House Democrats today resurrected the debate over legislation to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as S-CHIP. The chamber passed the bill, dubbed “S-CHIP 2.O,” by a vote of 265-142.
President Bush vetoed an earlier bill on the subject and the House failed to override his veto. House Republicans largely opposed the bill and forced numerous procedural votes to stall passage.
Here are video excerpts of the debate from: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas; Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.; and Hilda Solis, D-Calif.
Categories: New York, California, Tennessee, Texas, Producer's Picks, Health, Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, Vetoes, Hilda Solis, Marsha Blackburn, Louise Slaughter, Sheila Jackson Lee
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For some bizarre reason, journalists at The New York Times and elsewhere are starting to pay attention to the way Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton laughs. Patrick Healy dubbed it “the Clinton cackle,” and both Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich also mentioned Clinton’s laugh in recent columns.
Comedian Jon Stewart may be the brains behind the current obsession with Clinton’s laugh. He did an entire skit on the subject. Numerous other video clips of the laugh, some of them mean-spirited, are surfacing online, too. Here’s one:
Categories: New York, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Friday Fun
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The left is getting it’s revenge for the recent attacks against the liberal activist group MoveOn.org by counter-attacking one of the right’s media icons: radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh.
MoveOn took fire for a newspaper advertisement that suggested Army Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, is a traitor, and both the Senate and House ultimately adopted language condemning the ad.
This week, Limbaugh criticized “phony soldiers” who oppose the Iraq war, and VoteVets is running an ad that condemns him and calls attention to “some real soldiers who want a responsible redeployment from combat in Iraq.”
Senate Democrats also have decried Limbaugh’s “phony soldiers” criticism in a letter to Clear Channel Communications, which airs his show. And Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., plans to introduce a resolution that would condemn Limbaugh for his comments.
“It is nearly impossible to think of a more direct insult to the character of the men and women who have served our country honorably, risking life and limb in the process, than to be called ‘phony,’” he wrote in an entry at Daily Kos. “Limbaugh’s comments sought nothing less than to belittle the efforts of these brave men and women, and to cheapen their exercise of the right to free speech that they volunteered to defend.”
Two other House Democrats, Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, also criticized Limbaugh in speeches on the floor.
Categories: New York, Iraq, John Hall, AdWatch
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The House this evening cleared to President Bush a bill that would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The vote was 265-159.
Bush has threatened to veto the bill, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she hopes the president will “dig deeply into his heart and think about the children in America who don’t have healthcare. Because if not, I think that the president is giving new meaning to the words, ’suffer, little children’” from the Bible.
Pelosi’s office has posted speeches from other Democratic lawmakers online, including:
Categories: New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey, Producer's Picks, Health, Frank Pallone, Charles Rangel, Bill Pascrell, Hilda Solis, Lois Capps
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Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York today unveiled the healthcare plan that she promises to pursue if elected president, and her campaign unveiled a new advertisement to make the case for the plan.
The ad touts Clinton’s past efforts on the healthcare front and promotes her as an agent of change in the field: “Now she has a healthcare plan that lets you keep your coverage if you like it, provides affordable choices if you don’t, and covers every American. So if you’re ready for change, she’s ready to lead.”
Here are the highlights of the “American Health Choices Plan“:
- Insurers would have to offer coverage to all who apply and pay their premiums, and they would have to automatically renew policies.
- Preventive care would be covered.
- Employees would receive refundable tax credits based on income, and insurance premiums could never rise above a certain percentage of income.
- Large employers would be required to provide health insurance or contribute to the cost of coverage, and small businesses would receive tax credits for doing so.
- Medicare overpayments to managed care plans would be reduced, and Medicare could negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs.
Clinton will discuss the plan, which would cost an estimated $110 billion a year and be funded by modernizing the healthcare system and eliminating tax cuts for wealthier people, in a live webcast at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Categories: New York, Producer's Picks, Health, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Taxes, AdWatch
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