The President believes strongly that Thursday’s bipartisan meeting on health insurance reform will be most productive if both sides come to the table with a unified plan to start discussion – and if the public has the opportunity to inspect those proposals up close before the meeting happens.
That’s why yesterday the White House posted online the President’s proposal for bridging the differences between the Senate- and House-passed health insurance reform bills. The proposal puts American families and small business owners in control of their own health care. It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle-class tax cuts for health care in history, it ends discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, holds insurance companies accountable, and reduces our deficit by $100 billion over the next 10 years.
But you don’t have to take our word for it: the proposal is posted right here at WhiteHouse.gov for everyone to examine. You can read through the plan’s bipartisan ideas section by section, or you can select your health care status and find out what the proposal would mean for you. You can even submit a question for our policy staff to answer.
What you can’t do just yet is read about the Republicans’ consensus plan – because so far they haven’t announced what proposal they’ll be bringing to the table. To be sure, there are many Republicans who share the President’s conviction that we need to act on reform, and there are several pieces of Republican health care legislation out there. Previously we were told this was the House Republican bill. Is it still? We look forward to hearing whether this the proposal they'll bring. The Senate Republicans have yet to post any kind of plan, so we continue to await word from them. As of right now, the American people still don’t know which one Congressional Republicans support and which one they want to present to the public on Thursday.
President Obama has been clear that his proposal isn’t the final say on legislation, and that’s what Thursday’s meeting is all about. But after a year of historic national dialogue about reform, it’s time for both sides to be clear about what their plan is to lower costs, hold insurance companies accountable, make health insurance affordable for those without it, and reduce the deficit. A collection of piecemeal and sometimes conflicting ideas won’t do.
As we said today, we’ll be happy to post the Republican plan on our website once they indicate to us which one we should post. We hope they won’t pass up this opportunity to make their case to the American people.
Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director
Harry Reid To Push For
Public Option Through
RECONCILIATION
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Friday afternoon that he would work with other Democrats and the White House to pass a public option through reconciliation if that's the legislative path the party chooses.
"Senator Reid has always and continues to support the public option as a way to drive down costs and create competition," said Reid aide Rodell Mollineau in a statement provided to the Huffington Post. "That is why he included the measure in his original health care proposal. If a decision is made to use reconciliation to advance health care, Senator Reid will work with the White House, the House, and members of his caucus in an effort to craft a public option that can overcome procedural obstacles and secure enough votes."
This represents a major breakthrough for those Senators and activists who are pushing to get a public option considered via an up or down vote.
Reid has always been a proponent of the provision. But he has deflected questions about using reconciliation to get it into law citing a potential lack of votes needed for passage.
His promise to work with others to include it in reconciliation hardly means the public option is a done deal. The House, in all likelihood, will still have to vote on the Senate's health care bill with the promises of changes to come via reconciliation. Whether that obstacle can be overcome isn't entirely clear. Nor is it certain that the 51 votes are there to get the public option passed using reconciliation or, for that matter, what that public option will look like.
NEWSFLASH:
President Obama Rewriting Health Care Bill
To Pass Through RECONCILIATION !
New HC Bill To Be Posted on Internet As Soon as Early Next Week
Congressional Democrats, however, have not yet seen the proposal or signed on.
The House and the Senate each adopted a version of sweeping health care legislation late last year. But efforts to combine the measures stalled after a Republican, Scott Brown, won a special Senate election in Massachusetts on Jan. 19, effectively stripping the Democrats of the 60th vote they needed to overcome Republican filibusters.
“It will be a reconciliation bill,” one Democratic aide said. “If Republicans don’t come with any substantial offers, this is what we would do.”
Officials said that the White House would post the president’s plan on the Internet by Monday morning. But even as Mr. Obama tries to unite his party behind a single plan, it is unclear that Democrats can muster the needed votes in the House and the Senate given the tense political climate of a midterm election year.
During a conference call on Wednesday night, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, told the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, that she could not agree to a proposal until rank-and-file lawmakers returned from a weeklong recess. A House Democratic caucus meeting is set for Monday evening.
And a senior Senate Democratic aide expressed doubts.
“It has been three weeks since the Massachusetts election, and we have not received a path forward from the White House on health care substance and process that can clear the House and Senate,” the aide said.
Democratic officials said the president’s proposal, like the House and Senate bills, would insure more than 30 million Americans by 2019, at a cost of about $900 billion.
Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said the president would “take some of the best ideas” from the House and the Senate and “put them into a framework.”
“There will be one proposal,” Ms. Sebelius said.
The president’s plan would require most Americans to obtain health insurance or face financial penalties; it would bar insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions, and it would give tax subsidies to help moderate-income people buy private insurance.
Officials said the president’s bill was expected to include a version of the Senate’s proposed tax on high-cost, employer-sponsored insurance policies. It would reflect a deal reached with labor union leaders to limit the impact of the tax on workers.
More recently, some labor officials have expressed dissatisfaction with that deal, and many House Democrats remain opposed to the excise tax.
Democrats said it was still unclear how the president would deal with other disagreements, including the issue of insurance coverage for abortions.
Abortion remains “a wild card,” said a Democrat on Capitol Hill.
In laying out his vision for next week’s meeting, Mr. Obama has said that he will present a unified Democratic proposal and invite Republicans to offer alternatives. But Republicans have warned Democrats not to finalize their plan, which they said reflected an effort to predetermine the outcome of the meeting.
Congressional Republicans have not said they will attend the summit. House Republicans on Thursday repeated their demand that Democrats discard the existing proposals and start over.
“We have this event to discuss areas of agreement, and then what?” asked Michael Steel, a spokesman for the Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio. “How will they incorporate our ideas? Will they abandon their plans to jam through their latest backroom deal? Or is this just an infomercial for the same government takeover of health care that the American people have rejected again and again?”
Mr. Obama has rejected the calls to start over, but aides have said that he is open to adopting Republican ideas.
In recent days, White House officials have consulted with Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid, but have not reviewed Mr. Obama’s plan with other Democratic lawmakers.
“There has not been a collaborative process,” said a Congressional Democrat with decades of health care experience. “We have not been consulted. This is very much a White House proposal.”
President Obama: ' I Don't Quit ! '
B4B NOTE: The push for Health Care Reform is alive and well despite President Obama's nearly yearlong attempt at bi-partisanship. But due to the Party of No, The President is using his Plan B, Reconciliation; (which we here at B4B had been pushing for for many months) a plan he ALWAYS knew he could use if and when necessary. Also, there is a new push for the Public Option in the Senate. CLICK HERE to read HuffPo article Public Option Support Surging In Senate. The time is NOW to Unite and FIGHT for Health Care For ALL !
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The 25th Anniversary recording features over 80 artists and performers. The recording of We Are The World 25 For Haiti embodied the same enthusiasm, sense of purpose and generosity as the original recording 25 years ago. Every one of the artists who participated, regardless of genre or generation, walked into the room with their hearts and souls completely open to coming together to help the people of Haiti.
Palin Unqualified to Be President,
Says Vast Majority of Americans
B4B NOTE:
We normally don't believe in polls but for some reason....
We Like This One !
The spotlight has been bright, not necessarily kind to former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 71% of Americans do not feel that Palin is qualified to be President. That includes a sharp drop in Republican support, where 45% believe she is qualified compared to 66% who thought she was last fall.
Overall, 37% have a favorable view while 55% have an unfavorable view of the former Alaska Governor.
Palin has been able to count on support from the Tea Party, but the Washington Post indicates that the movement itself has split favorability and is poorly understood:
Nearly two-thirds of those polled say they know just some, very little or nothing about what the tea party movement stands for. About one in eight says they know "a great deal" about the positions of tea party groups, but the lack of information does not erase the appeal: About 45 percent of all Americans say they agree at least somewhat with tea partiers on issues, including majorities of Republicans and independents.
The movement's supporters were identified as, "overwhelmingly white, mostly conservative and generally disapproving of Obama."
If Palin intends to become a key player in Washington, she would share something in common with those already there. The poll also shows that two out of every three Americans are "dissatisfied" or "angry" at the federal government. That's the worst result for Washington in nearly 14 years.
In another revealing question, the poll found that taxpayers estimate 53% of their money is "wasted."
B4B NOTE: This also exemplifies that a vast majority of Americans are MUCH smarter than the media give us credit for which is why their constant desire to push the 'Paris Hilton of Politics' is absolutely sickening and actually an insult to the intelligence of The People.
I am so proud of the work that the First Lady, along with the Cabinet Secretaries behind me, has done in trying to tackle one of the most urgent health issues that we face in this country, and that is the increase of childhood obesity. And because of the outstanding planning that they've done, they are going to be rolling out a terrific plan of action that involves the private sector as well as government agencies coordinating much more effectively a lot of public information out there to help parents make good decisions about allowing their children to be active and eating healthier.
Members of the task force include: the Secretary of the Interior; the Secretary of Agriculture; Secretary of Health and Human Services; Secretary of Education; Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady; Assistant to the President for Economic Policy; and heads of other executive departments, agencies, or offices as the Chair may designate.
Speaking at an event later, the First Lady explained what motivated her to take this on: "These words – 'overweight' and 'obese' – they don’t tell the full story. This isn’t just about inches and pounds or how our kids look. It’s about how our kids feel, and how they feel about themselves. It’s about the impact we’re seeing on every aspect of their lives."
You'll find lots more information, such as the introductory video below, at LetsMove.gov.
WATCH: First Lady Michelle Obama
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WATCH: Incredible !Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
WATCH BELOWPresident Obama NAILS IT...Again !
READ HIGHLIGHTS
In his State of the Union Address, the President laid out an agenda attempting to attack one problem from every conceivable angle: the terrible squeeze felt by America’s middle class. Fundamentally, that means prying government away from special interests and dedicating it to measures that put Americans to work and lay the foundation for a stronger economy for our country – lowering health care and tuition costs, spurring creation of the next generation of clean energy jobs. It also means putting a cop on the beat on Wall Street, so major banks can no longer take advantage of families and taxpayers.
To do all that, though, we need to change the way Washington works. Already the President has taken unprecedented steps in this direction, from releasing the names of all visitors to the White House for the first time ever to clamping down on the revolving door between government and lobbying. But as much progress was made on this front in this first year, it was still only the first year, and the President will keep pushing forward, whether that’s shining sunlight on any contact between lobbyists and the White House, or pushing Congress to disclose all earmark requests in one place for Americans to see.
This was the vision that shaped the President's address, but this is not just a matter of rhetoric. The President made clear that there is tremendously busy agenda ahead for his second year – the policies and proposals below are just examples of the plans the President laid out in his address to put government to work for the middle class.
Here are a few initiatives you might have missed in the course of the speech:
And here are still more initiatives the President spoke to:
Mona Sutphen is Deputy Chief of Staff
WATCH COMPLETE SPEECH
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