Riehl World View

One Health Care Vote = $100 Million

Outrageous. This amounts to a theft being perpetrated on American taxpayers by Democrats desperate to give the White House at least one accomplishment to coo about.

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, one of three lawmakers being wooed by Senate Democratic leaders to back health-care legislation, won the inclusion of an extra $100 million in federal aid for low-income people in her state.

And that accomplishment will turn America's health care system inside out - not for the better, I'm afraid. Get ready folks, today is defeat state controlled health care day. Watch for more to come and get on the phone to your Senators.

And you might want to let these two below know that if they think they can play games moving this along while scurrying for cover down the line, they are going to be target #1 when they're up for re-election. I believe Lincoln is up in 2010, Nelson not until 2012.

Two other Democratic senators who have also voiced skepticism about the legislation, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, signaled yesterday they’re likely to support Reid’s effort to start debate before Congress takes a weeklong recess for the Thanksgiving holiday.

After talking earlier this week with the three lawmakers from Republican-leaning states, Reid said he’s “cautiously optimistic” he’ll win the vote set for 8 p.m., Washington time, tomorrow.

Waxman Admits Current Health Care Bill Just A Ploy

The entire video below is about 7 minutes long. The first part on climate change legislation is worthwhile, too. It reveals the full scope of the already passed House bill that Waxman believes they will get back to next year. But for the telling part on health care reform, fast forward to about 6 minutes in. On climate, it isn't just about limiting carbon, it's about government choosing what industries and solutions succeed and which ones fail. And his aim is to do it first to set a better example for the world. That's ridiculous. Most will not surrender the economic advantages gained from us selling ourselves short. And even France is already nuclear powered to a great degree. Something the progressives will never allow America to be. We'll come out behind economically, not ahead, as these world utopian-ists believe.

"I think we are going to get a bill passed. It may not be everything that I'd want, but if we get it in place we can build on it later and we could start down the road to making sure that we have a system that makes sense."

Waxman admits any health care bill isn't going to have everything he wants. But the plan is to "build on it". Eventually, he claims, America will have "a health care system that makes sense". How many guesses do we get to nail precisely what that means?

Point being, Waxman and the Dems are already plotting to build on it over time if they can only get this critical first step passed. Once in place, it will prove all but impossible to stop each incremental change before we find ourselves with the completely government run single payer system the progressives actually want. They simply don't want to be caught saying it straight up. h/t Washington News Observer. There is no honesty behind this health care plan. It's a trojan horse with potentially disastrous implications for all Americans concerned about health care that offers more competition to reduce costs. Not less competition and ultimately total government control.

Full List Of Tax Hikes In Health Care Bill

Just saw this via Twitter.

BREAKING: Full List of Tax Hikes In Senate Democrat Health Bill

Decided to post it separately rather than update my recent health care bill post. That one warns of the likely consequences of the motion to proceed.

Health Care Alert: Tax Increases, Motion To Proceed Assures Passage?

Interesting. Democrats are arguing for a motion to proceed on the health care bill, claiming it is not the same as passage.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) on Wednesday took aim at critics who have attempted to sway his vote on whether to support Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) effort to begin debate on a health care reform measure this week.

Just in from the GOP via email. They claim the reality suggests otherwise. Better safe than sorry, I say. Better to defeat the motion if we can. It's claimed there are major tax increases in it. See link below for that.

According to an analysis conducted for this office by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, between the 106th and 110th Congress, there were 41 cases in which the Senate approved the motion to proceed to a bill that the Senate eventually held a vote on final passage.  Of those 41, 40 of the bills received Senate approval (S. 1805 in the 108th Congress was the lone exception).  Based on these numbers, when the Senate votes to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to a bill, that bill has a 97.6 percent chance of inevitably passing the Senate.

*This analysis excludes any bill that may have been pulled from the floor for whatever reason after the initial cloture votes or that may have passed by unanimous consent or a voice vote.

They're coming for it eventually. This bill means they have to be, along with managing care to reduce costs.

The following is from the Joint Tax Committee estimate of the revenue effects of the Reid bill. I have listed provisions with major revenue effects (+$20 B / 10 years) and a few others that have significant policy or political impacts. There are some smaller changes as well, which you can see for yourself in the 3-page document. All revenue figures are revenues raised over the ten-year period 2010-2019.

Send In The Rubes

Jaysus, these Nutroots types actually still believe they have any sway when it comes to the Democrats. How many times do they need to be played like fools before realizing how irrelevant they are, except for any campaign cash they can generate?

Are we out of Iraq? Is gay marriage going to be legalized? What about don't ask, don't tell? Is ..., is ...? Um, here's your answer folks: shove it. Shut up, you're going to vote for us anyway. You have no other choice.

Send in the rubes, we've got to have rubes. Never mind, they're here.

If Harry Reid truly cares about fighting for the good of the country over the good of Wellpoint, he will immediately dispense with the opt-out and move to reconciliation and allow a majority in the Senate to deliver to Americans what they want and desperately need.

Health Care Con Call: Democrats Wrestle a Greased Pig

As hard as it may be to wrestle a proverbial greased-pig, what's rarely mentioned is that few people would want to hug the wrestler after he's done. And Democrats currently look like greased-pig wrestlers as they try to get a health care reform bill enacted. If those in opposition to current plans can drag the battle out until March, it will likely move to 2020 due to the coming mid-terms.

While liberals have to worry about moderate Dems defecting, conservatives should watch for moderate Republicans who might help advance the issue. Some may be hoping to rely upon a final No vote on any ultimate legislation for cover that would amount to nothing in the end, as there would be a majority to pass any legislation.

As the only Right-side blogger, it was interesting being on a conference call dealing with the status of Health Care reform in Congress with CongressDaily's lead reporter on health care issues, Anna Edney. Bloggers from DailyKos and FireDogLake were also on the call. What's clear is that the main battle is going on among the Democrats just now.

There seems to be no genuinely viable compromise between the Senate and the House - and then there's the Democrat's base. Reid looks to be driving things, as he is in the weaker position to get the votes and needs the most help. From abortion, to a public option and more, no one can currently predict what some final bill might look like. And March looks to be the critical deadline for decision-making.

After that the CBO would be forced to re-score the bill based upon Obama's submitted budget, due in February next year. That would most likely drive up the cost creating even more problems for the Democrats. While some of them are maintaining an optimistic view, I continue to wonder if this won't all end up waiting until after the mid-terms.

It actually may play to both party's advantage to some extent to have it held over until after that. The liberal base may have moved the Democrat Party left. For now, they haven't moved it far enough to get precisely what they want.

A key for activists on both sides will be to watch what the softer elements of their respective parties do to either slow or advance the bill, hoping to take cover from an opposite vote when some final vote on the entire issue comes to pass.

Audio Jeff Sessions: House Health Care Bill Is DOA

Senator Jeff Sessions weighs in on Obama's judicial nominees and other topics in this four minute video. Two minutes in, Sessions claims the House version of health care reform is DOA in the Senate. He is now the second Senator to make that pronouncement, I believe.

Obama Tanks In Ohio: Paging Ted Strickland

The latest effort by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to hold on to his office so that his liberal ideas can finish bankrupting the state is about as bankrupt as any policy Stickland has advocated. And that's quite a feat.

Let's check some facts before seeing this misguided video, assuming you absolutely must. If nothing else, it might be worth a laugh. For starters, he's discussing a Federal issue, health care reform, that has nothing to do with whether he's re-elected, or not. Why doesn't he just admit he's desperate and wants your email address, but doesn't have anything serious to say because his ideas have failed so miserably for Ohio? But it gets worse.

Here's the latest out of Ohio on Obama and healthcare at AmSpec:

Ohio voters disapprove 53 - 42 percent of the way the President is handling the economy and disapprove 57 - 36 percent of the way he is handling health care. In September, they approved of his handling of the economy 48 - 46 percent and split on his handling of health care 44 - 45 percent....

In the video, Strickland is running for re-election by trying to piggy back on Obama's sinking popularity along with his health care reform ideas. Helloo? Granted, that's an efficient idea given that Strickland's headed down the drain. But is it smart politics? Does he even know there were two Governor's races where Obama got heavily involved and both Corzine and Deeds lost? Forget Ohio, he's way gone from there. Can you say "Earth to Ted"?

How desperate does a guy have to be to grab on to losing ideas and politicians to try and get a boost? Strickland can't even approve a smart ad campaign and he wants to keep running a too long suffering state due to his own liberal ideas?

This has to qualify as the dumbest email grab I've seen in my life. Enter DropDeadTed-at-you.com as he seems to have no serious ideas, or accomplishments to enlist on his behalf. Who knows, he might even feature that email address in his next ad, assuming he wants to top this one for dumb. 

Ohio can't fix health care on its own. We need the right kind of partnership with the federal government - reform at the federal level that will lower costs and expand access to coverage.

As the debate over health care moves from the House to the Senate, Congress needs to know that Ohioans support reform. Sign the petition below to show your commitment to health care reform.

Universal Health Care: Critical Patients Turned Away

Sad but perhaps a harbinger of things to come with a universal health care plan in place in America. This one from Japan courtesy of the National Center for Public Policy Research. Age sixty-nine, stable vital signs but ultimately allowed to bleed to death after an accident. No hospital would accept him under the nationalized plan. Call it death panels, cost control, or whatever you want. In the end you see the same result - a life lost. And it's far from the only one.

Rescue workers in Japan called fourteen hospitals before finding one that would take an elderly bicyclist who collided with a motorcycle.

The accident, which occurred at 10:15 pm in the Japanese city of Itami, left the 69-year-old bicyclist, who was not identified, in critical condition with back and head injuries. Paramedics arrived on the scene five minutes after the crash and administered first aid. Yet, for about an hour, they were unsuccessful at locating a hospital to treat the man.

Helpless, the elderly man waited in the ambulance at the accident scene as hospital after hospital rejected treating him, citing unavailable beds, staff shortages and a lack of equipment and specialists. All told, fourteen hospitals in the neighboring prefectures - i.e., governing districts - of Hyogo and Osaka refused his entry.

Obama Hurt Deeds In Virginia

I don't think this is a big secret, outside of the WH and the media. Obama hurt the Democrats in Virginia ... and New Jersey, for that matter. Still, it's nice to have some polling to support it. More at link. A majority of Independents are against health care reform and most want a check on the Democrats in Congress, not for Obama to receive more help. In fact, in New Jersey, Obama actually tried to sell Corzine as being "key" to his agenda. That was the actual word he used. Given Obama's pitch and voter sentiment, it's foolish to conclude he had no impact on the two races. That's particularly true as he invested so much time and energy  for them at the end. By 2012, Democrats may be running away from the guy.

“I’m going to read you two statements, and please tell me which one comes closest to your opinion.

Some/Other people say it is more important to elect a Governor who will help President Barack Obama implement his agenda.

Other/Some people say that it is more important to elect a Governor who will serve as a check and balance to President Barack Obama.”

Voters opted for the check and balance by a 55%-35% margin.  Independents (who voted for Obama by one point in 2008 in Virginia) opted for a check and balance by an overwhelming 58%-25% margin.  Throughout our tracking, we regularly found open-ended comments from Independent voters saying they wanted to balance the overwhelming power that the Democrats have in Washington.   Given the absolute power the Dems have in DC, that is a very strong message for GOPers running in 2010.