News June 24
Senator Sanders
Health Care Inching forward on its markup of a massive health care reform draft,
the Senate health committee on Tuesday approved a 10-year $80 billion
fund to foster wellness programs and better chronic illness management.
The afternoon opened with approval of an amendment by Sen. Bernie
Sanders adding oral health to the list of services provided by school
clinics. The vote was 22 to 1, with only Sen. Tom Coburn dissenting, Congress Daily reported. LINK
Health Care Gov.
Douglas is scheduled to discuss health care reform with President Obama
and several other governors this afternoon at the White House.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch are on committees
that are hashing out health care legislation. Both said they want to
include measures they’ve seen work in
Health Care Rep.
Peter Welch’s telephone town hall meeting on health care reform Tuesday
was attended by more than 5,000 Vermonters. One caller said Welch
should be as vocal as Sen. Sanders in supporting a single-payer health
care plan, the Vermont Press Bureau reported. The Bennington Banner said Sanders considers a public plan is his fall-back position if a single-payer, government-run system cannot be implemented. LINK and LINK
Oil Prices An
amendment designed to curtail oil speculation failed in the U.S. Senate
on Monday after Republicans blocked a vote, Sen. Bernie Sanders said
Tuesday, adding the political maneuvering has emboldened him. "What the
Republicans are telling me is: They think it would win," Sanders told The Burlington Free Press. On WCAX,
Sanders said “there is mounting evidence that the run up in oil and gas
prices…has everything to do with the excessive speculation by some of
the same Wall Street firms that received the largest taxpayer bailout
in the history of the world. They're back again!" LINK and VIDEO
Fed Secrecy Interviewed on Fox News, Sen. Jim Demint discussed legislation to make the Federal Reserve reveal more information about what financial institutions received more than $2 trillion in loans. “The current law apparently does not give us the authority, our controller general, to actually audit their books. That's what Ron Paul has introduced in the House and I have introduced in the Senate along with Bernie Sanders, of all people…We need to know what they're up to, and so Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders, they got the right idea.” VIDEO
Island Pond Van A new bus service begins today linking Island Pond and
Good Samaritan Farmers Sen. Dick Lugar reintroduced the Good Samaritan Hunger Relief Tax Incentive Extension Act to make permanent provisions that allow farmers and small business owners to receive a tax deduction for donating food products to food banks, pantries and homeless shelters. Sen. Sanders is among the cosponsors, The Kokomo Perspective reported. LINK
Sister Cities Since the 1981 election of Bernie Sanders,
The Insurgents Sen.
Sanders continues to make his presence known in the U.S. Senate.
Earlier this year, the Independent made national news when he told
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, “If an organization is too big to
fail, it is too big to exist.” Last week’s issue of Newsweek profiled
Sanders and five other senators who are pushing back against some of
Pres. Barack Obama’s economic reforms, Seven Days noted. LINK
Top Line Watch the ABC News Webcast 'Top Line' at noon Wednesday, when Sen. Bernie Sanders will discuss health care reform and Air America Correspondent Ana Marie Cox will discuss the latest political headlines.
International
Obama Condemns
National
Obama: Government Health Coverage Plan Would Not Hurt Private Insurers President Obama made a detailed case on Tuesday for a new
government-administered health insurance plan, but he did not rule out
signing a bill that lacks such an option if he cannot win enough
support from Democrats in Congress. In a White House news conference,
Obama dismissed as “not logical” the suggestion that a public plan
would undermine the private insurance market, according to The New York Times. LINK
'Public Option' Highest Hurdle in Senate Even as senators make strides in reducing the emerging legislation's
overall cost, the notion of disrupting the private insurance market by
injecting federal competition has stoked passions on both sides and
created the kind of wedge that President Obama and Democratic leaders
had sought to avoid in the debate, according to The Washington Post. LINK
Most Want Health Reform A
majority of Americans see government action as critical to controlling
runaway health-care costs, but there is broad public anxiety about the
potential impact of reform legislation and conflicting views about the
types of fixes being proposed on Capitol Hill, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Most respondents are "very concerned" that health-care reform
would lead to higher costs, lower quality, fewer choices, a bigger
deficit, diminished insurance coverage and more government bureaucracy.
LINK
Baucus Grabs Pacesetter Role As
President Obama’s effort to overhaul the health care system seems to
hit one roadblock after another in Congress, he is counting on Senator
Max Baucus, a political shape-shifter and crafty deal maker who is not
fully trusted by either party, to help him clinch his top domestic
priority, The New York Times reported. LINK
Dodd Turns to Kennedy for Help His
accent is unmistakable, but his voice sounds frail, less robust, and
his face looks drawn. Senator Edward M. Kennedy has seldom appeared in
public lately as he battles brain cancer. But he is now appearing in an
unusual ad for perhaps his closest friend in the Senate, Christopher J.
Dodd, a fellow Democrat whose stumbles have left voters in his home
state, Connecticut, unsure whether they want him to return for a sixth
term in office. The commercial underscores the gravity with which Dodd
and his allies view his predicament, The New York Times reported. LINK
Pelosi Flexes Muscle on Energy Speaker
Pelosi has shown repeatedly that she can rally her troops on tough
votes, but she faces her toughest test yet this week in passing her
signature cap-and-trade energy package. Pelosi laid down the gauntlet
late Monday, announcing plans to bring the 1,200-plus-page bill to the
floor on Friday, Roll Call reported. LINK
Bill Seeks to End Delays in Veterans’ Care The House approved legislation on Tuesday that is intended to prevent
delays in federal financing for veterans’ health care programs, a
problem that has disrupted services provided by the Department of
Veterans Affairs for decades, officials say. The New York Times said the bill, which has been a major lobbying priority of veterans’ organizations in
Citigroup to Fatten Salaries After
all those losses and bailouts, rank-and-file employees of Citigroup are
getting some good news: their salaries are going up. The troubled
banking giant, which to many symbolizes the troubles in the nation’s
financial industry, intends to raise workers’ base salaries by as much
as 50 percent this year to offset smaller annual bonuses, according to The New York Times. The shift means that most Citigroup employees will make as much money as they did in 2008. LINK
Storm Permits After years of resisting, the state of
Rx Drugs So-called
data-mining companies that collect information about the drugs doctors
prescribe asked an appeals court Tuesday to stop
Power Rates Customers of the Burlington Electric Department will see their rates go up 11.33 percent at the end of the week. The Vermont Public Service Board has ordered an investigation of the "justness and reasonableness" of the increase. The Burlington Free Press says the Department of Public Service recommended the investigation from its position as a "ratepayer advocate." LINK
Bishop to Head Chamber Betsy Bishop, who late last year moved from the governor's office to head the Economic Development Department, is leaving state government to head the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, The Burlington Free Press reported. LINK
