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PoorMansLobbyist.org has written a new blog post critical of both the Democratic and Republican parties for their failure to lead and govern. The criticism extends to President Obama and The White House.
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On Saturday night, the Senate voted 60-39 to bring the Healthcare Reform Bill to the floor for debate and amendments. All 60 votes were needed in order to overcome a promised threat of an anti-democratic filibuster by opponents of healthcare reform.
Had the vote failed, the healthcare reform would have been essentially dead. Prior to the vote, Republicans promoted fear and used scare tactics such as higher taxes and lower quality healthcare if the debate about healthcare reform was allowed to continue. Democrats, on the other hand, spoke passionately about the need to reform healthcare, especially due to how many Americans are currently underinsured or uninsured.
Senator Reid successfully rallied his caucus, and there were no surprise votes during this round.
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On Saturday, Nov. 21, the Senate is debating whether or not to allow its healthcare reform bill to come to the floor for debate and amendments, versus no action being taken. The importance of the pre-debate debate is that all Republicans and potentially a few Democrats are threatening to filibuster the bill, in order to block any further progress on the reform.
PoorMansLobbyist.org opposes any filibuster and has written a blog post on this topic.
Democrats generally want to pursue healthcare reform, while Republicans are generally siding with the health insurance industry that the current system is fine. PoorMansLobbyist.org opposes the status quo, due to exclusion and discrimination, and several blog posts have been written on this topic at blog.poormanslobbyist.org.
PoorMansLobbyist.org would like to thank Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) for specifically calling out the need for autism coverage in his speech on Saturday. AutismCrisis.org is covering the story on Senator Menendez's advocacy of autism coverage.
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We are nearing a critical point in healthcare reform, and your U.S. Senators will soon be making difficult choices. Some understand the magnitude of this crisis, while others are playing political games.
We must make sure your Senators understand that our health is not the political game of the day. We must make sure they understand the importance of passing real health insurance reform that includes either a Single Payer system or a strong Public Option.
Please help us purchase advertising to promote the Public Option and Strong Healthcare Reform by making a donation today. Even $5 or $10 helps us purchase online advertisements!
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An anti-abortion amendment, sponsored by Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joseph Pitts (R-PA), may cause progressives to vote against the final bill if the amendment passes. Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups are lobbying aggressively against the amendment, to make sure that the final healthcare reform bill does not result in additional restrictions on legal abortions.
Politico has more details in this article.
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CNN is reporting that both the American Medical Association and the AARP have endorsed the House healthcare bill. Details are in this Nov. 5 CNN article.
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PoorMansLobbyist.org has a new blog post about the AARP's support of healthcare reform and why the Republicans are so upset. Read the blog at http://blog.poormanslobbyist.org.
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While his critics might argue that the Earth is flat, Former Vice President Al Gore is busy campaigning for clean energy and green jobs. Gore has written a new book
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Senator Joe Lieberman, who some now refer to as (I-Insurance Industry), has gone on record stating that he will use his power as an individual Senator to stop [the democratic process of] a vote. Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) initially signaled that he many join Republican efforts to block a vote, but he has recently clarified his position stating that he is now more likely to advocate [democracy and] voting rather than a filibuster.
While polls show that voters want a public option, some Senators are accepting donations from the health insurance industry and its lobbyists, even though this creates the perception of legal bribery and conflict of interest. MoveOn.org on Monday, Nov. 2, sent out an e-mail to its base asking for pledges to support opponents of those politicians who side with the industry instead of their voters, and MoveOn announced on Tuesday that it had already received over $2 million in pledges in less than 24 hours.
You can read more about MoveOn's fund raising campaign in this announcement from Monday.
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MoveOn.org wants to make it clear to any Democrats (or Independents) who plan to fight healthcare reform that they will face campaigning and fund raising against them by MoveOn's massive base of supporters. MoveOn sent an e-mail to its members on November 2 asking them how much they will pledge to support any challengers to these Democrats who may align with Republicans in fighting healthcare reform. MoveOn's online pledge form has more details.
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PoorMansLobbyist.org expresses disappointment and concern, especially related to the current direction of the public option and healthcare reform, in this open letter to the President.
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Read the details at OpenCongress.org.
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Virginia and Kansas are in the news after the health insurance industry and its lobbyists successfully blocked legislation to cover autism healthcare. Suspicious donations are also in play, creating the perception of conflict of interest. AutismCrisis.org has the details, and we have added a new blog posting, as well.
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The Center for Responsive Politics has uncovered significant potential conflict of interest at work in the current healthcare reform work. The same legislators that are drafting new healthcare legislation are receiving and accepting large donations from the very corporations they are legislating. While this would never fly under most corporate conflict of interest policies, it may be legal under current campaign finance law. Where is the line between donation and bribery?
To see who is potentially being influenced by large contributions, view the study titled, "Curious Clusters of Cash: Major Lobbyist-Client Connections among Health Care Interests," at OpenSecrets.org.
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Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nevada) voted to keep kids with autism from receiving the healthcare they need. Bingaman clarified that he is actually in favor of the kids getting treatment but then voted against actually allowing the kids to get the treatment. Ensign said he was concerned that if kids with autism get the healthcare they need, then folks with diabetes will be lining up next to get their coverage, too. Better to keep everyone denied.
Fortunately, thanks to debate lead by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), the amendment passed. Bingaman and Ensign were the only two that spoke out against helping the kids with autism.
Watch the debate in the video, and judge for yourself.
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