Senate Democrats are celebrating the fact that, in their rush to come up with a scheme to pay for health-care reform, they have
blocked an effort to preserve payments to home health agencies that provide nursing care and therapy to homebound Medicare beneficiaries.
Dumb move.
Medicare is one of the most popular, and well-run, health care programs in the world.
It may not be as efficient as it should be.
After Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) threw down the gauntlet on the public option,
political observers and liberal critics had no shortage of theories.
Lieberman was rebelling against the liberal base. Lieberman harbors
animosity about 2006.
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans opposed to a public health-insurance option
intend to introduce an amendment Monday that would require not just
members of Congress to enroll in any such plan -- but also the
president, vice president, cabinet officials and all political staff.
The Senate is scheduled to begin voting on
proposed amendments to the health care reform bill today. It takes 60 votes to pass an amendment and most of the proposed measures for the health care bill will never pass. It’s a great opportunity to grandstand over pet issues, however.
For example, Sen. John McCain wants to eliminate about $500 million in Medicare cost savings, which he’s trying to portray as Medicare cuts.
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.
Former CNN host Lou Dobbs fueled already rampant speculation about his political future Monday, sending the clearest signals yet that he's mulling a bid for president - and leaving third-party political operatives salivating over the possibility of a celebrity recruit for the 2012 campaign.
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.
As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) aims this week to secure the votes of moderate Democrats on health care reform, a group of liberal senators Monday warned him not to abandon the public insurance option.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who requested the meeting with Reid, said progressives believe they have compromised enough on the public option - from a Medicare-for-all proposal to Reid's proposal to create a national government plan with a provision for states to opt-out.
Chinese officials have rounded up dozens of Beijings's tiny coterie of activists and petitioners in case any dissident tries to approach President Obama, who arrived in the city today.
The arrests continued to gather momentum even as Mr Obama told an unprecedented question-and-answer session with Shanghai students that freedom of information and expression were vital for a stronger, more creative society.
Welcome to Washington, where 60 is the new 51.As important
legislation from health care to climate change moves through Congress,
the conventional wisdom is that "you need 60 votes'' to get anything
through the 100-member Senate. In fact, most bills can still pass with
51 votes. But a supermajority of 60 votes is needed to avoid a
filibuster, a last-ditch option supposedly reserved for matters of
deepest principle.
