Thread: Demos Kill 2nd GOP Attempt to Deny Health Care to Illegals

Democrats for a second time killed a GOP amendment to deny health care to illegal aliens (29-28) after previously killing the Heller Amendment under the proposed health care measure, while lying to the American people, saying it will be deficit neutral. We can't contain the cost of health care when we are the world's health care agency with our limited health care resources coupled with open borders. It is a simple matter of math and economics.

It is not even heavy duty math or economics. It is simple arithmetic. Add more people to eating a pie and everyone gets a smaller piece.

Time to trade in the mess we have in Washington and get a new government that actually loves us and our country.

Maybe the Republicans can start a new country without the Dems aka Communist, I think most of the American people would support the Rep's now.

Liberal Democrats Protest Health Care Deal, Threaten to Fight It
Fifty-three lawmakers have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key committee chairmen formally opposing the deal that House leaders struck with a group of fiscally conservative Democrats known as Blue Dogs. The letter calls the agreement "fundamentally unacceptable."

FOXNews.com

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Party leaders are quickly finding out that you can't please all Democrats all the time, as they try to reach an accord on health care reform.

One day after House Democratic leaders struck what was seen as a breakthrough deal with a handful of key moderates, the liberal wing of the party lined up Thursday against the compromise.

Fifty-three lawmakers from the Congressional Black Caucus, the Progressive Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key committee chairmen formally opposing the deal that House leaders struck with a group of fiscally conservative Democrats known as Blue Dogs.

The letter, written to express their "opposition" to the negotiated deal, called the agreement "fundamentally unacceptable" and a "large step backwards."

"We're going to fight this with every effort that we have," CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., told reporters Thursday.

"We're not obstructionists. ... We're not here to embarrass or divide our party," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.

But he and other liberal Democrats, who have voiced objections to the deal since it was announced Wednesday, said that without a meaningful public plan included in the final bill, they cannot support it.

The threats and the letter Thursday only amplified their criticism and were an indication that the deal with the Blue Dogs could cause more problems than it solves.

Under the agreement, the bill would steer away from using Medicare as the blueprint for a proposed government insurance option. It would reduce federal subsidies to help lower-income families afford coverage and would exempt additional businesses from a requirement to offer health insurance to their workers.

Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, a leader of the conservative Democrats, said the changes agreed to by the leadership in the House bill would cut its cost by about $100 billion over 10 years.

The agreement, though, was hardly a broad-based deal. It was only struck between party leaders and four Blue Dog Democrats, who sit on the critical House Energy and Commerce Committee.

That committee is the only House panel that has not passed a version of health care reform legislation. Though a total of seven Blue Dogs sit on that committee, the four who signed on to the deal would give the committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., enough votes to pass the bill out of committee if the rest of the party stays in line.

But the fractures continue. Many in the Blue Dog Coalition, which has 55 members in the House, still have concerns over the deal, saying it doesn't go far enough to cut costs. Republicans certainly aren't appeased. And now liberals are peeling off.

After Wednesday's announcement, the legislation advanced slowly Thursday in the Energy and Commerce Committee.

The panel plowed methodically through a stack of proposed changes to the bill. Waxman, presiding over the session, warned lawmakers against offering amendments that make the bill more expensive, and he agreed to a Republican suggestion to limit the time allowed for debate. He said he hopes to finish the bill sometime Friday, and House leaders have promised to bring it up for a vote in the full House in September, after the congressional August break.

Pelosi expressed confidence the committee would approve the bill, and she said the full House would follow suit in the fall. She also signaled flexibility on key issues, saying that despite her own backing for abortion rights, she would not allow the issue to torpedo legislation.

But Waxman's shaky majority was on display early, when the committee voted 29-28 to defeat a Republican amendment to strengthen ID requirements designed to prevent illegal immigrants from getting Medicaid benefits.

Another controversial Republican amendment passed by voice vote, over Waxman's objections. Backed by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., it would bar the federal government from using research comparing medical treatments' effectiveness to deny or ration care.

Already, Congress is running behind a timetable set by its leaders and the White House for a health care bill, and one veteran senator warned of additional slippage.

"The president wanted to have it on his desk in October," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. "He'll probably have it in November now. But I'm very hopeful we'll get it done at least by that time."

Senior aides and lawmakers said privately they thought Harkin was being overly optimistic, and they warned of work spreading late into December on the highly controversial issue.

On the Senate side, three Republicans are still negotiating with Democratic members of the Finance Committee toward a bipartisan bill.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., one of six lawmakers involved in bipartisan talks, said the legislation wasn't "ready for prime time."

Meanwhile, the Senate's top Republican accused Democrats of cutting Medicare to finance a "massive new government-run plan."

"Some in Congress seem to be in such a rush to pass just any reform, rather than the right reform, that they're looking everywhere for the money to pay for it, even if it means sticking it to seniors with cuts to Medicare," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the latest in a series of daily Senate speeches on health care.

FOX News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07 ... ten-fight/

Senator: Medicare cut for 'gov't-run' health care
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and ERICA WERNER (AP) – 6 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The Senate's top Republican accused Democrats of cutting Medicare to finance a "massive new government-run" health care plan, as the last of three House committees pushed its way through a compromise version of the health care overhaul Thursday.

"Some in Congress seem to be in such a rush to pass just any reform, rather than the right reform, that they're looking everywhere for the money to pay for it, even if it means sticking it to seniors with cuts to Medicare," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the latest in a series of daily Senate speeches on health care.

McConnell's Republicans, unanimously opposed to Democratic-drafted legislation in the House, are watching warily while three members of their rank-and-file negotiate over a bipartisan plan in the Senate that could hand President Barack Obama a victory on his top domestic priority.

Across the Capitol, the House Energy and Commerce Committee plowed methodically through a stack of proposed changes to the bill, one day after the White House, Democratic leaders and a band of conservative party members reached a compromise to clear the measure.

Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., presiding over the session, warned lawmakers against offering amendments that make the bill more expensive — and agreed to a Republican suggestion to limit the time allowed for debate. He said he hopes to finish the bill sometime Friday, and House leaders have promised to bring it up for a vote in the full House in September, after the congressional August break.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed confidence the committee would approve the bill, and said the full House would follow suit in the fall. She also signaled flexibility on key issues, saying that despite her own backing for abortion rights, she would not allow the issue to torpedo legislation.

Waxman's shaky majority was on display early, when the committee voted 29-28 to defeat a Republican amendment to strengthen ID requirements designed to prevent illegal immigrants from getting Medicaid benefits.

Another controversial Republican amendment passed by voice vote, over Waxman's objections. Backed by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., it would bar the federal government from using research comparing medical treatments' effectiveness to deny or ration care.

Already, Congress is running behind a timetable set by its leaders and the White House for a health care bill, and one veteran senator warned of additional slippage.

"The president wanted to have it on his desk in October," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. "He'll probably have it in November now. But I'm very hopeful we'll get it done at least by that time."

Senior aides and lawmakers said privately they thought Harkin was being overly optimistic, and warned of work spreading late into December on the highly controversial issue.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., one of six lawmakers involved in bipartisan talks, said the legislation wasn't "ready for prime time."

The House bill and the plan under negotiation in the Senate are designed to meet Obama's goals of spreading health coverage to millions who now lack it, while trying to slow the skyrocketing growth in medical costs.

Wednesday in the House, Democratic leaders gave in — at least temporarily — to numerous demands from rank-and-file rebels from the conservative wing of the party. The so-called Blue Dog Democrats had been blocking the bill's passage in Energy and Commerce.

The House changes, which drew immediate opposition from liberal lawmakers, would steer away from using Medicare as the blueprint for a proposed government insurance option, reduce federal subsidies to help lower-income families afford coverage, and exempt additional businesses from a requirement to offer health insurance to their workers.

Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, a leader of the Blue Dogs, said the changes agreed to by the leadership in the House bill would cut its cost by about $100 billion over 10 years. But his claim has been called into question.

A new break for small businesses, among other changes in the deal, also increased costs substantially, so it wasn't clear that the agreement actually generated net savings.

Waxman said the cost of helping small businesses was offset by a reduction in the level of federal subsidies that would be available to help people buy health insurance. The net result appeared to be a wash.

The Blue Dogs' agreement won the endorsement Thursday of the Federation of American Hospitals, representing the roughly one-fifth of hospitals that operate for profit. The group favors the measure's patient subsidies to expand coverage and its retention of employer-provided insurance.

In a letter to Waxman, federation president Charles N. Kahn III wrote that the legislation would give people "the peace of mind that comes from having health coverage, the ability to afford the health care they need when they need it."

Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Ann Sanner and David Espo contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Thanks for the info Dixie, I pray that the Dems will not pass this evil health care bill.

Rep Space offered a new amendment to stop illegals getting coverage but I bet they vote against that also. If they spent as much effort trying to pass some protection for taxpayers as they do trying to defeat it imagine what good things could be done.