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Saturday, March 20, 2010



House Democrats seeking executive order on abortion funding

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 20, 2010; 4:03 PM


House Democrats are working with the White House to craft an executive order that would clarify President Obama's intention to maintain a long-standing ban on federal funding of abortion, congressional Democrats said.
The effort was part of a hurried campaign by House leaders on Saturday to persuade a pivotal bloc of antiabortion Democrats to support far-reaching health insurance reforms.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and others huddled in a suite of offices just off the House floor, trying to come up with language that would satisfy six to 10 lawmakers, mostly Rust Belt Catholics, who voted for an earlier version of the health-care package but have threatened to vote against the $940 billion compromise expected to come before the House on Sunday. Those lawmakers have argued that the measure would open the door to federal funding for elective abortions. Democratic leaders counter that the measure would do no such thing.
"The intent is obviously to express what we said all along: that we believe the language that has been included in both bills seeks to accomplish . . . that there will be no use of public funds for abortion," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said upon emerging from the meeting. Asked whether the document could win over a significant number of the holdouts, Hoyer said: "I'm hopeful."
The talks follow a decision by Pelosi to reject a suggestion that she hold a separate vote Sunday to strengthen abortion provisions in the compromise package. The speaker told reporters that she rejected the proposal from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), a leader of the antiabortion faction.
Asked if she would permit such a vote, Pelosi said no, adding that she also would reject similar demands from liberals still hoping to advance their favorite causes.
"Not on abortion, not on public option, not on single payer, not on anything," Pelosi said. She later added: "The bill is the bill."
Democrats are close to securing the 216 votes needed to push the two-part legislation to final passage. House leaders said they will vote first on a package of revisions to the Senate health bill that was approved on Christmas Eve, then take up the Senate bill itself. Antiabortion Democrats represent by far the largest bloc of holdouts.
Earlier Saturday, Pelosi confirmed that an executive order on abortion "might be a possibility."
Those close to the talks said it is likely at the very least to restate Obama's commitment to upholding the Hyde Amendment, a 32-year-old provision that bars the use of public funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman. Rep. Dianna DeGette (Colo.), a leader among Democrats who support abortion rights, said she would support that option, so long as Stupak's provision is not given another vote. "That would be fine by me," she told reporters Saturday of the executive order.
Stupak's office issued a statement declaring he would like the talks to continue: "Congressman Stupak remains open to working with Speaker Pelosi and the President to reach an agreement that would maintain current law which prohibits federal funding of abortions and health plans that cover abortion."
Pelosi remained determined to ensure that, by the time the vote is held Sunday, she would prevail. "We'll have the votes when we bring the bill to the floor," she said.

The First Lady Talks "Let's Move" with Newsweek





Following her cover story for Newsweek, the First Lady talked with Newsweek’s Editor Jon Meacham about her Let's Move campaign at the Newseum in Washington D.C. today. She discussed the magnitude of the problem of childhood obesity, especially during current times as a busier culture.
We’re also a culture and a society right now that snacks a lot more.  Just some of the statistics I talked about in my speech yesterday was that the average snack amount when I was growing up was one snack a day, if you were lucky.  And now it’s averaging two to three.  They say the average school-age kid is getting six snacks a day.  So we’re taking 200 more calories than we were 40 years ago, 30 years ago just from snacks alone.
She explained the importance of food manufacturing industries providing clear food labels so people can easily make decisions about what foods are healthy. “Parents have to understand what’s in the Twinkie; again, how does it fit into the overall diet.  So we don’t need a warning, we need information.  And we need information that’s easy to understand.”
The First Lady also talked about passing legislation that will set nutritional guidelines for school lunch programs and vending machines. President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the Council on Childhood Obesity that will review every program and policy regarding education and nutrition.
Visit LetsMove.gov to learn more about the initiative to address the growing health epidemic of childhood obesity.

A Sunday health care viewer's guide

What you need to know about the House vote, and the fight ahead


Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-Me., Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., Chair Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., Doris Matusi, D-Calif. and James McGovern, D-Mass., at a meeting of the Democratic members of the House Rules committee who met to discuss the health care legislation prior to the full committee meeting on Capitol Hill on Saturday.
by Carrie Dann
msnbc.com
updated 1 hour, 31 minutes ago
As the NCAA basketball tournament reminds us, there’s nothing quite like a nothing-but-net, buzzer-beating, three-point shot that gives one team a climactic, decisive win as the crowd goes wild.
But although Democrats believe that they’re close to their own net-cutting ceremony — namely, the signing of a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health insurance system — the precise moment of victory will be a bit less clear than the final moments of a tournament game.
On Sunday afternoon, the House of Representatives is expected to hold a climactic vote on the Senate-passed version of the health care bill. The vote will determine whether or not the president signs into law legislation that overhauls the way that Americans buy and keep their health insurance. If Democrats get the 216 “yes” votes they need to pass the bill — and they appear optimistic that they will — they will trumpet the passage of the legislation as a victory for the ages. 

But the bill that the president will sign contains some unpopular measures, including special benefits for individual states like Nebraska.  Both the House and the Senate must act to scrub those provisions to end up with a final product that most Democrats can tolerate. 
(The Senate’s version of the health overhaul is so unpalatable that House Democratic leaders originally planned to try to approve the bill indirectly, with members voting on a measure to merely “deem” it passed. But the strategy came under heavy GOP criticism, with some even questioning its constitutionality, and the plan was nixed in favor of a direct vote on the Senate bill.)
The House is now expected to hold a series of votes Sunday, with debate starting after the body is gaveled into session at 1 p.m. EST.

The first vote, expected to take place around 3 p.m. EST, will be on a “rule” dictating the parameters of debate on the bill.
Later on Sunday, the House will vote on the “reconciliation” package, a series of “fixes” to correct problems in the bill passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve in 2009. 
Those fixes must be approved by the Senate before they can take effect. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday pledging that his caucus would vote to approve the corrections, which require 51 votes for approval, but Republicans may be able to derail that process. 
The big moment for House Democrats will be Sunday’s final vote to approve the Senate-passed bill.  If there are 216 “yes” votes or more, the bill will go to the president’s desk to be signed and enacted. 
That moment will be as close as Democrats will get to their own version of the NCAA’s “One Shining Moment,” but there will be another tough game in the Senate before a real victory dance can take place. Even if the president signs the overhaul into law, there’s still work to be done in the Senate as that chamber works to approve the “fixes” initiated by the House.
Here’s the key rule of reconciliation that Republicans think they may be able to use to derail the fixes package in the Senate. Under the Senate’s “Byrd Rule,” named after its author Sen. Robert Byrd, D- W.V., any senator can raise an objection (called “a point of order”) to any part of the reconciliation bill that does not address budgetary matters. The extraneous matter would be removed from the bill if the parliamentarian upholds that point of order. Sixty votes would be needed to overturn that decision.

Republicans believe they have identified several key provisions that could be vulnerable to this rule. The result could be legislation that is the policy equivalent of Swiss cheese, with major pieces missing.
If a single word of the reconciliation bill is changed in the Senate, the bill will have to go back to the House and approved again.
And Republicans think that’s a real possibility. “If those people think they’re only going to vote on this once, they’re nuts,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in an interview with Bloomberg.

Thousands rally to pull troops from 2 war zones


By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press Writer
updated 13 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Thousands of protesters — many directing their anger squarely at President Barack Obama — marched through the nation's capital Saturday to urge immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
At least eight people, including activist Cindy Sheehan, were arrested by U.S. Park Police at the end of the march, after laying coffins at a fence outside the White House. Friday marked the seventh anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
"Arrest that war criminal!" Sheehan shouted outside the White House before her arrest, referring to Obama.

At a rally before the march, Sheehan asked whether "the honeymoon was over with that war criminal in the White House" — an apparent reference to Obama — prompting moderate applause.
The protesters defied orders to clear the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House and park police say they face charges of failure to obey a lawful order.
Activist Ralph Nader told thousands who gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House that Obama has essentially continued the policies of the Bush administration, and it was foolish to have thought otherwise.
"He's kept Guantanamo open, he's continued to use indefinite detention," Nader said. The only real difference, he said is that "Obama's speeches are better."
Others were more conciliatory toward Obama. Shirley Allan of Silver Spring, Md., carried a sign that read, "President Obama We love you but we need to tell you! Your hands are getting bloody!! Stop it now."
Allan thought it was going too far to call Obama a war criminal but said she is deeply disappointed that the conflicts are continuing.
"He has to know it's unacceptable," Allan said. "I am absolutely disappointed."
The protest organized by Act Now to Stop War and Racism or ANSWER drew a smaller crowd than the tens of thousands who marched in 2006 and 2007. Protests in cities around the country also had far fewer participants than in the past.
San Francisco's rally brought out Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the top-secret Pentagon Papers study of the Vietnam War and is the subject of the recent documentary film, "The Most Dangerous Man in America." He likened the protest and others like it around the country Saturday to a day of demonstrations organized against the conflict in Vietnam in 1969.
"They thought it had no effect," he told the crowd in San Francisco, referring to the 1969 protesters. "They were wrong."
Ellsberg said President Richard Nixon was planning to escalate the war around that time, but held off.
Protesters in Washington stopped at the offices of military contractor Halliburton — where they tore apart an effigy of former Vice President and Halliburton Chief Executive Dick Cheney — the Mortgage Bankers Association and The Washington Post offices.
Anna Berlinrut, of South Orange, N.J., was one of a number of protesters who have children who have served in Iraq, and said her son supports her protests.
"If there were a draft, we'd have a million people out here," Berlinrut said when asked about the turnout. The exact number of protesters was unclear, as D.C. authorities do not give out crowd estimates. Organizers estimated the march, which stretched for several blocks, at 10,000.
Despite the arrests, the protest was peaceful. At the outset, police closed a portion of the sidewalk in front of the White House fence after protesters tried to use mud and large stencils to spell out "Iraq veterans against the war."
Once the sidewalk was closed, the protesters stenciled the message on the street using mud they had carried in buckets to the rally.
Sheehan has been a vocal critic of the war since her 21-year-old son Casey was killed in Iraq in April 2004. She staged a prolonged demonstration in 2005 outside former President George W. Bush's ranch near Crawford, Texas.
Fellow anti-war activist and attorney Stephen Pearcy of Sacramento keeps in touch and supports Sheehan in her efforts. Sheehan lived with his family for a year while traveling to peace events.
Pearcy said in an e-mail that in the last decade, the U.S. government has a widespread pattern of violating the constitutional rights of peaceful anti-war protesters, arresting them, then not pressing charges.
"We've essentially become a country of restrictions rather than a country of freedoms," he said.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark also spoke at the D.C. rally, calling on the Justice Department to investigate the officials who launched the Iraq war.
In New York City, a few dozen enthusiastic protesters gathered near a military recruiting station in Times Square, though they were far outnumbered by disinterested tourists.
A group of older women calling themselves the Raging Grannies sang, "The country is broke, this war is a joke." Four demonstrators evoked images of the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by dressing in orange uniforms and wearing black hoods.
Liz Proefriedt, a retired Roman Catholic nun, held up a banner that read, "Bread not bombs."
"It's sad that a lot of people did not come out for this protest," said Kathy Hoang, of Manchester, Conn. "People are getting used to the war, and don't bother even to think about it anymore."
In Los Angeles, hundreds chanted anti-war slogans and carried mock tombstones, and several hundred gathered in San Francisco. The Los Angeles march, which was under a mile, was to culminate with a rally in front of the famed Grauman's Chinese Theater.
"We want to see the troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq," said Corazon Esguerra with ANSWER. "We want all the troops wherever they are to come back."

Ugly build-up to House health care vote

Demonstrators hurl N-word, spit at black members of Congress

 Tea party demonstrators protest against health overhaul legislation outside of the House chamber on Capitol Hill on Saturday.

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press Writer

updated 1 hour, 39 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - House Democrats heard it all Saturday — words of inspiration from President Barack Obama and raucous chants of protests from demonstrators. And at times it was flat-out ugly, including some racial epithets aimed at black members of Congress.
Most of the day's important work leading up to Sunday's historic vote on health care was being done behind closed doors. Democratic leaders cajoled, bargained and did what they needed to nail down the votes they will need to finally push Obama's health care overhaul bill through the House.
But much else about the day was noisy, emotional and right out in the open. After more than a year debating the capstone of Obama's domestic agenda and just hours to go before the showdown vote, there was little holding back.

The tone was set outside the Capitol. Clogging the sidewalks and streets of Capitol Hill were at least hundreds — no official estimate was yet available — of loud, furious protesters, many of them tea party opponents of the health care overhaul.
Rallies outside the Capitol are typically orderly, with speeches and well-behaved crowds. Saturday's was different, with anger-fueled demonstrators surrounding members of Congress who walked by, yelling at them.
"Kill the bill," the largely middle-aged crowd shouted, surging toward lawmakers who crossed the street between their office buildings and the Capitol.
'N-word' 15 times
The motorcade that carried Obama to Capitol Hill to whip up support for the bill drove past crowds waving signs that read "Stop the spending" and "Get your hands out of my pocketbook and health care." Many booed and thrust their thumbs down as Obama rode by.
As police held demonstrators back to clear areas for lawmakers outside the Capitol Obama's speech, some protesters jeered and chanted at the officers, "You work for us."

Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., told a reporter that as he left the Cannon House Office Building with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader of the civil rights era, some among the crowd chanted "the N-word, the N-word, 15 times." Both Carson and Lewis are black, and Lewis spokeswoman Brenda Jones also said that it occurred.
"It was like going into the time machine with John Lewis," said Carson, a large former police officer who said he wasn't frightened but worried about the 70-year-old Lewis, who is twice his age. "He said it reminded him of another time."
Kristie Greco, spokeswoman for Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said a protester spit on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who is black.
Clyburn, who led fellow black students in integrating South Carolina's public facilities a half century ago, called the behavior "absolutely shocking."
"I heard people saying things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try to get off the back of the bus," Clyburn told reporters.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is gay, said protesters shouted "abusive things" to him as he walked from the Longworth building to the Rayburn building. "It's a mob mentality that doesn't work politically," he said.
Step toward communism?
Inside House office buildings, protesters made their views known by visiting lawmakers' offices and chanting at legislators walking by.
Among the demonstrators was Delane Stewart, 65, of Cookeville, Tenn., who had come with her husband, Jesse.
"You know what's coming next if this happens?" she said, referring to the health bill's passage. "They're going to come after gun control."
Retired businessman Randy Simpson, 67, of Seneca, S.C., also said the health bill was just a first step.

"My concerns are about the health care bill, and the direction it takes us is toward communism, quite frankly," he said.
At a daylong meeting of the House Rules Committee, members of both parties squeezed into a tiny hearing room traded accusations in a session that was often a shouting match.
"You all in the minority know what the American people think," Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., said loudly and mockingly at Republicans repeatedly saying the public overwhelmingly opposes Obama's health care bill.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said a tricky voting procedure Democrats had been contemplating "corrupts and prostitutes the system" and would "unleash a cultural war in this country."

Emotional peak
Obama's Capitol Hill visit was the day's emotional peak for House Democrats as he sought to energize them to finally approve the legislation.
He conceded that it could be tough for some to vote for the bill, but predicted it would end up being politically smart because once it becomes law people will realize they like its provisions like curbs on insurance companies.
"It is in your hands," the president said in what Clyburn later called the best speech he'd ever heard Obama make. "It is time to pass health care reform for America, and I am confident that you are going to do it tomorrow."

Fired up Obama Makes Final Health Pitch

 President Obama talks at George Mason University about Health Care Reform


Obama signs Job Bill into Law on March 18, 2010


Presidents visit to the Capital to talk to Democratic Party of the House

 President Obama visited Capitol Hill to meet with House Democrats. He talked about the state of health care in the United States.