Just LIVID-how dare they do this to health care reform!!!??

[Politics_Guy25]

It's been a generation or more that we've been waiting for meaningful health care reform. The congressional democrats killed health care reform in 1993 when we had a dem president and first lady who made it their key agenda item and now once AGAIN, they kill it when we have another president dedicated to the cause. The thousands of uninsured kids in America can't wait, the jobless can't wait, the poor can't wait. We need meaningful health care reform/universal coverage and we need it NOW! 58 senate seats, a near fillibuster proof majority, and they still don't do it? Still??? A budget reconcilcation process that would get this passed with just 50 votes and VP Biden and they STILL don't do it! Oh no, my GOP daddies tell me it will cost too much says Senator conrad. Outrageous. cap and trade dead too. This is the same crowd that funded Bush's illegal war in Iraq from 2007 onwards as well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I weep for those that won't get the health care coverage that they so desperately need. If we can't do it with a near-fillibuster proof congress and the most popular democratic progressive president in decades, when we will ever? I'm livid with the senate and in particular the senate budget committee chair. Thanks for nothing senate jerks.

Health care reform is not negotiable. I've never been more furious with the hill leadership than I am right now. NEVER.

[bluestateguy]

1. "Well, now, that's just the way we do things up here on the Hill"

(with Southern accent)

[Politics_Guy25]

5. Indeed

I'm so furious I can barely speak. I just read an article that Speaker Pelosi is intent on delivering for the president. She has my full support. This is directed towards the senate and senate leadership. The house IS doing IT's job.

[MadBadger]

2. What exactly happened?

[dflprincess]

3. It wouldn't cost too much -

unless they're talking about what it would cost their campaign treasuries if their insurance company buddies stopped writing checks.

[WeDidIt]

4. A little context would be helpful

I've seen nothing about healthcare in the news today.

[Politics_Guy25]

9. msnbc report just now from w.h. correspondent John Yang

That is what sent me over the edge. He said that the president's down payment on healthcare, the $700 billion, was being stripped from the budget. He then said cap and trade was as well. Yang went onto say this doesn't mean that these ideas will never happen necessarily but it will be a lot tougher.

I could handle cap and trade being removed but health care as well? That's one step too far.

[drm604]

11. Who's doing the stripping?

Is this confirmed?

[redqueen]

15. IIRC, this is one of the things the Blue Dogs are partnering with Republicans to do...

strip this and another item from the budget... don't recall what that other item is just now though.

[terisan]

12. Is that the 700 billon they have just committed to Wall St? nt

[WeDidIt]

13. Obama will veto that shit

Watch.

[biopowertoday]

21. oh my gawd!!!!!!!!!

[Thrill]

24. No its the 700 billion set aside for the financial crisis

[Maven]

31. That was the one thing I really LIKED about this budget.

For the second time today: MOTHERFUCKER!

[laugle]

36. And don't forget the

middle class tax cuts are being dropped, but not the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy!

[Hutzpa]

6. Where did you hear they're killing health care?? n/t

[LSparkle]

7. Fucking USELESS Senate!

Why did we JUST ELECT all these Senators if all they were going
to do was turn around and show their DINO credentials??? And where
is Harry Reid??? And what about Dick Durbin??? Can't they WHIP
THESE BASTARDS INTO LINE?

If we can't get these reforms done now -- with the majorities we
currently enjoy and with circumstances so bleak for SO MANY
PEOPLE -- then we don't DESERVE the reins of power, frankly.
I hate to say it, but under a similar scenario -- with the same
majorities we have -- the fucking Rethuglicans would get their
agenda through!

[acmavm]

27. Where's Harry? Cowering in a corner somewhere no doubt.

[Hamlette]

8. a generation? It was FDR's NUMBER ONE priority. Always.

he never got it.

He did get his second (unemployment) and third (medicare) but he could never get universal health coverage.

This is not going to happen easily or overnight.

[Jane Austin]

10. Medicare passed in 1965, thanks to Ted Kennedy,

who took on the AMA and wouldn't back down.

I remember reading a long, long profile in the New Yorker about what Medicare was about and who all the players were.

Lyndon Johnson was President. This was part of his Great Society program, but it was Teddy Kennedy who got it done.

[terisan]

14. Thanks for the reminder. nt

[Hamlette]

22. you are so right, I meant Social Security! (I'd also give LBJ part of the credit for Medicare.

Just saying.

Oh, and btw, if you ever go to Austin, go to the LBJ library. It's pretty interesting. They show a 20-30 minute film about Johnson and at the end, like credits in a movie, the run through a list of things accomplished when Johnson was prez. It's VERY impressive.

[Jane Austin]

30. Oh, I give a lot of credit to LBJ for all the Great Society things,

including Medicare.

Check my screen name. I lived in Austin for 38 years, and still work there every day. :)

I've been to the library many times, but mostly for events.

[drm604]

16. This AP story, posted 5 minutes ago on Yahoo seems to contradict what you're saying.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090325/ap_on_go_co/congress_budget

WASHINGTON – Congressional Democrats advanced budget outlines Wednesday that largely mirror President Barack Obama's tax and spending plans while imposing marginal changes to tame ballooning deficits. "This budget will protect President Obama's priorities — education, energy, health care, middle class tax relief and cut the deficit in half," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said after the president met privately in the Capitol with rank-and-file Democrats.

[Connie_Corleone]

17. I hope the OP is wrong.

Taking health care reform out of the budget would be a disaster. We don't need the damn republicans to pass health care.

KEEP IT IN THE BUDGET!!

[biopowertoday]

23. but says they are Punting health care decisions into the future.......

....On larger issues like taxes, health care and combating global warming, the congressional Democratic plans simply seek to punt difficult decisions into the future.

[drm604]

26. I missed that,

but check out Brazenly Liberal's post. Hopefully the OP is wrong,

[Brazenly Liberal]

18. You'll be glad to know it looks like you're mistaken. :)

Evan Bayh was just on Hardball predicting Healthcare would pass. It will probably require reconciliation according to Bayh, but it will pass. If Bluedog Bayh is saying that, you can probably take it to the bank.

[drm604]

20. Good!

:bounce:

[backscatter712]

25. God I hope this is just another bad Beltway rumor.

Hopefully, Obama would be ready with his veto pen if they decided to pull this shit.

[Brazenly Liberal]

28. Ugh! Hold on a sec. Don't want to give you wrong info.

Bayh came back on and now he's saying - if I heard him right - that while the Senate won't strip health care, they won't actually approve additional debt to make it happen. So Obama would have to find the money to pay for it. That doesn't kill it, but it's a tough blow.

[Samantha]

32. That is right

If it does not go the reconciliation route and is passed with a simple majority vote, it is automatically canceled in five years. That would be the true disaster, to have it passed and then canceled at the end of Obama's first term.

Passing it through reconciliation would ensure that does not happen.

Sam

[n2doc]

47. If (big if) we get good reform, the pressure to keep it will be enormous

No way they kill it in 5 years unless The country goes stupid and elects a repub in 12....

[Cha]

19. Rec'd~ Good

rant, PG.

[Phx_Dem]

29. No, I think it's a procedureal thing that doesn't really mean anything

to us. Larry O'Donnell was discussing this last night -- I didn't really understand it but I'm almost positive it has not been taken off the table. Peter Orzag said today the budget is nearly the same as what they sent to the Hill, "it's not an exact twin, but it's a look-a-like brother." His exact words.

They took out the tax cut for middle class families after 2010. I don't care about that. In fact, I think it's a good idea considering the deficit. As long as the tax cut for the rich ends on schedule too.

Relax. There is no way in hell Obama is letting them take health care off the table. And I don't think Dems want to take it off the table.

[doc03]

33. Haven't you noticed we are in the worst

financial crisis since the Great Depression, where will the money come from? Eight years ago when Bush* was appointed we had a surplus and a perfect opportunity for health care. The proposed budget is going to put us in a hole we will never dig out of.

[TheKentuckian]

34. As far as I'm concerned this sentiment is more or less

being so afraid to put gas on the credit card that you lose your job because you can't make it in.

Investing in health care now will save the economy trillions over the long run. Energy investment is even more crucial, if we don't fix this now we may as well retarget our nukes on ourselves and save the suffering.

[doc03]

35. This budget will tax the middle class into poverty

I never dreamed when I voted that "spread the wealth around" meant my wealth. Taxing middle class health benefits is going to cost the middle class with employer health benefits thousands a year. The Cap and Trade will raise our electric bills to who knows what and literally put hundreds of thousands of people out of work. If you believe humans are the cause of global climate change it may be worth it to you, I don't. Then today I hear they may take the middle class tax cut Obama campaigned on back off of us in 2011, that is not what I voted for. Go ahead and call me names now but I voted mostly Democrat all my life. I am a Democrat but you just can't do all this stuff in the middle of a Depression.

[laugle]

37. I agree with you 100%. You are obviously very well informed!

I wish there was more objectivity on this board. If we are going off a cliff, and I hope we are not, I want to know ahead of time. I'm always in survival mode..............

[doc03]

38. Wow, I don't believe it there are two

of us on DU. I am used to getting flamed every time I express my opinion. I think President Obama should focus on getting us out of this Depression first and if he succeeds we will have the surplus
needed to fund other programs.

[laugle]

39. I'm sorry you are getting flamed. This is suppose to be a

discussion board, and that means pros/cons, strengths/weaknesses, warts an all. I know it's hard sometimes to have civil and productive debates, but don't give up!

Sometimes people need to be reminded that we are all on the same team. I know we are all concerned about what is going on with our country, but we must not close our eyes to reality.

Please don't use the dreaded, "D" word, if you do a little research on FDR and the depression, we have many safeguards in place, that hopefully, it won't happen again. That said, we certainly have many huge challenges, but I still choose to remain optimistic, while staying realistic.

[doc03]

40. This Recession turns into a Depression for us here

on April 4th my plant is shutting down until further notice. We were the last steel making furnace in the Upper Ohio Valley. Our company's history dates back to the late 1700's. On April 4th we will lose another 1200 or so jobs on top of the 800 plus currently on layoff. I wish the stimulus plan would have contained a lot more infrastructure spending. I have a couple friends that own asphalt paving businesses it's spring the weather has broke and they have absolutely no work. From what I understand the stimulus money was divided among municipalities and us in the rural areas where the money is really needed get nothing. I will get by, at worst I will be able to start drawing my SS in about a year, the other younger people I feel sorry for.

[laugle]

42. I'm so sorry to hear that. What I meant by the "D" word is

when the media and others begin to use it, people get scared and stop spending. This of course, deepens the recession. I call it a pro-longed recession, after all, words do matter.

I thought our steel was imported from China? I use to date a cute steel worker, when I was a single gal, who worked for Bethlehem steel corp. It really is sad the we manufacture so little here. Guess what, I just found a product made in the U.S., it's toilet seats, can you believe that.........I thought that might give you a laugh........LOL

I agree with you on the token amount for infrastructure, wasn't it only 7% of the overall package? I wonder if anyone on this board has benefited from the stimulus package?

Well.....you know what they say, "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. So sorry for your circumstances. I'm in the RE business, and if you are 62 and own a home, you could look into a reverse-mortgage that would pay you a monthly income. Just a thought! I know you will be fine. Best to you..........

[doc03]

46. Actually last year close to 100,000,000 tons

of steel were made in the US, my company owns the former Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point plant near Baltimore. I supposedly will benefit from the Stimulus Package, I will receive an extra $25 of unemployment per week. The reason I say supposedly is the company pays us a supplemental unemployment benefit that gives us 80% of our wages. So you see the $25 actually reduces the amount the company pays by $25, we will get no increase unless we are off long enough to get the extended benefits. As far as pension in 1 year when I am 62 I will make a better income than most Americans make working, thanks to a union contract. The people I feel sorry for are the younger employees, I will do fine.

[dkf]

41. If its going to save us trillions, why do we have to spend any money on it?

That never made sense to me.

[bvar22]

45. It will save the American People Trillions,

but it will need to be financed by our tax dollars.
Instead of paying our money directly to the Health Insurance Industry, we will pay into the US Treasury via taxes. Americans will reap a much better deal (bang for the buck) after we cut out the parasitic costs, but the costs will be included in the National Budget instead of coming directly from our pockets to the Billionaire CEOs.

[dkf]

48. Except aren't I still paying the same health care costs I always did?

And then my taxes to go pay for who knows what?

We should tax people and companies who don't pay for health insurance.

[EndElectoral]

43. Probably the most meaningful and humane thing Congress could accomplish and won't

is Universal Health Care. It takes guts and resolve, that's why it won't happen.

I had wished Ted Kennedy would live to see it one day. Doubtful.

I know so many people without health care including myself. I've a rotator cuff tear that I have been unable to get fixed. I live with it. Some people are much worse off.

I knew a lady who refused an MRI because hse said she couldn't afford it. It's probabyl one of the saddest times in my lifetime watching people who need treated, abandoned due to lack of money.

There have been tons of movies on this. Tons of documentaries, even many doctors. Everyone with a heart realizes it is needed, but sadly, the Congress lacks the will to do it. Dem or Repub, it doesn't seem to matter on this. We'l lspend billions to prop u pWall Street, but health care is something that affects every American.

That gets put off. And that reveals something about "hope and change" in this country.

[avaistheone1]

44. I agree. Universal health care is the people's agenda.

And Washington is still tone deaf about it. I don't think we should give up. Every day the polls say more Americans say they want single payer universal coverage.

I say keep calling and mailing our elected officials. Organize. Yes, we can.