Update: Health Care Action Alert: Call Your Critters!!!
Update: Here is the timeline, they are trying to do it before reconciliation under the budget expires AND before they come home to face us for Easter recess...Ive heard of Christmas and Easter Catholics but Christmas and Easter CongressCritters? frakkers…
…John Lawrence, chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, told health care activists in a conference call Friday that Congress needed to act before the Easter recess, or they could see a repeat of the tumultuous August break. Only this time, Republicans will use reconciliation to characterize the party as “shoving it down our throats,” Lawrence said, according to notes provided by a person on the call….
Having lived through the Democratic primaries as an HRC supporter, when Hillary kept winning the big electoral state primaries and Obama kept swiping caucuses, only to have the Dem leadership push Obama as ‘the candidate’ again and again and again, I am sadly not SHOCKED! that these fools are on a kamikaze mission on health care…that is the whole problem with this group, they have no ‘off’ switch, no ‘self-preservation’ mode….why?
four words for you…Nancy Pelosi and Andy Stern.
IMO Nancy Pelosi helped ‘select’ Obama and Andy Stern (SEIU) funded him and proivded the busloads of ‘caucus’ voters and rally crowds coast to coast.
They are calling in the debt IMO and this is why Obama will not listen to Rahm and do the scaled down bill.
PLEASE CALL YOUR CRITTERS. Let them know reconciliation is not an option the American people accept on this massive bill that we have said N-O to, over and over and over again.
WSJ covers the arrogance of these pseudo intellectual, social engineering, elitist toolz here.
Obama actually appointed Stern to his ‘deficit reduction commission’, pffft!!! Does he think we are BLIND or what??
Charlie Cook: health care reform is Obama’s Iraq War…
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The video of the interview we covered here. Everyone can see reality except the Democratic leadership. BUY A CLUE CRITTERS! No means No!
Update: Agenda released; Health care: list of GOP Senators who will attend *Thursday’s* WH PR event released…
Update 3: Jon Kyl R-AZ talks about what he expects at Thursday’s dog and pony show:
PoliticoPulse has the agenda up:
The agenda:
1. Discussion:
a. The President will offer opening comments, followed by Republican and Democratic Members chosen by their colleagues.
b. They’ll then move to discussions around four themes:
i. Controlling costs – introduced by the President
ii. Insurance reforms – introduced by Secretary Sebelius
iii. Reducing the deficit – introduced by the Vice President
iv. Expanding coverage – introduced by the President
2. Logistics
a. Participants will be seated at tables in a hollow square setup. They’ll be identified with name cards.
b. There will be a leadership staff walk-through on Wednesday afternoon.
3. Timing
a. The meeting will begin at 10:00 am and run until about 4:00 pm.
b. There will be a break for lunch. Buffet lunch will be provided for guests.
4. Attendance
a. Not all participants have been named by leadership. We’ll make the full list available as soon as it’s final.
Update 2: TPMDC has the list of Senate Dems:
The Senate Democrats attending the meeting were also announced this week: Sens. Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Patty Murray, Max Baucus, Chris Dodd, Tom Harkin, Jay Rockefeller and Kent Conrad….
Sounds like a group that can more than hold their own on the issue, Grassley was part of the endless Baucus wrangling, as was Kyl, Barasso and Coburn are M.D.s, Enzi has been wrangling the bill on the HELP Cmte for a year also,…
KJLo at TheCorner has it:
Mitch McConnell just released the names of the senators joining him at the health-care summit on Thursday:
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Senate Republican Whip
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Senate Republican Conference Chairman
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Ranking Member Senate Finance Committee
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Ranking Member Senate Help Committee
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., HELP Committee
Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D., R-Okla., HELP Committee
Sen. John Barrasso, M.D.,R-Wyo.
Update: Scott Brown: People on the Street
Update: from the TeaPartyPatriots:
Here are a number of ways you can help Scott Brown win:
If you have friends in Massachusetts, tell them how important this election is and ask them to get out to vote for Scott Brown on January 19th.
If you can afford a small donation, make one. If you can afford a larger donation, consider that. You can donate at the campaign website at http://www.brownforussenate.com/ .
If you can volunteer there are a number of options:
For most Rhode Islanders, the Scott Brown campaign office in Wrentham is closest. Please contact Jeff Trainor (202 680 8945 Jeff@brownforussenate.com ) to sign up for phone banking, door-to-door work and other tasks at their headquarters at 29 Franklin St., Wrentham, MA.
Rhode Islanders who live in its southeastern areas- particularly near route 24- may find the Scott Brown office in Middleborough closer. Please contact Josh Daniels
(301 996 1534 Joshua@brownforussenate.com ) to sign up for phone banking, door-to-door work and other tasks at their headquarters at 9 Clayton Road, Middleborough, MA. The need for volunteers is greater at the Middleborough office than the Wrentham location given that the former is just now being put into operation.If you would like to help with the phone bank work but would rather work from home, you can access the phone banking “engine” from the Scott Brown website as follows: Go to http://www.brownforussenate.com/ ; and from there, there is a rectangular “sign” in the bottom right part of the screen that cycles through three options. One of them is “Call From Home” that gives you the link to sign up. Once your information is accepted by the system, instructions for doing the calling from home will be emailed to you.
David Anderson (401 793 0421 dvapol@yahoo.com ) is the contact person for Rhode Islanders seeking additional information about how to help. If you need a ride to a Scott Brown campaign office, he may be able to arrange a car pool.
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kewlin’. These are the people in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood…
MASS Senate Race: Scott Brown GOP candidate
Martha is not giving interviews or debating….we will post the CT Senate candidates interviews that Kudlow did this week on Saturday…
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Courtesy of mghoft:
Republican Scott Brown was on with Sean Hannity tonight to discuss the Massachusetts Senate Race on January 19th. Brown said he would be the 41st vote against Obamacare. He says he would stop it.
WH and Big Pharma win, consumers lose: RX Reimportation Amendment voted down in Senate by ‘progressive’ Democrats Durbin, Schumer, Kerry, Reid, Burris, Rockefeller…
The SINGLE cost saving item for Americans in this horror show of a health care bill was just killed by the progressive Democratic Senators. Remember come 2010/2012, these Democrats and this WH ARE THE STATUS QUO. No change here. DOZENS of REPUBLICANS votes AYE! Nice commercials for the elections. For those keeping score:
HOUSING: Banks batting a thousand, homeowners a big zero (78B allocated from TARP, 3 million defaults (now 4.8 million), but only 31,000 mods).
HEALTH CARE: Insurers/big Pharma happy as pigs in shxt, American consumers facing higher costs, mandates and no ‘choice and competition’ plus the kick to the deficit.
SMALL BUSINESS LENDING: Again banks laugh at POTUS, Gasparino in the NYPost today reported that Obama schmoozed the bankers when the cameras left. No loans being made, bonuses back on track for the big banks.
EMPLOYMENT: Need we go there? Ginormous stimulus payoff to who? No one knows but it sure as shxt didnt create a million jobs, or even a verifiable half a million jobs.
…Bunches of Democrats have decided to vote against this in the past few roll calls, this is going to be extremely close.
Senators are huddled around the desk tabulating the votes, this is one of those where the outcome is not pre-determined. Dick Durbin has a panicked look on his face.
…A late move toward the no side could deny this the needed 60 votes. They just got Lieberman to vote against it, along with luminaries like Kerry, Schumer, Reid, Durbin, Burris and Rockefeller.
…Lautenberg’s amendment has passed the Senate four separate times. It clearly kills re-importation because we haven’t seen any. This defeat of the Dorgan amendment is simply being done to preserve a corrupt deal.
Yeas 51, nays 48. Dorgan amendment does not pass….
UPDATE from FDL:
…Roll call on the Dorgan Amendment is here. The White House had to line up 31 no votes from the Democratic caucus to kill this….
Update: Video – GOP wants gag order removed; CBO tells Senate panel Humana is right & TOTUS is wrong (lies?!): Medicare Advantage benefits will be reduced under Baucus Bill…
Doug Elmendorf still hanging tough and telling the truth. I love this guy. He says today yes Medicare Advantage benefits are likely to be reduced. Gee guess Humana is in good company with CBO on their mailer then aren’t they? CMS and HHS better back the hexx off Humana then.
“It is wholly inappropriate for insurance companies to mislead seniors regarding any subject—particularly on a subject as important to them, and to the nation, as health-care reform,” Mr. Baucus said in a statement yesterday, playing the role of Congressional censor. “The health-care reform bill we released last week strengthens Medicare and does not cut benefits covered under the Medicare program—and seniors need to know that.”
In fact, the Baucus draft legislation slashes $123 billion over the next decade from Medicare Advantage, which Democrats hate despite the fact that almost one-fourth of beneficiaries have chosen it over traditional fee-for-service Medicare. One reason seniors like it is because private insurers focus on quality and preventive care and try to manage benefits, as opposed to simply paying bills.
100 BILLION they plan to cut from Medicare Advantage. OF COURSE the plans will drop out and/or cut bennies. So no more eye exam or hearing exam for you Granny! Tell your Seniors!
Congress’ chief budget officer is contradicting President Barack Obama’s oft-stated claim that seniors wouldn’t see their Medicare benefits cut under a health care overhaul.The head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf, told senators Tuesday that seniors in Medicare’s managed care plans would see reduced benefits under a bill in the Finance Committee.
The bill would cut payments to the Medicare Advantage plans by more than $100 billion over 10 years.
Elmendorf said the changes would reduce the extra benefits that would be made available to beneficiaries.
*Fleetwood Mac courtesy of MusicSWrock
When is an insurance mandate not a tax? When Obama says so!
On ABC’s “This Week,” George Stephanopoulos has a pretty testy exchange with Obama over whether the individual mandate is a tax increase. The president insists it is not.
Obama: “For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it’s saying is, is that we’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase. … George, you — you can’t just make up that language and decide that that’s called a tax increase.”
Stephanopoulos: “I don’t think I’m making it up. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Tax — ‘a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.'”
Obama: “George, the fact that you looked up Merriam’s Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you’re stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to the
dictionary to check on the definition”Stephanopoulos: “But you reject that it’s a tax increase?”
Obama: “I absolutely reject that notion.”
Here TOTUS ‘lashes out’ at Hill for her MANDATE! FORCE INDIVIDUALS TO PURCHASE HEALTH CARE, Sounds familiar, it is Obamas current plan that is why…
So all throughout the Dem primaries Obama kept flailing away at Hill for her MANDATE. He called it a penalty- a tax- a fine- a wage garnishment. This morning on George Snuggleupagus he says it is NOT A TAX (anymore apparently lol)..
Do you feel ‘brought together’ yet? KUMBAYAH…..
Negotiating behind closed doors like he did with PhaRma? NOTHING ON CSPAN BUDDY!
More on ‘transparency’ from the guy who had CLOSED DOOR DEALS with Big Pharma – 2007:
Moderate in the Middle 