91% of all Americans have insurance, that means that 76% of all Americans will be concerned about anything that threatens their current coverage. By a 2-1 margin, according to the Fox Poll, Americans want coverage from a private provider rather than the government.
(NOTE: Growing numbers of Americans are realizing the real issue in health care is quality. Government can never provide quality thus if the Democrat government-run healthcare scheme is adopted, our healthcare quality will decline. For Seniors, the threat is even worse – the Obama plan envisions “end of life planning” which is a nice term for euthanasia. “Don’t just sit there, die” is what Democrats are telling our senior citizens and AARP is failing to sound the alarm.)
Facing numbers like these, Mr. Obama is dropping his high-minded rhetoric and instead trying to scare voters. During last week’s news conference, for example, he said that doctors routinely perform unnecessary tonsillectomies on children simply to fatten their wallets. All that was missing was the suggestion that the operations were conducted without anesthesia.
This is not a healthy way to wage a policy debate. It also risks making the president look desperate at a time when his proposals are looking increasingly too expensive for Americans to accept.
Last weekend, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) demolished Mr. Obama’s claims that his plan cuts the growth of future health spending and won’t add to the deficit. Responding to a White House proposal to create an independent panel to recommend Medicare cuts, the CBO said on Saturday that “The probability is high that no savings would be realized” in the next decade, while entitlement spending would rise $1.042 trillion. The CBO did say there might be $2 billion in savings in the second decade of the program—a pittance.
White House Budget Director Peter Orszag shot back at the CBO with a blog posting on the White House’s Web site arguing, “the point of the proposal . . . was never to generate savings over the next decade.” Really? The White House rolled out the proposal hoping to give cover to Blue Dog Democrats in Congress barking about the cost of overhauling health care.
The House version of ObamaCare adds to the deficit even though the new taxes to pay for part of it begin two years before the program itself kicks in. That head start puts ObamaCare in the black through 2013. But net new spending after that overwhelms future revenue to add to the deficit each year.
Keith Hennessey, who was a National Economic Council director for George W. Bush, estimates the annual deficits in Mr. Obama’s plan will grow to $64 billion a year by 2019. And this assumes that Mr. Obama gets all the tax increases and Medicare cuts he wants.
On Sunday, the CBO released another torpedo at the burning hull of USS ObamaCare. Responding to an inquiry by Rep. David Camp (R., Mich.) about whether the House bill would run a deficit in its second decade, the CBO reported it would “probably generate substantial increases in federal budget deficits during the decade beyond the current 10-year budget window.” The CBO does not believe that Mr. Obama’s proposal “bends” health-care spending down, as the president has repeatedly claimed it would. The CBO says it escalates above today’s rate.
By 2029, Mr. Hennessey estimates that new taxes will bring in $143 billion a year, while net new health spending will have increased by $348 billion a year.
Damaging reports from the CBO had earlier provoked some Chicago-style intimidation, with the president summoning CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf to the Oval Office. It’s safe to assume that they didn’t talk about the Chicago White Sox.
Imagine if Mr. Bush had done that after the CBO released numbers that undercut the centerpiece of his domestic agenda. “White House thuggery” and “intimidation” would have been the theme of nearly every editorial writer in the country.
Team Obama’s pressure, however, might have caused the CBO to release its latest missives on a weekend, when fewer people are paying attention to the news.
Mr. Obama’s problem is that nine out of 10 Americans would likely get worse health care if ObamaCare goes through. Of those who do not have insurance—and who therefore might be better off—approximately one-fifth are illegal aliens, nearly three-fifths make $50,000 or more a year and can afford insurance, and just under a third are probably eligible for Medicaid or other government programs already.
For the slice of the uninsured that is left—perhaps about 2% of all American citizens—Team Obama would dismantle the world’s greatest health-care system. That’s a losing proposition, which is why Mr. Obama is increasingly resorting to fear and misleading claims. It’s all the candidate of hope has left.
Mr. Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203609204574316682588517414.html
Banishing Our Friends
The State Department revokes the visas of Honduran officials.
The State Department announced Tuesday that it revoked the diplomatic visas of four Honduran officials because the U.S. doesn’t recognize the interim government of Roberto Micheletti. Hondurans can be forgiven if they recall the bitter Vietnam-era joke that while it can be dangerous to be America’s enemy, it can be fatal to be its friend.
(NOTE: Liberals Democrats such as Obama were not the friends of freedom and real democracy in Central America in the 80s. Democrats opposed US efforts to support freedom loving forces in favor of left wing conspiracies. A Democrat Congress even stripped US military advisers of their weapons. Oliver North stiff-armed liberals and created the Contras which ousted communists from Nicaragua and saved all Central America.)
The U.S. didn’t release the names of the banished, but the Honduran daily El Heraldo said they included the Supreme Court judge who signed the arrest warrant of former president Manuel Zelaya, as well as the president of the National Congress. Honduras is now in the fifth week of a constitutional crisis that was provoked when then-president Zelaya violated the Honduran constitution. He was warned by the attorney general but he persisted and, with support from Hondurans of all political parties, he was arrested and deported on June 28.
Both sides are now in the middle of negotiations mediated by Costa Rican Oscar Arias, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez has been lobbying the U.S. to help his friend, Mr. Zelaya, by pressuring Mr. Micheletti to step down. Perhaps State figured the visa revocations were a way to deliver that pressure, but such one-sided bullying is more likely to build resentment and make it harder to reach a diplomatic solution.
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House Republicans unveil $700B health care plan
RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a $700 billion health care plan that would offer tax credits to help people buy insurance, yet unlike Democratic proposals, wouldn't require either individuals or employers to get coverage.
Some of the ideas in the plan appeal to moderate Democrats, but with Republicans out of power, there's little likelihood their proposal will be enacted. Nonetheless, it will give GOP lawmakers under fire for their opposition to President Barack Obama's plan something positive to point to when they go home for the congressional August break.
"We are introducing this bill because we support health care reform, but in way that empowers patients," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for the House Republican Study Committee. "While the president continues to insist there is appetite for the status quo in Congress, it's not coming from Republicans."
(NOTE: For liberal Democrats claiming the GOP offers no alternative to their government-run healthcare scam, here is an answer. Of course, given the threat to quality care posed by government-run versions, a loud “NO” is a preferred response as well.)
The plan avoids expanding the federal role in overseeing the health insurance industry. Unlike Democratic proposals, it would not set up new federally regulated purchasing pools for individuals and small businesses. Instead, it would allow individuals to use the Internet to purchase lower-cost coverage available anywhere in the country. That idea won't please insurance commissioners from states with strong consumer protections, who have argued it will set off a "race to the bottom" that undermines coverage for those in frail health.
The Republican plan would offer tax deductions and tax credits to help make the purchase of health insurance more affordable for individuals. It would provide grants to states to help set up high-risk pools for people with medical problems who are denied coverage by commercial insurers. And it would allow employers to automatically sign workers up for the company's coverage - similar to what's done with 401(k) retirement plans.
The GOP bill would take on medical malpractice, limiting jury awards for pain and suffering and creating new health courts in which a specially trained judge would hear and decide cases involving medical negligence.
It would give doctors what amounts to veto power over recommendations from a new federal board that's been assigned to compare the benefits of new treatments, tests and medications.
Recommendations from the Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research could not be enacted without the approval of the medical specialty society that would be affected.
Republicans say their plan is fully paid for, but it hasn't been assessed yet by the Congressional Budget Office, the official scorekeeper for the costs of legislation.
It's also unclear how far the plan would go in reducing the number of uninsured, now nearly 50 million. Most independent analysts - and the insurance industry - say some sort of requirement to purchase insurance is needed to ensure coverage.
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http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot
Generic Congressional Ballot
Republicans Remain Ahead on Generic Ballot
Support for Republican and Democratic congressional candidates changed little this week in the latest edition of the Generic Ballot.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 42% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 39% would opt for their Democratic opponent.
Support for Democratic candidates is up one point from last week, while Republican support remains unchanged.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter.
Democratic support on the congressional ballot has ranged from a low of 37% to a high of 50% in the past 12 months. In that same period, Republicans have been preferred by anywhere from 34% to 42% of voters nationwide.
(NOTE: While such polling figures are interesting, history shows they have little ability to reflect elections such as the nation faces in 2010. At the polls, all politics becomes quite local and often voters choose their incumbent – no matter how bad – over new comers who must struggle to gain credibility. None the less, Rasmussen’s figures show a decline in Democrat strength, despite the on-going efforts of our journalistic community which has surrendered its ethics in order to support Obama and liberal Democrats.)
Democrats held a six- or seven-point lead over the GOP for the first several weeks of 2009. That began to slip in early February, and from mid-April through June the parties were roughly even. Republicans have now held a lead on the ballot for five straight weeks.
Men prefer Republicans by a 47% to 34% margin while women favor Democrats 44% to 37%.
Voters not affiliated with either party continue to heavily support the GOP, 41% to 23%.
Representatives from both parties remain at odds over health care reform this week, and new polling shows that 47% of voters are in favor of the reform effort proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats while 49% are opposed. Most voters remain convinced that the reform plan that emerges from Congress will raise costs and hurt the quality of care they receive.
The president held his fourth prime-time press conference last Wednesday intending to focus on health care reform, but the message was overshadowed by his response to a question the incident involving a white Cambridge, Massachusetts policeman and a black Harvard professor. Just 26% of voters say Obama did a good or excellent job answering the question.
The president’s job approval ratings have fallen since release of a disappointing jobs report in early July. But 54% of voters still blame the recession that began under the Bush administration for the current problems of the economy.
Rasmussen polling also finds that 40% of voters think the president holds too many press conferences, while 47% say he’s held the right amount so far.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, remains America’s best-known – and least-liked - congressional leader.
Following a week of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, 43% of the nation’s likely voters favor the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor while 39% are opposed. After weeks of media attention, the Supreme Court earns its highest performance ratings from voters in over two years.
When it comes to the U.S. auto industry, 46% of Americans say they are more likely to purchase a Ford vehicle because it did not receive a bailout from the federal government. Ford’s favorability ratings remain steady, while those for General Motors and Chrysler, who received bailouts, fell.
A Rasmussen video report shows that despite the struggles of the auto industry, it is still important to the economy as a whole.
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How the GOP wants to fix health care
Rep. Tom Price
Thursday marks the anniversary of the most significant piece of health care legislation in our nation’s history. It was on this day in 1965 that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law, ensuring government health care for seniors. Forty-four years later, Congress is debating another monumental act that may affect the health coverage of every American.
Contrary to what the president has tried to convince the American people of, while we oppose his misguided ideas, Republicans are committed to positive health reform. No one in Congress finds the status quo acceptable.
Having practiced medicine for more than two decades, I personally know that the status quo must not stand. Whether coming from the federal government or an insurance company, the third-party decision making that drives our health care delivery system is increasingly distancing patients from quality care.
Going down the path of more government will only compound the problem. While the stated goal remains noble, as a physician, I can attest that nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government’s intrusion into medicine through Medicare.
Because of Washington’s one-size-fits-all approach, its flawed coverage rules and broken financing mechanisms, seniors are increasingly having care rationed while federal health spending spirals out of control.
And though newly eligible Medicare patients struggle even to find a doctor who can accept them, the president appears immovable in his belief that what is needed to fix health care is more government involvement. His proposal can only be described as a government takeover of health care.
From a government-run plan that will eviscerate private insurance to prescriptive coverage regulations that require all plans to meet a government definition of care to bureaucratic boards that will decide which treatments are appropriate and who is eligible, the proposal before the House would hand over to Washington nearly every decision that should be made by patients and their physicians.
Put simply, the president’s vision of reform would do irreparable harm to an American health care system that, for all its faults, provides the world’s greatest care.
(NOTE: We repeat, the healthcare debate is a matter of choice – whether we choose quality care, or choose to surrender that quality by accepting Obama’s “healthcare on the cheap”. Congressman Price is a physician. He knows the facts. Now, so do you.)
To build support, the president continues to hang his hat on a false choice, asserting that Americans are doomed to either the status quo or a government takeover of health care. Yet there is a third way that puts patients in charge. We can achieve reform that lowers costs and ensures the highest quality of care without handing over personal medical decisions to unaccountable bureaucrats.
Thursday, the Republican Study Committee has introduced legislation to positively reform our health system. The Empower Patients First Act relies on the principle that, by increasing patients’ control over their health decisions, we will make coverage more affordable, accessible and responsive, while offering more choices and the highest-quality care.
The bill seeks to achieve universal coverage by ensuring there is no financial reason to go without health insurance. By offering responsible tax incentives, patients will be empowered to purchase the care that best fits their needs.
The legislation also moves ownership of health plans from a third party to patients. When insurers are forced to be responsive to individuals, we will see the industry move to a more patient-centered model we should all seek.
Further, the bill provides for robust pooling mechanisms so patients may unite with the purchasing power of millions. This will lower costs for Americans while ensuring those with pre-existing conditions have a market in which to purchase affordable care.
As cost continues to be a sticking point in reform, the Empower Patients First Act tackles other drivers of health costs by breaking down barriers that outlaw the purchase of health care across state lines and by providing meaningful liability reform. With the creation of new health courts that take into consideration the expert opinions of medical specialty societies — those who actually know what caring for patients is like — we will see a dramatic drop in the costly practice of defensive medicine.
Finally, with federal deficits spiraling out of control, our legislation is paid for. By requiring a 1 percent annual step-down in discretionary spending, plus other efficiencies, we tell Americans that providing access to quality, affordable health care should be a priority in our budget, not just one more thing added to the deficit.
While the president will no doubt continue to put up straw men whom he can finger as promoting the status quo, it is important to appreciate that real, positive reform will take place only if we can have an honest dialogue. The Republican Study Committee has offered a solution that American patients can support. We only hope the president will drop the false choices and pick up some of our common-sense ideas.
Rep. Tom Price of Georgia is chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Before being elected to Congress, he practiced orthopedic surgery for nearly 25 years.
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