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Politics Blog Posts from November 19, 2009

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Politics Posts (November 19, 2009)

Evening Links

1) CQ looks at how getting a seat on the House Ways & Means Committee increases campaign contributions for new members. 2) When asked why non-existent congressional districts appear on Recovery.gov communications director Ed Pound says, “who knows, man, who really knows. There are 130,000 reports out there.” 3) Following in the traditio
Posted on Sunlight Foundation on November 19, 2009 at 6:21 PM

Medicare Physician Payment Reform On House Floor - AMA Calls GOP Hypocrisy

Today, the House is debating the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act (HR 3961), companion legislation to the Affordable Health Care for America Act which will permanently reform the way Medicare pays physicians. The bill prevents a 21% cut in Medicare physician payment rates scheduled for January 2010 instead of temporarily overriding the cut as Cong
Posted on The Gavel on November 19, 2009 at 3:03 PM

Transparency, the Internet and Health Care Reform

The Senate health care reform bill (viewable here) contains numerous provisions that stress disclosure and transparency, specifically online disclosure and transparency. These provisions acknowledge that information that is meant to be disclosed and available to the public must be made available online. The bill contains sixty-six uses of the word R
Posted on Sunlight Foundation on November 19, 2009 at 2:29 PM

Senate Bill Requires Members of Congress to Buy Insurance Through the Exchange

As I pointed out in a previous post, one of the decisions Harry Reid had to make in reconciling the HELP Committee and Finance Committee was whether or not to require Members of Congress to purchase their insurance the same way everyone else does. The Finance Committee would have required all Members of Congress to give up their Federal Employees Healt
Posted on Open Congress on November 19, 2009 at 2:18 PM

Read the Senate Health Care Bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D, NV] last night released his health care bill, which is expected to get a first initial vote in the Senate as soon as Friday. From its major features and topline numbers, the bill clearly has a lot of the attributes Senate Democrats need to meet the political challenges facing their health care reform effort. It inc
Posted on Open Congress on November 19, 2009 at 2:18 PM

Senate Health Care Bill Released!

Update, 10pm ET: As we type, the OC team is working on putting together a webpage of the brand-new Senate health care reform bill: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (link opens in browser as a 2,074-page .pdf), released as an amendment to H.R. 3590. Our uniquely searchable + open-source HTML page will be up and linked from our homepage as
Posted on Open Congress on November 19, 2009 at 2:18 PM

Nelson Seems Willing to Let a Health Care Debate Happen

To me, these sound like words from a person prepared to vote “aye” on a motion to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed on a health care reform bill. Sen. Ben Nelson [D, NE] earlier today: If you don’t like the bill, then why would you block your own opportunity to amend it? Why would you stop senators from doing the job they’re
Posted on Open Congress on November 19, 2009 at 2:18 PM

Omnibus Budget Bill Looking More Likely

Donny is working on a post about the soon-to-be-released CBO score of the Senate health care reform bill, but I thought I would just write a quick hit on the budget. If you recall from my last post, most of the government was operating on a continuing resolution: federal agencies are using last year’s budget formula to conduct business. Fiscal ye
Posted on Open Congress on November 19, 2009 at 2:18 PM

Gillibrand Touts Transparency

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said today that the final version of health care legislation will be available for at least 72 hours before debate. She also spoke out strongly in favor of transparency for congressional schedules, earmarks, and legislation in today’s conference call with bloggers organized by Blogher, which I moderated on beha
Posted on Sunlight Foundation on November 19, 2009 at 1:55 PM

Senate Health Care Bill At Open Congress

Check it out. Our friends at Open Congress have the Senate health care bill online. This way you can read it on a single page and you don’t have to worry about loading a pdf.
Posted on Sunlight Foundation on November 19, 2009 at 10:56 AM

Health Insurance Reform Mythbuster: ?House Health Reform Bill Does Not Control Costs?

Some commentators are repeating misinformation about the provisions of the recently-passed Affordable Health Care for America Act. For example, on Meet the Press earlier this month, commentator David Brooks said: [The House health insurance reform bill] does not change the problem with our health care system, which is the fee-for-service system, which
Posted on The Gavel on November 18, 2009 at 7:13 PM

Democratic Health Care Holdouts? Ties to the Health Insurance Industry

The New York Times reports that there are three Democratic senators who are viewed as holdouts on a procedural vote to go forward with debate on the final Senate health care reform bill. The senators are most conservative members of the Democratic caucus and represent states that largely voted for Republicans in both the 2004 [...]
Posted on Sunlight Foundation on November 18, 2009 at 5:33 PM

20,774 Days: Senator Robert Byrd Becomes Longest-Serving Member of Congress

Senator Robert Byrd?s remarkable life is defined by service to his state and to his country. Over the course of his momentous career in the House and the Senate, he has not simply witnessed moments of political progress, he has stood at the forefront of legislative achievements that have improved the lives of millions [...]
Posted on The Gavel on November 18, 2009 at 2:02 PM

'Audit the Fed' Undermined by Dem Congressman

Rep. Ron Paul’s [R, TX-14] bill to repeal special audit protections for the Federal Reserve and require a full audit of the central bank to be conducted by the GAO and reported to Congress now has 311 co-sponsors. That’s 93 more than the number of votes the bill would need to pass the House on a stand-alone vote. But Paul’s bill won&#
Posted on Open Congress on November 18, 2009 at 1:23 PM

More Last Minute Tweaks

Suzy Khim reports on shifting subsidy levels in the Senate health care bill (which is expected to be made public tonight or tomorrow): Amid all the concern about subsidy levels in health care reform comes word that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is, in fact, going to boost the financial assistance available to Americans buying health insurance. The
Posted on Open Congress on November 18, 2009 at 1:23 PM

The Toughest Vote

As I mentioned this morning, of the three Senate Democrats threatening to vote against the public option, only one of them — Sen. Blanche Lincoln [D-AR] — is up for re-election in 2010. The other two have two more years before they have to to face voters. By then, there will be other big issues and contentious votes to focus on. It will be
Posted on Open Congress on November 18, 2009 at 1:23 PM

?Cornerstone of Accountability and Transparency?

Just going to quote Norm Ornstein on the 72 hour rule: It is a model that Congress needs to follow with more fealty. The pledge to put bills online at least 72 hours before they are considered on the floor can be tough to fulfill when time pressures to act are great, and when there is [...]
Posted on Sunlight Foundation on November 18, 2009 at 12:54 PM

Recovery Board Chairman Can?t Certify That Data Is Accurate, Auditable

Recovery.gov is supposed to be a transparency clearing house for information on the federal stimulus spending appropriated in the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year. Unfortunately, the reports on spending and jobs saved or created are showing errors across the board. Clay Johnson at Sunlight Labs looked at the
Posted on Sunlight Foundation on November 18, 2009 at 12:24 PM

2009-11-19 Posts in other Subject Areas