Waxman Forces Re-Vote to Ensure Coverage for Taxpayer-Subsidized Abortion Remains in Health Care Bill

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  July 31st at 10:48 AM  | 

Yesterday afternoon, House Energy and Commerce Committee member Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) proposed an amendment to the House health care overhaul bill to allow for federal funding of elective abortion coverage for those enrolled in the “public option,” to mandate that every regional Health Insurance Exchange contain at least one private insurance plan that offers abortion coverage, and to permit taxpayer subsidies of those private | Read More »

The Case of the Magically Doubling Health Care Surtax

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  July 31st at 08:14 AM  | 

Last night, during yet another attempt to mark up the House health overhaul bill, Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) House Energy and Commerce Committee took up and voted down (33-25) an amendment by ranking member Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) to prevent the implementation of a little-known provision in the bill that would cause the highly-publicized surtax on high earners to double if the cost of the | Read More »

Hank Waxman Loses a Blue Dog: Space Splits, Leaving Obamacare Compromise in Doubt Yet Again

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  July 30th at 10:04 PM  | 

For whatever reason — perhaps it was Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick’s stubborn insistence on a fully-funded, competitive “public option” for her black constituents, whom she seems to think have no other option in life but to be on the public dole — Rep. Zack Space (D-OH) is rumored to have withdrawn his support from the ongoing negotiations over HR 3200, the Orwellianly-titled “Affordable Health Care Choices | Read More »

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO): If ‘Public Option’ is so Superfantastic, Surely the President and Congress Won’t Mind Replacing Their Current Health Care With It

By: Jeff Emanuel (Diary)  |  July 21st at 07:52 PM  | 

After Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)’s exasperated halting of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s health overhaul bill markup — done because of problems in negotiations that Waxman insists are going “well” — Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) took to the House floor to make his one-minute address. In a departure from the GOP theme of today’s minute speeches — “finding the jobs” — Blunt used his time | Read More »