Category: Legislation

I’ll Believe it When I See It

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So, the House Republicans are now claiming that they will be floating out their own healthcare reform program “really soon now”:

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives plan to offer an alternative to Democrats’ massive healthcare reform bill that would not raise taxes or require people or businesses to buy health insurance, the House Republican leader said on Sunday.

It’s not gonna happen.

First, the Republicans are simply too invested in “No”, and second, their proposal will have to hew to the ideology of their caucus, which will make it so absolutely appalling that it will send Blue Dogs gibbering to demand a public option,

Not….

Gonna….

Happen….

Ron Paul Says Fed Audit Legislation is Gutted

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If this is true, then it is very bad news, but seeing as how Ron Paul’s goal is to destroy the Fed, I’ll wait until I see a statement from someone who is less whack-a-doodle wingnuttish.

Here is what Paul said:

Paul, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said Mel Watt, a Democrat from North Carolina, has eliminated “just about everything” while preparing the legislation for formal consideration. Watt is chairman of the panel’s domestic monetary policy and technology subcommittee.

I just put a call into Representative Alan Grayson’s office, he is a co-sponsor of the bill, but there is no statement from him about this yet.

What Atrios Said

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As Atrios notes, the idea that some “moderate Democrats” are pushing for, a Bipartisan commission to propose spending cuts and tax hikes, is really, really, Really, REALLY stupid.

First, there are no Republicans on the national level who will support any new taxes, and second, look at the “Democrats” who are supporting this.

According to the article, a “group of 10 senators — nine moderate Democrats and an independent,” so and so the article definitively fingers the following people:

  • Senator Evan Bayh
  • Senator Kent Conrad
  • Senator Joe Lieberman (Not explicitly named in the article, but note the quote, it sure as hell ain’t Bernie Sanders.)

MY comment, if you are serious about cutting the deficit, place a Tobin Tax on financial transactions, you raise money, reduce the deficit, reduce speculation for its own sake, and punish the banks.

That’s a win-win-win-win scenario.

Details on Healthcare Bill

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PDF link to house bill. (1990 pages)

I don’t read that fast, but here is a my summary based on reading the Wonk Room’s summaries:

  • Bill won’t really phase in until 2013 (stupid, you need the benefits to become apparent sooner, rather than later).
  • Adds a high risk pool for the time between the enactment and when the benefits kick in.
  • Public option is not the “strong” (based on Medicare reimbursement) option.
  • Requires large (how large?) employers to provide health insurance.
  • Makes the medicare doctor reimbursement permanent, eliminating the annual reimbursement rate Kabuki in the Congress.
  • Kills insurer antitrust exemption.

It’s better than anything likely to come out of the Senate.

Breaking: House Dems Announce Their Bill

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Listening on CSPAN.

Pelosi is giving her House leadership is giving their press conference on the steps of the Capitol.

Pelosi:
10: 38 am — Will close “Doughnut Hole” on prescription drugs.

10: 39 am — Will have public option and end preexisting condition exclusion.

Hoyer:
10: 39 am — No specifics

Other folks:
10: 46 am — Carole Shea Porter brings out the “Petting Zoo”: a medicare recipient from New Hampshire to talk about Doughnut hole.

10: 49 am — Doughnut hole will be phased out between 2010 through 2019.

10: 52 am — More “petting zoo” with a small business owner.

James Clyburn:
10: 56 am — Just introduces Mary Joe Kilroy, who has MS.

10: 52 am — Changes on caps, pre-existing conditions, etc.

11:03 am — More petting zoo.

11:11 am — We’re just into soundbites now, bye.

Make the Giants Pay for the Failed Giants

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I like this.

It appears that theHouse Financial Services Committee has gotten to work on a resolution (i.e. liquidation) process for failed mega-banks, and at its core is the idea that financial firms with more than $10 billion in assets would pay for the cost of unwinding failed firms:

The proposal would require financial firms with more than $10 billion of assets to pay for the unwinding of a collapsed competitor. The measure would also give the Federal Reserve the power to direct any large financial holding company to sell or transfer assets or stop certain activities if the central bank determined there could be a “threat to the safety and soundness of such company or to the financial stability of the United States.” This suggests the Fed would win new authority to order companies to shrink.

It’s a good step, though I really don’t want this under the Fed.

They have already proved themselves to be completely captured by Wall Street.

House Moves Against Insurance Company

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We have the House Judiciary Committee voting to strip insurance companies of their antitrust exemption, and the the House leadership is aggressively pushing an expansive model for the public option for health insurance.

This may very well be a winner. I would note that 3 ‘Phants crossed aisle in the HJC vote to strip the antitrust exemption, which is an indication of how unpopular the insurance companies have become.

When ¼ of the Republican members committee of the “party of no” vote for this, it is an indication of just how unpopular they are.

I am still not optimistic about the prospect for meaningful healthcare reform, but I am more optimistic, and is largely because the Democrats have largely found their feet, largely on the (largely true) message that insurance companies are evil.

Congress Passes Hate Crimes Legislation

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Obama is expected to sign it.

One surprise:

The 68-29 vote was a victory for civil rights groups that have long sought to expand the federal statute beyond attacks motivated by religion, race, color or national origin.

The bill, which President Obama is expected to sign, includes penalties for assaults based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, disability or gender identity.

(emphasis mine)

For some reason, I thought that disability was already a protected class.

In fact, Sharon,* who does special ed consulting and advocacy, thought that the disabled were already a protected class too.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

Yet More Fed Ass Covering

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Gee, I guess that they aren’t done with trying to pretend that they care about the ordinary folks, because the Federal Reserve has now issued pay guidelines for banks, allegedly in an attempt to reduce risk.

I’ve had multipule posts about the Fed doing this so that they can keep or expand their regulatory purview, including that essay that I sent to the WaPo, and they just keep doing it.

Well, at least it makes my essay that much more timely.

Congress Passes Limits on Military Aid to Pakistan

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Basically, after the clusterf%$# that was support for Pervez Musharraf and His Evil Minions™ by George W. Bush and His Evil Minions™, where military aid to Pakistan went to parts unknown, Congress has placed restrictions on military aid to ensure that it will go to fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda, and not to building up the military for a war with India…And yes, maybe it will reduce graft a bit too:

Military payments to Pakistan must be in the interests of U.S. national security and mustn’t “affect the balance of power in the region,” according to a provision attached to the defense authorization bill passed yesterday by the Senate.

The restriction comes as the Pakistani army continues its biggest offensive against militants in the northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where 28,000 soldiers have been deployed to fight guerrillas blamed for 80 percent of terrorist attacks in the country.

It’s about fracking time that we made it clear to Pakistan that we would not be supporting another useless and bloody war with India.

No Balls

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The word is that the Senate version of the healthcare reform bill will have the public option, but only if Barack Obama actually asks for it:

There is a growing sense on Capitol Hill that the White House’s refusal to weigh in more forcefully in the health care debate could come at the cost of a public option for insurance coverage.

Democratic aides said that a “handful” of senators who are skeptical of a public plan likely could be persuaded if not to support it then at least to oppose a Republican filibuster, if the administration were to apply a bit more pressure — or even guidance.

(emphasis mine)

Barack Obama has two problems here:

  • He is desperate to sign something, anything, as in keep him away from toilet paper, into law that he can call “healthcare reform”.
  • He still wants everyone, including the Republicans, to like him.

So he is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory because he does not have the guts to even try to win, even though it appears that Harry Reid is pretty much begging him for some backup on the public option.

I know that it is only 9 months into his term, but it’s already screaming “1 term wonder” in my ear.

Punk’d

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Click for full size

Yes, Man, the Main Stream Media Just Ate it Up

So it looks like the the activist/guerrilla theater team, the Yes Men, along with the Avaaz Action Factory, hoaxed the main stream media by getting them to cover a phony press release,and phony press conference, where the chamber reversed themselves on CO2/global warming legislation, saying that, “Without a stable climate, there will be no business.” (see also here and here)

And about the only thing that could make this episode more cruelly embarrassing for the US Chamber of Commerce? Why, that would be demanding a for a criminal investigation of the hoax, which, of course, is exactly what the chamber is doing:

“We will be asking law enforcement authorities to investigate this event. Beyond that, the Chamber will simply continue to focus on a positive vision for getting people back to work and growing our economy.”

So, Major Pwn36e* followed up by self Pwn36e*, but that’s not all:

The U.S. Chamber is the world’s largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

Ummm….You are only over-reporting your membership by a factor of 10, as has been revealed by numerous sources, and stipulated as true by the Chamber itself.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of running-dog Republican lackeys.

*Ownage.

You Can Take the Clue Train

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Someone else can filk the rest of the song, but it appears that even the Blue dogs are starting to get a clue:

At this moment, all Democratic politicians, even the most conservative, are realizing that their voters will blame them, not the insurance companies, if the policies the voters are required to buy are so expensive that premiums consume over 20 percent of those voters’ annual incomes. Suddenly, more generous tax subsidies to cover middle-class premiums seem like a good idea. And if the public option can bring down the cost of premiums those subsidies have to pay for, then the overall size of the reform price tag can be kept under control – a long time demand of moderate Democrats.

(emphasis mine)

Yeah. It took a while, but the Blue Dogs now realize that most people hate their insurance companies.

Hoocoodanode?