Nancy Pelosi: ‘We’re going to get started’

[kpete]

Source: Politico

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will start walking her members through major components of the final health care package Thursday as Democrats inch ever closer to a climatic vote on the landmark legislation.

“We’re going to get started,” Pelosi said as she left the Capitol Wednesday night. "We have some questions ... but we're hoping that we'll get those answered over the course of the reading. It's not much."

The speaker and her leadership team have their work cut out for them as they approach an Easter deadline to wrap up a year’s worth of work on health care reform in the next two-and-a-half weeks. That imperative was on stark display Wednesday night as Pelosi engaged in a spirited dialogue on the floor with first-term Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello, a Democrat who voted for the House bill whose support for the finished package could prove crucial.

The speaker will start outlining the finished package to the rest of her rank-and-file in a meeting Thursday morning.




Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34245.html

[midnight]

1. Looking forward to see what is in this bill....

[marshall]

19. We all want to know what's in it...

And I'm sure many members of Congress are curious as well.

[BP2]

2. I'd like to get pumped up about this, but every time they touch HCR, it gets weaker and weaker. eom

[msongs]

3. alan grayson wrote the bill they SHOULD pass n it's only 4 pages long nt

[Iowa]

9. +1

[quiet.american]

4. Excellent. nt

[SandWalker1984]

5. Reconciliation won't get passed -- remember NAFTA?

Are Democrats just serving their true masters? I’ve had enough of the US corporate profiteering healthcare system.

A few years ago a family member had a minor heart attack. He thought he had insurance. While in the hospital, looking at hospital bills of possibly $150,000, he found out that Aetna had changed the terms of his policy several months before and they would only pay $5000. He was never notified by Aetna of the policy change. They claimed they had sent him notification but never provided any proof. Aetna was charging him $666 a quarter for $5000 per year maximum coverage. That's loan shark rates.

He found out that they didn’t even HAVE to notify policy holders by mail of the change. He was told that this was “legal” in 34 states at the time - now it’s even more. You only think you have health insurance. Try using it!

To add insult to injury, the 1st night he was in the hospital he almost died because they gave him too much nitro, causing his blood pressure to drop too low. They didn’t even have a blood pressure monitor on him, the guy with the heart attack. If his wife hadn’t been there to alert the nursing staff, he could have died. I could write a book not only about the incompetent medical service he received but also about the incompetent billing department at the hospital and at Aetna. It took him almost a year to sort through the mess and deal with all of the multiple billing, billing errors, etc.

Now he can't get affordable insurance because of his pre-existing condition. Under Orahma Care, insurance for him will still be unaffordable. So he will be stuck buying a useless, high deductible policy that covers very little OR pay fines.

From what I heard yesterday on one of the major media channels, the subsidies won't kick in until 2014 (if they are not legislated altogether out of the bill after 2010 elections) but the mandates to buy insurance would start before 2014. So that means you will be forced to buy insurance you probably cannot afford without the benefit of the subsidies. If you cannot afford the mandated insurance, you will be fined thru the IRS or go to jail.

Consider the following: Anthem Blue Cross (yes, the company wanting 39% increases in premiums) brags that a woman can still get a private insurance policy for only $156 a month. That may sound good to some until they consider this policy has a $1500 deductible, and then only pays for 30% of most medical procedures and tests, makes the woman pay up to $500 a day for a hospital room, and doesn't cover pregnancy or delivery costs at all. How good a policy is that? THIS is your future health insurance policy under mandated Orahma Care. A promise of insurance for all but no limits on how bad that coverage can be.

There's one other problem with this bill. The expansion of Medicaid in the bill, which is a single payer system funded by working American tax payers. I'm good enough to pay taxes to support the expansion of a single payer program for others but I am told that I cannot have that same program for myself by the Democrats in Congress. Yes, there will be a political bloodbath for the Democrats in November if they pursue passing this corporate benefits package they call health care reform.

Rep Lynn Woolsey, head of the progressive caucus, was just on MSNBC tonight saying that there's no guarantee that if the House passes the Senate's bill that there will be a reconciliation fix of the bad items in the Senate bill.

As another duer, bvar22, stated in a thread here the other day:

There will be NO "Fixing it Later".

There will be NO "adding a Public Option later."

Even if The Democrats are successful at adding some "regulations" to this Health Care Bill to make it seem more palatable,
they will simply be De-Regulated after the Blood Bath.

THAT is what Republicans and "Centrist" Democrats do....De-Regulate.
(SEE: NAFTA, repeal of Glass-Steagal)

We are going to be forced to live with the FOUNDATION of this Bill for a LONG time,

and that FOUNDATION is:
Mandatory Profits for the Health Insurance Industry.

Every American WILL be forced to contribute to these profits,
AND America WILL blame the Democratic Party.

Rightly so.



If the Republicans are the party of "No," the Democrats have become the party of "Dough."

Chains we can believe in.....

[pundaint]

6. "Chains we can believe in..." - nice!

[superconnected]

7. Obama and his wife are not dumb. They know all this. They know they should be fighting for laws to

prevent the insurance industry from not paying, kicking people off, etc.

Instead he chooses to make it mandatory that we sign up with them. This is the same things for the last 30 years - Republicans are in the defense companies win, Dems are in the Insurance companies win.

Obama is raping us with this bill. He knows that. He knows how it really is, that it is as you describe. This is why I'm beginning to feel like maybe I should throw up when I see his face. He truly is serving his masters, and at the cost of us- the public who voted him in's lives.

[NoFace]

8. 'Democrats are the party of Dough' huh? So, why exactly are you here again?

Just curious.

[girl gone mad]

12. I can't disagree with the statement...

and I've voted for Ds in every election since I was 18.

There are a lot of us out here feeling very disillusioned and betrayed by our party.

[Mithreal]

15. This isn't a Democratic Party discussion board

I want to go easy on ya because you are newer but you have been jumping right in both guns blazing.

I'll just offer you this. Take it as a friendly wave.

[karynnj]

20. uhmm - it is a Democratic forum Read the descriptions

Now, that does include all Democrats - as far left or right as they go.

This does not mean that you have to agree with everything any Democrat, including Obama, supports. If it did, it would greatly limit discussion - to the point of uselessness.

[Mithreal]

21. For anyone with an IQ below 100 that probably seems correct

Not that I put much stake in intelligence whatever it even means.

The site is not affiliated with the Party. When I quote from the admins I just get accusations I am "cherry picking." This site is for progressives and it's expected that people GENERALLY support. "Generally" is another word that some don't seem to understand.

Now what am I supposed to say when you are just plain wrong? I don't mean to insult your intelligence, but come on.

edit spelling

[karynnj]

22. I will not quote 40 plus year old SAT scores, college grades or performance evaluations

as a member of technical staff for over two decades at Bell Labs, but I can assure you that I have no reason to feel insecure about my intelligence.

I did not say that the site was "affiliated with the party', so that is a complete strawman. The reason "some" might not understand your second paragraph is because a direct object is missing that would explain what is to be supported. As a statistician, I would say that the there is no precise definition of "generally", as a study by one of my colleagues proved when she did a study to assess what percentage most fit a set of vague words that are used in surveys. Many, several, most, generally, etc all generated wide distributions.

Additionally, the fact is that even among politicians, generally considered to be "progressive", there can be huge disagreements on various issues. As an example, I looked at all the votes in the first half of 2009 where Kerry and Feingold, both very good Democrats disagreed and tried to understand the underlying reasons for the differences. Though they agreed on more votes that not, there are sufficient enough differences on very key issues that I would not say that IMO they "generally agreed" on disputed issues.

Confirmation of Geitner - Feingold, who voted for Condi Rice etc "because the President should have his choice" voted NO Here, Kerry is giving an Obama nominee the benefit of the doubt that Feingold gave Condi Rice, who was not honest in her SFRC hearing. That said, this is the one vote I agree with Feingold over Kerry on.

Votes that reflect that Feingold is more fiscally conservative:
4 Republican (and one by Feingold) stimulus amendments:
Coburn amendment to eliminate money for Hollywood - Feingold and many conservative Democrats voted for, Kerry against
Feingold amendment to increase accountability - again, Feingold was with Republicans and a few conservative Democrats.
Coburn amendment that was said to eliminate waste - Feingold voted with the Republicans.
Graham amendment on home foreclosures in TARP - Feingold voted with the Republicans
Grassley amendment - Feingold voted with the Republicans.
Budget Amendments
Coburn amendment for competitive bids - Feingold for, Kerry agaisnt
2 Colburn amendment on earmarks - Feingold for
motion to yable Vitter amendment to repeal automatic Congress pay raises - Kerry for, Feingold against
Reed amendment to use the remaining TARP fund for the benefit of consumers - Kerry - for, Feingold - against
Vitter amendment to use remaining TARP funds towards the deficit - Feingold -for

Feingold voted against: the omnibus appropriations act with the Republicans and against the
supplemental budget- the bill to invoke cloture and the bill itself (Senate and conference report)- Feingold - 4 noes

Feingold voted three times to weaken gun control
Ensign amendment that cut back DC gun laws - Feingold for, Kerry against
Coburn amendment to "keep people safe in National Parks" by allowing them to bring guns - Feingold for
Gregg amendment to require various forms print info on the national dept - Feingold for
Wicker amendment that let people take guns in checked baggage on Amtrack - Feingold for

Foreign policy votes - these incidentally surprise me because I have watched the SFRC for years. I suspect that Feingold voted for the AIPAC ones because he is up for re-election. They all failed incidentaly due to Kerry's leadership:
Inhofe amendment against the UN - Feingold for
Three counterproductive Kyl amendments against Iran/Egypt/Gaza/Hamas that Kerry and Lugar successfully defeated - here Feingold backed AIPAC and Kerry didn't.
To strike the provision funding IMF - Kerry and Lugar leading the fight against this, Feingold for

environment related bills - here I agreed 100% with Kerry
Omnibus Public Land Management bill 2009 cloture vote - Feingold was the ONLY Democrat to vote against it - but both than voted for the bill when cloture succeeded.
to waive the CBA on Whitehouse's amendment for a deficit neutral fund for clean energy - Kerry for
to prohibit reconcilation for cap and trade (Johanns bill) - Feingold for, Kerry and Boxer strongest against
Graham amendment - to protect middle class from an energy tax - Feingold for, Kerry against
Bond amendment - anti future climate change bill if it affects coal - Feingold for, Kerry against

Fairness Doctrine Here, I am with Kerry

Demint amendment to prevent the FCC from ever promulgating the fairness doctrine - Feingold FOR, Kerry, AGAINST
Thune amendment to prohibit funds to the FCC to repromulgate the fairness doctrine - Feingold for

earmarks - Feingold seems to have McCain's phobia of earmarks - though an out in the open ear mark very often funds good and needed projects Kerry's stand even under Bush for a legal line item veto where the set of strikeouts would require approval is a better way than not having earmarks.
Coburn anti earmarks amendment to public works bill - Feingold for
DeMint Amendment to implement "Obama's earmark reforms" - Feingold - for (along with Lieberman, Mccasgill, Bennet and Republicans)
Johnans, Vitter and DeMint motions to instruct the conferees - Kerry no, Feingold yes - it passed
Thune amendment - to require any repaid TARP funds to reduce the authorization limit - Feingold for
McCain amendment attacking an earmark - Feingold for
Feingold amendment to require no earkmarks for disaster bill - Kerry against

National security:
Mccain amendment to eliminate the Over-the-road Bus security act - Feingold for
DeMint amendment to require at least 700 miles of fence on SW border by Dec 2010 - Feingold for


Others that don't naturally fall into categories:

Kyl Amdt. No. 793 - I don't completely understand but it involves data collected to assess best medical - Feingold for and Kerry and most liberal Democrats against.

Joint Resolution S J 5 - Feingold voted with Bayh, Lincoln, Nelson, Dorgan, Shaheen and most of the Republicans FOR the bill while Kerry voted against it.

to waive the CBA on Carpo's amendment to increase the borrowing authority of the FDIC - Feingold - for ???

To strike the provision relating to the Loran-C signal, as recommended by the Administration. - Feingold for with Republicans

Conclusions
Kerry was a key ally to Obama in passing the budget and the supplemental budget. Failure to pass them would have doomed Obama's Presidency. Feingold was frankly not helpful.

I suspect that this site has a libertarian definition of "progressive". Being against gun control and against dealing with the problem of climate change are NOT progressive values. I also think that progressives should value having a diverse mass media - instead of the sea of RW radio and cable. On foreign policy, Kerry could be best described as an internationalist and someone committed to diplomacy.

Now, both Kerry and Feingold are well within the Democratic and progressive mainstream and these votes suggest that they don't "generally agree". This suggests that even within the progressive Democratic spectrum, there is a broad range of opinion.

[Mithreal]

24. Obfuscation with a smattering of truth

"We welcome Democrats of all stripes, along with other progressives who will work with us to achieve our shared goals. While the vast majority of our visitors are Democrats, this web site is not affiliated with the Democratic Party, nor do we claim to speak for the party as a whole."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/about.html

Knock yourself out, read the whole page.

"it is a Democratic forum" - out of context

You may not be insecure, but you are also wrong about that being a straw man. What does big D Democratic mean? It means the party, but this site is not affiliated with the party. How is that those two ideas can be understood then? Well just read what the admins wrote.

If you want to drag this out, go right ahead.

[karynnj]

25. Have fun playing with words,

I frankly think it hilarious that you feel you can sit in judgment on the accuracy and intelligence of the posts of others. Frankly, you gravely overestimate yourself.

The quote from the site is saying essentially what I said in the first post.

[Mithreal]

26. You amuse me. It actually is different. If I ignore your omissions

and outright error, then yes it isn't any different. Maybe your errors were even unintentional and not representative of your actual take just expressed poorly.

Think a disagreement over the substance of your comment is playing word games? That is the kind of comfort that reinforces your own ignorance. I have plenty of my own ignorance to overcome, so have a nice day.

[karynnj]

27. lol absolute arrogance

You likely will grow up some day.

[Mithreal]

28. Yes, that must be it, arrogance and I am so like a child.

Diminution is a favorite, like "adults are in charge," don't you know, that's one of the "supporters at all costs" favorites too.

I seek the truth and am hostile to lies and nonsense. When those stop being the coins of the realm, you'll see I am something else or not.

Maybe your intent wasn't bogus but your words were. That you cannot see it must be some sort of philosophical difference because I know you are not letting it go.

Maybe you could clarify your statement with regards to what I posted, I am not such a monster that I won't try and find common ground.

[girl gone mad]

11. This should be an OP.

Your family member's story is similar to what happened to my neighbor. She thought she had great coverage, but they denied her after pre-approving her for surgery. She's had to declare bankruptcy.

[girl gone mad]

10. Sounds like she walking back her more strident assertions.

[ShortnFiery]

13. It doesn't mean SQUAT what the House does ... The SENATE RULES and they won't pass any ...

legislation that doesn't fully serve the Insurance Cartel and Big Pharma.

Nancy is just talking so she can DUPE some true believers, con artists and useful idiots into voting for more "destruction of the working classes" through MANDATES.

Thanks Nancy. :eyes:

[Mithreal]

16. Agree with much of your sentiment as long as you acknowledge

now is not the time to give up. Our voices must be loud and clear.

http://whipcongress.com/

LIST OF TOLL FREE CONGRESS SWITCHBOARD PHONE NUMBERS, thanks to orleans

1-800-828-0498

1-800-459-1887

1-800-614-2803

1-866-340-9281

1-866-338-1015

1-866-220-0044

1-877-851-6437

[rabs]

14. Well, hope Pelosi's plans don't get washed out

"... as Democrats inch ever closer to a climatic vote ..."

and that the Dems are able to come to a successful "climactic vote" on HCR.

(Sorry, but have always been a word geek.)

[Hubert Flottz]

17. Earth to Nancy...Redemption is "Off The Table"

We the people don't want a watered down rip-off without a public option.

[Kablooie]

18. Not news. When the Senate kills everything again, THAT'S news.

and it will be the end of Democratic majorities and very likely we will see a Republican president again in 2012.

It will be lots of fun to see what the Republicans can do to this country when they start out with a huge deficit instead of a surplus.

[kestrel91316]

23. I don't want to hear about "getting started", Nancy. I want to hear about

getting finished.