“The health care thing kind of changed the atmospherics around here,” Dodd told reporters today. “I think, frankly, there are a number of Republicans who went along with the strategy of ‘just say no’ who were never really happy with it, but if it worked they would go along. They saw it fail. And now they’ve had enough of it. and they really want to be involved in crafting things.”
“There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year,” McCain said during an interview Monday on an Arizona radio affiliate. “They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”
There’s a “100 percent chance’’ the [financial reform] legislation will be passed this year, Gregg of New Hampshire told members of a US Chamber of Commerce meeting in Washington. Gregg and Corker of Tennessee talked with reporters after speaking at the meeting.
“This is an issue that almost every American wants to see passed,’’ Corker said. “There will be a lot of pressure on every senator and every House member.’’
The banking panel voted 13 to 10 Monday to pass a bill written by Senator Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who leads the committee. Corker said Republicans, who unanimously opposed Dodd’s plan, made a ‘’strategic error’’ by letting the committee approve the measure without offering or debating amendments.
So what’ll it be? Is McCain right and Republicans will refuse to cooperate on anything for the rest of the year? (And how exactly would that be different from what they’ve been doing for the past year?) Is Corker right that financial reform will pass and Republicans made a strategic error not participating in the committee debate? Is Dodd right that there will be a more general spirit of cooperation coming from at least some Senate Republicans?
Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has pulled a Bunning and objected to allowing a vote on an emergency 30-day continuation of expanded unemployment insurance and COBRA subsidies.
Sen. Coburn — already well known in the Senate as “Dr. No” for his obstructionist tactics — appears to have the backing of the Senate Republican leadership.
With the expanded unemployment insurance programs slated to expire shortly on April 5 an estimated one million jobless Americans will lose their benefits if Coburn and the Republicans succeed in blocking the emergency measure.
Just two weeks ago, the Senate passed a bill including an extension of these and other programs through 2010 with support of all but one Democrat and six Republicans. But because that bill differed from the version passed in the House, Congress will need to iron out those differences. In the meantime, though, the April 5 expiration of the current extension of these programs is fast approaching.
With nearly 15 million Americans unemployed and six job seekers for every job opening, unemployment insurance is an urgent need that cannot be allowed to lapse. Contact your Senators. Tell them they must pass an emergency 30-day continuation of the federal unemployment and COBRA programs.
Also, these six Republican Senators voted just two weeks ago to extend these programs for a year:
Sen. Collins (ME), Sen. Snowe (ME), Sen. Voinovich (OH), Sen. Bond (MO), Sen. Murkowski (AK) and Sen. Vitter (LA). Call (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote for the emergency 30-day unemployment aid extension.
One more vote, one more signature, and that’s it. We can stop talking about health care reform bills and start talking about health care reform laws.
The Senate on Thursday passed the reconciliation bill to amend the health care reforms recently signed into law, bringing the health care debate one step closer to an end.
The package of changes passed by a vote of 56 to 43 and now goes to the House for a final vote. The House will take up the measure this evening.
The House has the final vote because there were some minor wording changes to the Senate bill. (Those were on provisions relating to student loans, not to health care.) That vote, going on now, should not be in any doubt given that it isn’t substantively different than what they passed Sunday night.
Some Republicans, of course, want to campaign on repealing the bill. President Obama’s response:
“My attitude is, go for it!,” Obama told a cheering crowd in Iowa City, Iowa. “If they want to have that fight, we can have it!”
The president also said he doesn’t believe voters “are going to put the insurance industry back in the driver’s seat. We’ve already been there — we’re not going back!”
There are good reasons to want to have that fight. After all, since the House passed reform and President Obama signed it, the law has gotten more popular as people assess what’s actually in it.
And with key provisions going into effect before November’s elections, who’s really going to be campaigning on “I’ll pass a law that lets insurance companies deny kids with pre-existing conditions”? How about “I’ll reopen the Medicare Part D donut hole”?
It’s still going to be a fight, but right now, working people have beat the insurance companies.
Last week the jobs bill passed the Senate. It had cleared the House earlier in the month. At a time when so many Americans are out of work, one would think that such a bill would be supported by nearly everyone. One would be wrong:
While the measure won support from some Republicans, others in the party were skeptical that it would help create jobs, or said they were distressed at its cost. “This isn’t so much a jobs bill as it is a debt bill,” said Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican.
This is the same Judd Gregg who didn’t approve of the bill passed earlier in the month that gave tax cuts to businesses and extended COBRA and unemployment benefits.
“Why do we keep doing this?” asked Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). “Why do we keep passing debt on to our children? Why do we keep running program after program out here that is shrouded in sweetness and light but not paid for?”
In February, the number of unemployed persons, at 14.9 million, was essentially unchanged, and the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent.
These reports only cover those who have filed for, or are still collecting unemployment. They do not count those whose benefits have run out, or those who were never eligible for benefits at all. They do not count the underemployed. The real numbers are much higher, which makes Senator Gregg’s statements even more offensive.
Sadly, there are those who believe that extending benefits for the jobless is a bad idea. The ultra conservative Heritage Foundation suggests that the jobs bill is a bad idea because it expands benefits for TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families).
Today the U.S. House of Representatives will take up a new “jobs” bill, HR4849, that includes a $2.5 billion provision to expand the size of welfare rolls and pay states when they add people to their caseloads.
snip
This anti-reform fund actually pays states ‘bonus” money for increasing the size of their welfare caseloads without any incentives to place people into jobs and move them off of the dole.
Ahem. It’s a jobs bill. It’s a jobs bill that makes some provision for the fact that there aren’t any jobs right now, and needy families need to survive until there are. How can they give “incentives” to put people into non-existent jobs?
Thankfully, here’s Ethan Pollack from the Economic Policy Institute to tell us what we already know – the only way to fix the economy, and reduce the deficit is by creating jobs.
The Senate finds itself in an all-too-familiar but very uncomfortable place, facing an April 5 expiration of expanded unemployment insurance and COBRA subsidy programs while it looks to adjourn for a two-week recess this Friday. Despite the fact that both the House and the Senate already passed bills extending those and other programs through the end of 2010, differences between those bills still need to be worked out, something that won’t happen immediately. That means that the Senate will need to pass yet another 30-day extension, something the House has already accomplished.
If this all sounds a bit like the movie Groundhog Day there’s good reason. This is at least the fourth time since last Fall that Congress has had to take up an emergency short-term extension of these critically needed benefits for millions of unemployed.
This time, if the Senate fails to act in time, an estimated one million jobless Americans could lose their unemployment benefits entirely in the month of April alone.
Last time, you’ll recall, the week-long shameless obstruction led by Republican Senator Jim Bunning (KY) was finally defeated and the programs were continued to April 5. Now that deadline isn’t just right around the corner — it’s practically upon us as the Senate plans to take two-weeks off starting the end of this week.
“The Senate has a very important obligation to the unemployed of this country and their families,” Judy Conti, federal advocacy coordinator for the National Employment Law Project, told me today. “Once they finish the business of reforming health care this week, they must pass the 30-day extension of the UI and COBRA programs,” she said, adding that “Senate leadership must commit to staying in session until it is passed, and no one should obstruct this important piece of legislation that is the only lifeline for a million workers next month alone.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) reportedly will seek to bring the 30-day extension to a vote under a unanimous consent request, as he did in late February for the previous emergency extension. Whether Bunning or other Republicans would object, forcing a more time consuming set of procedural votes, is uncertain. Republicans could also stall, or endanger timely passage completely, by trying to insist on changes to the bill passed by the House.
If Republicans, tired and bruised by their defeats on health care reform, want to go home for recess, they won’t stand in the way of continuing unemployment benefits for millions of Americans. But if they do attempt their usual obstructions again this time, the Democrats should keep them in session until it is passed.
Tell the Senate to pass the 30-day unemployment and COBRA benefits extension immediately. Click here to send your Senators that message now.
The Senate is currently working its way up to a vote on fixes to the health care reform bill. That, of course, involves working its way through a host of ridiculous amendments proposed by Republicans not so much to prevent the fixes as to just make everything difficult and time-consuming and to make the process feel as negative and horrible as possible. That is the strategy. It’s about flooding the media with their negative messages and about preventing anything else from getting done. But it can’t go on indefinitely, and mcjoan is already seeing signs that they’re “giving in to the inevitable–passage of this bill.”
In the mean time, the early responses to passage of reform are good. A Gallup poll found that people think it’s a good thing the bill was passed, 49% to 40%. A CBS poll that resurveyed people who had already been polled on health care reform found support five points higher than previously, though support still trails, 42% to 46%.
So it’s looking like a slog, and no doubt Senate Republicans and their allies on cable television will make it as painful as possible to get to the final vote for the reform bill fix. But we’re getting there.
The health care reform bill has a lot of pieces. Some of them may affect you, others not. Some kick in this year, others phase in over a period of years. What effect the bill will have on any given person is a complicated question. Here are a few resources to find answers.
Remember that there is a long list of provisions that go into effect this year. Once the Senate passes the reconciliation bill already passed by the House, those include:
SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDITS
BEGINS TO CLOSE THE MEDICARE PART D DONUT HOLE
FREE PREVENTIVE CARE UNDER MEDICARE
HELP FOR EARLY RETIREES
ENDS RESCISSIONS
NO DISCRIMINATON AGAINST CHILDREN WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
BANS LIFETIME LIMITS ON COVERAGE
BANS RESTRICTIVE ANNUAL LIMITS ON COVERAGE
FREE PREVENTIVE CARE UNDER NEW PRIVATE PLANS
NEW, INDEPENDENT APPEALS PROCESS
ENSURING VALUE FOR PREMIUM PAYMENTS
IMMEDIATE HELP FOR THE UNINSURED UNTIL EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE (INTERIM HIGH-RISK POOL)
EXTENDS COVERAGE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE UP TO 26TH BIRTHDAY THROUGH PARENTS’ INSURANCE
COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS
INCREASING NUMBER OF PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS
PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SALARY
HEALTH INSURANCE CONSUMER INFORMATION
CREATES NEW, VOLUNTARY, PUBLIC LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE PROGRAM
Included on that list are things that will help almost everyone. Like ending rescissions: now, if you’re insured you won’t have to worry that your insurance company will drop you the minute you get sick and really need the coverage. People graduating from college won’t have to worry that if it takes them some time to find a good job in this tough economy, they’ll lose their insurance—and their parents won’t have to worry, either. If you’re on Medicare and have a lot of prescription medications, the closing of the Part D donut hole will mean an awful lot to you. If you’re like me and you have good insurance, but you’ve found that it’s a lot easier to find just about any kind of specialist than it is to find a primary care doctor who’s taking patients, an increase in the number of primary care doctors is good news. If you’ve had a major illness or accident that ran up big bills once in your life, you’ll know how important the lifting of lifetime caps and restrictive annual limits is. And so on.
Ok, so those are some widespread effects. But what about you specifically?
The Washington Post walks you through it with a tool that asks about your current insurance status, your household size, income, and marital status and then tells you what will change. Will you be eligible for a new kind of insurance? Will the costs be subsidized? Will your taxes rise?
JPMorgan Chase released what it called an economic research report (pdf) last week that purports to show that extended unemployment insurance payments cause higher unemployment and longer-term unemployment.
Seriously.
the availability of these benefits has almost certainly played a significant role in the record rise in the average duration of unemployment. Consequently, they have also had a role in the stunning rise in the unemployment rate over the last two years.
Noting the current correlation of high unemployment, longer average duration of unemployment and expanded unemployment benefits, the giant, previously bailed-out Wall Street bank asserts:
The magnitude of these effects has been the subject of a vast amount of econometric investigation. The variable most studied is the degree to which unemployment duration increases for a given change in the maximum available duration of jobless benefits. Most estimates of this elasticity have centered on a finding that an increase of one week in the availability of benefits raises the average duration of unemployment by 0.2 week.
Taking an assumed national average of an additional 47 weeks of unemployment insurance payments to jobless workers, the report continues:
Based on the widely accepted 0.2 estimate of the responsiveness of average duration to the length of benefit availability, the 47 extra weeks of benefits could be expected to increase average unemployment spells by 9.4 weeks. Since only about half of the unemployed are eligible to receive unemployment benefits (the other half generally have not met the requirements for sufficient prior employment or lost their jobs through layoffs), the total average unemployment duration would be expected to increase by 4.7 weeks.
Got that? The report goes on, then, to extrapolate that the increased duration of unemployment they assert is caused by extended unemployment insurance is itself the cause of a 30% increase in the unemployment rate:
—this would imply a 30% increase in the unemployment rate. Starting from an unemployment rate before the recession of roughly 5%, this means that increased benefits can account for 1.5%-pt of the subsequent increase in the unemployment rate.
Never mind that mass joblessness and record rates of long-term unemployment both preceded the extension of additional jobless benefits.
This kind of cockamamie pseudo-science would just be laughable if it weren’t a potentially dangerous threat to the survival of millions of unemployed Americans. You can bet that bank lobbyists and their conservative cronies are circulating this report and others like it to gin up opposition to extending unemployment benefits.
And this from JPMorgan Chase, the firm that helped bring down Lehman Brothers, helped precipitate the Great Recession resulting in millions of Americans losing their jobs, and whose CEO Jamie Dimon meanwhile took home a $17.6 million compensation package last year.
Reading this JPMorgan Chase report reminded me of a wonderful little book that my 7th grade math teacher distributed to the class. By a terrific writer Darrell Huff, it’s titled How to Lie with Statistics and was first published by Norton in 1954.
Still available in print, the book introduced me to the notion that correlation does not imply causation — meaning that just because two things occur together it doesn’t imply that one causes the other.
But, alas, that appears to be beyond the grasp of the genius economic minds at JPMorgan Chase.
You might’ve heard the House passed a bill Sunday night that was kinda important…
Well, there are still some fixes the Senate has to pass to improve the bill – that’s the famed reconciliation (which the House already passed) – but the fact is that health care reform has been passed. And President Obama is signing it in just a few minutes. Watch live here:
(We’ll have lots more on health care soon, promise.)
It’s not the bill many of us hoped and fought for, but nonetheless we may soon reach the end of years of inaction and a massive struggle for change.
The bill is compromised, yes, but it’s still worth it. Though important parts of reform won’t go into effect for a couple years, there are significant changes that will happen this year, from beginning to close the donut hole to requiring free preventive care in new plans to funding community health centers.
And in the longer term, it will extend coverage to 30 million more people.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka fought hard to make the bill better; now he explains why he thinks it’s time to fight to pass this bill.
