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Title: Big hurdles yet for health care bill
Source:
Patriotic Resistance
URL Source: http://[mail@resistnet.com]
Published: Jan 12, 2010
Author: Steve Elliott
Post Date: 2010-01-12 11:37:50 by randge
Keywords: health care bill, Grassfire Nation, Patriotic Resistance, faxes
Views: 132
Comments: 6
A message to all members of Patriotic Resistance From the Desk of: Steve Elliott, Grassfire Nation We expect the dirty backroom deal on ObamaCare to be struck this week. But final passage is not yet guaranteed. See below for six ways ObamaCare can still be defeated (including the "Massachusetts Miracle"). --Steve Dear Patriot, With Harry Reid under the gun for his "negro dialect" comments and public opposition to ObamaCare continuing to increase, the pressure is mounting for Democrats to finalize their backroom deal. We believe that deal could be struck this week. Reid and Pelosi will agree to bypass the traditional House-Senate Conference and rush identical bills back to their chambers for a final vote. But with each passing day, their secretive strategy is getting more difficult. And although ObamaCare is still likely to pass and be signed into law, this is not a done deal! In fact, we have identified six possible scenarios that could cause ObamaCare to be defeated. I'll start with the least likely... #6--Union blues The left is nearly as angry as the Right, calling the Reid bill a bailout for the insurance industry. The unions are upset about the tax on their so-called "Cadillac" health care plans and want that removed. The Left has held the coalition together with a "live together, die alone" motto, but politics changes with the wind. And the Left knows the winds are changing. I list this first because it is the least likely. But it is still possible. #5--One Democrat Senator can't make it to the floor to vote. Despite the backroom deals and dirty tricks, as we understand it there will be one more final cloture vote in the Senate. Rules require 60 votes to invoke cloture. If one Democrat Senator can't make it to the floor, for any reason (health, accident, death etc.) they don't have 60 votes. #4--The Cornhusker Kickback kicks back. Arnold Schwarzenegger told California's members of Congress to vote NO unless their state also gets the Cornhusker Kickback. Now Dems are scrambling to give every state a kickback. The more talk about kickbacks and the more uncomfortable everyone is with this entire fiasco. #3--Abortion issue divides Democrats. Rep. Bart Stupak has already voiced his opposition to Nelson's compromise and says he has the votes to stop any abortion- funding ObamaCare bill. An equal number of House Democrats have vowed to torpedo any final bill that includes Stupak's amendment. One group must blink for ObamaCare to pass. #2--Three House Democrats change their votes. Abortion is just one of the issues dividing Democrats. Rep. Cantor has identified 34 House Democrats who are facing a very difficult vote based on three issues: abortion, Medicare Advantage, and state budget crises. It is now an election year. The pressure is building. If three members feel enough heat to switch their votes, ObamaCare fails. #1--The Massachusetts Miracle. The Bay State's special election next week to fill the late Sen. Kennedy's seat is now a tossup in some polls, and Republican candidate Scott Brown has pledged to be the 41st vote to block ObamaCare. If Brown is seated before the final ObamaCare vote, game over. There is already talk that if Brown wins, Democrats will stall his election certification in order to keep him from casting the deciding vote. The special election is next Tuesday (1/19), before any final votes will be cast on ObamaCare. If a Republican takes Teddy Kennedy's seat, I say all bets are off. Democrats from coast-to-coast will suddenly get a lot more nervous about voting for ObamaCare. Unlike old king Belshazzar in the book of Daniel, they won't need a prophet to interpret the "handwriting on the wall" -- vote now for ObamaCare and get defeated in November. + + This week is crucial As I noted, we believe the backroom deal could be struck this week. Based on the most likely scenarios I've listed above, my staff has identified the key members of Congress that need to hear from you. Just give me permission to send faxes on your behalf to your two Senators and Representative and key members of Congress (including the Blue Dog Democrats and those most vulnerable in their re-election efforts) and we can begin putting these lawmakers on notice! Click here now If you prefer to send faxes on your own we've done all the work for you. Simply click here to download targets and letters now: www.grassfire.com/3122/offer.asp?ref_id=500055 Again, the secret, backroom deal will likely be struck this week. But Democrats are growing more and more anxious by the day... in large part because citizens like you continue to speak out. Click below and take immediate action with me today: www.grassfire.com/3122/offer.asp?ref_id=500055 Thanks in advance for taking action with Grassfire Nation. Steve Elliott Grassfire Nation P.S. After scheduling your faxes, forward this message to your friends and family, urge them to get involved by clicking below and signing our petition opposing ObamaCare: www.grassfire.com/3122/offer.asp?ref_id=500055 Go to ResistNet for information to assist in the call for phone bank help for Massachusetts. Please join your State Group and Congressional District to get involved in making a difference at the local level! Click the Map Poster Comment: You may or may not believe that yanking congresscritters' chains will do any good at this point, but this monstrosity of a bill is not yet a done deal. It's not to late to fax Congress and let them know of your unshakeable opposition to this backroom bargain.
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#1. To: randge (#0)
did you catch that?
There is already talk that if Brown wins, Democrats will stall his election certification in order to keep him from casting the deciding vote. did you catch that? Shameful!
"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that its people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms....The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson
Yeah, I believe that I posted on it yesterday. Stinks, don't it? Still, there are plenty of folks whose interests are going to be nicked and they're making it hot for their reps. This one could yet be too indigestible to swallow.
apnews.myway.com/article/20100112/D9D6661G1.html Labor angry over Obama-backed insurance tax Jan 12, 6:54 AM (ET) By ERICA WERNER WASHINGTON (AP) - Labor leaders are pushing hard on President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats to drop a proposed new tax on high-value health insurance plans, warning of political consequences. The White House has indicated the tax may change so it hits fewer workers - but it's not going away. A Monday evening meeting at the White House between Obama and about a dozen heads of the country's biggest labor unions capped a day when two union leaders fired broadsides at Obama and Senate Democrats over their plans to pay for overhauling the nation's health care system with a tax union leaders fear could hurt their workers. The 40 percent tax would fall on employer health plans worth more than $8,500 for an individual or $23,000 for a family. Although Obama terms them "Cadillac" plans, union leaders say numerous working-class Americans who've negotiated good benefits in exchange for lesser pay would be hurt. The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, warned that Democrats risk catastrophic election defeats similar to 1994 if they fail to come up with a health bill labor likes. "A bad bill could have that kind of effect - a place where people sit at home" - as happened in 1994, when Democrats lost 54 House seats and eight in the Senate, costing them control of Congress, Trumka told reporters. The head of the International Association of Firefighters, Harold A. Schaitberger, made similarly threatening remarks in a statement Monday. "The president's support for the excise tax is a huge disappointment and cannot be ignored. If President Obama continues to support it and signs a bill that includes the excise tax on workers, we will hold him accountable," said Schaitberger, who was not among the attendees at the White House meeting. The AFL-CIO's Trumka made his remarks before delivering a speech in which he bashed the tax proposal in the Senate's health overhaul bill, contending that it "drives a wedge between the middle class and the poor." "The bill rightly seeks to ensure that most Americans have health insurance. But instead of taxing the rich, the Senate bill taxes the middle class by taxing workers' health plans - not just union members' health care; most of the 31 million insured employees who would be hit by the excise tax are not union members," Trumka said hours before going to the White House. "This is a policy designed to benefit the elites." Despite the criticism, Trumka stopped short of saying labor would actively oppose the bill if it included the tax. Trumka said bringing Americans health care reform "is too important for us to get this close and then say we quit." Obama argues the high-value insurance plan tax is a way to control spending on health care services, one of his goals for his health care overhaul. Trumka and other labor leaders strongly prefer the approach taken in the House health care bill - an income tax increase on individuals earning over $500,000 a year and households earning over $1 million. White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said Monday night's meeting included an exchange of views and a productive discussion, but did not suggest any agreement had been reached. Earlier in the day White House spokesman Robert Gibbs indicated Obama was open to adjusting the tax so it would affect fewer people and said that would be discussed at the meeting. That dispute over the tax is one of the sticking points between House and Senate Democrats as they work to reconcile health legislation passed by each chamber. They're looking for a product that Obama could embrace and sign into law in time for his State of the Union address sometime next month. With Obama behind the Senate tax approach, the final bill is likely to include it in some form. There's been discussion of raising the threshold for the tax from $23,000 to $25,000 or higher. The threshold has already been raised for first responders and workers in certain high-risk fields and the levy could be softened for more union professions. Trumka warned Democrats Monday, as he has in the past, that they can no longer take union voters for granted. "Politicians who think that working people have it too good - too much health care, too much Social Security and Medicare, too much power on the job - are inviting a repeat of 1994," Trumka said. "Our country cannot afford such a repeat." But organized labor must walk a tightrope in its criticism of the bill. Unions are among Obama's strongest supporters and have spent millions in grass-roots lobbying to garner support for his health overhaul plans. --- Associated Press writer Sam Hananel contributed to this report.
Have you ever seen a bunch of politicians hang their asses so far over rail for something that's gonna do nothing but get them raked over hot coals come November? Someone must have put the fear of Beelzebub into them.
There is already talk that if Brown wins, Democrats will stall his election certification in order to keep him from casting the deciding vote.
#2. To: christine (#1)
#3. To: christine (#1)
#4. To: randge (#0)
#5. To: christine (#1)
#6. To: TwentyTwelve (#4)
"Politicians who think that working people have it too good - too much health care, too much Social Security and Medicare, too much power on the job - are inviting a repeat of 1994," Trumka said. "Our country cannot afford such a repeat."
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