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Obama urges House to make history; GOP says no.
November 7th, 2009, 10:56 am · 29 Comments · posted by Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
Speaker Nancy Pelosi,flanked by Rep. James Clyburn, left, and President Barack Obama, right.
President Barack Obama was in the White House Rose Garden a few minutes ago urging lawmakers to vote yes on health reform even as the House voted to go ahead with a four-hour debate. No GOP members voted yes.
“Now is the time to finish the job,” said Obama, who came to Capitol Hill this morning for a closed-door meeting with Democratic members. Obama said he told his fellow Democrats that an “opportunity like this comes around maybe once in a generation. This is their moment. This is our moment to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us, even when it’s hard, especially when it’s hard.”
House members will now start four hours of debate, including a vote on a key amendment on abortion rights. Anti-abortion rights Democrats insisted on bringing an amendment to the floor that they say would make it clear that abortion would not be covered under this health reform bill. Without such a vote, a group of as many as 40 Democrats might well have blocked even floor debate on the bill and probably would have voted against it.
It’s not clear whether the pro-abortion rights Democrats have the votes to shoot down this amendment.
During the debate on whether to proceed with this bill, HR 3692, Rep. Ed Royce blasted the measure for what he said is its high costs and mandates.
“This trillion dollar government takeover will make matters worse,” said Royce, R-Fullerton. “Medicine will be rationed via politics under this act.
“This bill would create a costly new entitlement. It’s going to centralize decisions on what constitutes insurance. It’s going to impose mandates on individuals, including up to five years prison time for non-compliance if you’re not in the scheme.”
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DENA BUNIS, Washington bureau chief, 202-628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento correspondent, 916-449-6046 or bjoseph@ocregister.com
JENNIFER MUIR, County government reporter, 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com
JOEL WALSH, Washington bureau intern, 202-628-6381 or jwalsh@ocregister.com
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what kind of a health plan would put you in prison for non compliance? The whole thing scares me, being free means you can make your own decisions and I don’t want that taken away
I guess you could say the same thing about having auto liability insurance (can’t drive a car legally without it). However, no one seems to care that much about ‘forced’ auto-insurance.
In addition, if you tell me… “liability insurance protects the other driver”. So does forced health insurance! It protects the rest of us from those who have contagious diseases, which can infect others, who can’t afford to see a doctor.
I good society is only as good as the health of its citizens!
OK bobbyc keep smokin, how many people do you know that dont have a car pay for auto insurance… weak reference.. try another…… Our healthcare is the best in the world , it just cost money… that means you have to work, i know thats againts the liberal dream………
All I know is; I work VERY hard, make a fair amount of money, and only WISH the government would force health care on me!
Right now (as healthy as I am), I can’t get ANY health insurance, because I guess all of that ‘hard work’, has given me some pre-existing conditions, which I want to treat, so I can continue to be a prosperous part of our society.
Unfortunately, the current system won’t accept me no matter how much I offer them (which is a LOT $$$$$$), and my out-of-pocket expenses to treat my ‘pre-existing’ conditions, is costing me WAY more than it EVER should!
So, I am FORCED to consider the current system as HIGHLY flawed, and willing to accept the terms of ANY reform that will allow me to live a good long life, without putting me into bankruptcy, on welfare, and a drain on the system!
If that means someone’s meth-head son or daughter doesn’t get some fancy new medication to straighten up their sorry-a$$ live, so be it! Everything I need to keep me going for a LONG time is just simple medicine that has been around for ages, that the doctors have to charge an arm and leg for, because of the millions of uninsured Americans that can’t afford health care.
Since the government forces me to carry auto liability insurance then the government should force you to help me pay for it, Right?
The difference is; you already pay 700% more out of your OWN pocket to help pay for millions of uninsured Americans (who currently don’t pay a single penny for health care) via highly overpriced medical care, and astronomically high insurance rates.
With millions of less uninsured Americans, the cost of treatment will plummet faster than an over-blotted insurance CEO with concrete shoes!
I work at home and do not own a car. I have no need for one. I certainly do not pay car insurance. It is a poor example. You do have a choice to have a car or not and accept the additional responsibility of having insurance.
They will do to Health Care what they did to the Banking Industry:
You can see what happened when this administration put in lightweight regs on the banking system…they took the TARP money, bought up other banks to prevent competition, stripped their customers of their credit limits and jacked up the interest on credit cards before the February deadline. That’s what is going to start happening now with health care premiums. AND NOT A PEEP FROM OBAMA.
Since my son graduated from college I have been paying his COBRA premium to keep health insurance on him…and guess what, just got a letter telling me they were jacking his monthly premium from $330.00 to $364.00! The Insurance Companies are going to get their money no matter what…we’ll just be paying ten ways to Sunday for ourselves and EVERYONE else, including Illegals…BEFORE this even goes through.
A socialist one!
So would you prefer private schools, emergency rescue services (firefighters), law enforcement services, and military? Remember all of those are “socialist” programs, and very well could cost you tens of thousands of dollars a year to get, if they became ‘private’.
I don’t have any children, live in a VERY safe neighborhood, and don’t live near any wild brush, so why should I have to pay for those who need all of these ’socialist’ services???
Let’s make everything ‘private’, because I am SICK to death of paying for everyone else’s problems!
JusSayin, welcome to ObamaNation
It’s okay bobbyc
Don’t try to explain them. They just are against everything, and in favor of nothing.
I’m sick and tired of reading the “Our freedom will be taken away” And my question is…From who?
If we go to Sing-Sing. Inside there.Everybody is searching for freedom. And I guess that’s the freedom they are afraid to loose.
But Most og them are confusing freedom with Libertinism, And that is way they are protesting.
This is a society that lacks Discipline. Reason enough to take the country were it is. In the toilet.
All what represent law, they fight it. Because for ignorants-Arrogants they think that law doesn’t apply to them.
Ironically, MOST of them would be sitting on Skidrow, and their kids would be ignorant gas station attendants, if ’socialize’ didn’t exist in America today!
Maybe someone should make a film called… “A day without socialize, in America”. I think it would look a LOT like that new film called “2012”!
At a business conference this week, I sat at a dinner table with 11 people from across the country with incomes ranging from 65 to 90 thousand per year. All were college educated professionals. Four of them do not have health insurance because of pre-existing conditions - two have diabetes, one has asthma, and the fourth did not elaborate. 6 people had family members without coverage because they are deemed ineligible. It’s shameful that we have such a great medical system and such poor access to it.
The health INSURANCE industry had this coming!
Trust me, if I had to get major surgery today, guess who flipping the bill? Here’s a clue, not me!
Change we con believe in.
The House will make history, all right, if they approve this 1900-page monster.
Has anyone in Congress actually read it? Does anyone in the House or Senate understand it, or are they too busy playing video games and checking Facebook on their laptops, like in the AP photo?
The only “change we can believe in” if Congress passes Obama’s health care bill will be pocket change. Oh, and more photo ops for Nancy Pelosi.
This is a terrible bill. Why should the focus be on healthcare INSURANCE? This is a greedy grab by the government. This has got to be the most unconstitutional attempt against the citizens that has ever been tried. If it is such a great program, why isn’t Congress including themselves in it?
This weak bill has NOTHING in it that conservatives need to fear.The lousy public option that is left in the bill is VOLUNTARY (do some of you even understand the meaning of that word?). This bill is a trillion dollar guarantee to the major insurance companies that nothing really will change and it will be business as usual for them. The Democratic Party has proven that it and the Republican Party have one giant thing in common: money from lobbyists decides what laws get passed. The American people have no say in it at all. House Resolution 676 is the one plan that costs far less than this boondoggle and will insure everyone. But it will never happen as long as insurance company campaign contributions to the major players in Washington DC decides what kind of health care system we will have.
The 3 Reason why republicans don’t want this bill.
#1 Because they refuse to pay the roll-back taxes
#2 Because the bribes they get.
#3 Because them have shares in Pharma- wall street.
Obama is a BALD FACED LIAR!
He told me over and over again that he was going to give me the same health care plan as congress and that if I made less that $250k that I would NOT have to pay one more thin dime to fund it!!
NOW he tells me that if I don’t buy health insurance from a private company that he will hit me with a surtax of THOUSANDS of dollars and if I don’t pay it he will THROW me in JAIL!!!!!
He LIED to us!!! He LIED to get our votes and then did a 180 degree turn after we PUT HIM IN OFFICE!!!
HE’S A CON-ARTIST!! A FLIM-FLAM MAN!! A LIAR WHO STOLE OUR VOTES!!!
All this bill will do is enrich the fat insurance corporations to the tune of $50 $BILLION$ dollars in added revenue through EXTORTION techniques!!!
It does NOTHING to reduce costs or increase access in any equitable manner.
IT GIVES ILLEGAL FOREIGNERS FREE HEALTH CARE WHILE IT THREATENS CITIZENS WITH JAIL IF WE REFUSE TO COOPERATE!
FASCISM!!!
It is amazing how some people LOVE big Govt. The bigger the govt the smaller the person.
It’s amazing how some people like big corporate monopolies with no regulations. The more lobbyist they can afford, the more than can get away with, and the more they can $crew the consumer!
Just remember, electrical power use to be government controlled, until corrupt companies like ENRON forced deregulation upon us. Now we pay 80% more, have a highly under-developed system, and face possible rolling blackouts every summer! So much for non-socialized utilities.
the amazing thing is that the entire gop’s future rests in the failure of health care reform and the entire caucus thinks it is a no-brainer to oppose it. so the party offers NOTHING and works to kill reform in the cradle. if a comprehensive bill passes and the gop fails to kill it, that makes thier party wedded to the failure of reform once enacted into law. if the legislation works to expand access and reduce costs, it WILL be VERY popular. you can say what you want about “socialized medicine” in canada, uk or switzerland, but just try taking it away from people. big time career limiting move there. if the reform succeeds over time, it will become evident just to what extent the gop caucus was on the WRONG SIDE of history. it will be one more nail in their coffin. incredibly shortsighted. will even one of them come to their senses?
obama you are doing the unthinkable. 1.3 triilion more dollars and 11% unemployment, afghanistan, economy, federal deficit. you are going to sink this country. you left wing whackos in washington need to stop spending, spending, spending. less govt, not more govt. this is crazy. healthcare is unconstitutional and will eventually lose. stop this madness you need to stop this obama. who would vote for obama now. the man is a child. i do not want the govt in my healthcare. that is between me and my doctor.
less government? where were you for the last 8 years? probably cheering loudly as we dumped trillions into wars. isn’t it amazing how, now that they’re out of power, conservatives are all gung-ho to cut spending? if y’all would’ve had just one of your little tea parties in washington to stop the invasion of iraq or to protest bush’s 2nd, 3rd or 4th “emergency” supplemental spending bills for the war, maybe it would have helped. instead what were the right wingers doing? sucking their thumbs, removing them only to chant “usa, usa” like trained seals. not to mention being asleep at the switch while their fatcat buddies were playing trillion dollar dice games right under their noses. you would think that the country would be smarter than to allow the people who drove the country into a ditch to be backseat drivers while obama tries to steer us back onto the road.
no one can complain about new reorgannize health program is very ex-
cellence no one worry about sickness peace of your mind when you get stuck in any situation health care is priority in life if anyone unlike think again
It’s fun watching the progressives (leftists) slit their political throats. What can you say about a leftist ideology that doesn’t believe in the US Constitution nor the Bill of Rights. Why, they call them living documents.
So, what you are saying is… George W. Bush was a leftist? Got it!