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Democrats Clear Impasse Blocking Health Care Vote By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 7, 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Capping months of struggle, House Democrats cleared an abortion-related impasse blocking a vote on sweeping health care legislation late Friday and officials expressed optimism they had lined up the support needed to pass President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. A vote was expected on the legislation on Saturday, after Obama's scheduled midmorning trip to the Capitol complex to make one final pitch for its approval. The bill is designed to spread coverage to tens of millions who now lack it and ban insurance...

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Could the health care bill be in real trouble in the House? The Democratic defections are starting to pile up in advance of a vote scheduled for tomorrow on sweeping health reform efforts. (That schedule could slip to Sunday or beyond, if the votes aren’t there.) According to the National Republican Congressional Committee -- which, of course, has an interest in watching this vote particularly closely -- 15 House Democrats and counting are saying publicly that they’ll oppose the measure when it reaches a vote. Democrats can afford only 40 such defections to squeak the...

Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years. According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill would cost $15,000 in 2016.

Election Wrap Up: Flash! Dems lose TWO Governorships in VA & NJ. Obama's analysis, "We have saved or gained or 57 Democrat Governorships.."

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000...

Just got this writing in an e from Rep. Marsha Blackburn: As I write this, Members are being informed that the health care debate is likely to extend through the weekend. A final vote may not come until Tuesday. The Rules Committee, the body that decides what amendments will and not be considered on H.R. 3962 is meeting now. I am waiting my turn to offer a series of amendments that would make H.R. 3962 a better bill.

The voters be damned: That seems to be Speaker Nancy Pelosi's attitude in the wake of big Democratic losses on Tuesday. "House Democratic leaders, undeterred by delays in the Senate or this week's Republican electoral triumphs, plan to call a vote Saturday on the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. health-care policy in four decades," Bloomberg reports: The House will move on the $1.05 trillion legislation that would cover 36 million uninsured people and create a government plan to compete with private insurers even after the election of Republican governors in New Jersey and Virginia. President Barack Obama will go to...

The answer to the big question surrounding Nancy Pelosi’s scheduling of the ObamaCare vote this weekend has been answered. She didn’t schedule it for Saturday because she had the votes — and now Steny Hoyer has admitted as much this morning: A House leader says Democrats haven’t yet lined up enough votes to pass their health care overhaul bill. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland says the vote that House Democrats had scheduled for Saturday could slip to Sunday or early next week. Hoyer acknowledged to reporters Friday that Democratic leaders don’t yet have the 218 votes needed to pass...

From the House Ways and Means Republicans: Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties,...

There is a provision (section 532 on page 325) of the house bill that will increase taxes on lots of people. The provision places a $2,500 cap on qualifiying benefits in Flexible Spending Accounts (so called "Cafeteria Plans"). Currently there is no cap. Here's a real example. I own a small business and I provide up to $10,000 a year, per employee, into an FSA. If an employee making $50,000 a year uses the entire $10,000 for family health care coverage, it's all tax-free. Under the health care plan (both Pelosi's and the Senate Finance Committee version), only the first...

<p>In trying to keep up with which blue dogs are on record as saying they will vote against Obamacare, I have culled this from Freeper news posts today.</p>

Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin says she will oppose the health care reform bill expected to be considered this weekend in the House. The South Dakota Democrat says the plan falls short of her goals for health care reform and could threaten existing access to health care for many South Dakotans. Herseth Sandlin says she's also concerned it doesn't do enough to bring down the federal deficit and could affect future health care for seniors. The House could begin consideration this weekend of the 10-year, $1.2 trillion legislation that would extend health coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and...

First Pelosi Protest Video Here (posted yesterday on FR here)Second Pelosi Protest Video Here Even as Pelosi and Co. debate socialized medicine and child-killing in health care, Father Norman Weslin and four other pro-life advocates are sitting in jail. It is a disgusting picture of what we have become as a nation. I beg you to pray for them - for their speedy release - and I ask you to watch the new video (the second video) of the protests and arrests that occurred yesterday. I hope you grasp the suicidal path we are on as a nation; this damnable...

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says the purpose of cap and trade is to enrich investment banks..."Attack with what comes up, with what God sends," underscores the need to exploit opportunities to destroy an enemy, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has provided such an opportunity to demolish Barack Obama's cap and trade agenda. It allows our side to totally reverse the focus of cap and trade from protection of the environment, polar ice caps, polar bears, and so on to enrichment of investment banks and similar entities at the expense of the working American. Gillibrand's letter to the Wall Street Journal says...

While roaming the grounds of the US Capitol yesterday, Kristinn Taylor obtained a list of possible democrat defectors of the now infamous “Healthcare” bill. Kristinn was asked to post this list of wobbly democrats on FreeRepublic in an effort to mobilize our forces and overwhelm these members with phone calls and e-mails asking them to vote NO on the socialization of our healthcare. We also learned that Nancy Pelosi had just scheduled the vote for tomorrow; Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM. For all those who were unable to answer the call to surround the Capitol yesterday, here is...

Washington -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gladly pocketed one more precious Democratic vote for health care legislation Thursday, swearing in Bay Area Rep. John Garamendi as key Republican gubernatorial victories this week in Virginia and New Jersey rattled moderate Democrats before a showdown vote set for Saturday. Two California Democrats, moderates Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa from the San Joaquin Valley, remain uncommitted. "We are right on the brink," Pelosi said. "We have a historic opportunity for us to again provide quality health care for all Americans. It is something that many of us have worked our whole political lifetimes...

CFA Executive Director: "It is past time for Catholic Members of Congress to start voting like their faith matters. There will be political 'hell to pay' in 2010 for those Catholic members who support such a pro-abortion, anti-family bill." Contact: Dr. Kevin Roberts, Catholic Families for America, 512-686-3125, kroberts@catholicfamiliesusa.org WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- With the vote on the House version of the health care reform bill (HR 3962) looming, today Catholic Families for America urged the 137 House members who are Catholic to reject the legislation, given its pro-abortion, anti-family elements. "Those members of the House who are...

The White House will today issue a Statement of Administration Policy today endorsing the health care reform legislation from House Democrats. It will not be a signal that the president favors the House bill over the one from Senate Democrats, officials say. The president will go to Capitol Hill to speak to House Democrats, likely on Saturday, to rally support for the bill.

... Buried in Nancy Pelosi's health-care bill is a provision that will partially repeal tax indexing for inflation, meaning that as their earnings rise over a lifetime these youngsters can look forward to paying higher rates even if their income gains aren't real. In order to raise enough money to make their plan look like it won't add to the deficit, House Democrats have deliberately not indexed two main tax features of their plan: the $500,000 threshold for the 5.4-percentage-point income tax surcharge; and the payroll level at which small businesses must pay a new 8% tax penalty for not...

On his Fox News show Thursday tonight, Sean Hannity interviewed representatives Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Steve King (R-IA) regarding the spontaneous “House Call on Pelosi” rally which was attended by 20,000 to 45,000 tea party patriots. Their mission was to remind their representatives that the overwhelming will of the people is to stop the “crown jewel of socialism”, ObamaCare. Video: Michele Bachmann Reflects on “House Call on Pelosi”

Thursday morning in her “House Call on Pelosi”, Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke to tens of thousands of spontaneously gathered tea party patriots in DC who joined together to ask their representatives to vote “No” on Pelosi’s final ObamaCare bill. Video: Michele Bachmann Speaks to Thousands in DC

Pelosi Breaks Pledge to Put Final Health Care Bill Online for 72 Hours Before Vote 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...

It was a simple question. It was the kind of question legendary members of Congresses past would have asked themselves about pending legislation. In fact, it was the kind of question that shouldn't need to be asked of a U.S. speaker of the House. But, obviously, it is the kind of question that is not being asked frequently enough of such officials. It came more than a week ago from a member of the "alternative" media, and it was indeed directed to Nancy Pelosi. It went like this: "Madame Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to...

Tens of thousands of people from across the country made a "House call" on the west side of the Capitol yesterday. These Americans traveled to Washington to register their objections to the mammoth government health care bill that Democrats are rushing through Congress. The size and spirit of the rally were a testament to the explosion in grass-roots activism opposed to the expansion of government under President Obama's and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's watch. The silent majority is silent no longer.

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.

Medicare's chief actuary told The Hill on Thursday that it is unclear if he will have a cost estimate of the House healthcare reform bill before a scheduled vote this weekend. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has put the cost of the measure at $894 billion over 10 years, noting that it would reduce the deficit by $30 billion over the same time period. Republicans believe the price tag of the bill is much higher. But it doesn't sound like Rick Foster, the chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will deliver his cost estimate before...

Demonstration inside Pelosi's office and outside in the hall, the Health Care Bill gets torn into pieces and dumped on the floor her office (Video)

Each of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) costs for Obamacare released by the leaders of the Senate and House respectively were totally honest, and totally full of crap ! Its all a matter of timing. In their efforts to gain support for the government take over the health care industry Ms Pelosi and Mr Reid are Running a scam on the American People. Here's how it works, each plan starts the taxes in year one, but they back loaded costs. The house bill for example doesn't start spending real money until 2013, year 4 of the plan. The CBO measures...

Audio runs about 40 minutes. The health-care rally today on the Hill had 10 to 15 thousand attendees, with many still roaming the halls seeking out congressfolks. It was stated again that perhaps Pelosi does not have the votes. The first part of the discussion was focused on the impact on small business. The mandatory minimum contributions or 8% penalty will result, it was claimed, is a fundamental shift in the industry from hiring employees to hiring independent contractors. It was asserted that much of the entrepreneurial foundation of American industry could be taxed out of existence. I asked about...

H.R. 3962, the Democrats’ health insurance reform bill, to be voted on this week by Congress, contains a provision to establish waiting lists as a mechanism to control costs. Such waiting lists have long been a characteristic – and a bane – of socialized medicine.

 Indeed, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled them illegal in June 2005. "Access to a waiting list is not access to health care," wrote Canada’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin at the time. Yet, this is exactly what the Democrats’ plan has in mind for Americans if their proposed bill becomes law. Called the “Affordable...

Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats in the House are about to pass possibly the worst piece of legislation ever to come out of Washington and force it on the general public of America. The 2009 House version of Health Care Reform for the country. Take note of the word reform, because it actually means takeover, as in government takeover of the health care industry. This is the bill from Hell! Almost 2000 pages of legislative language that glosses over, covers up, and side steps every major issue and concern that has been brought out in the debate....

Audio runs about 20 minutes. The main points were that dems are peeling away from "yes" votes on a daily basis, although the consensus was that it would pass - but this varied a lot in the conversation. Dems are feeling heat both directly from constituents and indirectly from Tuesday's election returns. Speaker Pelosi is pushing this vote at this time, they suggested, because the closer the 2010 mid-terms come, the harder it will be to keep votes. Rep. Capito suggested that there is a lot of pressure from the White House - President Obama will have no momentum whatsoever...

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer Says Passage Will Come Saturday; AARP Announces Support for Legislation (AP) The second-ranking House Democrat predicted that historic health care legislation will be passed Saturday as the AARP, the nation's premier lobbying group for the elderly, announced it was signing on to the bill. Rep. Steny Hoyer said House leaders expect to have the 218 votes needed to pass the sweeping bill, which would extend coverage to tens of millions of uninsured people and ban insurance companies from turning people away. President Barack Obama has the health care overhaul the defining social goal of his young...

It's one thing to be serene under fire, it's another to be delusional. More than a few Democrats in Congress are perplexed and worried that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is insisting on ramming through a 1,900-page health care bill on Saturday, just days after her party took heavy losses in Tuesday's elections. "It reminds me of Major Nicholson, the obsessed British major in the film 'Bridge on the River Kwai,'" one Democrat told me. "She is fixated on finishing her health care bridge even as she's lost sight of where it's going and what damage it could cause to her...

The push to overhaul health care received a major boost Thursday as the American Medical Association and AARP endorsed legislation drafted by top House Democrats. The backing of those two groups comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, oversees final changes to the $1.1 trillion health care bill. The measure likely will come to a final vote Saturday. Dr. J. James Rohack, the AMA's president, said Thursday the legislation is "not a perfect representation of our views" but is close enough to warrant his group's support and keep the reform process moving forward. Rohack said the bill needs to be...

Here is a letter that No Compromise wrote to her Congress Critter which you can use if you choose. Plz do not hesitate to fax, call or email your critter today because the House of Reps is expected to vote on this anti-American bill between today and Saturday. NC advices people to fax opposed to call or email as emails are being round-filed by the 1000s.

Democrats haven't decided yet whether to permit an amendment to their health bill on abortion, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday. Pelosi said during her weekly press conference that she and other Democratic leaders have not decided whether or not to allow changes submitted by Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) to clarify language on federal funding for abortions. "His work has been very important, and we haven't made any decisions about amendment," Pelosi said in her weekly press conference. 40-some pro-life Democrats, led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), have threatened to oppose the bill over concerns about the strength of provisions...

"All politics is local," is a truism attributed to the late Tip O’Niell. He was Speaker of the House when Ronald Reagan was President. I believe Chris Matthews of "tingling legs" fame may have worked for him, in some important capacity. I hasten to add, however, that in a land like America, where individualism is supposed to flourish and reign supreme, "all politics is personal." (It sounds so delicious I should get this trademarked.) The essence of what the Obama Administration is doing with respect to healthcare is an assault on individual liberty. All the machinations and lawyerly schemes buried...

When I first read HR 3200 in its entirety several months ago I was appalled at the blatant disregard in the bill of the basic tenets of our Constitutional form of government. However, I underestimated what is actually being done to us. The newest version of HR 3200 that has been labeled the Pelosi Bill is the original bill on steroids. It is the most “in your face” challenge to the American people as a whole that has ever occurred. While Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama continue to reassure the American people about what the bill will do,...

Speaker Pelosi’s Government-Run Health Plan Will Require a Monthly Abortion Premium Health care reform should not be used as an opportunity to use federal funds to pay for elective abortions. Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life - not end it. Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page government takeover of health care does just that. On line 17, p. 110, section 222 under “Abortions for which Public Funding is Allowed” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run plan. The Speaker’s plan also requires that at least one...

Last night, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its score of the House Republican health care plan, reporting that it will reduce healthcare premiums by up to 10 percent and lower federal budget deficits by $68 billion over the next ten years. In a letter sent to sent by the CBO to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), the CBO said: "The amendment includes a number of provisions intended to increase the availability and improve the affordability of private health insurance. "According to CBO and JCT’s (Joint Committee on Taxation) assessment, enacting the amendment would result in a net...

Republicans say they will expose the 12 truths in Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill on the following topics:

Most House Democrats tried to put a good face on Tuesday's election results, saying they picked up two more votes for a sweeping health care bill that could be on the floor as early as Friday. But it can't make it any easier for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she works to corral the last holdouts she needs to pass legislation overhauling the nation’s health care system. Of course, the speaker, who told POLITICO recently she's "not big on showing weakness," brushed aside questions about how the Democratic gubernatorial losses in Virginia and New Jersey would impact her final tally...

AARP has been to portray itself as a "non partisan" observer on the health care debate, but has been actively working toward ensuring the passage of Obamacare. All the evidence points to the fact that the Senior advocacy organization is willing to push through a plan that will hurt its membership so it can make millions on its insurance related activities. During the summer AARP's management contended that they generically support health care but don't support any specific bill. At the same time they were running commercials that advocating for specific elements of the House Bill. The AARP even published...

For crying-out-loud, Rep. Nancy Pelosi has come up with another zinger... As if her calling out we were losing 5 million jobs a month wasn't enough, the leader of the House is calling out the race in upstate New York a victory. On the point of it being a victory, she's right, literally, the Democrat won. However, meshed in with the fact that a Democrat won, Pelsoi had to expound on the victory by blowing it out of proportion by stating this: From my perspective, we won last night. We had one race that we were engaged in -- it...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. talks with Vice President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, prior to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's address to a joint session of Congress

"A win for Health Care reform and other initiatives" (New Video)

Most House Democrats tried to put a good face on Tuesday's election results, saying they picked up two more votes for a sweeping health care bill that could be on the floor as early as Friday. But it can't make Speaker Nancy Pelosi's job any easier as she works to corral those last holdouts she needs to approve the bill. Of course, the speaker, who told Politico recently she's "not big on showing weakness," brushed aside questions about how the election results would impact her final tally and instead trumped the two special election wins. "From our perspective we won...

Despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s pronouncement yesterday that the health are “reform” bill may not come to a vote in the senate this year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is still pushing and shoving her caucus to the brink, insisting on a vote as early as Friday night. One of the two big steps remaining before the vote -- the so-called “manager’s amendment of final changes -- was revealed last night. The “Amendment to H.R.3962 Offered by Mr. Dingell of Michigan,” otherwise known as the Manager’s Amendment, is out and up online. Democrat Rep. John Dingell, Chairman Emeritus of the...