By Ravi Bhatia, Talk Radio News Service

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Or.) and Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Jim Cooper (D-Tn.) said Tuesday that infusing the health insurance market with competition would be the best way to bring down health care costs for most Americans.

“We’ve got to open up the exchanges to a broader array of people, both employers and employees,” Wyden said at a panel discussion hosted by The New Republic magazine. “That’s how we’re going to respond to people making $66,000 a year who are going to look at the [Senate] Finance Committee Bill and say that it’s not going work for [their families].”

The discussion occurred the day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the current draft of the health care bill will include a public option with an opt-out provision for individual states. In theory, giving Americans the option to choose a government-run health care plan would drive down the costs of private insurers by creating competition. The Health Care Exchange would allow those who already have insurance to upgrade to better plans then the ones they already have using the program, further encouraging insurance companies to lower prices and raise their coverage quality standards.

“As these bills are being drafted, only ten percent of the people in America will ever be allowed to shop for any option, whether it’s public or private,” Cooper said. “In other words 90 percent will be stuck with what they’ve got. So why don’t we allow people to upgrade to get a better deal?”

Cooper added, “As far as the public option is concerned, I’m for one, we can have a good one, we can have one that’s affordable for the individual family and for the system as a whole, but all this effort is for naught if we can’t get 60 votes in the Senate.”

On Tuesday, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who is often considered the one Republican who might vote in favor of health care reform legislation, responded to Reid’s announcement, saying that she would not support a bill that includes a public option. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) also announced Tuesday that he would block Reid’s plan as long as it includes a publicly funded insurance plan.

According to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House may introduce their health care bill by the end of this week.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer welcomed economic experts to the Capitol today to discuss new job creation in the U.S.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) responded to the apparent impatience shown by Congressional Republicans over the adoption of an Afghanistan war strategy, explaining that under GOP leadership, Afghanistan was woefully under-resourced.

“We have more people [there] than [House Minority Leader John] Boehner and his party put in Afghanistan over the last five or six years,” said Hoyer during a pen and pad session withe reporters. “We’re doing much more than they did.”

While the Majority Leader has been hesitant to tell reporters where he stands on Afghanistan, he did credit the surge in Iraq as a successful maneuver, a possible hint to the final position Hoyer will push for.

The Majority Leader also touched upon recent concerns that the House has been meeting for shorter hours, a sentiment that Hoyer sympathized with. However, Hoyer explained that the House’s slim work-weeks are a result of inactivity in the Senate.

“We have sent a lot of work to the … Senate,” said Hoyer. “We’re waiting for them to get back.

“This is not a criticism of Harry Reid,” Hoyer added. “Senator Reid has the most frustrating job in government.”

By Justin Duckham-Talk Radio News Service

Prior to the White House’s scheduled meeting Tuesday afternoon with Congressional leadership, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) declined to tell reporters if he would support sending more U.S. forces to Afghanistan.

“I intend to give my advice and counsel to the president first,” said Hoyer during a pen and pad session. “I have some views and I’ll probably express them sometime in the future after I meet with the president.”

However, the Majority Leader did offer his explanation for the origin of the troubled military situation in Afghanistan.

“This is an effort that … we should have succeeded on years ago. We took our eye off the ball. We under-resourced the effort that had almost unanimous support,” Hoyer said.

The Majority Leader refused to speculate over whether Congress would be behind a troop increase, stating that while there is support for the action in the House, he was not sure if it is the majority’s opinion.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says that the American economy is still not where it should be, but states that Congress has made substantial progress. (0:17)

 

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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) suggested that if Congress misses the August deadline put forward by the Obama administration for a completed health care reform bill, postponing Congress’ August recess may not be the most effective step.

“I don’t think it’s a question of staying another week, it’s a question of seeing whether or not we can get to consensus,” Hoyer said during a pen and pad session with reporters Tuesday.

“I don’t think staying in session is… necessary to continue to work on getting consensus,’ Hoyer added.

Following the August recess, Congress will not be back in session until early September.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says no American family should have to go to sleep worrying about their child getting sick and not having access to health care. (0:09)

 

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By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

Two more House committees have passed versions of health care reform legislation following discussions that stretched into the early hours of Friday morning. That brings the total up to three out of the five House and Senate Committees that have now reported legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) noted in Friday’s press conference that this is the farthest comprehensive health reform has ever gotten in Congress.

The House Committee on Ways and Means chaired by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) completed their discussion and reported legislation at around 2 AM Friday. The Committee on Education and Labor chaired by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) had an even longer discussion which lasted till 6 AM and came back at 9 AM to complete the votes.

Pelosi said, “Congress has made historic progress on health insurance reform that will put patients and doctors back in charge and ensure quality, affordable, accessible health care for America’s middle class.”

Pelosi also noted the recent endorsement from the American Medical Association (AMA) of America’s Affordable Health Care legislation.

“This legislation includes a broad range of provisions that are key to effective, comprehensive health system reform…The AMA wants the debate in Washington to conclude with, real, long overdue results that will improve the health of America’s patients.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) joined the Speaker and two Chairmen to announce the “historic progress.”

“These next pivitol months will finally be our chance to deliver-and we will,” said Hoyer.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says that Chrysler and GM could not explain why they closed many dealerships (0:23).

 

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By Sam Wechsler – Talk Radio News Service

At a news conference on Tuesday, over 150 Chrysler and GM car dealership owners, whose lots have been or will soon be closed, expressed their support for the Automobile Dealer Economic Rights Restoration Act of 2009 (HR-2743).

Rep. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.) last month introduced the bill, which aims to restore the rights and franchise agreements to General Motors and Chrysler car dealerships as they existed prior to each company’s bankruptcy. The bill is gaining momentum with over 240 co-sponsors in the House.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who spoke at the news conference, vocalized her support for the bill by asking, “Who among us would stand against the restoration of the civil rights of working Americans?”

“[Chrysler and GM] could not tell me how shutting down any of these dealers saved them money,” added House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

According to Darcars of Rockville owner Tammy Darvish, almost 170,000 jobs will be lost as a direct result of these closings.

Prior to the companies’ bankruptcies, none of the dealerships represented at the news conference could have been terminated because they were compliant with all franchise requirements. Many of the dealerships were extremely profitable. Jim Tarbox, who owns dealerships in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island, owned a Jeep dealership in the top five percent in sales volume nationally that was shut down due to personal gripes, he said.

In June, James Press, the CEO of Chrysler, stated that shutting down dealerships would save the company three billion dollars.

Lelica Callaremi, whose family has been with Chrysler and GM combined for 41 years, learned that her dealership terminated with no explanation given. She pleaded, “Mr. Henderson and Mr. Press [CEO’s of GM and Chrysler, respectively], how do you sleep at night?”