At a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) stated that an honest cost-benefit assessment for climate change legislation is necessary.
“An assessment…requires that we first stop trying to sell this policy as if it will have no cost for Americans,” said Grassley. (0:16)
By Marianna Levyash – Talk Radio News Service
During a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) stated that he supports climate change legislation, but holds some qualms over the Kerry-Boxer bill.
“I want our children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy the outdoors the way that we can today. So I’m going to work to pass climate-change legislation that is both meaningful and can muster enough votes to become law,” he said.
While Baucus did make clear that it is important for Congress to to act now on preserving the environment, he noted that the unemployment rate has reached an incredibly high level and therefore lawmakers must also work to create jobs in today’s economy.
Regardless of his reassuring statements, Baucus was the only Democrat to vote against The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act – otherwise known as the Kerry-Boxer bill – a vote that signaled his discontent with certain parts of the bill.
“While we must always be mindful of the cost of legislation, that’s particularly true in today’s economy. Our unemployment rate remains far too high. And we must be diligent to create jobs, including in the energy sector,” Baucus said.
Regarding climate change legislation and job creation, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) says on Tuesday that “our unemployment rate remains far too high…and we must be diligent to create jobs, including in the energy sector.” (0:12)
Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) referred to the gains made on health care reform by Senate Democrats as “historic” following Tuesday’s caucus meeting.
“This is a historic moment, this is really a part of history,” said Reid. “It’s fair to say we all feel good about the progress we’ve made.”
On Monday, Reid made waves by announcing that he would be backing the inclusion of a public option, saddled with a state opt-out provision, in the final legislation.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, was optimistic that health care reform will be passed this year, but also stepped back to acknowledge the hard work that he and others have contributed so far to the effort.
“We’ve been laying the ground work for this for well over a year. To say this is difficult to achieve is an understatement. I’ve never attempted anything as difficult as this, but I’ve never relished anything as much as this because it’s so important,” said Baucus. “We will fight for the 60 votes to get this passed,” he added.
By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico- Talk Radio News Service
Former Congressional Budget Office Director and George W. Bush economic adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin said Monday that a public option will not solve the fundamental problems in the U.S. health care system, warning lawmakers that it would ultimately present the same problems as Medicare.
“Public plans are not going to be able to negotiate any more effectively with every local hospital and doctor in a geographic area than private insurers,” Holtz-Eakin said during a conference call hosted by the Galen Institute. “Indeed they might negotiate worse.”
Holtz-Eakin said that the options for a public plan had a remarkable resemblance to Medicare, and if it were to reimburse on the basis of Medicare payment rates, it would only add to the problem.
“Medicare payment policies are one of the problems with the American health care system,” he said. “It is not something we want to spread more broadly throughout the system, it is something we want to move away from.”
Holtz-Eakin noted that the other widely discussed option to run a public plan like a private insurance company would not increase competition because it would be too difficult for the government to politically cut out select hospitals.
“That leads us right to the solution ‘let’s have more competition in the insurance market and that has nothing to do with a public option’,” he said. “It is something we do not need in the debate. We need real reform.”
Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
As the Senate Finance Committee prepares to vote on the America’s Healthy Future Act, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) used his opening remarks to congratulate the committee’s members on reaching this point and urge the commitee to help further the legislation.
“Now pretty much everything’s been said. Now it’s time to get the job done,” said Baucus. “The scores are in, and I am proud to say that our bill passes the test.”
Sen. Olympia Snow (R-Maine.), who has been viewed by Democrats as a possible Republican ally on the bill, used her opening statement to ask CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf to keep updated analyses of the bill as it proceeds to the Senate floor, stating that it is “critically important [for senators] to be vigilant.”
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) addressed the recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, describing it as “flawed and completely incorrect.”
Baucus interrupted Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) opening remarks, stating that the Republican Senator was taking too long and asking Hatch to be courteous to other senators by adhering to the time limit. Baucus tried to limit Sen. Jon Kyl’s (R-Ariz.) opening statement as well, a move that visibly frustrated Kyl.
The landmark bill was confronted with 564 amendments, of which the committee considered 135. There were in total 79 roll-call votes. The committee adopted 41 amendments in total.
Tuesday marks the 8th day the committee has met to tackle the bill, making this the longest amount of time the committee has worked on a single piece of legislation in 22 years.
Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) says he signed a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to reject the Senate Finance Committee’s proposed excise tax because he feels “pressure to protect the people of the United States of America.” (0:36)
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) says the Senate Finance Committee’s proposed excise tax on “cadillac” health insurance plans will affect a group of people “far wider than the Paris Hiltons of the world.” Courtney says this tax will affect a much larger group of middle class Americans. (0:45)
The Senate Finance Committee voted no today to an amendment introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) which states that “federal tax payer dollars will not be used to pay for subsidized abortions or the new plans and programs created in this bill.”
The amendment failed by a 10-13 vote.
Prior to the introduction of the amendment, the America’s Healthy Future Act stated “federal funds continue to be prohibited from being used to pay for abortions unless the pregnancy is due to rape, incest or the life of the mother is in danger.”
In its current state, the bill requires insurance companies to segregate private money, which comes from premiums, and federal money to ensure public funds are not being used to pay for abortions.
Sen. Hatch’s amendment also stated that women would have the choice to purchase a separate policy that includes abortion coverage.
Prior to the Committee’s vote, Chairman Baucus said, “Basically this is a health care bill, this is not an abortion bill. We are not changing current law.”
Tuesday the Senate Finance Committee voted against the public option amendment. Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) argued that a health care bill with a public option will not receive 60 votes. He vows work to reform health care, but states he can not vote for a public option. (0:22)
