Hutchison Fails To Send Health Reform Bill Back to Committee

I think (0.00 / 0)

Not sure on this, but I think Reid' cloture filing was for the Defense Spending bill, not on the health care bill.  

My understanding was Reid was going to file for cloture for the Defense bill today, but Coburn's forcing of a reading of the Sander's amendment was a delay tactic that was going to push back the cloture motion.

Now that Sanders withdrew his amendment, Reid is filing cloture to have a vote on the Defense bill on Friday.  

That's also a big "I think", I may be completely wrong.

At any rate, thanks for point out KBH's massive fail.  All that talk and all she's done is file a motion to recommit that was predestined to fail.  Way to go Senator, you're not even a good obstructionist.

---

by: Joe @ Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 21:34:14 PM UTC

of note (0.00 / 0)

That Defense spending bill also has an extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits, so it's nice to see Republicans opposing that as well.

---

by: Joe @ Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 21:37:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You are correct. (0.00 / 0)

I misread CSPAN's Twitter feed.  

I'm not a player, I just Tweet a lot: @KathTX

---

by: Katherine Haenschen @ Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 22:28:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not Even a Good Obstructionist (3.00 / 3)

At any rate, thanks for point out KBH's massive fail.  All that talk and all she's done is file a motion to recommit that was predestined to fail.  Way to go Senator, you're not even a good obstructionist.

But she's staying there at risk to her political future!! Oh, that noble cause, that high calling that she pursues with all her heart and soul...to do all she can to make sure we don't get health care reform. She will surely go down in history.

---

by: Elsbeth @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 00:23:25 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

For what its worth (1.00 / 1)

KBH stands with a majority of Americans as well as
Howard Dean. This bill has been reduced to "lets get something passed for our legacy/resume". Fortunately the voters will be vetting the resumes before hiring in 2010.

PS - I thought the R's were the only fear mongers.
"President Obama told ABC News' Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government "will go bankrupt."

---

by: sdhook @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 02:26:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I Still Don't See How it Isn't a Bill We Should Support (0.00 / 0)

There are a lot of liberals, Howard Dean included, that think this bill is unworthy of support.  I have not seen any good reason for that.  The skepticism about the individual mandate has been understandable, but besides that...

And isn't it true?  The US Government does pay a lot health-care wise, and it is probably the single industry that would make this country go bankrupt, if there is one besides the military.  No, the cost-savings here won't be enough, but they're a start.

"Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write."  -  John Adams

---

by: Michael Hurta @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 05:57:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

But it's going to mandate insurance coverage (0.00 / 0)

I believe the original idea of the mandate had to do with the low cost premium for a "public option."  Without a public option or single payer managed by the government, the insurance industry is back in the saddle again and without really ever leaving. No?

The skepticism about the individual mandate has been understandable, but besides that...

Just wondering if anything else really matters besides that? Without competition, insurance company premiums will still be out of reach for millions only now they will be a requirement. At least that's how I understand it.

I hope we haven't been sold out. But it's sure looking that way. There's been so much discussion about all of it. Kind of hard not to be cynical at this point.

Olbermann said it this way tonight:

The "men" of the current moment, have lost to the "mice" of history. They must now not make the defeat worse by passing a hollow shell of a bill just for the sake of a big-stage signing ceremony. This bill, slowly bled to death by the political equivalent of the leeches that were once thought state-of-the-art-medicine, is now little more than a series of microscopically minor tweaks of a system which is the real-life, here-and-now version, of the malarkey of the Town Hallers. The American Insurance Cartel is the Death Panel, and this Senate bill does nothing to destroy it. Nor even to satiate it.

It merely decrees that our underprivileged, our sick, our elderly, our middle class, can be fed into it, as human sacrifices to the great maw of corporate voraciousness, at a profit per victim of 10 cents on the dollar instead of the current 20. [emphasis mine]

---

by: Elsbeth @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 07:04:41 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

We're not just trying to control public option costs (0.00 / 0)

The mandated coverage was not just to keep the premiums for a public option under control, but really premiums everywhere.  I read a lot of Ezra Klein, and once again, he convinced me about this particular issue:
http://voices.washingtonpost.c...

And yes, of course other stuff matters.  Although insurance will still be out of reach to a lot of people, it will be out of reach to less people.  There will be some cost controls, but a requirement to buy insurance will force Congerss to control costs even more.  We're stopping insurers from denying the sick coverage.  And much more.

I'm of the camp that, while a bit disappointed by the proceedings, understands that this is still a largely ambitious piece of progressive legislation.  We can add on to make the system ideal later, but for now we should take what we can get.  It's better than nothing.

Then, because we didn't get what we felt we should have, we could discuss the problems we have had within our own party after we come up with a bill.  But we need that bill first.  We've been working for a year to give Americans better health care.  Just because we can't give them what we suggested doesn't mean we should leave them empty-handed.

"Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write."  -  John Adams

---

by: Michael Hurta @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 09:06:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

So, Congress (0.00 / 0)

will really be in charge of controlling the insurance industry with this bill? OK!

---

by: Elsbeth @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 15:02:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And (0.00 / 0)

We're stopping insurers from denying the sick coverage.  

Apparently that is correct. But it most likely doesn't stop there...it only means insurance companies can continue to charge big fees for not being in the best of health. So, you get the coverage, but you also get to pay fees that will keep the health insurance industry popping the champagne. Wendell Potter has a lot to say about that. He convinces me more than Ezra Klein even though I do appreciate Mr. Klein's opinion. And yours.

---

by: Elsbeth @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 17:47:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Just because it isn't perfect... (0.00 / 0)

Yah, sick people will have to pay more.  But that's why policy-makers want to mandate that the young and healthy buy in, too; so the health care system won't be quite as burdened by the sick and so the sick don't have to pay quite as much.

But most importantly, it's something to build on.

Though my main question to those who want to defeat this bill on liberal grounds: Do you really want to wait another 10+ years before trying to get any sort of health care bill done?  Because that's probably what would happen, because Republicans will probably gain back the House if this bill fails.  The only way Republicans would do a bill is if the health care system costs spiral so much out of control that they have to do something -- but do you really want Republicans fixing a health care crisis?

"Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write."  -  John Adams

---

by: Michael Hurta @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 18:34:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

KBH (0.00 / 0)

was speaking a short time ago on the Senate floor. She went on for several minutes basically whining about wanting to stop all this healthcare debate and allow the Senate to go home for the weekend to be with their families. Listening to her is just a simple reminder that she is totally uninvolved with this issue. Republicans would never attempt to fix this issue the way it needs to be fixed.

I am having a debate with myself about it..found this:

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus said Obama, in a closed-door meeting that lasted more than an hour, urged all 60 members to recall why they had been elected in the first place.

Amid polls showing diminished support for health care overhaul, Obama argued that political benefits eventually flow from good policy - though Baucus acknowledged with a laugh that it might take a while - and highlighted its many strategies for reducing costs. He said Obama did not bring up the public option, but rather urged Democrats to look at the bigger picture. He said one senator raised the issue of reviving the Medicare buy-in, but Baucus said there was little support for that.

"That was pretty much squelched,'' he said. Baucus also said Vice President Joe Biden, also at the meeting, made the point that other major entitlement programs began as bare-bones programs but were gradually built up over time.

"He [Joe Biden] said: 'Look, be joyful, this is really great what we're doing here, it's so significant, it's a moment in history, and we'll build upon it in the future, as with Social Security and Medicare,' '' Baucus said. [my emphasis]

VP Biden does make a good point that I'm considering. Still thinking...I want to be joyful, too.

---

by: Elsbeth @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 20:22:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Honestly (3.00 / 1)

The main reason I hope this bill passes is so that in 10 years after costs keep going up we can say that we tried to reform a system based on private for-profit insurance and it didn't work.

Our entire system is flawed, the current "reform" efforts try to apply bandades to a system that needs to be completely rebuilt.

In a way having no public option is a good thing, it means that it can't be used as a scapegoat and the blame can be placed squarely at the feet at relying on private insurance companies.

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."- James A. Baldwin

---

by: Timothy @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 07:49:20 AM UTC

Fair enough. (0.00 / 0)

And I think that the final bill -- which is likely to be a combo of the House and Senate bills, each of which have good and bad parts -- is at least a start to build on.


I'm not a player, I just Tweet a lot: @KathTX

---

by: Katherine Haenschen @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 17:13:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And after all this work (3.00 / 1)

Our entire system is flawed, the current "reform" efforts try to apply bandades to a system that needs to be completely rebuilt.

It's sad to me that so many people are willing to let it be one more time. 10 years to someone in their 20s is not that long. For someone in their 40s or 50s...well, this was the moment in time to get it done. We've been here before. Foiled again by our leadership. Dammit.

---

by: Elsbeth @ Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 18:06:06 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The untold story (0.00 / 0)

about the bill being passed out of the Senate.  We know about the payoffs to Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Vermant, Conn., etc. BUT Pelosi, Biden et.al.?  Grandma and Grandpa's artificial hips, pacemakers and other supplies will now be taxed but not Nancy's elective plastic surgery or VP Joe's hair plugs. How did this happen?  Looks like were getting a bunch of new boobs in Congress in 2010 one way or another.

---

by: sdhook @ Mon Dec 21, 2009 at 15:30:10 PM UTC