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Democrats at odds over health billMonday, November 23, 2009 8:43 AM CST WASHINGTON (AP) — Moderate Senate Democrats threatened Sunday to scuttle health-care legislation if their demands aren’t met, while more liberal members warned their party leaders not to bend. The dispute among Democrats foretells of a rowdy floor debate next month on legislation that would extend health care coverage to roughly 31 million Americans. Republicans have already made clear they aren’t supporting the bill. Final passage is in jeopardy, even after the chamber’s historic 60-39 vote Saturday night to begin debate. “I don’t want a big-government, Washington-run operation that...

Preface: Lake Placidena is a fictional place where women run the entire city sub rosa (clandestinely) through the non-profit PEF and Historical and Cultural Preservation Commission, men play all year at staging a national parade, all the children in public schools are designated in poverty, but all the schools must be above average. The permanent state of drought in Placidena is a local joke because groundwater comes from underneath "Laughing Waters (Ha-ha-monga) Park," The actual Lake Placidena was fittingly created by impounding waters behind Devil's Gate Dam and is known for its strange green color due to perchlorate contamination which...

Coburn Backs Off Threat to Read Health Care Bill in Senate The Oklahoma lawmaker says there's uncertainty about whether reading the bill during Thanksgiving week would be productive. WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. Tom Coburn is backing off his threat to require that the Senate read the 2,074-page health care bill because some GOP colleagues aren't supporting the effort. The Oklahoma lawmaker said there's uncertainty about whether reading the bill during Thanksgiving week would be productive. He also said that if the Republicans do decide to tie up the Senate for the dozens of hours it would take, six GOP colleagues...

In the Battle of the Health Bills, the Senate wins out, bulk-wise – weighing in at 2,074 pages. The House health reform bill was a mere 1,990 pages when introduced. That means the Senate bill -- like the one in the House -- runs more pages than War and Peace, and has nearly five times as many words as the Torah. The table of contents alone is 14 pages.

But many of the ideas on the table so far are extensions of last February's $787 billion economic stimulus package -- such as unemployment benefits and subsidies to help the jobless pay for health insurance. They maintain the social safety net for the 15.7 million Americans out of work but they don't directly create new jobs. "I wouldn't characterize it as a second stimulus," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday. "I don't want to be as broad as that, I want it to be very targeted on jobs." House Democrats debated ways to address job creation at a caucus...

Democrats promise jobs billBy ANDREW TAYLOR (AP) – 40 minutes ago WASHINGTON — House Democrats are looking at swelling deficits further, at least temporarily, on a jobs-producing bill in response to double-digit unemployment and a sense within their ranks that the party needs to do more to put people back to work. But many of the ideas on the table so far are extensions of last February's $787 billion economic stimulus package — such as unemployment benefits and subsidies to help the jobless pay for health insurance. They maintain the social safety net for the 15.7 million Americans out of...

Secretive front group battles health billAmericans for Quality and Affordable Healthcare is trying to shape opinion updated 1:34 p.m. ET, Sun., Nov . 15, 2009 WASHINGTON - One operative tried to enlist trade groups in Maine to oppose government-run health coverage. Another helped a member of a Las Vegas conservative group appear on local talk radio to criticize the proposal. A third persuaded a Louisiana activist to post an opinion piece on a conservative blog. These below-the-radar activities were the handiwork of a law firm in Charlotte, N.C., that operates a secretive group called Americans for Quality and Affordable Healthcare....

There are two ways to view this video of a 2005 floor speech by then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, condemning Republican leaders for not allowing members three days to read "a bill of thousands of pages" before voting on it. The video is posted on Breitbart TV and is well worth watching in the aftermath of Speaker Pelosi's legislative blitzkreig of the past week to gain passage of her version of Obamacare at all costs. It was done with not even a token nod in the direction of allowing the sort of legislative transparency she promised voters during the...

Washington (CNN) -- Foes of the House Democrats' health care bill rallied outside the Capitol Saturday afternoon, hours before what many of them anticipate will be a setback for their position -- approval of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bill. "It may pass out of the House tonight. We do realize that," Jenny Beth Martin, event organizer for the Tea Party Patriots, said. "But there is the Senate still. And we are going to leave no stone unturned and fight the government taking over our health care." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, emerges from her offices Saturday on her way to...

Hidden in stimulus?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the speaker will not allow the final language of the health care to be posted online for 72 hours before bringing the bill to a vote on the House floor, despite her September 24 statement that she was "absolutely" committed to doing so. House members are still negotiating important issues in the bill--whether it will provide taxpayer-funding for abortions, for example. Pelosi is pushing for a Saturday House vote, and a number of big changes will be introduced, likely less than 24 hours before the vote takes place (if in fact...

On Thursday Afternoon, November 5, 2009, 12 pro-lifers were arrested inside or outside in the hall at Nancy Pelosi's office at #235 Cannon office building. They entered, with two complete copies of the bill - all 2,000 pages (4,000) - and proceeded to rip it up, page by page, and strew it on the floor...

The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill): Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes...

It's no wonder why they don't read their own bills! I guarantee you that someone of Pelosi's non-existent intellect hasn't read it, which begs the question: Who actually writes these things? For those of us who have a life, below is a "reader's guide" or breakdown of some of the key elements of Pelosi's bill:

This morning, House Democrats held a press conference to unveil their health care reform bill, which they claim will expand coverage for all and decrease costs. Sounds good, but once you peel away the “feel good” rhetoric, there’s nothing to be excited about. This 2,000-page bill includes a job-killing employer mandate, an individual mandate that requires Washington bureaucrats to define what kind of coverage is acceptable, burdensome tax increases, Medicare cuts, and a huge expansion of Medicaid that will break already strained state budgets.

Democrats want you to know that your McDonald's Angus Burger meal has about 1,500 calories -- before you buy and burp. Buried deep in the House health care bill is a provision, likely to raise nanny-state hackles, requiring fast-food chains and vending machine owners to notify customers of calorie counts -- by conspicuously posting nutritional information on menus or machines.

See the link above and review the text of the Pelosi's License to Kill. Just for a peek: "The Entity shall provide for culturally and linguistically propriate communication and health services. " Or http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

Washington: Facing a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, the Obama administration seems to believe in a "buyout" formula which involves paying the militants to leave the outfit and reintegrate to the society. Hours before attending a solemn event to receive the flag-draped cases of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, President Barack Obama signed a USD 680 billion defence appropriations bill, which will pay for military operations in the 2010 fiscal. The bill includes a Taliban reintegration provision under the Commander's Emergency Response Programme, which is now receiving USD 1.3 billion. CERP funding also...

House Democrats blocked the public from attending the unveiling ceremony of their health-care bill Thursday morning, allowing only pre-approved visitors whose names appeared on lists to enter the event at the West side of the Capitol. The audience at the crowded press conference included Hill staffers, union workers, health care providers and students, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who thanked them for attending.

This is the official pdf from the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled by Nancy Pelosi today. It is 1,990 pages.

(CNSNews.com) - Under the Senate Finance Committee version of the health-care bill, health insurance companies would be allowed to charge tobacco users premiums up to 50 percent higher than those of non-users, while marijuana and crack cocaine smokers could not be penalized with higher premiums. According to provisions spelled out in the Senate Finance Committee's summary of the bill--the so-called "chairman's mark"--insurance issuers selling policies to individuals could only vary premiums based on three characteristics: tobacco use, age and family composition.

The "hate crimes" bill approved recently by Congress could be a problem for broadcasters -- most importantly, Christian broadcasters -- now that it has been signed into law. President Barack Obama has signed into law a measure that adds to the list of federal hate crimes attacks on people based on their sexual orientation. Congress approved the legislation last week as part of the $680-billion FY 2010 Defense Authorization bill. Appended to the hate crimes amendment was a statement ensuring that a religious leader or any other person cannot be prosecuted on the bases if his or her speech, beliefs,...

Dem bill urges new US powers over financial firmsTue Oct 27, 2009 8:16pm EDT By Kevin Drawbaugh and Rachelle Younglai * Financial Services Oversight Council would be set up * Treasury would head council to monitor, address risks * Federal Reserve, FDIC would get new authorities * Obama says bill urgent, crucial (Updates with Obama letter to Frank) WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. government would gain far-reaching new powers to regulate, and even shut down, large financial firms that threaten economic stability under a draft bill released in Congress on Tuesday. Congressional Democrats and the Obama administration agreed...

Calling it "the beginning of the end" of the nation's economic travails, President Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus spending bill into law Tuesday afternoon in Denver. Mr. Obama said he used 10 different pens to sign the bill -- essentially writing little more than one letter per pen. Pens used for major bills are keepsakes given to key aides and lawmakers involved in the process, and the high number of pens showed just how many people had a hand in delivering Mr. Obama's first major piece of legislation in his young administration. But passing the bill may have been...

Back to the economic case against the Baucus health-care bill. The Harvard economist Greg Mankiw looks at some new data from the Congressional Budget Office and calculates the marginal tax rate that the bill piles onto middle-class families: According to CBO, a family of four making $54,000 would pay $4,800 for health insurance. The rest of the premium would come from government subsidies. If the family’s income rises to $66,000, the subsidy falls, and the cost of health insurance rises to $7,600. In other words, earning an additional $12,000 requires the family to pay an additional $2,800. The implicit marginal...

Earlier this week, the Senate Finance Committee approved the health care bill proposed by Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.). Without a doubt, this bill will increase government spending and increase taxes for Americans ..... We need more people to voice their opposition to the Democratic leadership. Will you help us get this message out?

A $42.8 billion Homeland Security budget cleared the House Thursday after Democrats won a showdown vote preserving President Barack Obama’s authority to temporarily transfer Guantanamo prisoners into the United States for the purpose of prosecution. Republicans had prevailed on the same issue when framed as part of a non-binding resolution two weeks ago. But Democrats have since dug in, their lines stiffened in what became a test of loyalty to the president’s stand on Guantanamo and their own ability to break the impasse over year-end appropriations bills. --- SNIP --- New York Rep. Peter King, the ranking Republican on the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2009 – Congress has reached agreement on a $680.2 billion National Defense Authorization Bill for fiscal 2010. The bill authorizes a 3.4 percent military pay increase and full funding for the Defense Health Program, and it caps F-22 Raptor production at 187 aircraft. For civilian workers, it ends the National Security Personnel System. It includes a base budget of $550.2 billion and $130 billion for overseas contingency operations. Congress released the conference report Oct. 7. The full Senate and House must pass the conference report before the bill goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. The...

WASHINGTON - Nobody knew for sure what Senator Olympia J. Snowe would do yesterday when the Finance Committee gathered to vote on its health care bill - not even Snowe. Chairman Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, had been courting her vote for months, investing long hours in closed-door negotiations with her and the other members of the “Gang of Six.’’ In the late summer and early fall, President Obama spoke with her on the phone and invited her to the White House to address her concerns.

Sign petition to expel Snowe from GOP at http://gopetition.com/online/27432.html

After months of collaboration on President Obama's attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday with a report warning that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected. The critique, coming one day before a critical Senate committee vote on the legislation, sparked a sharp response from the Obama administration. It also signaled an end to the fragile detente between two central players in this year's health-care reform drama. Industry officials said they intend to circulate the report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Capitol Hill and...

Rep. Tim Walz said Thursday he will support the compromise economic stimulus bill that was approved by House and Senate conferees on Wednesday. "What we're doing is addressing an economy that is as difficult as any that most of us have seen in our lifetime. The numbers are staggering, the outlook is pretty bleak in the short run," said Walz. "This piece of legislation is meant to be the life preserver to put us in the right direction, and setting a framework of infrastructure development, targeted tax cuts to the middle and of course research into alternative energies, and funding...

The Baucus Concepts are disasterous, but that’s for another post. For this post, let me get across a simple concept: THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL. Your esteemed Senators on the Senate Finance Committee will not be voting on legislation because THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL. Your esteemed Senators have so little respect for you that some of them are willing to vote in favor of legislation which does not exist because THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL. The actual legislation will be drafted in secret by Harry Reid and a few other people, including staffers whose names and political connections you...

In a chance meeting with conservative blogger Anne Leary, Bill Ayers makes a stunning claim that he wrote--not just edited--President Barack Obama's autobiography, Dreams from my Father." Wow. He makes this claim to a stranger who approaches him in Reagan National Airport. Can you believe anything this man says? Or, should I say, either man?

"Sen. Thomas Carper (Democrat-Del.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not expect to read the actual legislative language of the committees health care bill because it is confusing and that anyone who claims they are going to read it and understand it is fooling people."

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee defeated Republican efforts Wednesday to strengthen provisions in a sweeping health-care reform bill aimed at restricting federal funding for abortions and denying government benefits to illegal immigrants.

HELENA — Within hours after Sen. Max Baucus voted Tuesday to omit a government-run insurance option from his health-reform bill, a pair of liberal groups vowed to use a critical TV ad to "pummel" the senator for his action. "These senators just voted against what their constituents want n DASH n and voted with corporate interests that have given them millions," said the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton (R) reaches in to kiss his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, September 25, 2009. About 1,200 participants including heads of state, business leaders, humanitarians and celebrities will attend the fifth annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) which started on Tuesday.

It seems to be an open secret that Hillary is looking in the mirror every morning and asking herself just what the hell she was thinking that day when she accepted the SOS job from this charlatan. In her position, I'd be royally pissed-off too. I mean, when her last around the world trip to meet and greet heads of state consisted of stops from Reykyevik to Terra del Fuego, I think snogging Bill in public like that is an open declaration war for '12. Stay tuned for episode #315, next week.

Please view H.R. 3200 and leave a comment. I look forward to reading your thoughts and restoring public trust in the government by raising the level of openness, order and discourse. On January 20th, 2009 the White House promised to publish legislation on their website “for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President sign it.” Nine months later, the President has not lived up to his promise. Since the President has failed to live up to his word, today I am making H.R. 3200 available for public comment through a new technology called Sharedbook....

In his new book, "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," Best-selling celebrity journalist, Christopher Andersen, has blown a huge hole in the Obama genius myth without intending to do so. Relying on inside sources, quite possibly Michelle Obama herself, Andersen describes how Dreams came to be published -- just as I had envisioned it in my articles on the authorship of Dreams.  With the deadline pressing, Michelle recommended that Barack seek advice from "his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers." To flesh out his family history, Obama had taped interviews with various family members. Andersen writes, "These...

It occurs to me that the last person in the whole wide world that I'd like to talk to at three in the freakin' morning would be Hillary. On a bunch of different levels. As the SecState, well, she's probably not going to tell you what a great job you are doing. As the professional woman, she's going to loudly speculate about the anotomical deficiencies of all of these foriegn policy czars running around on her turf. As the liberal idealogue, she'll be bitching about policy wonk details and staying on message. And, almost worst of all, her screech meter...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A measure to put Amtrak passengers on the same footing as airline passengers, allowing guns in checked-through baggage, was passed by the U.S. Senate Wednesday. The legislation, part of the transportation and housing appropriations bill, was approved 68-30. It would deny federal subsidies to Amtrak if it doesn't change its rules. The House version does not include the provision. Domestic airlines allow licensed gun owners to transport their weapons in their checked-through baggage. One senator said the gun measure "is going to put a severe burden" on Amtrak, CNN reported. But the measure's sponsor, Sen....

Dr. Lawrence Hunter of the Social Security Institute has a ringside seat of what is really happening in the ObamaCare negotiations and it is not anything like any of us would expect. Serious pressure is building and the momentum is on our side. However, without the knowledge of what is actually happening behind the scenes, the grave we are digging for ObamaCare could actually become our own graves. Our collective effort could all be for naught if we allow the construction of any scaffolding for a public option. Liberals are very patient about realizing their agenda. They will build upon...

President Obama accused Bill Clinton of peddling "bald-faced lies" during the presidential campaign, according to a new book on the 2008 race. Newsweek reporter Richard Wolffe writes in "Renegade: The Making of a President" that Obama's campaign struggled to figure out how to respond to former President Clinton, who during the early primaries was a fierce defender of his wife Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic nomination.

Could the swine flu usher in martial law? An emergency physician from Fort Hood, Texas, weighs in on that possibility. Lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering Senate Bill 2028, a pandemic response bill that will give public health officials and law enforcement complete control over citizens of the Commonwealth. Under the bill, should a pandemic be declared, the aforementioned officials will have authority to quarantine and forcibly immunize citizens. Any citizens resisting will face stiff fines and up to 30 days in prison. The bill also gives authorities the right to seize private property and supplies and redistribute them as they...

H.R. 3226, the Czar ACCOUNTABILITY and Reform Act of 2009, would bar the use of appropriated funds to pay either expenses or salaries of members of task forces, councils, or similar offices established by the president and headed by a person appointed inappropriately to such a post without Senate advice and consent.

(CNSNews.com) – The health care bill under consideration in the House of Representatives would give President Obama the authority to name a new federal “Health Choices Commissioner” who would have sweeping power to govern the health insurance plans offered in a so-called "exchange" where millions of Americans would get their health insurance if the bill is enacted. These powers would include deciding which treatments are covered, which companies can participate, which states can run their own exchange, and enrolling individuals into the public exchange.

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the only senator to have served longer than the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), mourned his friend Wednesday, saying his "heart and soul weeps." Byrd said he hoped healthcare reform legislation in the Senate would be renamed in memoriam of Kennedy. "I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come," Byrd said in a statement. "My heart and soul weeps at the lost of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy." Byrd's wistful statement focused on the work accomplished with Kennedy during decades together in the Senate, and called on...

BORN IN THE USA? Gives Obama 2008 pass, but would require papers in 2012 ...As WND reported, Franks told a townhall meeting in Kingman, Ariz., over the weekend he was considering a lawsuit to establish Obama's eligibility. The congressman's spokeswoman, Bethany Haley, said Franks did consider a lawsuit during the runup to the 2008 election and immediately after the results were announced. But she confirmed to WND today that the congressman no longer is considering immediate action. Franks did, however, today sign onto a move in Congress that would demand proof from future candidates, beginning with the 2012 race,...