In the battle over healthcare reform, Senator Joe Lieberman of
Connecticut, the former Democrat turned independent, and Democratic
Senators Max Baucus, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Kent
Conrad have at least two things in common. They all oppose a public
option in healthcare reform, but each is nevertheless a fervent advocate
of socialized medicine. How can Senate watchers make sense of this
ideological contradiction?
Catholic bishops and Protestant evangelists in the US have unleashed an intense lobbying campaign to force fresh limitations on access to abortion into healthcare legislation under debate in the Senate this week.
Pro-choice groups have described the religious ambush of health reform - which this month pressured the House of Representatives to effectively block women from using medical insurance to pay for abortions - as one of the most serious threats to abortion rights of recent years.
After months of buildup, the historic debate on health care reform opens on the Senate floor Monday - but the C-SPAN cameras won't see the real action.
The next phase in the Democrats' health care push will be waged in the privacy of the Senate leadership office, where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will attempt to do something that has eluded him all year: negotiate a compromise on the public insurance option that can garner 60 votes and win over a public still leery of reform.
We’re close to our spending limit on the nation’s credit card. The bank bailout, the stimulus package, the Iraq War, and the overall military budget: each is costing over $500 billion. Now the Obama administration is looking at two more hefty charges: a national health care plan and a surge in Afghanistan. It’s time to make a decision. We can’t do both guns and gurneys. After all, we’re looking at a $1.6 trillion government deficit for 2009.
That’s what our entire national debt used to be back in the early 1980s.
Would it be acceptable if we were to make medical care out of reach for any segment of our nation’s population? For the 15.5 million Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders? Or for the 44.3 million Latinos? Let’s hope not. But, as it stands, our growing acceptance is paving the road for health reform proposals that categorically exclude our nation’s immigrant population. We forget that when people like Lou Dobbs or Rep. Joe Wilson are enraged about “immigrants” they are talking largely about communities of color.
WASHINGTON - Lobbying over abortion was turning into a sleepy business. But the health care debate has brought a new boom, and both sides are exploiting it with fund-raising appeals.
"The reaction has been phenomenal, like a match dropped on dry kindling," said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
As the majority leader of the Senate, the power to pass a public
option is squarely in Harry Reid's hands. Will he let three or four
corrupt Senators owned by the insurance industry hold the public option
hostage? Or will he use the reconciliation process to allow a simple,
democratic majority rule?
Those millions of us who support a Medicare for All,
single-payer, reform for the healthcare crisis in this nation have some work to
do over the next few days. Senators are on their way to their home states
for the one-week Thanksgiving recess - and they need a little up close
and personal constituent attention before dinnertime on Thursday.
Two weekends ago, after the bait and switch of a vote on single-payer
for a vote on an anti-abortion amendment, we felt wizened to the
possibility of unknown threats in the legislative churn on health
reform. As insurance and pharmaceutical companies, Catholic bishops,
and the right wing throw in dollars, lobbyists, and pressure for no
votes on the final bill, it is clear we who are in the business of
protecting and improving our rights to access to health care, including
abortion, must remain vigilant and ready to challenge these threats.
Senate Democrats have posted the legislation on their web site.
Senate Democrats made a big step toward comprehensive health care
reform Wednesday night as Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
unveiled a bill that merges the two plans that passed the health and
finance committees.
With the House having already passed its own bill, Congress is now
closer to achieving health care reform than it has ever been in the six
decades that Democrats have pursued it.
