To Pelosi, Obama and Bart Stupak
The House Bill for health insurance reform, which does a lot of things we don't really know about yet in full import could not have been won without the support of Bart Stupak. In a surprising coup at literally the last hour Obama promised to sign an Executive Order to further underscore the House language and statements on intent on the record of, inter alia, Waxman, that Abortion is NOT federally funded in this bill. Waxman and Stupak put last night on the record the statement of congressional intent- something that carries weight in litigation- affirming in no uncertain terms that abortion is not part of the health care bill. That caused a number of Pro-Life democrats to flip and put the necessary numbers over the top. This shows what remarkable strength that the Pro-Life Democrats now have in the House Democratic side and progressive caucus-something no one would have imagined ten years ago. They held up the bill. They were the deciding votes.
When the Republicans tried to enforce a "recommit" vote to pass the old Stupak-Pitts Amendment, Stupak said- hold on a minute there fellows. I wrote that Amendment and Count me out. The DEMOCRATS are the real pro-life force here and in the country. The DEMOCRATS will see to it that women get pre-natal and post-natal health coverage and that infants born with defects or disease will have the coverage to be treated.
Nancy Pelosi, in her usual understated elegance (is there a classier legislator anywhere?) and my favorite of her big pearls clearly articulated what they were trying to do in this bill. By making health coverage portable from job to job, if you lose one job and get another you don't lose your health coverage in between which will unleash an entrepreneurial spirit where people are not job locked in dead end jobs just for the health care-it will free the spirits of a lot of people. I am sure you know someone who rather hates what they do but are afraid to leave because they are afraid to lose their health insurance. Pre-existing conditions will be eliminated - children with Asthma diagnosis will still get full coverage, college kids and grad students up to age 26 can be covered under their parents policies way more cheaply to encourage kids to get further education (which serves the country in a number of important ways), and women will no longer be excluded from real coverage because of what is fallaciously called "pre-existing conditions" just because they had a C-section, or one doctor identified a few 'irregular' cells in a pap-smear.
Nancy Pelosi knows what the Bishops do not: when you strengthen women, not undercut them, you strengthen an entire society.
More people will be covered- everyone in effect in America.
There are some hard to swallow pills in the Bill that will make much hay- the mandatory nature of purchasing which may meet with Attorneys General constitutional challenges, http://www.aolnews.com/story/13-attorneys-general-sue-over-health/961918?cid=10
The House Bill for health insurance reform, which does a lot of things we don't really know about yet in full import could not have been won without the support of Bart Stupak. In a surprising coup at literally the last hour Obama promised to sign an Executive Order to further underscore the House language and statements on intent on the record of, inter alia, Waxman, that Abortion is NOT federally funded in this bill. Waxman and Stupak put last night on the record the statement of congressional intent- something that carries weight in litigation- affirming in no uncertain terms that abortion is not part of the health care bill. That caused a number of Pro-Life democrats to flip and put the necessary numbers over the top. This shows what remarkable strength that the Pro-Life Democrats now have in the House Democratic side and progressive caucus-something no one would have imagined ten years ago. They held up the bill. They were the deciding votes.
When the Republicans tried to enforce a "recommit" vote to pass the old Stupak-Pitts Amendment, Stupak said- hold on a minute there fellows. I wrote that Amendment and Count me out. The DEMOCRATS are the real pro-life force here and in the country. The DEMOCRATS will see to it that women get pre-natal and post-natal health coverage and that infants born with defects or disease will have the coverage to be treated.
Nancy Pelosi, in her usual understated elegance (is there a classier legislator anywhere?) and my favorite of her big pearls clearly articulated what they were trying to do in this bill. By making health coverage portable from job to job, if you lose one job and get another you don't lose your health coverage in between which will unleash an entrepreneurial spirit where people are not job locked in dead end jobs just for the health care-it will free the spirits of a lot of people. I am sure you know someone who rather hates what they do but are afraid to leave because they are afraid to lose their health insurance. Pre-existing conditions will be eliminated - children with Asthma diagnosis will still get full coverage, college kids and grad students up to age 26 can be covered under their parents policies way more cheaply to encourage kids to get further education (which serves the country in a number of important ways), and women will no longer be excluded from real coverage because of what is fallaciously called "pre-existing conditions" just because they had a C-section, or one doctor identified a few 'irregular' cells in a pap-smear.
Nancy Pelosi knows what the Bishops do not: when you strengthen women, not undercut them, you strengthen an entire society.
More people will be covered- everyone in effect in America.
There are some hard to swallow pills in the Bill that will make much hay- the mandatory nature of purchasing which may meet with Attorneys General constitutional challenges, http://www.aolnews.com/story/13-attorneys-general-sue-over-health/961918?cid=10
and sizable tax hikes. The bill seemed to be phrased as an amendment to an IRS statute and as such something like 17,000 new IRS auditors will be hired to make sure that the tax revenue is there to pay for it. People making under $250,000 a year won't see tax increases, and the wealthiest Americans will have to pony up more. The method and math on the deficit reduction CBO (Congressional Budget Office) projections are challenged and time will tell.
It was a grand night for Barack Obama, who can rightly claim, that he spearheaded and marshaled a program into the country that has been an aspiration for both parties for over a hundred years. Teddy Roosevelt and nearly every President since has had the aspiration that all Americans should have as a right of citizenship good health care, which means that everyone's health care is everyone's business in this country. If you are my neighbor, I can't let you go sick and watch without helping.
Obama turned the country into a country of neighbors, where we take care of each other- and if you want to call it Socialism, call Jesus a socialist, because this is what he told us to do and most civilized "Christian" nations got it long before we did.
It was a grand night for Barack Obama, who can rightly claim, that he spearheaded and marshaled a program into the country that has been an aspiration for both parties for over a hundred years. Teddy Roosevelt and nearly every President since has had the aspiration that all Americans should have as a right of citizenship good health care, which means that everyone's health care is everyone's business in this country. If you are my neighbor, I can't let you go sick and watch without helping.
Obama turned the country into a country of neighbors, where we take care of each other- and if you want to call it Socialism, call Jesus a socialist, because this is what he told us to do and most civilized "Christian" nations got it long before we did.
No comments:
Post a Comment