In Honor of the Speaker and Her Smackdowns!

House Passes Health Care Reform Marking Total Victory for Obama, Dems, and the American People

While highly flawed and much work needs to be done in improving health care reform in subsequent years,  this bill still contains important consumer protections, provide 32 million Americans with health care, and will lay the foundation for health care as a universal right of all Americans much like Social Security secured the right of security in old age.

What is unfortunate in this whole situation is the behavior and conduct of the GOP.  They have been culpable for spreading every conceivable lie and purposefully misleading their none too smart tea party base who, as we all know, are still stuck in the 60′s when they hurled derogatory epithets at certain minority Representatives.  As the Congress moves forward, the Republicans should learn from their defeat and ditch the toxic and angriest elements of their base.

Now with great pleasure, I am erasing health care reform from the Agenda.

UPDATE: House passes health care reform 219-212.  Reconciliation is to come next.

UPDATE 2: Here’s the video:

BREAKING NEWS: Crazy Lady Babbles On About CIVIL WAR Due to Health Care

This just in.  Brimming with delusional smugness, a crazy lady in Virginia threatens civil war when Congress passes health care reform this Sunday.  Does she not know what happened to secessionists last time?

Stupak STUP-HATES Catholic Nuns!

In a Fox News Interview, Rep. Bart Stupak decided he was going to hate on nuns of all people.

Congressman Bart Stupak, D-Mich, responded sharply to White House officials touting a letter representing 59,000 nuns that was sent to lawmakers urging them to pass the health care bill.

The conservative Democrat dismissed the action by the White House saying, “When I’m drafting right to life language, I don’t call up the nuns.” He says he instead confers with other groups including “leading bishops, Focus on the Family, and The National Right to Life Committee.” 

Ruh Roh, the nuns are not pleased:

Programming Note

I’ll break from my indefinite hiatus to cover the House health care vote either , Friday, Saturday or Sunday of this week.  I started this blog just when the health care debate started and now it’s actually going to end.  Health care will pass and so will the reconciliation fix but a watershed moment like that won’t be believed until it actually happens.

To get your blood pumping on why health care reform is needed, take a look at this Columbus Dispatch video linked by TPM.  The video shows anti-health care reform people rudely throwing money at a Parkinson’s Disease sufferer (and health care reform supporter) so that he won’t ask for “handouts” (at the 50 second mark of the video).  What a$#$holes.

UPDATE: Here’s the disgusting video:

You’re a Mean One, Mr. Coburn

Sen. Coburn’s twisted prayer

On Sunday afternoon, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) appeared to propose a prayer for Robert Byrd’s death so that health care reform would not pass. Dana Milbank reports at the Washington Post:

Crazy and unbecoming of a Senator

Senate Passes Defense Appropriations Bill while Senate Dems Reach Health Care Deal

The Senate passed the Defense Appropriations bill this morning on a vote of 88-10.  This was the last of the Appropriations bills for FY 2010 marking the end of the appropriations process for this year.  9 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted against the $636 billion dollar defense spending bill.

Meanwhile, Sen. Majority Leader Reid and the Democratic Leadership looks like they’ve finally amassed the 60 votes necessary to break  a Republican filibuster when Sen. Nelson agreed to a new compromise plan.  In the compromise plan, reproductive rights coverage in the new Exchange will now be subject to a state opt out provision.  Also, the Medicaid expansion is intact but Nebraska, Sen. Nelson’s home state, will get increased federal funding for the state’s Medicaid expense portion.  Senate leadership wants a vote on the health care reform bill by Christmas.

While the compromises have been a bitter pill to swallow, it is still better to pass the bill and get some framework for universal coverage in place.  The employer mandate to provide health insurance for their employees (small businesses with a small number of employees are exempt) and the Medicaid expansion will help out a lot of people.  However, health care reform is not complete with this bill.  More work will have to be done in the future even if it takes reconciliation to do it.

Move On Spoofs Lieberman

Hilarious and sad at the same time.

Bummer

Sorry for not posting today.  Finals is getting in the way.  But you guys probably know what happened thanks to the Senator who shall not be named.

Well if you don’t know, here’s what happened in Star Wars form …

Padme Amidala is health care reform .  You can guess who Anakin is.  Obi Wan is someone or maybe a symbol of the grassroots liberals.  again

This Week in the Senate

Health Care is going into it’s third week and there’s now a stand off with Sen. Lieberman.  The Senator from Connecticut is threatening to vote for a filibuster if the triggered public option and the Medicare Buy in for uninsured 55-64 year olds are not eliminated from the bill.  While the triggered public option will be no great loss due to the likelihood that it will never trigger, the Medicare Buy in should be saved.  It’s a good provision and many uninsured and unemployed older people have a harder time finding work and thus health insurance.  I’m very disappointed in Mr. Lieberman.

We are also awaiting the CBO score this week and many Senators will use the score as a factor or major factor in their vote.

In other news, the omnibus spending bill passed the Senate yesterday.  It contains all the remaining appropriations except for the Defense Appropriations bill.  My favorite part in the omnibus is the 2.5 billion dollars appropriated to high speed rail, which brings the total expenditure for high speed rail initiatives in the US to 10.5 billion dollars for Obama’s first year. The only relatively high speed line in the US is the Acela and even then it needs major work for it to be truly high speed.  The stimulus, the new appropriations, and more money in the future will expand the rail network to other parts of America and encourage sustainable growth and increased jobs due to all the new construction and the people who will build and operate this new industry.  Here’s California’s high speed rail plans:

Change we can believe in!