He is just one of the lowest of the low. You can find him under whale shit. (with apoligies to whales)
On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 3:47 PM, dick thompson <[email protected]>wrote: > July 24, 2009, *12:56 pm* House Chairman Signals ‘Breakthrough’ on Health > Care Talks By David M. > Herszenhorn<http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/author/david-m-herszenhorn/>AND > Robert > Pear <http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/author/robert-pear/> [image: > Representative Henry Waxman of California]Fred Prouser/Reuters Representative > Henry Waxman of California > > The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative > Henry Waxman of California, said Friday that House leaders had reached a > potentially crucial agreement on reducing geographical disparities in the > rates that Medicare pays health-care providers around the country. > > A faction of seven centrist Democrats who are members of the fiscally > conservative Blue Dog Coalition have stalled > work<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/health/policy/23center.html?ref=politics>on > the Democrats’ big health care legislation over concerns about the cost > and scope of the bill. One of their concerns is the disparity in Medicare > payments, with lower amounts paid in rural areas. > > Mr. Waxman said House leaders had met late into the night Thursday in an > effort to resolve that particular concern, and he said he would be meeting > shortly with the seven Blue Dogs to discuss the proposal. But he also > threatened to push ahead if the Blue Dogs remained unwilling to compromise. > > “I think the Blue Dogs raised a number of important issues,” Mr. Waxman > said in an interview just outside the House chamber. “But this cannot be an > interminable discussion.” > > If the Blue Dogs insist on blocking work in the Energy and Commerce > Committee, Mr. Waxman said, he is prepared to let House leaders take > procedural steps to bypass his committee. Two other panels, the Education > and Labor Committee and the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, have > already approved the health care legislation. Only the Energy and Commerce > Committee needs to act before the measure can be taken up on the House > floor. > > Mr. Waxman called the proposal on reducing the geographic disparities “a > significant breakthrough,” and he noted that it would change payments to > providers not only through Medicare, the government insurance program for > people over the age of 65, but also under a new government-run insurance > plan that Democrats have proposed to compete with private insurers. Under > the House bill, provider rates would initially be tied to Medicare rates, > plus 5 percent. > > The seven Blue Dogs are a potentially decisive bloc on the energy and > commerce panel, which comprises 36 Democrats and 23 Republicans. Mr. Waxman > said he would rather let House leaders bypass the committee than allow Blue > Dogs to cede control to the Republicans. > > “I won’t allow them to turn over control of the committee to Republicans, > which they have threatened to do,” he said, adding, “I hope they’ll agree to > let our committee go forward with the mark up and not vote with the > Republicans to eviscerate this legislation.” > > Many House Democrats are also anxiously awaiting word from the Senate > Finance Committee over how that panel will propose to pay for the health > care bill. House leaders have proposed a surtax on high-income Americans to > generate $544 billion toward the roughly $1 trillion, 10-year cost of the > bill. But rank-and-file House members are reluctant to vote for that tax > increase without knowing that the Senate plans to endorse it. Senators have > expressed little interest in the idea. > > The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and the Finance Committee > chairman, Senator Max Baucus of Montana, went to the White House on Friday > morning to meet with President Obama about the developing health care > legislation. See related article. > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/us/politics/24health.html?ref=politics> > > - E-mail This > - > Print<http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/house-chairman-signals-breakthrough-on-health-care-talks/?pagemode=print> > - > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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