All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

The president of a major labor union on Thursday sent a letter to insurance commissioners in a handful of states, asking them to investigate whether consumers' health insurance premiums have risen as a result of anti-reform lobbying expenditures.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka also asked the commissioners to review health insurance companies' lobbying expenditures before approving rate increases. He sent the letter to commissioners in Connecticut, Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania, where the regulators must approve any rate changes.

"We believe that health insurance providers' lobbying expenditures have led to excessive rate hikes," Trumka wrote.

He noted that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield requested a rate increase of 30 percent in Connecticut while spending more than $9.5 million on lobbying efforts this year. Trumka also called for an investigation into UnitedHealthcare and Anthem/WellPoint for forcing employees to attend meetings about helping their employers oppose pending health insurance reform legislation.

The letter is the latest move from labor unions and other pro-health reform groups that are targeting insurance companies, claiming the industry reaps excessive profits from undue influence in Washington and a lack of competition in the marketplace.

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Although President Obama spoke at the AFL-CIO's annual Labor Day picnic — "America's biggest," the president said — and was broadcast on the cable news channels, some of his remarks might have directed at one senator.

While Mr. Obama is expected to address a joint session of Congress Wednesday to lay out his plan to reform the nation's health-care system, the president said Monday he hoped for "a marketplace" for health insurance that would "continue to hold down costs."

"I continue to believe that a public option within that basket of insurance choices will help," Mr. Obama said.

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One day after announcing the resignation of his adviser on green jobs, President Obama will introduce his senior adviser on manufacturing.

CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reports that Ron Bloom has traveled with Mr. Obama for his introduction at a manufacturing-friendly audience — the AFL-CIO's annual Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati.

Bloom isn't a stranger to unions, and this won't be his first position in Washington. Knoller reports that Bloom will continue to serve as a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's Auto Industry Task Force. Previously, Bloom served as a legal adviser to the president of the United Steelworkers Union.

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Labor leaders drew a line in the sand today, saying a health care reform bill must include three specific elements -- including a government-sponsored health insurance plan, or "public option" -- in order to win their support.

The AFL-CIO outlined its demands for both health care and labor law reforms at a meeting today at which it released a new survey of young workers. The data backs up its progressive agenda and attempts to give it a sense of urgency.

The "Young Workers: A Lost Decade" poll, conducted in July of this year, found that 31 percent of workers under 35 report being uninsured, up from 24 percent 10 years ago. Counter to arguments that young people do not want to pay for insurance, 79 percent of the uninsured said they do not have coverage because they cannot afford it or their employer does not offer it.

"Every day people are drowning from the cost of health care," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.

Richard Trumka, who will replace Sweeney as president in a couple of weeks, said there are "three absolute musts" for health care: the public option, an employer mandate, and no taxes on employer-provided health care.

"That means we won't support the bill if it doesn't have the public option in it," Trumka said.

He alluded to his earlier assertion that lawmakers will pay a political price if they do not support the public option.

"We're going to tell our members the truth, who stood with them," he said.

The survey released today painted a picture of the economic hardship young workers are facing, which the labor leaders said was largely the result of rising health care costs.

The poll found 34 percent of young workers live with their parents for financial reasons, while just 31 percent say they make enough money to cover their bills and put some money aside— a 22 percent drop from 1999, when labor's last "young workers" survey was conducted.

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President Obama will speak at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh next month, the White House announced today, on a date that could prove to be pivotal in the health care debate.

The president will address the labor union on Sept. 15, the date on which Senate Democrats may decide to abandon efforts at bipartisanship. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has been working with a few members of the Senate Finance Committee to shape a compromise bill, but he said he would press forward without GOP support by that date.

The AFL-CIO's up-and-coming president reportedly said today that Democrats must support a government-run health insurance plan, or "public option," with or without Republican votes.

"I think they need to understand that that you can have a bill that guarantees quality, affordable health care for every American, or you can have a bill the Republicans will vote for," Richard Trumka, currently the AFL-CIO's secretary-treasurer, said today, according to the Associated Press. "But you can't have both."

Trumka, who is positioned to become the next AFL-CIO president, reportedly repeated his assertion that the AFL-CIO will pull its support for Democrats who do not advocate for a public option.

Mr. Obama, who has said that a public option is not essential for health care reform, benefitted from the endorsement of labor unions in the 2008 presidential election.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

Two of the country’s major labor union coalitions – the AFL-CIO and Change To Win have united to advocate for a major overhaul in immigration legislation which would help President Obama when he revisits the contentious issue this year.

Both groups endorse allowing illegal immigrants already in the country legal status and push against any new program for employers to bring in temporary workers.

"The labor movement will work together to make sure that the White House as well as Congress understand that we speak about immigration reform with one voice," AFL-CIO Chief John Sweeney told the New York Times.

"This morning John Sweeney and [Change To Win chief] Joe Hansen announced the important joint unity" which will provide a "framework for immigration reform," Ester Lopez of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) added on a conference call with reporters this afternoon.

She explained that the "essential elements" of the framework includes a commission to access the flow of workers based on labor market shortages, a call for a worker verification system that protects workers, proposes the adjustment of status legalization of the 11 million undocumented workers and calls for an improvement but no expansion of temporary work force.

Ana Avendano, the Director Immigrant Worker Program of the AFL-CIO, said that "unity" between the groups is the key to legislative change.

She said "we have found in the past that division has not helped any of us" and rather it has "fueled immigrant hatred."

"Today is a brand new day," Avendano added.

She also touted Mr. Obama's prior experience as a community organizer and said she feels Mr. Obama will work with the unions rather than "against" as she said former President George W. Bush did.

Change To Win is a coalition of seven major unions and represents approximately six million workers. A mission statement on immigration from the union states that, "the fight for fair treatment and legal protection for immigrant workers in this country is inextricably linked to the fight for better wages, benefits, and working conditions for all workers. We will not allow workers to be pitted one against the other because of their national origin. Everything labor has ever won came by building a grassroots movement and strong community alliances."

Meanwhile the AFL-CIO claims to represent eleven million workers made up from fifty-six organizations. The union's immigration policy states that while the group supports immigrant workers, "it is increasingly clear that if the United States is to have an immigration system that really works, it must be simultaneously orderly, responsible and fair."

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Vice President Joe Biden gave a warm and well-received speech to the AFL-CIO Executive Council at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida today.

“And old joke…you go home with them that brung you to the dance,” the vice president said, according to remarks put out by the White House. “Well, you all brought me to the dance a long time ago. And it's time we start dancing, man. It's time we start dancing.”

Biden noted that the National Labor Relations Act “explicitly says this nation's policy is to encourage -- encourage -- collective bargaining, encourage unions.”

He said he backed so-called card-check legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize. Many business groups oppose the legislation.

The vice president added that “what is news here is you now have an American president and vice president, and the speaker of the House and the majority leader who agree with everything [AFL-CIO President] John Sweeney (left) said.”

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