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October 13, 2009
Senate Committee Approves Health Overhaul Bill ( Socialized Medicine )
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The vote was 14-9, with Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine the only Republican to join the 13 Democrats on the panel. Ms. Snowe indicated earlier in the day that she would support the measure.
The Senate Finance panel, led by Chairman Max Baucus, becomes the last of five congressional panels to act on a health-overhaul bill, and it marks the biggest step forward yet for President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. The Baucus-proposed 10-year, $829 billion plan would require all Americans to purchase insurance and aims to hold down spiraling medical costs over the long term.
Senate committee approves health overhaul bill
Barack Obama's plan to remake the nation's health care system is about to take its biggest step yet toward becoming reality.
A pivotal Senate committee has approved a sweeping remake of the country's health care system, delivering a long-sought boost to President Barack Obama's goal of expanding coverage.
The 14-9 vote in the Senate Finance Committee sets up a historic debate on the Senate floor and moves health care overhaul closer to reality than it has been for decades.
Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine was the only Republican to join 13 committee Democrats in voting "yes."
The 10-year, $829-billion plan approved Tuesday is aimed at extending coverage to millions more Americans, holding down costs and improving health care for all.
The Finance Committee was the last of five congressional committees to act. It produced a centrist-leaning compromise bill.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON
Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe broke with her party Tuesday and said she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, handing President Barack Obama a much-sought boost in his quest to expand access to medical coverage to all Americans.
Approval of the legislation by the Senate Finance Committee was a foregone conclusion going into Tuesday's vote, since Democrats outnumber Republicans 13-10 on the panel. But Snowe's decision gave the vote a significance that transcends partisan divisions. For months, congressional Republicans have been virtually unanimous in denouncing the Democratic bills as an unwarranted expansion of government influence.
The Maine senator kept virtually all of Washington guessing about how she would vote until she announced it late in the Senate Finance Committee debate Tuesday. She told her colleagues she has misgivings about the bill, but "when history calls, history calls."
Democrats, aware that Snowe could be the only Republican in Congress to vote for their health care overhaul, have spent months addressing her concerns about making health care affordable and how to pay for it.
"Ours is a balanced plan that can pass the Senate," declared Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. Health care legislation is expected to be on the Senate floor the week after next, said a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who must combine the Finance version with a more liberal proposal from the health committee.
The expected approval by Baucus' committee would push a remake of the U.S. health care system closer to reality than it has been in decades. Four other congressional committees finished their work before August and for months all eyes have been on the Finance panel, the one whose moderate makeup most closely resembles the Senate as a whole.
The committee's centrist legislation is also seen as the best building block for a compromise plan that could find favor on the Senate floor. But nearly unanimous opposition from Republicans means a tough battle lies ahead.
Baucus' 10-year, $829-billion plan would, for the first time, require most Americans to purchase insurance and it also aims to hold down spiraling medical costs over the long term. Questions persist about whether it would truly provide access to affordable coverage, particularly for self employed people with solid middle class incomes.
Much work would lie ahead before a bill could arrive on Obama's desk, but action by the Finance Committee would mark a significant advance, capping numerous delays as Baucus held marathon negotiating sessions — ultimately unsuccessful — aimed at producing a bipartisan bill.
The Finance Committee's top Republican, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, gave voice to the GOP's concerns about the bill, saying it was "moving on a slippery slope to more and more government control of health care."
"There's a lot in this bill that's just a consensus that needs to be done, but there are other provisions of this bill that raise a lot of questions," Grassley said, contending the legislation would mean higher costs for Americans.
One of the biggest unanswered questions is whether the legislation would slow punishing increases in the nation's health care costs, particularly for the majority who now have coverage through employers. The insurance industry insists it would shift new costs onto those who have coverage.
Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf, under questioning by Republican senators, acknowledged that the bill's total impact on the nation's health care costs is still unknown. The CBO has been able to establish that the legislation would reduce federal government deficits, but Elmendorf said his staff has not had time to evaluate its effects on privately insured people. Government programs pay about half the nation's annual $2.5 trillion health care tab.
Once the Finance Committee has acted, the dealmaking can begin in earnest with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., working with White House staff, Baucus and others to blend the Finance bill with a more liberal version passed by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Baucus' bill includes consumer protections such as limits on copays and deductibles and relies on federal subsidies to help lower-income families purchase coverage. Insurance companies would have to take all comers, and people could shop for insurance within new state marketplaces called exchanges.
Medicaid would be expanded, and though employers wouldn't be required to cover their workers, they'd have to pay a penalty for each employee who sought insurance with government subsidies. The bill is paid for by cuts to Medicare providers and new taxes on insurance companies and others.
Unlike the other health care bills in Congress, Baucus' would not allow the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies, a divisive element sought by liberals.
Last-minute changes made subsidies more generous and softened the penalties for those who don't comply with a proposed new mandate for everyone to buy insurance. The latter change drew the ire of the health insurance industry, which said that without a strong and enforceable requirement, not enough people would get insured and premiums would jump for everyone else.
A major question mark for Reid's negotiations is whether he will include some version of a so-called public plan in the merged bill. Across the Capitol, House Democratic leaders are working to finalize their bill, which does contain a public plan, and floor action is expected in both chambers in coming weeks. If passed, the legislation would then go to a conference committee to reconcile differences.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after Senate Finance Committee Democrats approved legislation that will increase health care premiums, raise taxes, cut seniors’ Medicare benefits, destroy jobs, and jeopardize the health coverage Americans have today:
“The American people want reform, not a trillion-dollar experiment that increases taxes on families and small businesses, cuts Medicare benefits for seniors, and jeopardizes the health coverage that millions have today. This bill specifically violates President Obama’s promise not to increase taxes for Americans who earn less than $250,000. That is another reason middle-class families and small businesses asking ‘where are the jobs?’ during this economic recession oppose this bill.
“Americans want lower health care costs and greater access to quality health insurance, but that’s not what this bill does. It puts us on the path to government-run health care and will lead to higher premiums, higher taxes, fewer jobs, and fewer benefits for seniors at a price tag our nation cannot afford. That’s exactly what the American people don’t want.
“Republicans have offered common-sense solutions to lower health care costs and increase access to affordable insurance – all without destroying jobs, exploding the deficit, or putting bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions that should be made by doctors and patients. It’s time for Democrats to scrap all of these big government-run plans and work with Republicans to make health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans.”
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Wild Thing's comment......
“On to fascism, folks” El Rushbo said in closing his show, today.
So, if it was 14-9 why was her vote even needed?
Looks like 13-10 was enough to pass the committee.
This woman is such a turncoat. She should be drummed out of the party. Go ahead Olympia, become a democRAT....you’re a RAT already. Snowe said she didn’t support the bill but voted for it to get the discussion going....how nuts.
ONE republican vote is all the media needs to run with “Bipartisan” and that is all you will hear. She is a vile Traitor!
This monstrosity is going to get crammed down our throats. The whole legislative process is just some sort of farcical aquatic ceremony, ignoring that supreme political power derives from a mandate of the people. Or something like that.
I digress. It’s clear that the Washington political elite and the Byzantine interests that bribe them no longer care about America or it’s people.
We’re SO SCREWED! Lett me think a minute here. OK..... This will cause a 2010 election backlash like we've never seen. That is the silver lining in this very dark cloud.
It could so be reversed ( mayeb!)???) , re-privatized, so to speak, and we will have voted in the people who will have the numbers to do it. This is a huge political mistake for the Democrats, as the reaction in the polls will soon show. Heck I don't know anymore. AUGH!
This is far from over. This piece of crap in the Senate may collapse on its own weight. It is hated by both the left and the right. The RATS have numeric authority to govern in both chambers, but they have no mandate and no consensus on how to govern.
The Constitution was designed to maximize and defend individual freedom for the people and to place strict limitations on the powers of government. Nowhere in the Constitution will you find the enumerated power authorizing the central government to "provide" insurance of any kind for the people. Likewise, you will find no enumerated power to mandate or force the people to purchase an insurance contract or to face fines, taxes or penalties for not doing so.
Posted by Wild Thing at October 13, 2009 03:30 PM
Comments
"...It could so be reversed ( maybe!)???) , re-privatized, so to speak..."
Anything done by a person or a group of people can be undone by another person or group of people.
Unfortunateley there are a lot of stupid peple in this country. BUT, between the "youth" vote and the "black" vote not as enthusiastic about this election, and with the Senior Citizens getting pissed off; we might have a sporting chance.
I'm just sick of the whole BS argument that we (the government) have to do something about this. People get pissed at the DMV, the Post Office, and the IRS; yet they want the gubmint to provide them free health CCCPare. Dumb bastards.
Snowe is one of those uppity liberal damn yankee RINOs. This is why I don't want to live north of the Mason-Dixon Line. It must be the cold that turns you into one of these a$$holes. This is also why I don't like people coming down from up north into Texas because they're not here to assimilate into the Great Texas Culture they're here to get richer and push their elitist yankee agenda on us, but I digress.
Posted by: JohnE PFC U.S. Army at October 13, 2009 04:46 PM
Just another reason to throw all the sons of bitches out of office.
Mitch McConnell said, "The fact is, this proposal will never come before the Senate. But what we do know is that the bill written behind closed doors here in the Capitol will be another 1,000-page, trillion-dollar Washington takeover. We know it will slash a half-trillion dollars from seniors’ Medicare, add new taxes and raise premiums. That’s not reform.”
So the "cheap" price of 800 Billion will be what the public sees in print but will be paying a different price tag than advertised.
Medicare WILL BE CUT BY $400 BILLION DOLLARS. The AARP can stick it up their asses.
Posted by: Mark at October 13, 2009 06:02 PM
They wanted her vote so they could call it non-partisan. They way the MSM can make the American Public think Republicans voted for it.
Posted by: BobF at October 13, 2009 06:04 PM
My husband's union newsletter came out with a message from the business manager on the front page about Health Care "Reform" that smears Beck and Rush.
As soon as it's online I may need some help exposing this union's WH propaganda. I'm just in shock they are so bold.
Excerpt:
"The President is in the process of solving it (health care) but you wouldn't think so if you listen to Beck, Rush and some of (not all) the other talk show types. Listen to who you want but none of the fear mongers have a cure or an answer. They never do; they seek to create doubt. Doubt causes inaction = problem perpetuated. There is a real fear that our President will succeed at this and that really makes you wonder about the motives. The motives can't add up to good for America as there is more airing out of the issues; we see more of the nonsense for what it is."
If you are in a union, fight back against this kind of disinformation at your expense.
Posted by: Eden at October 13, 2009 06:26 PM
People like her are the reason I just toss my RNC mail. I'll wait until individual races need my money and time. I don't need to fund RNC's What's Up site for RINO's and the easily entertained. I hope she loses her committee.
Posted by: Eden at October 13, 2009 06:30 PM
I was hoping that RINO's were becoming extinct---she has me thinking of a Safari to think out the growing herd.
Posted by: Ron Russell at October 13, 2009 06:33 PM
Spell check on above---meant to say thin and not think, not quite the same.
Posted by: Ron Russell at October 13, 2009 06:34 PM
Eden I am sorry for your rude awakening. And WE have argued about this before. Its a tough way to find out.
The Union today is nothing but left wing socialists. They could care less about the country just filling their coffers with Union dues and any other money they can steal. The Union wants its membership to be nothing more than yes-men and women, follow and don't ask questions, or willing useful idiots.
They hate Rush and glenn because they dare to expose these commie rats, and question what and why they are doing in the white house and this will help kill the Union's golden goose. And money and power is what they are all about.
Posted by: Mark at October 13, 2009 07:04 PM
Mark, I was already awake. I have never defended his union. The only thing I've ever said is the members have voiced against this type of thing. Obviously, the don't give a crap. My husband is smart, he has known about this attitude forever, but he says most of the guys he works with don't have a clue about any of this. So this is just more propaganda right there on front of the rest of their bullshit newsletter. I'm not just throwing it away this time. I've been pushing him to run for area business manager, but he'd probably just be frustrated. The corruption is deep and long.
Posted by: Eden at October 13, 2009 08:14 PM
Eden, if you and your husband get medical through his union, you better check his contract stating this. Many union folks are waking up to the fact that if Nationalized Health Care takes effect, they are effectively put into that system. This will save the union officials millions and put you into the same system that people who never worked a day in their lives get. That's why union leadership is all for the Nationalized Health Care. Hmmm, I'm wondering what they plan on doing with those millions they save?
Posted by: BobF at October 13, 2009 10:05 PM
Thank you everyone so much for your input and
also the information.
Thank you Eden for sharing about the propaganda
too, I apprecaite it.
All of your comments mean a lot to me, this is
really ticking me off. The many to have to go
through this crap for just a few. GRRRRR
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 14, 2009 03:16 AM
Bob--YOU ARE SO RIGHT! That is exactly what my first thoughts were. I'm not letting this go. Going to work on a handout for my husband to give his brotherhood with the real facts on it.
Thanks WT and everyone
Posted by: Eden at October 14, 2009 07:33 AM
