Why did MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty agree to a compromise to 'save' GAMC? The deal would essentially put much of the cost on hospitals and clinics, which would then presumably have to raise fees on everyone. In the Milton Friedman fantasyland that the likes of TBag inhabit, this is an example of using 'the invisible hand of the market' to produce 'greater efficiency.' Even after the last thirty years...some idiots don't ever learn.
But the question is why he even agreed to this much. GAMC is, after all, what righties call 'socialized medicine,' and it's anathema to the teabagger types Gutshot has been seeking, so assiduously, to woo.
Next Saturday, as Jim Meffert and I lay out our visions for America's future at DFL conventions in Senate Districts 33 and 45, a coalition of right-wing interest groups will be fighting for the status quo on health care with a "Kill the Bill" rally in front of the state Capitol.
It's not clear at this moment whether Erik Paulsen will be attending that event. He generally tries to keep his ties to Michele Bachmann (a featured speaker) hidden and it's been nearly two months since his office even sent out a press release on health care. But make no mistake about it, this is what we'll be up against in the fall campaign.
Health care reform is long overdue. Each day that passes without progress another family risks bankruptcy if someone gets sick; another business has to put off plans to expand; and another parent is forced to make the painful choice between taking their child to the pediatrician and making a trip to the grocery store.
That's why I'm in this race. As a doctor who's worked in many systems, including Hennepin County Medical Center, I've seen the problems with the current health care system and insurance industry from the inside. As the wife of a small business owner, I've watched my husband deal with insurance costs that sky-rocket year after year. And as a candidate in this race, I've heard from so many people who are simply terrified about what will happen if they lose their job or when their COBRA benefits expire.
We can do so much better in this country and we must. President Obama's plans aren't perfect, but they do move us a big step closer to the day when we can finally relegate the phrase "health care crisis" to the scrapheap of history and begin rebuilding our economy so we can usher in a new era of opportunity for all.
When we move into the general election campaign, I won't back down when the Tea Party and related groups start attacking us. And when Paulsen accuses me in a debate of supporting reform efforts, I'll turn to him and ask "why don't you?"
Thanks, as always, for everything you're doing to help our campaign and our party. We've won seven of nine Senate District conventions and two-thirds of the total named delegates so far, but this is only the beginning. The next step is defeating Paulsen in November and then the hard work of moving our country forward begins.
If you have any questions, please feel free to visit our campaign Web site, e-mail us at info@hackettforcongress.org or call us at (952) 938-0510. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you in the weeks and months to come!
I use the words "interesting" and "fascinating" with what could reasonably be characterized as reckless abandon when it comes to politics -- and with good reason, thank you very much.
This time it's the current state of the health insurance reform effort. Back from the brink of death is the public option, with more than half of the Democratic Senators necessary having already signed on to an effort to pass fixes to the Senate bill via reconciliation in conjunction with the House passing the existing Senate bill verbatim and then "ping-ponging" the fixes over to President Obama's desk.
Got all that?
Sen. Al Franken breaks it down thusly in an email blast sent last night:
This week President Obama asked Congress to stand strong and finish the job of fixing our busted health insurance system. I couldn't agree more, and now we've got a plan to get this done.
I'm calling this strategy "Pledge & Pass," and it's a simple, two-step plan for passing meaningful health insurance reform. I believe it's our job as public servants to actually serve the public, and ending the suffering of millions of Americans under our current system is exactly what our constituents expect and deserve.
Here's the plan.
Step 1. United States Senators pledge to fix elements of the bill that are not acceptable to many House members, and the House pass the Senate bill as is.
Step 2. We in the Senate fulfill our pledge to the House, fix the elements that need fixing, and pass this critical legislation through a filibuster-proof budget process known as reconciliation.
This effort breaks all the "rules" we learned about in Civics 101 back in Junior High -- with all these procedural tactics for getting the damned thing done, and the year of posturing and political ninjitsu, who knows how it even relates to all those legislative procedures we dutifully learned were handed down to us by the Founding Fathers?
The bigger point, however, is that it's happening. Finally, after all the recriminations and Tea Party nonsense and polls and media blitzes and everything else -- the effort is finally being undertaken by leaders who are beginning to realize that getting the job done is the best political move of all. And it's forcing Senators and Representatives to work together, even before a conference committee, to make the whole machine sputter, cough, squeal, and finally rumble to life.
The Minnesota House tried to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of its effort to save General Assistance Medical Care, a program designed to provide some measure of health care access for many of Minnesota's most vulnerable residents, but didn't. Because of a parliamentary maneuver, they apparently get another try; I don't know when that might happen.
They were four votes short. The original legislation passed 125-9. This is from an email I got from Alliance for a Better Minnesota:
Under pressure from the governor and party leaders, (Republicans) decided their political agenda was more important than listening to the thousands of constituents, faith leaders, doctors and nurses, and veterans who joined you in calling on them to save GAMC...It's not leadership to throw the most vulnerable 70,000 Minnesotans under the bus because party leaders say so. This sort of politics is what got us into this budget mess, and it's certainly not what will get us out of it.
Why would anybody rational vote to reelect a legislator who goes in fear of an odious, corrupt little weasel like Tim Pawlenty? It certainly appears that this man of the cloth won't do so.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has announced she will vote for a public option if it's included in a final health care reconciliation package. Sen. Al Franken was, of course, among the first to do so. With both of them, it makes thirty, and counting.
I'm certainly not going to go into detail on the past, present, and possible futures of the public option (or, as some of us prefer, 'Medicare expansion'), here. Just two key points:
- The public option polls very well, pretty much everywhere.
- Every hack politician and corporate media mouthpiece in America has pronounced it 'dead,' countless times, and it's still kicking. In fact, it's time for it to seriously kick ***!
I think it's important to point out that whatever happens, Sen. Klobuchar is taking a risk here. Corporate 'America' hates the idea of the PO with crazed, frenzied hatred. She deserves our appreciation and support, on this one.
Here's my take on what the new DFL governor needs to do as quickly as possible.
1. Implement the Minnesota Health Plan
2. Revamp Minnesota's educational system. Talk to actual students about what works and what doesn't work. Get input from the students themselves on how to change things. Talking to the students will be more effective than getting all ideas for change from teachers and administrators. There's a huge gap in how the two groups see things. Above all, treat the students with respect. Treat them as the young adults they are, not like prisoners. Seniors in high school will soon be able to put their lives at risk in the military, will soon be able to vote, and will soon be out on their own. Many school administrations don't treat their students with the respect they deserve.
3. Find ways to get people back to work. The money we just got for high speed rail will help bring jobs to Minnesota. There is no doubt a ton of ideas for creating new jobs. We need to implement those ideas. Once the economy is up and running again, more and more jobs will open up. Meanwhile, encourage people to find nontraditional ways to bring money into their lives, such as internet and outside sales, writing, public speaking engagements, motivational seminars, pet walking/grooming. The imagination knows no bounds.
4. Find ways to get more doctors to keep up with the latest medical research so that they can better treat their patients. Some doctors are so far behind current medical knowledge because the requirements for furthering their knowledge are too lenient.
5. As soon as feasibly possible, put back the things that Pawlenty took away, especially as it pertains to Minnesota's poorest and most vulnerable citizens.
6. Expand a few of the sections at MDH.
7. Don't forget to stand behind and promote Toastmasters for state employees so that every employee can be an effective communicator and excel at leadership.
8. One of the top priorities should be fixing the roads. We have way too many potholes. Have you driven on Highway 61 through Maplewood/White Bear Lake lately? That road has been extremely bad for years now. The same holds true for almost every road in Minnesota.
9. Look for new ways to conserve energy and make buildings more energy efficient. Find other sources of energy. About 15 or 20 years ago I knew a senior citizen gentleman who had invented a device that attached to an engine part in a car. This device increased gas milage up to 100 miles/gallon. He told me that everytime such an invention is created, the oil companies come along, buy it out and bury it.
The MN Senate voted to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of GAMC funding, a health care program for some of the poorest Minnesotans. The 45-21 vote was split very rigidly along party lines, with Republicans overwhelmingly protesting support of the override.
As the legislative battle over the GAMC continues, DFL senators are keeping an eye on the calendar, aware that funding for the program, and the massive health care coverage it provides to many disabled and impoverished people, is set to run out in just a month.
Call me idealistic, but I really hope this diarist misheard what Sen. Amy Klobuchar said -- although she's apparently in favor of using reconciliation to pass the public option, she's not signing the Bennett letter and thus committing to doing so.
Sigh.
Do we need more proof that it's what big majorities of Minnesotans and Americans nationwide want from the health care reform effort? From the Research 2000/PCCC poll linked above:
QUESTION: Would you favor or oppose the national government offering everyone the choice of buying into a government administered health insurance plan -- something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get -- that would compete with private health insurance plans?
FAVOR
OPPOSE
NOT SURE
ALL
62%
33%
5%
...
QUESTION: Would you be more or less likely to vote for Amy Klobuchar in the future if she led the charge in the U.S. Senate to add a public health insurance option that competes head-to-head with private insurance into law, or would it have no real effect on your vote?
MORE
LESS
NO EFFECT
ALL
39%
9%
52%
...
QUESTION: Which do you think should be a higher priority for congressional Democrats right now -- working in a bipartisan way with Republicans in Congress or fighting for policies that will benefit working families, even if those policies can only be passed with Democratic votes?
PROMISES
GOP
NOT SURE
ALL
51%
39%
10%
Call Sen. Klobuchar's Washington office right now and let her staff know -- respectfully, of course -- how you feel about it. Make sure to tell them Senator Klobuchar should be leading the charge, not waiting for others to lead and then following along, and should sign the Bennett Letter and fight hard for the public-option-through-reconciliation effort.
We are told by the US Senate "Leadership" and the White House that, "We don't have enough votes," to pass the public option. What? More Washington speak to cover loss of Congressional integrity.
Translated to human speak, "The insurance industry has purchased enough votes to block public option."
Some 70% of the American people want the public option, which is only a baby step toward what's needed, single payer universal health care. An important baby step.
About 25 senators (including our Al Franken - Amy is thinking about it) have signed the Bennett letter seeking a reconciliation solution. The Republicans are automatic no to anything. That leaves 44 Democrats siding with the insurance thugs.
What price? How many pieces of gold did it take for these 44 elected senators, sworn to uphold the Constitution, to defy the American people? Congress should publish a price list for legislation and forget the idea of democracy.
As anticipated, Governor-in-absentia Tim Pawlenty vetoed the GAMC extension passed by the Legislature yesterday. He did so from a conservative horse-and-pony show in Washington D.C., and didn't appear to offer any kind of reasoning for the veto, leaving us to speculate.
The question now is whether the DFL House majority can gather the two or three extra Republican votes to override Pawlenty's veto -- we should have an interesting view of newly minted Minority Leader Kurt Zellers' skill at holding his caucus together to support Pawlenty's veto. His predecessor in that role, gubernatorial candidate Marty Seifert, managed to do so successfully on all but one veto override, the 2008 Transportation bill.
However, the GAMC extension could represent a potentially damaging campaign issue ("Representative X stuck with Tim Pawlenty and stuck it to poor people -- twice!") so even in a rump caucus like the House GOP, there could well be a handful of veto override votes available.
Wow -- a nifty piece of political jujitsu from the DFL leadership in the State Senate.
How's that? The Senate quickly passed the House version of an 18-month General Assistance Medical Care extension verbatim -- slamming through a big piece of legislation faster than most observers (and some legislators) expected it to move.
Part of the plan may be to jam Governor Pawlenty. Pawlenty is scheduled to be in Washington D.C. tonight through Tuesday morning for the CPAC conference and the National Governors Association's Winter Meetings.
Under the Minnesota Constitution (Article 4, section 23) the governor has three full days to sign or veto the bill (that includes Saturday). Michelle Timmons with the Revisor's office said it's highly likely that her office will engross and present the bill to the governor's office today. That means Pawlenty will have Friday, Saturday and Monday to act on the bill. He has to file it with the Secretary of State's office and notify the body that the bill originated in (Senate) by midnight Monday.
If Pawlenty doesn't take action on the by that time, the bill will become law. The governor told reporters that he's returning to Minnesota on Tuesday morning. I'm checking to see how they'll handle the issue if it's sent to him. Update: The governor's office could potentially send the bill to Pawlenty for his action.
Great move by Senate leadership: even if Pawlenty's staff find a way to get him the bill while he's hobnobbing with the conservative elite at CPAC, what are his choices?
1. The optics of him vetoing a bill from a thousand miles away -- especially one that's focused on helping the most needy Minnesotans, whose medical assistance Pawlenty had already unallotted last year -- should be a tough pill to swallow for Team Pawlenty.
2. Alternately, he could sign the bill while at CPAC, right under the noses of the conservative elite, and look weak in allowing his unallotment target to be extended for 18 months by the DFL-controlled legislature.
3. Do nothing, and the bill becomes law on its own. Of course, that's about as good as option 2, since he once more looks weak compared to the legislative leadership who made the bill happen.
Looks like Gov Pawlenty is following in Sen. John Marty's footsteps by writing a response in today's Washington Post to President Obama's call for ideas. Governor Pawlenty has come up with a five-point plan to reform health care (aka insurance) in the U.S. His plan does not address access to health care, but proposes that by implementing his 'common-sense ways to tackle runaway health-care costs' more people will be able to buy insurance.
For the past several months, I've been having trouble with my back. I hurt it while gardening last July -- I bent over to pick up some scraps, stood up too quickly, and urk I couldn't move. I went through several weeks of physical therapy toward the end of the year and into January, but after a two-week break, I had to go back to my physician for a specialist referral because pain levels rose to unbearable levels.
I'm pretty lucky in this area -- I have very decent insurance, and I work for a company that generally takes pretty good care of its people as far as benefits are concerned. I also recognize that not all companies are as forward-thinking and conscientious as my employers, and that many in Minnesota and across America are either underemployed or have a job that pays for health insurance and little else.
So imagine my surprise when my physician started spouting off about how a government-run health care system would make me wait six months for an MRI.
Angry Minnesotans gathered on a frigid January day to thank Senator Al Franken and 5th CD Congressman Keith Ellison for their past support on health care issues and to plead with them to wake up the rest of the Democratic members of Congress. Since spine transplants seem out of the question, the people ask our representatives to stand up to the lobbying money flowing neck deep in Washington and act in the interests of American citizens.
Congress seems dedicated to acting as the WalMart of legislation; cut prices on all special interest bills. We have one senator, Shelby of Alabama, blocking all presidential appointments to force more pork for his state. Now thanks to the Supremes, corporations can participate freely in the bidding for self-serving gravy train bills.
Thursday's start to the 2010 legislative session brought the first in what are expected to be several protests surrounding Governor Pawlenty's unallotment of the General Assistance Medical Assistance Program (GAMC). As with other areas of uallottment (such as Personal Care Assistant cuts and the defunding of the special dietary needs-or MSA-SD--grant), victims of this part of Pawlenty's cuts are among the poorest, most vulnerable residents of Minnesota. In the case of GAMC defunding, those suffering are overwhelmingly the mentally ill adults, typically trying to survive on a meager $200 per month General Assistance income.
The Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is working hard to educate the public about the gravity of this cut for the seriously mentally ill, and to organize large-scale protest against the inhumane decision to defund GAMC. Minnesotan's relying on the GAMC for health care-many of whom are homeless-- face losing critical services for their managing their chronic mental illnesses, including loss of psycotherapy and inability to continue their essential medications. In a news release issued Thursday, NAMI organizers wrote:
The veto and unallotment of funding for the General Assistance Medical Care program, which provides basic mental health care to thousands of Minnesotans with mental illnesses, will profoundly impact the lives of these individuals, our health care infrastructure and our criminal justice system. The legislature has tried valiantly to find ways to fund a pared down program through cuts to provider payments and surcharges. Yesterday, due to the objection of counties being asked to pay for 10% of the costs of GAMC, the Senate proposed to take $12 million from adult mental health grants - which would greatly impact the infrastructure of our already fragile mental health system - and $17 million from funding for child protection, children's mental health and vulnerable adult services.
Mental health advocates are faced with a "Sophie's Choice" - health care or community supports - both needed to live.
Yesterday, the press reported that Governor Pawlenty suggested that a new lottery game could raise $12 million for a new stadium for Vikings. Coincidently, that's the same amount that would have to be cut from adult mental health services. "We would be happy to be thrown this 'hail Mary pass,'" said Sue Abderholden, Executive Director of NAMI Minnesota. "In these tough economic times, all of us must make sacrifices - not just people who live on $200 a month or people who live with the most serious mental illnesses. If we can find the money for a stadium, we can find the money for basic health care and social services that support the poorest and most vulnerable among us."
A NAMI-organized rally at the State Capitol is scheduled for February 16, 2010. For details, including information on free bussing and a detailed agenda of speakers, link to the NAMI MN website above.
