First, it was a foundation stepping up to cover the cost of death benefits for America's fallen soldiers.Veterans and their families will not be receiving any checks next month if Obama doesn't get his way. Fisher House is paying the families of the fallen instead of the government. And now individual states are paying for the NATIONAL parks.
Now, states are starting to come forward to fill the roles that the federal government has abandoned amid the partial government shutdown.
The latest example is Utah, whose governor announced overnight that the state struck a deal with the U.S. Department of Interior to re-open five national parks -- using Utah taxpayer dollars.
Gov. Gary Herbert signed an agreement to pay the National Park Service up to $1.67 million to re-open eight total sites in the state for up to 10 days.
"Utah's national parks are the backbone of many rural economies and hard-working Utahns are paying a heavy price for this shutdown," Herbert said in a written statement. His office said the parks -- including Zion and Bryce Canyon -- will start opening on Friday and be fully operational by Saturday.
The deal comes after the Interior Department agreed to let states use their own money to open some parks amid the partial shutdown. Governors from Utah and three other states -- South Dakota, Arizona and Colorado -- had asked for that authority.
Though the states would have to front their own money to the federal government, they acted in part out of concern that local communities were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost tourism revenue due to the parks' closure.
Figures compiled by a coalition of retired park service workers indicate that, in total, some 700,000 people a day would have been visiting the parks and that the surrounding areas are losing $76 million in visitor spending per day.
But the national parks are hardly the only function of the federal government affected by the partial shutdown -- or threatened by the possibility that Congress does not raise the debt ceiling by an Oct. 17 deadline. If that deadline is missed, the Treasury Department warned an array of payments might not be sent out, including Social Security checks, Medicare reimbursements and military salaries.
The Los Angeles Times reports that California is weighing whether to step up to cover the cost of some federal programs, like food stamps and assistance for pregnant women, if they are threatened in the coming weeks.
Earlier this week, charity group The Fisher House Foundation stepped in to cover the cost of the $100,000 death benefits that are typically paid to families of fallen soldiers. Those payments stopped after Congress and the White House failed to reach a spending agreement by midnight Oct. 1. President Obama, though, signed a bill late Thursday that would once again allow the federal government to pay those benefits.
Meanwhile, Republicans lawmakers and Obama are at last talking about a possible agreement to resolve the budget and debt stalemate.
A proposal from House Republicans to approve a short-term increase in the debt ceiling was met with resistance during a White House meeting on Thursday.
But as House Republicans continued to revise their plan, Senate Republicans were planning to meet with Obama on Friday morning.
SOURCE
A lot is being said in the media about
Mitt Romney not being "likable" or that he doesn't "relate well" to
people. Frankly, we struggled to understand why. So after much
research, we have come up with a Top Ten List to explain this
"unlikablility."
Top Ten Reasons To Dislike Mitt Romney: 1. Drop-dead, collar-ad handsome with gracious, statesmanlike aura. Looks like every central casting's #1 choice for Commander-in-Chief. 2. Been married to ONE woman his entire life, and has been faithful to her, including through her bouts with breast cancer and MS. 3. No scandals or skeletons in his closet. (How boring is that?) 4. Can't speak in a fake, southern, "black preacher voice" when necessary. 5. Highly intelligent. Graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School...and by the way, his academic records are NOT sealed. 6. Doesn't smoke or drink alcohol, and has never done drugs, not even in the counter-culture age when he went to college. Too square for today's America? 7. Represents an America of "yesterday", where people believed in God, went to .church, didn't screw around, worked hard, and became a SUCCESS! 8. Has a family of five great sons....and none of them have police records or are in drug rehab. But of course, they were raised by a stay-at-home mom, and that "choice" deserves America's scorn. 9. Oh yes.....he's a Mormon. We need to be very afraid of that very strange religion that teaches its members to be clean-living, patriotic, fiscally conservative, charitable, self-reliant, and honest. 10. And one more point.....pundits say because of his wealth, he can't relate to ordinary Americans. I guess that's because he made that money HIMSELF.....as opposed to marrying it or inheriting it from Dad. Apparently, he didn't understand that actually working at a job and earning your own money made you unrelatable to Americans. My goodness, it's a strange world, isn't it? ********************************************************************** Personal Information: His full Name is: Willard Mitt Romney  He was Born: March 12, 1947 and is 65 years old. His Father: George W. Romney, former Governor of the State of Michigan He was raised in Bloomfield Hills , Michigan He is Married to Ann Romney since 1969; they five children. Education: B.A. from Brigham Young University, J.D. and M.B.A. from Harvard University Religion: Mormon - The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints Working Background: After high school, he spent 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary. After going to both Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School simultaneously, he passed the Michigan bar exam, but never worked as an attorney. In 1984, he co-founded Bain Capital a private equity investment firm, one of the largest such firms in the United States. In 1994, he ran for Senator of Massachusetts and lost to Ted Kennedy. He was President and CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. In 2002, he was elected Governor of the State of Massachusetts where he eliminated a 1.5 billion deficit. Some Interesting Facts about Romney: Bain Capital, starting with one small office supply store in Massachusetts, turned it into Staples; now over 2,000 stores employing 90,000 people. Bain Capital also worked to perform the same kinds of business miracles again and again, with companies like Domino's, Sealy, Brookstone, Weather Channel, Burger King, Warner Music Group, Dollarama, Home Depot Supply and many others. He was an unpaid volunteer campaign worker for his dad's gubernatorial campaign 1 year. He was an unpaid intern in his dad's governor's office for eight years. He was an unpaid bishop and state president of his church for ten years. He was an unpaid President of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee for three years. He took no salary and was the unpaid Governor of Massachusetts for four years. He gave his entire inheritance from his father to charity. Mitt Romney is one of the wealthiest self-made men in our country but has given more back to its citizens in terms of money, service and time than most men. And in 2011 Mitt Romney gave over $4 million to charity, almost 19% of his income.
Just for comparison
purposes, Obama gave 1% and Joe Biden gave $300 or .0013%.
Mitt Romney is Trustworthy: He will show us his birth certificate. He will show us his high school and college transcripts. He will show us his social security card. He will show us his law degree. He will show us his draft notice. He will show us his medical records. He will show us his income tax records. He will show us he has nothing to hide. Mitt Romney's background, experience and trustworthiness show him to be a great leader and an excellent citizen for President of the United States. You may think that Romney may not be the best representative the Republicans could have selected. At least you know what religion he is, and that he won't desecrate the flag, bow down to foreign powers, or practice fiscal irresponsibility. I know he has the ability to turn this financial debacle that the current regime has gotten us into. We won't like all the things necessary to recover from this debt, but someone with Romney's background can do it. But, on the minus side, he never was a "Community Organizer", never took drugs or smoked pot, never got drunk, did not associate with communists or terrorists, nor did he attend a church whose pastor called for God to damn the United States.  |
I bring to you my people a man who cares about the future of this nation.The crowd roared with approval. The choice was bold. The choice was the right one. For The Good Romney had brought the debate back to the economy. The Good Romney has given the nation a true choice. Freedom or Slavery.
A man who will help restore our dignity, our rights, our fiscal responsibility.
A man with Conservative values and honest ideals.
My choice for my running mate, your next Vice President:
Ryan the Bold.
I come to help restore this land.The Anointed One laughed with glee. The Good Romney chose the man they wanted him to have. Too Conservative for the nation. A man who He believes will destroy everything The Anointed One has created. He will destroy Ryan the Bold. And the attacks had begun.
To bring it back to civility.
To bring it back to rigorousness.
To bring it back to fiscal responsibility.
We cannot keep spending The People's Money without a thought to the future.
We cannot keep spending The People's Money without a budget to curb expenses.
We must curb our entitlement programs.
Our rights come from Nature and G-d, not Government!This is a truth that all Americans know, even if they do not wish to acknowledge it,
When an Orthodox Jewish, kippa-wearing Democratic candidate might lose a congressional election in the most Jewish (and 75% Democratic) congressional district in America – a seat occupied by Democrats for nearly a century – to a non-Jewish Republican, something significant is going on. And Golda Koppelman knows what that something is.Obama's supporters point to the fact that some Jews are supporting him, are donating to him. But this race is telling more than the Obama donors. If this feeling continues Obama and the Democrats will no longer be able to count on the Jewish vote or the Jewish money.
New York’s 9th Congressional District (Brooklyn and Queens) is gearing up for the September 13, 2011 special election to fill the seat vacated by disgraced Democrat Anthony Weiner. Koppelman, a Holocaust survivor who has lived her American life in the district, is a devout Jewish mother and grandmother, with family in both Israel and America. Like many of her generation, she’s also a devout Democrat. Until now.
“I have never voted for a Republican in my life” she says. But in this election, “I don’t even care who the Democrat is; I am voting Republican to show Obama I am upset with his policy on Israel.”
Koppelman is not alone. That attitude toward President Obama accounts in large part for the surprising emergence of Israel policy as a key issue between two pro-Israel candidates, Democrat David Weprin and Republican Bob Turner. They’re statistically tied in recent polls.
Turner, a no-nonsense businessman, Zionist and deficit hawk, is not only endorsed by pro-Israel stalwarts Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Peter King; he recently received a major endorsement from Democratic former mayor and outspoken Zionist Ed Koch.
Koch recently blasted Obama for “tying Israel’s hands by demanding that negotiations on borders begin with the 1967 armistice lines…. The President made no demands upon the Palestinian Authority. He did not demand that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state, if negotiations end successfully. Nor did he demand that Hamas, now part of the Palestinian Authority, forswear violence and agree to accept the Jewish state of Israel if negotiations conclude successfully. Nor did he demand that the PA state it will engage in land swaps. The President… has ended, in effect, the special relationship which began with president Harry S Truman.”
Koch argues that if the staunchly pro- Israel, heavily Jewish and reliably Democratic NY-9th elects a Republican, it will be a “political shot heard around the nation.” With Obama’s 2012 reelection at stake, a Republican win “will certainly get [Obama’s] attention” and possibly prompt a reassessment of his disturbingly harsh treatment of Israel.
Full Story
"Would you rather reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share, or would you rather accept larger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment? And I think I know your answer."And yet these evil men will thwart MY plans, MY desires, what I want. It is very simple. Without this ceiling raise, we will DEFAULT on our debt. The nation will be destroyed. It will not be MY fault! We have only a week. I need you to call Congress and demand that they raise the ceiling. Raise it enough so that We don't have to do this until after November 2012 (So I don't have to bring this up again until I am reelected!). Only you, the Middle Class, the Poor need to do this. Together We can defeat the rich, the ignorant, the Republicans.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.Thus the Anointed One spoke to the people. And they would have listened to Him but for the voice of the House Speaker, Boehner of Tears. He spoke quietly, passionately, and with a firm voice. His words bespoke of the truth and the people listened:
-----Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence
"I am not a fat cat, I was just a small business owner before I came to Congress. I am one of you, the Middle Class, the people who find all of this too complicated to understand. But it isn't too complicated. It is as easy as your own home budget.And with that, the American people awoke to the truth of the argument. The did call the Congress telling them to stand firm, don't give in to Obama's demands. If we can stop him now, he will be destroyed. And they remembered this:
The President wants us to raise the debt ceiling for the next 18 months. This is so He will not have to face this problem during an election. The President swears that if we don't raise the ceiling the nation will end. We will default on our debts, the old will starve, the military will not be paid and veterans will be homeless. This is a lie. None of this will happen. What will happen is that for the first time the nation will have to live within our means. We will have to cut spending. We will have to trim the fat.
The President refuses to cut the fat, the port, the earmarks. We had a deal, but the President threatened to veto it. We have another deal, but it forces the President to cut spending, and will only raise the debt ceiling for 6 months.
The President is acting childish. He is carrying on a temper tantrum: "Do it my way or face the consequences!" The President can quote Ronald Reagan, but he will never be Ronald Reagan. Nor does he understand what Reagan stood for.
We will call his bluff. The President will be taught the lesson of the Constitutionality of this issue. He will be denied. He believes to be our King. But he forgets. We are Americans! WE HAVE AND WILL HAVE NO KINGS!!!!
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
---Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
Just a glimpse at the American flag can sway voters, even Democrats, toward more Republican voting behavior, attitudes and beliefs, a new two-year study says.It is ironic that the Moonbat left would associate viewing Old Glory with Republicans. If this was true, then Obama would not be President today. But just in case it does work, I put enough pictures of Old Glory on this post to turn even the most liberal person into a Tea Party member.
The authors, from the University of Chicago, Cornell University and Hebrew University, say the research proves the American flag has a powerful effect on voters.
"A single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants' Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting eight months," reads the study titled, "Long-Term Effects of U.S. Flag Exposure on Republicanism."
"These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability," the study says.
In the study, first reported on by "U.S. News and World Report," participants, mostly Democratic-leaning, were asked to fill out a survey about their opinions on Democratic and Republican parties, leaders and their voting intentions. Half of the surveys contained a small American flag in the top left corner. They were given out just before the 2008 presidential election.
Although 90 percent of participants said they wouldn't be influenced by the presence of a flag, the scholars found that the participants exposed to the flag had a bias toward the Republican Party and shifted their behaviors toward the Republican end of the spectrum.
"A single exposure to a small American flag during deliberation about voting intentions prior to a general election led to significant and robust changes in participants' voting intentions, voting behavior, and political attitudes, all in the politically conservative direction," the study reads.
To ensure that the party in power at the time of the test didn't have an effect on the survey answers, another survey was conducted eight months after the 2008 election. Results found that participants exposed to the American flag "felt less positively about Obama's job performance."
To further prove their point, a third test was conducted in May 2010 in which participants were shown pictures of buildings with a flag and others with the flag digitally erased.
The last test resulted in similar answers to the first two, reinforcing the argument that even subtle exposure to the American flag considerably shifted people's beliefs, Republican or Democrat, toward Republicanism.
A study of the impact that viewing the American flag has on politics has not been done before, but it is similar to a study recently conducted by Harvard University.
That study's findings argued that attending July 4 parades are more beneficial to the Republican Party -- they boost turnout of GOP voters, increase Republican patriotism and turn kids into Republicans.
The authors in the current study also cited a 2007 "Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin" report that concluded that brief exposure to the American flag increased aggressive thoughts and behavior, especially among those who followed political news.
Source
BULLETIN! REPUBLICANS NOW POISED TO TAKE SENATE MAJORITY
Published on DickMorris.com on October 6, 2010
Dear Friend,
Today, October 6th, is the first day this year that the Republican candidate leads in the most recent poll in ten Senate races for Democratic seats. If the Republicans hang onto these leads, they are assured of a majority!
Even more important, the Republican is moving up in all ten races even where the margin is still narrow!
The following are the polling data from the most recent survey listed on realclearpolitics.com:
North Dakota = Republican + 43%
Arkansas = Republican + 18%
Indiana = Republican + 18%
Wisconsin = Republican + 12%
Pennsylvania = Republican + 7%
Colorado = Republican + 5%
West Virginia = Republican + 5%
Illinois = Republican + 4%
Nevada = Republican + 3%
Washington = Republican + 1%
And, in Connecticut, Linda McMahon is hot on the heels of Richard Blumenthal. In New York State, the last published poll had Republican Joe DioGuardi one point behind appointed Senator Kristen Gillibrand, but that poll is now two weeks old. In Delaware, the last poll is two weeks old and showed Democrat Coons way ahead but it may well have closed since.
The only piece of bad news is that Fiorini is 3 points behind Boxer, but Barbara is still under 50% of the vote.
We need to get our vote to turnout!
Click here to watch the "Battle For America" trailer
Thanks,
Dick Morris
It was a sobering dinner party last night (6/16). Hosted by a London billionaire in his exquisite home - a Boccaccio hung on the wall behind me - the wine flowed liberally, but the conversation between the ten of us was stone-cold serious.
There were lighter moments, as when I proposed a toast to "a great hero of Europe - Geert Wilders." Every one raised their glass in a smile, but the biggest smile was that of a spectacularly gorgeous super-model (you've seen her in many a high-fashion ad). She was from Holland.
Then a well-known Hollywood producer raised his glass to toast his hero - Ronald Reagan. "We need him again," he commented. I guarantee you've watched one of his TV shows.
But when a self-made billionaire with an 11-figure private equity fund and a clear grasp of Austrian economics starts to talk about America's prospects, you listen. So we all listened.
Being in London, he started there. "To call (new Brit PM David) Cameron a disaster is like calling Hurricane Katrina a squall. He's as much a Conservative as I am a Moslem. I have already started preparing to relocate to Switzerland. If he succeeds in his current push to raise capital gains taxes from 18% to 50% -- and it looks like he will - the British economy and the London real estate market will crash. The best play around will be to short the pound.
"In short, Cameron and Osborne (George Osborne, David Cameron's Oxford classmate and now in Cameron's cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer, equivalent to our Treasury Secretary) lead secret lives. Just as they hide from the public that they are homosexual behind the pretense of a marriage, they hide their liberal agenda behind the pretense of being conservative. They will destroy Britain's economy just as sure as Obama is destroying America's."
There followed a spirited exchange about financial escape hatches -- if the euro, the pound, and the dollar fall off their respective cliffs, where does anybody go? The time-worn adage of "buy gold, buy silver, buy Swiss Francs" may work for individuals, but world equity markets are in a trap from which there is no clear exit.
One opinion was, "The best run governments around today are those of Canada and Singapore - having one's savings denominated in their currencies is not a bad idea." Then we got back to America.
"You know what my biggest fear is?" our host asked. "It's not really Obama, for what he's done is to accelerate what the liberals have been slowly doing for decades - so quickly that their socialism is obvious to everyone. Which means the solution is obvious to everyone. My biggest fear is that voters will give Republicans the power to repair America on November 2nd - and the Republicans won't have the courage to do it."
All I could respond with was "Ouch," to shake my head and sigh. I mentioned an email I just got from a friend of many years in Las Vegas. He's a very successful banker and businessman who knows everyone in Republican politics in Nevada - and I had asked his opinion of how Sharron Angle might possibly beat Harry Reid. The reply I got back shocked me. He will do nothing to help her, he said, as she is too "extreme."
Why is she considered extreme? our host asked, not on intimate terms with Nevada primary elections. Because she wants a government restricted to constitutional activities, I replied, which means, for example, eliminating such things as the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Our host leaned over the table to look at me as if his eyes were lasers. "Jack, you need to explain something to your friend. You need to explain something to America and all those Congressmen you know. Amputate or die. That's the choice America has right now. That's the choice Republicans will have after November 2nd, because they're the only surgeons around who can do the surgery."
Everyone was quiet so he continued. "Gangrene will kill you. If you don't amputate a finger or other limb that's gangrenous, it will spread bacterially [via Clostridium perfringens], and you will die. Look at these unconstitutional growths of government on the body public as gangrenous infections that have to be amputated for the body to continue living."
He looked around the table at all of us. "You know that I know all the main players in the world economy. Some are fools who don't know what they are doing like Strauss-Kahn (Dominque Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF, International Monetary Fund), some are not like Trichet (Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank). America has no adult on the economy's lever - Geithner is more of a hopeless disaster than Bush's Paulson was, and Bernanke is worse than Greenspan.
"So I don't know any player whose smarts I really respect who has much hope for America, who doesn't see an alternative future than the destruction of America's wealth through hyper-inflation. They think elephants will fly before Republican elephants will do what is necessary if the voters give them the power to do it."
He looked at me - so everyone else did. "Are they wrong, Jack?" The question hung in the air as I felt my face redden.
"Thanks, pal," I responded with a smile to gain a little time. Everyone did laugh for just a moment, then I had to jump into the waiting silence. Here's what I said.
"The situation is dire, there is no doubt, the gravest since the Civil War. The only hope I see is with the anger of the TeaPartyers. That anger is directed just as much towards Republican cowards as towards Democrat fascists. We don't have to wait long to see the power of that anger. Just six days from now (6/22) in South Carolina, Nikki Haley the TeaPartyer is going to wipe out Gresham Barrett the RINO, even though the state GOP establishment is doing everything slimy to smear her.
"I think your player-friends have to see things not as Democrat vs. Republican but as the Court Party - the establishment in power be they Democrat or GOP - vs. the Country Party, the TeaPartyers who want an end to all the corruption, Dem or GOP. Your players are part of the Court Party. The TeaPartyers you might think are like those who led the French Revolution - but they are like those who led the American Revolution instead.
"Yes, the TeaPartyers own most of the 300 million guns in America, but they don't want blood unless there's no choice. Note the ‘unless.' November 2nd better be an honest election. What the TeaPartyers must grasp is Churchill's call after the battle of El Alamein [November 1942], that November is only ‘the end of the beginning.'
"So you are right - the only hope is radical surgery to cut out all the metastasizing cancer, to amputate unconstitutional gangrene, or another metaphor, to be like Alexander and cut the Gordian Knot with a swordstroke.
"But the question really is not whether Republicans have the courage to perform the surgery, to defund ObamaCare, to defund the entire Obama agenda, to defund entire agencies like the Department of Education, Energy, and the EPA. It is whether the TeaPartyers have the courage and capacity to force the Republicans to. I mean, how is eliminating the EPA extreme, and EPA unconstitutional fascism not extreme? We'll find out, because they are America's only hope now."
Everyone waited for our host's response. "And the hyper-inflation? The debt's already baked in the cake, no matter what future spending is cut."
"Hyper-inflation is only another word for total default. The only way to avoid it is a government default on its debts only. Then we can switch from a worthless fiat currency to an asset-backed currency." I smiled. "Gold brings freedom."
He smiled in return and raised his glass. "We can all drink to that. To gold, to freedom, and these TeaPartyers - may Jack be right about them. May they amputate fascism before the fascists amputate our freedom."
Republicans scored a midterm election victory Saturday when Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou won a Democratic-held House seat in Hawaii in the district where President Obama grew up -- the latest triumph for the GOP as it looks to take back control of Congress.It seems the TEA Party has made it to Hawaii. Come November the Democrats just might be a bit distressed at the outcome, regretful that many listened to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid instead of their CONSTITUENTS!
Djou's victory was a blow to Obama and other Democrats who could not rally around a candidate and find away to win a congressional race that should have been a cakewalk. The seat had been held by a Democrat for nearly 20 years and is located in the district where Obama was born and spent most of his childhood.
"This is a momentous day. We have sent a message to the United States Congress. We have sent a message to the national Democrats. We have sent a message to the machine," Djou said. "The congressional seat is not owned by one political party. This congressional seat is owned by the people."
Djou received 67,274 votes, or 39.5 percent. He was trailed by state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, a Democrat who received 52,445 votes, or 30.8 percent. The other leading Democrat, former U.S. Rep. Ed Case, received 47,012 votes, or 27.6 percent.
Republicans see the victory as a powerful statement about their momentum heading into November. They already sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts -- a place that was once thought to be the most hostile of territories for the GOP. Now Republicans can say they won a congressional seat in the former backyard of the president and in a state that gave Obama 72 percent of the vote two years ago.
Finish reading here.
In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.This bill is not reform, it is socialized medicine that will bring to the United States the same horror that Great Britain and Canada now have. It will destroy the private option, giving every citizen not the best healthcare in the world, but the worse health care in the world.
The 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress.
A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi likened the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later -- and Obama issued a statement saying, "I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year."
"It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it," said Rep. John Dingell, the 83-year-old Michigan lawmaker who has introduced national health insurance in every Congress since succeeding his father in 1955.
In the run-up to a final vote, conservatives from the two political parties joined forces to impose tough new restrictions on abortion coverage in insurance policies to be sold to many individuals and small groups. They prevailed on a roll call of 240-194.
Ironically, that only solidified support for the legislation, clearing the way for conservative Democrats to vote for it.
The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it. Large companies would have to offer coverage to their employees. Both consumers and companies would be slapped with penalties if they defied the government's mandates.
Insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history. In a further slap, the industry would lose its exemption from federal antitrust restrictions on price fixing and market allocation.
At its core, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for coverage. In the bill's most controversial provision, the government would sell insurance, although the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that premiums for it would be more expensive than for policies sold by private firms.
Read the full story here.
Our Congress At Work!Bloomberg reports that the vote for Sotomayor's confirmation has been delayed one week to accommodate Republicans. Now is the time to let your Senator's hear from you again, or hear from you even though the RINO's listed below are not your own Senator. If your Senator is not on this list, contact them anyway and register your vote against Sotomayor. Contact information is listed below.
For a list of reasons not to vote for Sonia Sotomayor, and for discussion points, please read this.
The latest list of Republican Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor supporters is:
Sonia SotomayorI have an urgent need, unemployment and homelessness, a very small vehicle for my family and I to live in. The housing authority has two years' waiting lists, and we need something more than the vehicle and the parks to go to. We need our own kitchen and our own bathroom. Please help.Henrietta Hughes is getting her house. Florida Republican State Representative Nick Thompson and his wife Chene Thompson offered her a house in La Belle, about a two hour drive from where the town hall was held in Ft. Myers, FL. I'm reading that the home is offered rent free for as long as she needs it.
