As the Senate prepares to take on health care reform Saturday, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) says that he hopes to convince a few moderate Democrats to join the GOP in voting against the bill. (0:27)
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.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says she understands the need for pro-life Democrats to demand clarification on abortion funding in the House health care bill during a press conference Thursday. (0:32)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says that the Republican alternative to the House health care bill does not prevent discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, a situation the Speaker refers to as “scandalous.” (0:20)
The race to replace 35th District Delegate and Democratic Attorney General candidate Steve Shannon is within a 2-point margin – or at least it was two weeks ago, according to polls conducted for Republican candidate Jim Hyland.
Hyland’s margin, described by his campaign manager Kevin Conroy as “within the margin of error,” reflects a tightening of the race since a July benchmark poll, when pollsters Barry Zeplowitz and Bill Lee of TelOpinion Research indicated in a confidential memo posted on Hyland’s website that Hyland held a 7-point lead 43 percent to 36 percent lead, with 21 percent undecided. The memo did not indicate the size of the sample or whether “likely voter” filters were used.
Read more at Collins on Politics
The Republicans need to take a “chill pill” about their reaction to the president being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. They have gone overboard and are risking the “sour grapes” perception by the public at large. If there are any sour grapes, they should be found in the garden of former President Bill Clinton. I speculate that upon hearing the news Friday morning, President Clinton let out a few expletives that would have made Rahm Emanuel blush. President George Bush must have done the same.
The fact is that the Norwegian Nobel Committee decides who is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Norway is a peaceful country with a long history of making surprising choices with the Nobel. Not only did they give it to Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, but Henry Kissinger also won. Many people were shocked when both of these men were awarded the peace prize. The prize has been used as both an award and as a carrot to promote better action and leadership on specific issues. In my view, President Obama is getting the award for what some would call “representative leadership.” There were other people in addition to Mikhail Gorbachev and former President Ronald Reagan who were responsible for ending the communist era. However, both of the leaders were the individuals who represented the change. The same is true for President Obama. Many people have worked on climate change and non-proliferation, but he is the one who represents much of what is being done and the change that is taking place in the world.
The carping on the airwaves has included the fact that the nominations are made in February and that President Obama had only been president for a very short period of time. The fact is that the Norwegian Nobel Committee can decide at any point to change its mind and decide that candidate Obama had already reached across the ocean with his goals and dreams by the time he became president.
It is also something to be proud of as Americans. This year was an excellent year for Nobel Prizes won by Americans. Some of the medicine, chemistry and physics prizes went to Americans. I didn’t see any Russians on the list, and despite China’s huge population only one Chinese person was on the list. America should be proud. We may be having a difficult time economically, but we are still out in the forefront contributing to science and medicine.
There were some Republicans who were proud of the president and Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly was one of them. He said as Americans we should be proud, but not so with the Republican Party and its Chairman Michael Steele. There are times to comment and times to let it be, and his timing was way off. He asked, “What has the president accomplished?” The Norwegian Nobel Committee was clear in what it stated about the award. It was due to President Obama’s “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people.”
The award did not say that he created peace or that a treaty had been signed. The honor states that it is for “effort.” Like him or hate him, Barack Obama has put in the effort. He did it before he became president and has continued to do it since taking the highest office in the land.
The Republicans really went overboard with their fundraising letter that they produced and distributed just 30 hours after the prize was announced. They sent the letter to their vast e-mail list, and my guess is that it will go directly to their direct mail house.
In his fundraising appeal the Republican Chairman said: “It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working toward peace and human rights.”
Steele goes on and lumps the Democrats in the same boat as people on the very far Left. He stated: “the Democrats and their international leftist allies want America made subservient to the agenda of global redistribution and control. And truly patriotic Americans like you and our Republican Party are the only thing standing in their way.”
He goes on with his pitch to say, “Help our party spread the word about the Obama Democrats’ dangerous naïveté and power grab. Please support GOP elected officials as they work to hold the Democrats accountable by making a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $500, or $1000 to the Republican National Committee today.”
It is shameful that the Republican Party is so desperate to raise cash that they would stoop to the lowest tactics possible and utilize the receipt of the Nobel Peace prize by the president to raise money and red bait by saying “leftist allies.” It is a complete outrage, and the Republican Party really should take its foot out of its mouth and substitute “a chill pill.”
Republicans would do themselves a favor if they put aside partisan differences and were proud of the Nobel committee’s recognition of our president instead of using the award as a divisive fundraising technique.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) counters recent Republican calls for Gen. Stanley McChrystal to “put her in her place” with regards to the war in Afghanistan. Pelosi says the comments made by the NRCC were ill-suited and outdated. (0:19)
By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) countered Republican criticism that suggested that General McChrystal should “put her in her place” in regard to the war in Afghanistan.
“I’m in my place. I’m the Speaker of the House, the first woman Speaker of the House and I’m in my place because the House of Representatives voted me there,” Pelosi said Thursday during her weekly press conference.
Pelosi came down on McChrystal Monday, saying that his recommendations to Obama “should go up the line of command” rather than be discussed openly.
The National Republican Congressional Committee issued a press release Tuesday ridiculing the Speaker, calling her “General Pelosi.” The release also said, “If Nancy Pelosi’s failed economic policies are any indicator of the effect she may have on Afghanistan, taxpayers can only hope McChrystal is able to put her in her place.”
Pelosi responded by saying the comments were ill-suited and outdated.
“It’s really sad they don’t understand how inappropriate that is,” Pelosi said. “That language is something I hadn’t even heard in decades.”
The NRCC unapologetically defended their statements saying that Pelosi was “out of her league” in criticizing McChrystal.
“The Speaker of the House is taking on a highly decorated general who has outlined a strategy in Afghanistan that she once claimed to advocate…Up until it became politically inconvenient, Pelosi and her puppets were referring to Afghanistan as the ‘real central front’ in the war on terror, now their excuse is that there is just not enough political will to keep America safe. Nancy Pelosi might think she’s a general, but she’s playing out of her league and she knows it,” NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said.
Pelosi stated Thursday that she would respond to the President’s decisions on Afghanistan as they are made, but the safety of the American public is a top priority.
Sunshine.gop.gov, a new GOP website that tracks government spending, was developed “in a very cost-effective manner” at under $20,000, says Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). McMorris Rodgers compares the cost of the GOP’s site to the $18 million contract signed by the administration to update Recovery.gov. (0:15)
By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service
Although none of them stretched beforehand, House Republicans lugged dozens of boxes filled with legislative health care amendments called the “Rx for a Healthy America,” around the Capitol on Friday.
“I’m gonna take a chance with my back here,” Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said jokingly. “You can’t offer your ideas if there’s not a forum, a legislative forum, to offer your ideas. . . we’ve been right up to the edge of pounding on the door for six months.”
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) and others unveiled the GOP’s 12-point proposal for health care reform. Specifically, the plan focuses on health care affordability, availability, and accessibility. Barton asserted that the plan’s amendments will be offered as soon as “Democrats resume the stalled bill-writing session.”
The plan is designed to ensure that time is taken to produce reform that adheres to the desires of the American public, while at the same time solving the problems of the current health care system.
“It took the President six months to decide how long and which puppy he was gonna have,” said Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.). “To expect Congress to do something on major health care reform in six days is totally irresponsible.”
The “Rx for a Healthy America” plan ensures that Americans keep their current insurance, prohibits pre-existing condition clauses, and guarantees that health care will not become government operated. Moreover, the plan will ensure senior choice, transparency, and government health care for the President, Vice President, and members of Congress.
Barton said that the 17 boxes worth of amendments are more comprehensive than the Democrats’ plan and achieve the goals set by President Obama. Barton added that unlike the President’s plan, the Republicans can prove their plan’s effectiveness.
