All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Both supporters and opponents of health care reform continue to flood the airwaves with new ads, after already spending hundreds of millions on television ads so far this year.

The progressive group Health Care for America Now, in conjunction with the labor union the AFSCME, is launching ads in 20 House districts today to say "thank you" to members who voted in favor of the bill on Saturday.

The ad titled "About More," shown at left for Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.), says supporting the bill is "about more than just health care. It's about helping small businesses survive and growing the economy."

The labor-backed group Americans United for Change is also airing ads to thank an additional 11 members, including Republican Rep. Joseph Cao (La.).

These ads follow a set of negative ads launched Monday by the liberal group MoveOn.org, targeting Democrats who voted against the bill, including Rep. Mike Ross (Ark.).

"A courageous group of representatives stood tall, and voted to help lower costs and ensure access to affordable health care for millions," the ad says. "Our representative, Mike Ross, stood small... and voted no. Call and tell him how little you think of his vote."

Ads against the Democratic measure continue as well. The new conservative League of American Voters is airing an ad against it in seven states and on national cable, Politico reports.

Supporters of reform have outspent opponents so far this year, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. About $63 million has been spent on ads favoring Democrats' plans, while $52 million has been spent on ads opposed to them, the Washington Post reports. In total, more than $150 million has reportedly been spent this year on health care-related television ads.

President Obama hailed the Senate Finance Committee's vote in favor of health care reform on Tuesday, but as the pressure falls on Senate leadership to move forward with the reform process, liberal advocacy groups are insisting the moderate Finance Committee's bill is not good enough.

Labor unions are making good on their promise to withold support for any health care bill without a government insurance plan, or "public option." The AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America (CWA), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and about two dozen other unions are running a full page ad today blasting the Finance bill as "deeply flawed."

"A public health insurance plan option is essential to reform," reads the ad, which is running in the Washington Post, USA Today and newspapers catering to Capitol Hill. Besides calling for a public option, it insists health care reform must include a mandate for employers to contribute to the cost of care -- both proposals were left out of the Finance Committee bill.

The ad also attacks the bill for including a tax on insurers for costly health care plans. "A new tax on the middle class is unacceptable," it says.

Labor unions have put their alliance with Democrats to the test over the issue of health care. Last week, over 100 AFL-CIO leaders from 27 states traveled to Capitol Hill to lobby their congressmen. They delivered thousands of letters written by constituents in support of a bill that meets their demands.

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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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There has been a fierce battle this year over a piece of legislation known as the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill the potential to revitalize the U.S. labor movement. On one side of the debate is organized labor, which has seen its rolls shrink dramatically in the past 50 years. Just 7.6 percent of private-sector workers now belong to a union.

On the other side are business groups, who say the legislation will cripple businesses by increasing labor costs at the worst possible time. (Here's Hotsheet's primer on the bill.)

On Friday, the New York Times ran a front-page story declaring a key provision in the bill known as "card check" -- which would mandate that a union is formed when a majority of a company's employees sign cards saying they want one -- effectively dead. According to the Times, moderate Senate Democrats killed the provision during negotiations, arguing that it is undemocratic because it effectively eliminates secret ballots. Since Democrats need all sixty of their Senate votes to overcome a filibuster of the legislation, these moderates -- among them Arlen Specter, Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln -- are key to the bill's passage.

But representatives on both sides of the issue signaled in interviews with Hotsheet Friday that they are skeptical of the Times report. Josh Goldstein of American Rights at Work said in an interview that it is "premature to make any assumptions about what's going on in negotiations when the people who are in those negotiations are clearly stating that there is no deal."

"As far as I know, majority sign up is still on the table," he said. "And we're still fighting for it."

And Mark McKinnon of the Workforce Fairness Institute, a business group, told Hotsheet, "I don't think it's so much a compromise as it is a trial balloon."

But it's logical that a compromise had to come -- Democrats simply did not have the votes to push through the legislation without one. Indeed, from a pragmatic perspective, the deal outlined in the Times might actually be a victory for labor, since it may have saved a bill that still has a lot in it that would help unions, even without the card check provision. Someone like Specter, who announced his opposition to EFCA earlier this year, could plausibly change his mind and back it with the card check provision stripped out.

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Health care reform advocates are taking direct aim at health insurance companies. In a rally on Capitol Hill today, some high profile politicians joined thousands of union workers, doctors and other health care reform supporters in a united front against the industry and demanded a government-sponsored health insurance option.

"Harry's dead and Louise has got diabetes," Gerald McEntee, international president of the AFSCME, told the thousands at the rally, sponsored by the organization Health Care For America Now. He was referencing the infamous television commercial, funded by the Health Insurance Association of America, that had a hand in killing President Clinton's attempt at health care reform in the 1990's.

"Rush Limbaugh, Rick Scott, the insurance companies," McEntee continued. "They don't want to fix health care, they want to scare people."

As conservatives have attempted to paint President Obama's call for a government-sponsored health insurance plan, or "public option," as a government takeover, liberals have responded with attacks that the health insurance industry is the real culprit when it comes to interferences in health care.

"Whose choice is it who will be your doctor?" asked Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), a senior member of one of the committees responsible for Medicare. "Yours or your insurance company's?"

"Do we want to let the insurance companies run the show?" Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) yelled, getting a fevered "No!" in response from the crowd. "Do we want a strong public option?"

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President Obama had no public events over the weekend, but he was %t between the Washington Wizards and the Chicago Bulls on Friday night (picture above).

The White House also released two statements by Mr. Obama. In his regular weekly address, the president defended his budget blueprint which was released last Thursday and also said he was gearing up for a "fight" with lobbyists who oppose his plans.

"I know these steps won’t sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they’re gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: So am I," Mr. Obama said. "The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don’t. I work for the American people."

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This post was written by Igor Kossov.

Give legislators BlackBerrys and they suddenly have something to do during a presidential address other than of simply absorbing the president's words and looking dignified.

When they got to their seats last night for the president’s speech to a joint session of Congress, numerous members logged into their Twitter accounts and began offering live – and sometimes ill advised – updates.

Some lawmakers, such as Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), were straightforward, The New York Times reports, posting observations such as "Some Republican Senators are standing and clapping, including McCain."

Others used the medium to be snarky. As Politico pointed out, Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) posted this: "Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren't going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour."

And a few minutes later, this retraction: "Disregard that last Tweet from a staffer."

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On the thirty-sixth day of his presidency, President Obama delivered a primetime state-of-the-union-style address to a joint session of Congress, as is typical for a new president. The speech touched on many topics, including energy, education and health care, but the economic crisis and the financial bailout plans were front and center.

"While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Mr. Obama said.

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President Obama did not spend much of his speech tonight on Iraq, Afghanistan and the other challenges in foreign policy, but he did touch on them.

On Iraq, he said he would announce a new plan "leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war."

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President Obama will release his first full budget on Thursday, but he previewed parts of it during his speech tonight to Congress.

One of the main headlines from this section of the speech is his call to change the way the budget deficit is counted.

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