Posted on 10/21/2009 10:24:11 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Under the "health care" heading on the White House Web site, a paragraph reads: "The President has vowed that the health reform process will be different in his Administration – an open, inclusive, and transparent process where all ideas are encouraged and all parties work together to find a solution to the health care crisis."
But after dozens of televised hearings, round tables, markups and press conferences, top White House officials are now meeting in the Capitol with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Max Baucus of Montana, away from Republicans and the press, to meld two very different committee-passed versions of their health care reform bills.
Among the issues that will be decided: Whether to include a public option; whether to require businesses to cover their employees; and how much to subsidize Americans paying for health insurance. The Finance Committee bill sets aside roughly $450 billion over 10 years for subsidies, while the Health Committee would spend roughly $725 billion for them in the same time frame.
Finally, how will it all be paid for? The Finance Committee puts taxes and fees on pricey insurance plans and health care companies, while members of the Health Committee have suggested raising income taxes on the wealthiest Americans, as the House intends to do.
Those decisions will presumably be made once the officials emerge from their negotiations, which began last week, but top Democrats insisted Monday that the process remains open and bipartisan.
"This has been as open and transparent a process, beginning with Senator Kennedy, back almost a year ago," Dodd said Tuesday. "And the suggestion, somehow, that this is being done otherwise is just blatantly false and a distraction from what, really, we need to be talking about."
"I think the American people have gotten quite a bit of news coverage on this topic," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "I think I've seen a number of clips from footage from the very beginning of meetings that were held, some of which were aired on C-SPAN, as a health care proposal was developed, understanding that their merging of two committee bills is just one step along a long process."
Baucus, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, said that prior to this week's closed-door meetings, the debate in his own committee was the most transparent in history. "Man, oh man, sometimes that old adage 'No good deed goes unpunished' comes true," said Baucus, explaining that after the bipartisan "Gang of Six" finished its negotiations, the Finance Committee had gone to great lengths to ensure transparency, including posting more than 500 amendments, as well as the full bill, on its Web site before they were debated in front of C-SPAN cameras. "This has been very, very, open all the way through, and it's time to write a bill."
Baucus added that even though Republicans are not in the room with Dodd, Reid, White House staff and himself, he is in contact with Republican senators "to find out what's going on and to get their views." Once the bill is written, he said, "it is going to be fully transparent on the Senate floor again, where anyone who wants to offer an amendment from either side . . . can do so. So this is bipartisan."
While details about the meetings themselves have been few and far between, Reid did post a video on YouTube last week with footage from one of the meetings. "I had a meeting today that was so important," he says in the video. After detailing a few goals he has for the legislation, including his own support for a public option, he concludes, "I look forward to the president signing a health care bill in the not distant future."
There isn’t a Democrap within 1000 miles of Washington DC who even owns a dictionary, much less can read one.
NObama has lied since he was running for Illinois State Senator, and it has become a tsunami of lies since then.
They have no intention of telling the citizens what they are doing. On any topic.
Look up SB 2099. A bill to force you to list your guns on your 1040 tax form, and to pay a $50 tax on each gun.
Penalties for not listing such are harsh.
This has passed the Senate Finance Committee—Max Baucus and his clones, and is being called an “amendment to the 1986 IRS bill. IT pass earlier this year.
They think they can do this without Senate voting as a whole...
AND: This administration intends to tell the citizens about this new law 30 (THIRTY) days AFTER it becomes law.
TRANSPARENCY-—sure it is!!!
LIARS LIARS LIARS
Who ya gonna believe? Me, or your lyin eyes!
These lies make me so angry I’m almost sick. Who ARE these people to spit on American values like this?!
Orwellian Newspeak..........Secrecy is transparency, exclusion is inclusion, Closed doors are open......................
Something is transparent alright........
the Finance Committee had gone to great lengths to ensure transparency, including posting more than 500 amendments, as well as the full bill, on its Web site before they were debated in front of C-SPAN cameras. “This has been very, very, open all the way through, and it’s time to write a bill. So Ya’ll just run along and play and we’ll let you
know if it passes before we get done.”
Of course the process is transparent; it is empty. There is no plan other than to crush the health insurance industry and impoverish all Americans. How can a law be passed that has no text be binding?
We know what they are up to, and it is no damned good.
Oh yes the wall is transparent, you just can’t see through it!
Of course they do.
I must re-read and list all the other cute phrases from "1984," "Brave New World," and "Animal Farm."
Just saying.
The beast they are building will have no brain, no eyes, five mouths, three legs, and thousands of asses.
"The power to tax is the power to destroy!"
I think.
Pelosi, Reid, and BHO, if you want to see job growth in the private sector, what you need to do is fundamentally change your stunningly disrespectful attitude towards business people and start to listen respectfully to business people and fully consider their viewpoint. You need to drop this outrageous cap and tax plan, which is based on totally outdated and discredited science (absolutely not the best science available as the EPA said in it’s latest lies). If you want to understand the latest science and why global warming is a complete hoax pushed by supporters of global income redistribution and global government, start right here at FR by reading, respecting, and fully considering the threads under the globalwarming keyword.
I have some news for you democrat leaders: except for a few very liberal companies on the west coast, the business community now despises the democrat party and this administration and business people are going to only hire people they absolutely have to hire between now and the next election, because they want high unemployment to hurt congressional democrats in the 2010 election. Republican business people are calm, professional people who don’t make a lot of noise. They are the backbone of this nation’s economy, and they’re very smart and certainly bright enough to figure out how to sabotage the democrats in 2010 and 2012. Unless there is a major change in attitude by the democrats and some major policy changes, business people nationwide are going to cause crushing defeats at the polls for democrats in 2010 and 2012. Mark my words, unless there is a major change in attitude and policy by democrats and the White House, you’re not going to see any significant job growth ALL the way into 2012. This will be the most jobless recovery in history by far without those major changes in attitude and policy.
Appears that the Dark Side has adopted the Jedi mind trick . . . “nothing to see here; move along”.
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