Monthly Archives: March 2010

Where Do Republicans Go From Here?

Republicans rolled the dice when it came to killing Health Care Reform.  And they lost.  My question is where they go from here?  Coincidentally, David Frum asked the same question:

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.

There were leaders who knew better, who would have liked to deal. But they were trapped. Conservative talkers on Fox and talk radio had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy that deal-making was rendered impossible. How do you negotiate with somebody who wants to murder your grandmother? Or – more exactly – with somebody whom your voters have been persuaded to believe wants to murder their grandmother?

Talk about boxing yourself into a corner.  Republicans deliberately removed themselves from the process.  They marginalized themselves.  The question now is how they get back into governing,  if they even want to, or… after whipping their base into a frenzy is it even possible?  Simply put, they left themselves no Plan B.  Their choices were stop HCR or… what?

My fear is that things are about to get crazier and uglier.

Which shouldn’t be too difficult given their base.  Watch the video below.  This is the Republican base, and the GOP’s greatest liability.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pilG7PCV448[/youtube]

Actually, this is probably all of our greatest liability.

What Determined How Democrats Voted?

Nate Silver does an excellent breakdown of the statistics behind how each House Democrat voted on health care reform. The basic conclusion is that conservative Democrats from districts that had <40% of the vote go to Obama were the no votes. The amount of insurance company money a member received or the number of % of uninsured in their districts mattered very little.

Crooks and Liars tells us the immediate benefits of the bill. Some of the provisions don’t start until 2014, but all these changes start immediately:

Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President’s signature on the health care bill:

1. Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday
2. Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
3. No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
4. Free preventative care for all
5. Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
6. Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
7. The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
8. Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
9. Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
10. AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can’t lose your insurance because you get sick.

A Historic Moment

The Senate health insurance reform bill just passed the House by a vote of 219-212.

No matter how you feel about the bill, you must recognize the historic moment. Republicans all voted no. 34 Democrats also voted no.

Speaker Pelosi will be remembered by history as one of the most powerful and effective speakers, ever. The conversation in the media now will be about the great victory by President Obama and the recriminations among the Republicans will begin.

Now, the House is voting on a motion to recommit on the reconciliation bill, which has already failed. The vote on the reconciliation bill is up next.

Update Reconciliation bill passes. 220-211

Harry Reid released a letter today, 52 Senators support reconciliation.

Obama has been able to do what no Democratic president has done before. Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson and Clinton were not able to pass health care reform. President Obama, with a huge assist from Speaker Pelosi, have accomplished what Democrats have wanted to do for more than 60 years.

Already, the press narrative has changed – one of the greatest first term presidents ever.

Forget March Madness

Who cares about college basketball (actually, since my bracket got busted when Villanova lost, I don’t care anymore).  The real college championship right now is the NCAA Hockey Tournament.  My alma mater, the DU Pioneers, the #1 ranked team in the nation, open up play on Friday in Albany against RIT.  Go DU!!!!

http://www.uscho.com/

Today’s HCR Vote Program

So today is the day, and today is when we get to know whether Nancy Pelosi and President Obama have been able to pull this one out (Intrade futures on this effort have been going up since early this month — you can buy at this writing at 92.1). You can use this as a live blogging thread (if you are glued to CSPAN and not out in this glorious weather).

Open Congress has posted a Guide to the House Health Care Debates and Votes today. I suspect they’ll be live blogging and live twittering today too.

Congress Matters has posted up today’s Floor Schedule from the Office of the Majority Leader. The the fun begins at 1PM today:

FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2010

House Meets At… 1:00 p.m.: Legislative Business
First Vote Predicted… 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Last Vote Predicted… Evening

***Members are advised that votes are expected as early as 1:00 p.m.

“One Minutes” (5 per side)

Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments toH.R. 3590 – Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – and H.R. 4872 – Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Reps. Spratt/Waxman/Levin/George Miller – Budget/Energy and Commerce/Ways and Means/Education and Labor) (Subject to a Rule)

Postponed Suspension Votes (7 Bills):

1. H.R. 4840 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1979 Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, Ohio, as the “Clarence D. Lumpkin Post Office” (Rep. Tiberi – Oversight and Government Reform)
2. H.Res. 1174 – Supporting the goals and ideals of National Women’s History Month (Rep. Woolsey – Oversight and Government Reform)
3. H.Res. 1075 – Commending the members of the Agri-business Development Teams of the National Guard for their efforts, together with personnel of the Department of Agriculture and the United States Agency for International Development, to modernize agriculture practices and increase food production in war-torn countries (Rep. Luetkemeyer – Armed Services)
4. H.Res. 1099 – Recognizing the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima (Rep. Braley – Armed Services)
5. H.Res. 925 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the meritorious service performed by aviators in the United States Armed Forces who were shot down over, or otherwise forced to land in, hostile territory yet evaded enemy capture or were captured but subsequently escaped (Rep. DeFazio – Armed Services)
6. H.Res. 900 – Supporting the goals and ideals of a Cold War Veterans Recognition Day to honor the sacrifices and contributions made by members of the Armed Forces during the Cold War and encouraging the people of the United States to participate in local and national activities honoring the sacrifices and contributions of those individuals (Rep. Israel – Armed Services)
7. H.Res. 1119 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that all people in the United States should participate in a moment of silence to reflect upon the service and sacrifice of members of the United States Armed Forces both at home and abroad (Rep. Peters – Armed Services)

* Conference Reports may be brought up at any time.
* Motions to go to Conference should they become available.
* Possible Motions to Instruct Conferees.

Be sure to read David Waldman’s complete post on this — he takes a look at the rules for voting today and gets in some final pot shots at the faux outrage directed against a self-executing rule. You can follow David on Twitter during today’s events — highly recommended since I don’t think that there is anyone blogging out there who gets the ins and outs of the rules Congress operates by better than he does.

Ezra Klein notes that he will be live-blogging the debate today too. He has put together a Twitter list of people he is following during today’s debate.

CSPAN is live streaming and will start their coverage now.

And in case you want a little diversion from today’s events, this article from Politico (yes I know) credits Nancy Pelosi with pulling this all back from January’s brink. No votes have been taken yet, but no matter what happens today, this woman is a hero.

BONUS MIKE CASTLE WATCHING: He is already on record as intending to vote no on this legislation. So there will be no excitement there. However, you can use Castle’s behavior today as a preview on how he would do his job as a Senator of Delaware — voting for the interests of his party, rather than the interests of the people of Delaware.

Who Speaks For Me On This Issue?

Exhibit one on why we need to have more representation for women in government: abortion restrictions in the health care reform bill. A group of “pro-life” (which means life begins at conception and ends at birth) Democrats were willing to deny 32 million already existing people health insurance because the bill fails to outlaw a legal procedure. I don’t see how this is the “moral” position. I agree with the Catholic nuns on this one, providing insurance to millions of women will do more to help fetuses than any hyperventilating Congressman.

The News Journal does a round-up of our local electeds and hopefuls:

U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, the Republican who has held Delaware’s lone House seat since 1993, will vote against the bill, he said Friday. But not because of its abortion language.

Castle has supported abortion rights throughout his political career.

“But I have never believed that we should use taxpayer dollars for abortion,” he said. He voted for an amendment to the original House bill to ensure exclusion of federal money for the practice. And he believes the Senate bill pending in the House protects that boundary line by requiring that those who seek abortions pay with their own money.

Castle: pro-choice, pro-Hyde, pro-Stupak

O’Donnell: anti-abortion

Coons: unknown

Planned Parenthood’s Knearl said she was disappointed that Castle voted for the restrictive amendment in the House bill and that U.S. Sen. Ted Kaufman voted for the restrictive amendment in the Senate bill.

But Kaufman said it is important to define the boundary lines of how abortion is covered.

Kaufman: pro-choice (?), pro-Hyde, pro-Stupak

Carper voted against the restrictive amendment but said the Senate bill should pass.

“I recognize that some people have raised concerns about how our health care legislation addresses the issue of abortion. I do not believe that taxpayer funds should be used to pay for abortions,” he said.”

Carper: pro-choice, pro-Hyde, anti-Stupak

Carney supports abortion rights but wants the provisions of the 1976 Hyde Amendment — which prohibited the use of federal funds for such procedures — to remain intact.

Carney: pro-choice, pro-Hyde, unknown on Stupak

Scott Spencer, a political novice, has filed to force a Democratic primary. He opposes abortion — and believes that will appeal to Delaware Democrats.

“Right now there are too many Democrats out there who … would be pro-life, but they follow the political expediency of rounding up votes and compromising themselves,” he said. “… The important common ground I’m trying to achieve as a pro-life Democrat is that pro-choice Americans believe women should have the right to choose, and I believe she should choose the baby first.”

No, it doesn’t appeal to me.
I couldn’t tell from that statement, it was bit of a mush. Is he going the “safe, legal, rare” route or is he just anti-abortion?

Glen Urquart, Kevin Wade: anti-abortion

“She is not our friend on the life issue,” said Collins, president of Delaware Right to Life. “She is very pro-abortion and that could hurt her.”

Rollins said that is wrong.

“I am Catholic, and I do not condone abortion,” she said. “I am against abortion. I would not choose it as an easy alternative. But I think abortion is a personal decision — not one the government should dictate.”

Michelle Rollins: pro-choice, unknown on Hyde or Stupak

I am pro-choice. I think abortion should be legal and a decision between a woman, her doctor and her family and it’s not something that the government should monitor. I hope that more access to health care will lead to better contraceptive use so that abortions become fewer. I think it’s wrong to treat abortion as an issue separate from women’s general health care needs and wrong to punish poor women over rich women, which is what the Hyde restrictions do. Where is the Delaware politician that speaks for me?

This has Gotten Out-of-Hand

It’s bad enough that we had to endure a Summer and Fall of “Crazy Eileens” disrupting meetings with their anti-health care reform rhetoric and their crazy birther BS, on Congressmen calling the POTUS a liar while on the floor of the House, of self-styled commentators on FAUX news calling  progressives a cancer on socitey, but now they’ve gone too far –    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/tea-partiers-call-lewis-nr-frank-ft-at-capitol-hill-protest.php?ref=fpblg.  When did it become permissable in the course of debate to call people N***** and F****t?  I’m not asking my fellow progressives on here, I’m directing this at those conervatives that read this blog and comment here, either openly or anonymously.

Deem and Pass Is Out

After spending a week getting themselves all riled up about “Demon Pass”, it seems the procedural maneuver has been ruled out:

House leaders have decided to take a separate vote on the Senate health-care bill, rejecting an earlier, much-criticized strategy that would have permitted them to “deem” the unpopular measure passed without an explicit vote.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Saturday that the House would take three votes Sunday: first, on a resolution that will set the terms of debate; second, on a package of amendments to the Senate bill that have been demanded by House members; and third, on the Senate bill itself.

Van Hollen, who has been working on the issue with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said House leaders concluded that that order — approving the amendments before approving the Senate bill — makes clear that the House intends to modify the Senate bill and not approve the Senate bill itself.

The big break seems to be that House Democrats have gotten the assurance they needed, namely “House leaders have seen a letter, signed by more than 50 Senate Democrats, saying they will vote for the reconciliation amendment.”

This is all good news to me. I would have grinned and bore it if deem and pass was the only way to get the bill passed, but I never liked it. To me, it seemed somewhat irresponsible to let something as important as this bill be in a position where there was even an outside chance it could be thrown out on procedural grounds. I’m glad that the House Dems came to their senses and decided that the voting order alone was sufficient.

Weekend Open Thread

Welcome to the first day of Spring! It certainly feels like spring out there. I’ve been puttering around in my yard this afternoon. This is a big weekend – tomorrow the House votes on the health care reform bill. It’s still down to the wire but the House Democrats are seeming increasingly confident. So, let’s get started with the open thread.

A French documentary has reconfirmed the Milgram experiment:

The fictitious game show had all the trappings of a real TV quiz show, including a beautiful and well-known hostess, and a raucous audience. A group of contestants posed questions to a man sitting inside a box in front of them in an electric chair.

The hostess and a chanting audience urged the players — who had levers in front of them — to send jolts of electricity into the man in the box when he gave an incorrect answer.

Even when the player screamed out in pain for them to stop, 80 percent of the contestants kept zapping him. In reality, the man in the electric chair was an actor who wasn’t really being shocked — but the players and the audience did not know that.

…

Television talk shows ruminated over the documentary Thursday. Comparisons are being drawn to the manipulation of the masses in Nazi Germany. One of the game show participants, Jerome Pasanau, said in an interview that he was still haunted by the experience.

“I wanted to stop the whole time, but I just couldn’t. I didn’t have the will to do it. And that goes against my nature,” he said. “I haven’t really figured out why I did it.”

Pasanau told the TV host that he felt intimidated and isolated on the fictitious game show set, and that the crowd was overbearing. The host countered by pulling up footage of Pasanau pumping 460 volts of electricity until the actor pretending to be electrocuted seems to keel over dead.

Rush Limbaugh fail. Rush Limbaugh accidentally gave the phone number for a pro-reform group to his flying monkey brigade:

Unfortunately for Rush, he gave out the toll-free FamiliesUSA number on his show on Tuesday, which meant his anti-reform listeners got a pro-reform message when they tried to call Congress. So many Rush fans called the FamiliesUSA number on Tuesday that it caused a massive spike in call volume, which was immediately noticed by the group’s telephone re-routing vendor. Not wanting to pick up the tab for anti-reform calls, of course, FamiliesUSA immediately shut down the number and got a new one, which is posted above and now functioning as intended. (FamiliesUSA executive director Ron Pollack says the cost of that brief spike is in the thousands of dollars. “It’s an ironic form of flattery,” he quipped when I reached him earlier today.)

But Rush’s callers didn’t understand this whole re-routing thing and many were absolutely and astoundingly enraged. Many of them assumed the pro-reform message they got was a left-wing conspiracy to take over government. Think this is a stretch?

Here’s a Youtube video [Ed note: the video has been removed] posted by one such caller, who believed he had discovered a blatant case of “Obama propoganda…Alert the patriots: Tyrants are ruining our country !”

He’s not alone. After FamiliesUSA turned off their original toll free number, it was bought by someone else who must have known about the mixup. That new person put a pro-reform bulletin on an answering machine and recorded messages left by angry – and I mean very angry – Rush listeners. WARNING: Many of the message contain obscenities – they can be accessed by calling 206-666-6666.

You can follow the developments on the health care reform vote at TPM’s Live Countdown to Reform Wire. The latest developments – Stupak is still causing trouble, deem & pass is probably history and President Obama may sign an Executive Order reaffirming the abortion restrictions.

Castle On The Attack

Mike Castle’s attack machine appears to be stirring. Yesterday I saw this message on Twitter:

Dozens of NCC employees to be laid off in July as a result of Coons’ budget. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/yazxuxg http://fb.me/sUhrYIPW

I couldn’t get the first link to work, but the second link leads to the same message on his Facebook page.

It’s a bit ironic that Castle is criticizing Coons for cutting jobs considering Castle voted against the jobs bill (the one he said he’d support). If I were Chris Coons, I’d blast this Castle hypocrisy far and wide since Coons is having to deal with the fallout of Castle’s and the GOP’s economic policies from the lost decade.

Also, completely predictably, Castle announced that he’s voting no on health care reform.

If you want to know what kind of Senator Mike Castle will be, all you need to do is follow his Twitter feed. He’ll continue to vote with the GOP while making noises about caring about the people of Delaware. Then he’ll vote against our interests anyway.

Christine O’Donnell’s Legal Woes

Poster anon brings our attention to this article in the News Journal about Christine O’Donnell. The article details O’Donnell’s various legal and money issues.

But while she was courting voters, she amassed thousands of dollars in campaign debt, was confronted by the IRS about unpaid income taxes and sold her Wilmington home to a campaign staffer to avoid a sheriff’s sale ordered to settle mortgage claims, a News Journal investigation shows.

I love this quote by O’Donnell:

“I think the fact that I have struggled financially is what makes me so sympathetic,” O’Donnell said.

Like most Republicans, nothing is ever her fault.

“This type of malicious behavior from supporters of a desperate career politician is to be expected because he cannot defend his big spending, liberal voting record,” O’Donnell said Friday when asked about past legal troubles. “Just because the lords of the backroom have an obnoxious sense of entitlement to promote one of their own, doesn’t mean their gutter politics are in the best interests of the voters.”

Her legal debt problems are detailed in the article, but here’s a summary.

– She has an almost $12,000 tax lien from the IRS from 2005
– She has a campaign debt of $24,000. She has raised $11,000 for this race so far.
– She has an upaid settlement to her alma mater of Fairleigh Dickinson which dates back to 1994. Fairleigh Dickinson is withholding her degree. Is she reporting herself as a college graduate in her resume?
– She lives in a house owned by a campaign staffer. At least half of her rent is paid by her campaign donations.
– She had a well-known dispute with a previous employer, ISI. She sued them for gender discrimination and they accused her of running a for-profit PR business on the company’s time. That suit has been dropped by O’Donnell.
– A house she bought in Hockessin went into foreclosure. She owed $90,000 on the house. The house was about to be sold by auction when she sold it to Brent Vasher, her boyfriend at the time for $135,000.

O’Donnell stands no chance of winning. I think Mike Castle will continue to ignore O’Donnell and focus his fire on Chris Coons.

Millionaire Michele Rollins Takes Bonus from Wilmington Trust TARP Funds

Michele Rollins was elected to the Wilmington Trust Board of Directors in 2007. During the market collapse in 2008, Wilmington Trust, like many other financial institutions, received a $330 million bailout from TARP. Unlike many other financial institutions, Wilmington Trust has as of yet failed to pay that money back. Instead, it payed its top executives $31.5 million in bonuses, including to Michele Rollins. Indeed, she saw her compensation she received from her position on the Wilmington Trust Board quadruple AFTER Wilmington Trust took the TARP funds.

From a just now issued press release from the DCCC:

“Multi-millionaire Michele Rollins is shamefully lining her pockets with taxpayer dollars while families across Delaware are struggling during these tough economic times,” said Shripal Shah, Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Michele Rollins is a living and breathing example of all that is wrong with corporate greed and her profits at the expense of taxpayers proves that she is grossly out of touch with the best interests of Delaware families.

“The last thing Delaware needs in Congress is Michele Rollins, the poster child for the anger and animosity that has been rightfully directed at multi-millionaire executives in recent years.” […]

[Michele Rollins] received $20,000 Annual Compensation in 2007 and 2008. According to a Forbes profile of Rollins published in 2009, she received more than $20,000 for each of the previous two years by virtue of her role as a member of the Board of Directors for Wilmington Trust. [Forbes, 2009]

2008: Wilmington Trust Corporation Received $330 Million in TARP Money. In 2008, Wilmington Trust Corporation received $330 million investment from the United States Department of the Treasury (US Treasury) as a part of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) capital purchase program. As of March 18th, 2010, they had yet to begin repayment of those funds to the taxpayers. [Financial Deals Tracker, 12/24/08; http://bailout.propublica.org/entities/527-wilmington-trust-corporation]

Rollins Compensation Quadrupled. According to a 2010 report filed by Forbes on Wilmington Trust Corporation revealed that Rollins’ compensation in 2009 skyrocketed to $92,991.00 – an increase of more than 400 percent over the previous year. [Forbes, 2010]

Wilmington Trust Gave out $31.5 Million in Executive Bonuses in 2009. Despite making no effort to reimburse the federal government for the $330 Million in TARP money they received, Wilmington Trust handed out $31.5 Million in ‘Incentives and Bonuses’ to its top executives in 2009, according to their filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. [SEC 10-K Form pg. 65, filed 12/31/09]

This is disgusting. That $31.5 million should have been paid back to U.S. Treasury. Instead, millionaire Michele Rollins, who aspires to become Delawarean’s representative in Congress, and who is already rich enough, mind you, stole that money from the people of Delaware. If she hopes to remain a candidate for Congress, she better open her checkbook and pay back any compensation she received from Wilmington Trust over her starting annual compensation of $20,000. As should every single one of Wilmington Trust’s executives and directors who received a similar bump in compensation.

As for me, I am closing my account at Wilmington Trust on Monday.