There have been 23 amendments voted on and tabled by a majority of the Senate, it is 12:36am and the Republicans have added another amendment. Who knows how many more....

 

Sen. Coburn's (little blue) poison pills

Republicans have made it known that they will stop at nothing to "kill the bill." That is, the sweeping health-care bill that is now law. Some are pursuing a repeal effort. Others are moving down a more crafty route. Take Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). He issued a list of nine amendments(they are below with links) to the reconciliation bill that are designed for maximum embarrassment. The one that has gotten the most attention is "No Erectile Dysfunction Drugs To Sex Offenders." If Democrats vote against the measure, they'll be portrayed as being in bed with child molesters and other perverts. If they vote for it and the measure gets approved, those "fixes" (the article is below the amendments) the House approved with fanfare last weekend would have to go back to the House for yet another vote. These amendments took a lot of time to craft. Would that the Republicans had expended as much energy coming up with real proposals during health-care negotiations as they did these poison pills.

March 23, 2010

Senator Coburn has filed the following amendments to the reconciliation bill

1. No Erectile Dysfunction Drugs To Sex Offenders (Amendment 3556) – This amendment would enact recommendations from the Government Accountability Office to stop fraudulent payments for prescription drugs prescribed by dead providers or, to dead patients. This amendment also prohibits coverage of Viagra and other ED medications to convicted child molesters, rapists, and sex offenders, and prohibits coverage of abortion drugs.
Click here to view the amendment text and click here for additional background.
2. Bureaucrat Cap and Trade (Amendment 3557) – This amendment would ensure that no provisions in the health bill increase the size of government bureaucracies in Washington, D.C. This amendment requires that for each government bureaucrat added to a government agency as a result of this act, there must be a corresponding decrease in a government bureaucrat at that agency. The federal government should not grow the bureaucracy in Washington, DC when one in 10 Americans is looking for work and twice as many are underemployed.
Click here to view the amendment text and click here to view additional background.

3. Congress Should Not Lecture Americans About Fiscal Responsibility (Amendment 3563) - This amendment would strike the creation of a new $375 million government program the new health bill (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) intended to promote personal and financial responsibility. It is ironic that Congress, that amassed a $12 trillion deficit, should lecture Americans about financial responsibility. This government “responsibility” program duplicates existing government programs and adds hundreds of millions of dollars to the tax burden funds. In short, there is nothing responsible about the new responsibility program.
Click here to view the amendment text and click here to view additional background.

4. Repeal New Powers Given to the Secretary of HHS (Amendment 3558) - Nearly 1,700 times in the new health bill (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), the Secretary of HHS is given new authorities to write regulations, issue definitions, and decide on the fate of Americans’ health care. Congress should be empowering patients and physicians, not bureaucrats in Washington, DC.
Click here to view amendment and click here to view additional background.

5. If You Like the Health Plan You Have, You Can Keep It (Amendment 3559) - President Obama promised that Americans who like their health care plan would be able to keep it. However, the Congressional Budget Office has said that millions of people will lose their current coverage under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, for many Americans, the reconciliation bill is even worse news, as it made changes to some grandfathering provisions. The changes to grandfathering provisions would mean that individuals with guaranteed renewable plans in the individual market will NOT be able to keep their current coverage at the current price, but would immediately be issued a new policy and charged more. This amendment strikes changes to grandfathered plans, so Americans who like the health care they have actually can keep it. 
Click here to view amendment. Click here for additional background.

6. Implement Republican Ideas President Obama Has Endorsed To Crack Down on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse (Amendment 3560) - The President’s Proposal for health reform, released on February 22, 2010, highlighted nine Republican ideas to combat waste, fraud, and abuse. This amendment includes each of those policy provisions which have been endorsed by President Obama. Certainly Washington politicians should be serious about stemming the hemorrhaging of taxpayer dollars lost to waste, fraud, and abuse. Senators will have an opportunity to vote on proposals which have received bipartisan support, and which the President has endorsed.
Click here to view amendment. Click here to read the proposal. Click here  for additional background.

7. Abortion Conscience Amendment (Amendment 3561) - This amendment would ensure health care providers are not forced to participate in abortions or discriminated against because they choose not to perform abortions. The federal government should never require health care providers to violate their deeply held moral, ethical or religious beliefs or discriminate against them because they choose to exercise their consciences and not be involved with abortion. This amendment would protect health care providers from being required or coerced to perform abortions. 
Click here to view the amendment text and click here for additional background.

8. Exempt Class I Medical Devices from New Taxation. Taxing latex gloves and band-aids is not health reform and only increases the cost of health care for patients. This amendment would exempt all Class I medical devices – such as band-aids, wheelchairs, hospital beds, and surgical gowns – from new federal taxation. 
Click here to view amendment.

9.  Motion to Commit Bill to Committee and Return In Compliance with President Obama’s Promises. During his presidential campaign, then-Senator Obama repeatedly made several promises related to what health reform would accomplish. The bill he signed today breaks those promises. This amendment would send the reconciliation bill back to the Finance Committee and direct the Committee to report back out a bill which would allow him to keep his promise.
Click here to view amendment. Click here to view President Obama's health care promises.

10. Highly Qualified Bureaucrats in the Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid (Amendment 3649) - As the U.S. Department of Education prepares to become one of the world’s largest banks, this amendment holds government bureaucrats to the same high standards applied to U.S. teachers by requiring each employee within the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid to become “Highly Qualified” in fiscal management.

This amendment requires each employee within the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid to become “Highly Qualified” in fiscal management by earning a bachelor’s degree in finance or business management/administration within six years of the date of enactment.

Click here to view amendment text. Click here to view additional background.

11. No Blank Tax Payer Check for Student Loans (Amendment 3648) - To better protect the federal fiscal interest, this amendment implements a suggestion of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to require the U.S. Department of Education to pay for unanticipated costs of the Direct Loan program through increases to the student loan origination fee.

This amendment implements a suggestion of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to require the U.S. Department of Education to pay for unanticipated costs of the Direct Loan program, as reported by OMB in annual program re-estimates, through annual calibrations to the student loan origination fee.

Click here to view amendment text. Click here to view additional background.

12. Ensuring Pell Grant Proposal Is Paid For (Amendment 3650) - This amendment ensures that expanded Pell Grant benefits rely on realized “savings” projected to result from the move to 100% Direct Lending and not on deficit spending.

The amendment requires the Pell Grant “add on” (i.e., the mandatory addition above the discretionary award base) to be reduced each year by an amount that reflects any increased Direct Loan program costs.

Click here to view amendment text. Click here to view additional background.

'Fix-it' bill: Final fight on health care front



By John Fritze, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats vowed to start debate today on a series of changes to President Obama's landmark health care legislation, launching the final battle in the year-long effort to revamp the nation's health insurance system.

Work on the proposed "fix-it" bill, which eliminates special deals for individual states and increases subsidies to make insurance more affordable, was slated to get underway after Obama signed into law the broader health care bill narrowly approved by the House of Representatives on Sunday.

House Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, have cheered the 219-212 vote on Obama's health care proposal. But, like the health care bill itself, the follow-up package of changes has prompted a partisan feud in the Senate that could tie up the measure for days.

As lawmakers gear up for the fight, attention has shifted to the Senate parliamentarian, who must decide whether certain provisions are in order.

"We feel confident," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of Senate Budget Committee.

The changes, which passed the House 220-211, are being considered under reconciliation. That process prohibits filibusters, so Democrats can approve the legislation with 51 votes. The approach gained traction after Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., won a January election that left Democrats one seat shy of the 60 needed to stop filibusters with a vote.

Among the changes:

• The Medicare drug coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole" would be phased out.

• Subsidies to help low- and middle-income families buy insurance through marketplaces called exchanges would become more generous.

• Special deals for individual states, such as a provision to boost Medicaid funding for Nebraska, would be cut.

• Government fees paid to private banks to originate student loans would be eliminated. Instead, the U.S. Department of Education would administer student loans directly.

One Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, said Monday he will oppose the fixes. Nelson supported the broader health care bill in December but said he opposes the new student loan provisions.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Democrats hope to finish work on the reconciliation bill by week's end.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona and other Republicans have promised to slow the process down through procedural objections. Meanwhile, the bill is open to amendments, and if any amendments are approved by the Senate, the House would have to cast another vote on the legislation.

Republicans are focusing on a rule that prohibits using reconciliation to change Social Security. The measure adjusts an excise tax on high-end insurance plans that the Congressional Budget Office says will change how much money goes into the Social Security trust fund.

White House adviser David Axelrod said Republican delay tactics could backfire: "I don't know how much of a stomach the American people have for dilatory tactics and parliamentary maneuvers."