July 24, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
House Speaker John Boehner appears to be under attack from an intransigent House Republican caucus that will not allow him to retain any credible leadership if he agrees to a debt and deficit reduction plan that includes any tax increases of any kind. While select Republicans in the Senate agree with the deficit commission recommendations and the Gang of Six proposal—which recognizes the need to increase revenues to deal with escalating deficits—, radicals refuse to agree to any compromise.
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January 3, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The 112th Congress will be officially sworn in on Wednesday, and its work will be fraught with challenges and controversies from the very first. On Wednesday, for instance, the House of Representatives will vote on a rules change that will allow Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan to dictate spending priorities and caps to the entire House and Senate, by disallowing any revision of his rewrite guidelines, should the two chambers fail to reach agreement on a budget resolution. Issues like raising the debt ceiling, implementing START, mortgage and foreclosure reform and expanding medical coverage, will all pit liberal against conservative in a split Congress.
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June 29, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Between June 21 and 25, Citizens Climate Lobby took its message to Capitol Hill, meeting with 52 different members of Congress, or their energy and climate staff, in both the House and the Senate. The first CCL national conference was fortuitously timed, as the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has brought into stark relief the nature of the carbon-fuel problem and the urgent need for action to achieve a civilization-wide overhaul of energy infrastructure, and the climate bill pending in the Senate may not have the votes to override a filibuster.
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December 19, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
After nearly a full year of partisan wrangling and internecine disputes between liberal and conservative Democrats, the sponsors of healthcare reform have reportedly secured their 60th vote in the Senate, the vote needed to break a filibuster, end debate and bring the bill to a vote for passage. Once the public option for low-cost healthcare and an expansion of Medicare were stripped from the bill, Sen. Lieberman (I-CT) signed on; progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) then threatened to withhold support, but agreed to support the measure once $10 billion were set aside for community health clinics, and now, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), the last holdout, has reportedly voiced his support for the reforms.
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December 9, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Democrats in the United States Senate, in hopes of reaching a compromise on health reform legislation, are reported to be considering a plan that would scrap the so-called “public option” for low-cost, full-coverage health insurance, in favor of a non-profit plan that would be run by the private insurers themselves, but regulated through the Office of Personnel Management.
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November 21, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) has announced she will vote to support cloture, which will allow debate to move forward in the Senate on healthcare insurance reform legislation. Lincoln joins other conservative Democrats, Mary Landrieu, of Louisiana, and Ben Nelson, of Nebraska, in supporting her party leadership’s call for a vote to begin debate on the healthcare insurance reform legislation.
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September 24, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
The legislature of the state of Massachusetts has voted to grant Gov. Deval Patrick (D) the power to appoint an interim replacement for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D). The move means the Democratic party will see its fragile 60-vote majority in the United States Senate restored, in time for crucial votes on healthcare reform this fall. Today, Gov. Patrick has named Paul Grattan Kirk, Jr. to the interim post.
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September 10, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama went to Capitol Hill last night to talk tough to Congress and speak truth to the American people. He framed his speech in terms of a call for responsible, cooperative action to solve the nation’s healthcare crisis, saying: “The time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action… Now is the time to deliver on healthcare.” And he repeated: “Now is the time to deliver on healthcare.”
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September 10, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
But the problem that plagues the health care system is not just a problem for the uninsured. Those who do have insurance have never had less security and stability than they do today. More and more Americans worry that if you move, lose your job, or change your job, you’ll lose your health insurance too. More and more Americans pay their premiums, only to discover that their insurance company has dropped their coverage when they get sick, or won’t pay the full cost of care. It happens every day.
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August 31, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, has announced he will work with lawmakers to arrange for an interim appointment to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, until the special election, now scheduled for 19 January 2010, allows voters to choose a senator to complete the last three years of his current 6-year term. The announcement paves the way for negotiations with state lawmakers about how to appoint a “caretaker”, and who should get the appointment.
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August 10, 2009 :: Denver Lessing :: 5 Comments
The United States Congress, in both houses, has entered August recess without passing a comprehensive healthcare reform package, setting the stage for a withering month-long national debate, in which opposing sides are likely to attack each other as threatening to undermine the nation’s future. Anti-reform groups, reportedly linked to the Republican party, have orchestrated interruptions and heckling of officials seeking to explain the grave need for proposed reforms.
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August 10, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
It has been suggested that the healthcare reform legislation currently before the House and Senate would set up a government committee to ration care and decide what care patients would receive. Some Republican opponents have even suggested individual senior citizens would be judged to be deserving of euthanasia if they are determined not to be productive members of society. The latter is absolutely false and has no basis whatsoever in the proposed reforms. The question of “rationing” care is also a false claim, and it’s important to understand why.
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August 9, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has adopted a brazen approach to countering Pres. Barack Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms: outright fabrication and unscrupulous lying. She has begun to make the 100% false allegation that Pres. Obama’s reforms would create a “death panel” tasked with promoting euthanasia and calling reform “downright evil”. It is perhaps the single most irresponsible and reprehensible lie told in the American political sphere in recent years.
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July 24, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama used his prime-time press conference last night to dive straight into the fray on healthcare reform, pledging commitment to bold action, demanding cost-cutting measures and promising to bring affordable coverage within reach of all Americans. He did not specify if he wanted an “individual mandate” that all Americans buy into one plan or another, and he did not promise that no insurer would be allowed to deny treatment under any circumstances.
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July 22, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 7 Comments
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported last week that the healthcare plan currently being debated in Congress would likely cause federal expenses related to healthcare to increase. But it did not report that the plan would cause average per-patient costs to increase across the entire healthcare market, as opponents of healthcare reform are alleging. In fact, that philosophical point has not been disproven by any budgetary analysis to date.
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July 20, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
This is what the debate in Congress is all about: Whether we’ll keep talking and tinkering and letting this problem fester as more families and businesses go under, and more Americans lose their coverage. Or whether we’ll seize this opportunity – one we might not have again for generations – and finally pass health insurance reform this year, in 2009.
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July 17, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that calls into question whether plans now under debate in Congress would achieve the cost-effectiveness Pres. Obama seeks has 6 senators saying they want the reform process to “slow down”. They seek a “budget-neutral” plan, as called for by the president. Obama does not want to slow down the process, argues that the administration has already located savings to pay for reform over 10 years, and is opposed to conservative Democratic senators’ desire to tax healthcare benefits to raise revenues.
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July 17, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 5 Comments
The American Medical Association (AMA), long a leading opponent of major national healthcare reforms, has now backed the House of Representatives’ HR 3200, known as America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. The AMA president J. James Rohack, MD, affirmed the group’s support for the House measure, writing “This legislation includes a broad range of provisions that are key to effective, comprehensive health system reform”.
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July 8, 2009 :: staff :: 4 Comments
Vice-president Joe Biden has announced a “deal” with US hospitals that would save the US government $155 billion over ten years, a significant portion of the projected costs of healthcare reform that would universalize healthcare insurance coverage. The savings would come from reduced charges for Medicare and Medicaid patients, which hospitals would be able to allow for because universalizing coverage would reduce their own costs related to treating uninsured patients.
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July 7, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
In Senator-elect Al Franken’s debut on Capitol Hill, he explained that he sees himself not as the 60th vote for the Democratic majority but as the 2nd senator from the state of Minnesota. He added that “Minnesotans are practical people” and explained why “rational” healthcare, that is available and affordable for all Americans must be a priority, why jobs and an economy that works for working people will be part of his agenda. Franken concluded, saying: “I am going to work day and night to make sure that our kids have a great future and that America’s best days lay ahead. I’m ready to get to work.”
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June 30, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Como parte de su visión particularmente amplia de reforma y recuperación económicas, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, ha iniciado su campaña para promover una reforma migratoria, para lograr que el Congreso formule, debata y vote una iniciativa comprensiva antes del fin de año. La semana pasada, Obama invitó a participar en un debate abierto en la Casa Blanca a los líderes del Congreso, con una gama diversa de perspectivas, comunidades, metas y estrategias, en este asunto.
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June 30, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Democratic-Farmer-Labor challenger Al Franken has been declared the winner of the Minnesota race for US Senate, in the November 2008 election. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled today that Franken was the winner, after a properly conducted recount. Norm Coleman, who had brought the election contest in the state courts, conceded defeat shortly after the ruling was announced, saying “We have reached the point where further litigation damages the unity of our state”.
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June 30, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
As part of a uniquely broad vision for economic reform and recovery, Pres. Barack Obama is seeking to push Congress to craft, debate and vote on comprehensive immigration reform legislation by the end of this year. Last week, Obama announced plans to start discussions on immigration reform and called Congressional leaders with a diverse range of views, constituencies, goals and strategies on the issue.
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June 29, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty said on Sunday he would certify Al Franken as winner of the November 2008 US Senate race, if the Supreme Court of his state orders it. He told CNN that he would sign the certification as soon as the court gives him the “green light” and that he would not delay Franken’s certification just to facilitate a federal appeals process.
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June 24, 2009 :: staff :: 4 Comments
In the past two and half years, the Committee has held dozens of hearings on energy and
climate change policy and has built a detailed factual record on the need for legislation in this
area. The nation’s dependence on foreign oil has significantly increased over the last decade.
Consumers have faced increasing and volatile energy prices. Other countries have overtaken us
in the manufacture of wind and solar energy. Energy company investments are paralyzed
because of uncertainty about what policies the Congress will establish. Meanwhile, global
warming pollution has increased unchecked.
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June 24, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
Major new climate legislation is pending before the United States Congress. The bill has been called the most important climate-related legislation ever to be voted on by the US House of Representatives, and has been the cause of intense policy negotiations among supporters, opponents and legislators. The League of Conservation Voters has taken the decision that it will not endorse any member of the House of Representatives that does not support the legislation.
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June 23, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
When hearings were held to decide the outcome of the protracted Minnesota Senate race, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, released a statement predicting that Al Franken, US Senate candidate for the Democratic Farmer Labor party (Minnesota’s branch of the national Democratic party), would soon prevail. More than 3 weeks later, there are questions as to what is stalling the delivery of a verdict that would seat the nation’s 100th senator.
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June 19, 2009 :: Webb Tisch :: 4 Comments
This is not news, but it’s worth repeating: Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, has in the past suggested that the Republican challenge to Minnesota’s seating Al Franken as its junior senator could last for “years”. Coleman has challenged every single court ruling so far, despite losing every one of them and losing more ground in the vote-count with each examination of new votes. The last court to rule found that there was no evidence of any legitimate votes still uncounted, and ordered that Franken be certified the winner and Coleman pay court costs.
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June 17, 2009 :: staff :: 4 Comments
The Energy and Natural Resources committee of the US Senate voted 15 to 8 today to approve a comprehensive energy bill. The legislation, if passed by the Congress and signed into law by Pres. Obama would require that a minimum of 15% of all US electric power be generated from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power.
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June 2, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
This issue, health care reform, is not a luxury. It’s not something that I want to do because of campaign promises or politics. This is a necessity. This is something that has to be done. We cannot avoid bringing about change in our health care system. Soaring health care costs are unsustainable for families, they are unsustainable for businesses, and they are unsustainable for governments, both at the federal, state and local levels.
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May 9, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
This past week, we acted on several fronts. To restart the flow of credit that businesses and individuals depend upon, we completed an unprecedented review of the condition of our nation’s largest banks to determine what additional steps are necessary to get our economy moving. To restore fiscal discipline, we identified 121 programs to eliminate from our budget. And to restore a sense of fairness to our tax code and common sense to our economy, I have asked Congress to work with me in closing the loopholes that let companies ship jobs and stash profits overseas – reforms will help save $210 billion over the next ten years.
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April 29, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
The Congressional negotiation on the budget for fiscal year 2010 has worked out a $3.44 trillion budget proposal that features many of Pres. Obama’s highest-priority initiatives. Healthcare reform will be included as part of the standard budget, meaning that votes on healthcare reforms can pass the Senate with a simple majority, i.e. 50 votes plus the Democratic VP Joe Biden. The agreed budget resolution would cut the budget deficit even in the first year by more than expected.
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April 25, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
Former US vice president Al Gore testified Friday in Congressional hearings on the subject of global climate destabilization. The hearings were linked to new legislation being considered that would establish regulatory measures that seek to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Gore said the legislation would serve to protect the environment, as well as national security, and urged unity in the interests of the country and the world.
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February 25, 2009 :: Severino Villalonso :: Comments Off
Last night, Pres. Barack Obama made his first address on the state of the nation to a joint session of Congress, though not officially classed as a ‘State of the Union’ address. Obama sought to reassure the public that economic recovery was in its beginning stages and the future was full of hope and possibility, proclaiming: “We will rebuild, we will recover and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”
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February 6, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Pres. Barack Obama is struggling to make a case for economic stimulus, despite being one of the most talented communicators seen in American politics for decades. Political pundits on television and in print are criticizing the White House for failing to communicate the virtues of a very large, very complex economic stimulus plan. But, in defense of the new model of the presidency which Obama has sought to manifest, the man has been working diligently on a vast range of issues that require attention or correction, and most likely, he wanted the legislative process to be more effective than it has been.
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November 20, 2008 :: Denver Lessing :: One Comment
Cable news yesterday and today’s newspapers are full of references to the embarrassment Detroit’s “big three” automakers’ chief executives occasioned by flying to DC in 3 separate private jets to ask for a $25 billion “bailout” bridge loan. Pleading poverty while showing off the extravagance of one’s expenditures is poor form, no matter what the season, but it clearly displays a lack of awareness of how much the economic culture of the nation has changed.
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July 30, 2008 :: staff :: Comments Off
The longest serving Republican member of the US Senate, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), called by some the “king of pork” for his success in bringing federal money to his state, has been indicted for not reporting, under penalty of perjury, gifts he received from at least one oil firm, totaling as much as $250,000. The gifts are allegedly related to a home-renovation project and assistance obtained through his connection to an oil firm.
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July 14, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
The chairman of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Stephen Johnson, says the Clean Air Act is “ill-suited” to fighting the greenhouse effect, and that Congress should pass laws mandating the regulation of carbon emissions, with global warming in mind. The move may lead to a more comprehensive regulatory regime, but as the Guardian newspaper notes: “Last year’s Massachusetts v. EPA Supreme Court ruling had found that greenhouse gases can be regulated under the U.S. Clean Air Act. The decision pressured the EPA to reconsider its refusal to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new cars and trucks.”
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