By Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Lead John Boehner (R-Ohio) promised late Saturday morning that Congressional Republicans are preparing a strong stand against the Affordable Health Care for All Americans Act, stating that they will attempt to convince Democrats to vote against the legislation.

“Members are having conversations with colleagues on the other side of the aisle… we’re going to do everything we can to make sure this bill does not happen,” he said.

The House is expected to vote on the bill Saturday evening.

Boehner and the rest of the House Republican leadership stood at a podium flanked by two flow charts showing what Boehner described as the ‘Super Bureaucracy’ that will be implemented if the bill passes.

House Minority Whip Erica Cantor (R-VA) commented that the only bipartisan votes on this bill will be from Democratic members who have decided to side with Republicans in opposition.

Cantor touted the Republican’s alternative bill.

“One version … will be a massive overhaul and remake the health care system that we know to a system we don’t, and another version … takes a reasoned and smart approach,” Cantor said.

With the House vote on the Affordable Health Care for All Americans Act expected within hours, President Barack Obama came to Capitol Hill Saturday to secure votes from Congressional Democrats.

The president spoke for approximately 15 minutes, veering away from controversial topics such as the public option and abortion funding.

“[It was] higher level,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) told reporters. “[Obama] talked about the imperative of the country, talked about the tough decisions, acknowledged that it was hard.”

Instead, the President focused on his desire to lower health costs for families and small businesses, casting the impending vote as a historic opportunity.

Obama acknowledged the heated opposition to the bill being waged by Conservative activists, telling the caucus that Democrats could not win them over simply by opposing the legislation.

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who served in the House from 2002-2008, accompanied the President. Emanuel reportedly worked the room, talking to his former colleagues on an individual basis.

The president’s remarks were received warmly, with some members spontaneously bursting out with calls of “fired up, ready to go,” a popular slogan from Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

By Justin Duckham-Talk Radio News Service

For what has been described in the Wall Street Journal as the “worst bill ever,” Congressional Republicans certainly seem to be padding their list of grievances over the House health care bill with things that are less scary and more, well … sensible.

The House Republican Conference has kindly given reporters a directory of provisions in the bill found to be “egregious, questionable, or potentially absurd.”

Included in this list is a reference to page 872-Section 1433, which, in the conference’s words, “requires the director of food services at nursing facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid to hold ‘military, academic, or other qualifications’ as determined by federal bureaucrats.”

Sans the editorial liberty taken to invoke the specter of spooky federal bureaucrats, one is left to wonder what about this requirement is particularly egregious, questionable or potentially absurd. After all, this is a warning from the party that has portrayed seniors as sacred cows throughout the entire health care debate, from threats that Obamacare would pull the plug on grandma to suddenly realizing that Medicare isn’t as bad as it was forty years ago. Wouldn’t it make sense to have the staff that tends dear old granny’s meals be qualified? Especially through an academic or military institution?

When asked for clarification, a staffer for a high-ranking Republican representative simply responded that it is a sign of more government intrusion into the lives of Americans.

Of course, the American people whose lives are being intruded upon by this provision are seniors living in nursing homes funded by Medicare. So to summarize: Medicare is an untouchable institution, but requiring
a director that either directly or indirectly benefits from Medicare funds to be properly trained is an intrusion.

Fair enough, if you perform adequate mental gymnastics. That is, until you consider how closely this resembles a provision included in No Child Left Behind, an act proposed by a Republican President and passed through a GOP-controlled Congress.

According to Part A, Section 119, “Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this part shall ensure that all teachers hired after such day and teaching in a program supported with funds under this part are highly qualified.”

All one needs to do is add “by federal bureaucrats” to the end of this sentence and voila: government intrusion.

In the film Citizen Kane, the character Leland tells Charles Foster Kane “You don’t care about anything except you… you want love on your own terms. Something to be played your way, according to your rules.”

This seems to embody the Republican mentality post-2006. So-called dithering on Afghanistan, appointing high-profile czars or, in this case, requiring recipients of government funds to fit the right
profile is fine if you’re in the right party, but try it as a Democrat and suddenly it’s egregious, questionable, or potentially absurd. It’s a double standard.

Either that, or the Republican Conference is grasping at straws.

During an address at the No Limits conference in Washington, D.C., former First Lady and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discusses America’s role in helping others in nations around the world.

By Laura Smith, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

According to Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who chairs the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, military contractor Kellogg, Brown, and Root [KBR] is continuing to dispose of waste in Iraq using burn pits that reportedly give off toxic fumes.

“The Army and the contractor in charge of this waste disposal Kellogg, Brown, and Root, made frequent and unnecessary use of these burn pits and exposed thousands of U.S. troops to toxic smoke…burn pits are still used at the Balad Airbase in Iraq, which is the largest U.S. base in that country.”

Dorgan went on to list toxins that could be contained within a smoke plume from a burn pit, included carcinogens, respiratory threats, cardiovascular toxins, nervous system toxins and other toxins.

Burn pits have been used since 2003 in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of waste and other harmful materials.

Retired Lt. Col. Darrin L. Curtis, Ph.D., P.E. said one of the first things he noticed when he arrived to Balad Air Base was the smoke from a burn pit. “The smell was noxious and looked like a very thick fog hanging low to the ground,” he said.

Curtis said that while he was at Balad Air Base, he conducted sampling of the smoke plumes and “the sample results were used for the U.S. Army’s Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine (CHPPM) health risk assessment published in May 2008 in which CHPPM stated that ‘adverse health risks are unlikely.’”

“Since then, the Department of Defense (DoD) has relied on this report to conclude that ‘long-term health effects are not expected to occur from breathing the smoke’ at Balad Air Base,” he added.

Rick Lamberth, a former KBR employee, returned home from Iraq in July of this year, and said, “since returning home in July, I have suffered from a number of respiratory problems related to the exposure. Now the military will not pay for my medical care. They claim that these conditions are existed prior to service (EPTS).”

Lamberth said he worked with direct contact for the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) and with KBR. He said, “under the LOGCAP contract, waste disposal by private contractors must comply with Army regulations, federal EPA and the Defense Logistics Agency’s regulations for waste and hazmat removal and disposal.”

Lamberth went on to say that “the LOGCAP Statement of Work explicitly conforms to Army Technical Bulletin 593, which allows for the use of burn pits “only in emergency situations until approved incinerators can be obtained.’”

Female GOP members of the House explain a few of the provisions within the Republicans’ healthcare plan, and argue that the Democrats’ plan is bad for Americans.

By Marianna Levyash – Talk Radio News Service

House Republicans expressed concern Friday that the Affordable Health Care for All Americans Act contains loopholes which ultimately could provide government-subsidized health care benefits to illegal immigrants.

“It would cost the American tax payer $30.5 billion for people who have illegally come to this country,” said Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)

Wilson added that according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), 2.5 million more illegal immigrants would benefit from the legislation.

The GOP members wrote amendments fo the House Health Care Reform Bill that would prevent access to health care benefits by these illegal aliens until they proved citizenship. However, the Rules Committee will reportedly not take any more amendments until the House votes.

“There’s a way to fix this…it should be fixed before the vote is taken,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)

Joint Economic Committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) says during a hearing Friday that although job loss is slowing, millions of Americans remain unemployed. (0:18)

 

 Standard Podcast [0:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) may be against the Democrats’ health care reform legislation irrespective of the economics of it. (0:09)

 

 Standard Podcast [0:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

House GOP’ers Say Illegal Immigrants Will Benefit From Democrats’ Health Care Bill