More reps join Hr676

Seven More Reps Sign On to HR 676; House Holds Single Payer Hearing

Since May 20 seven more US Representatives have signed on to HR 676,
national single payer health care sponsored by Congressman John Conyers
(D-MI), bringing the total, including Conyers, to 83. The full list is
here: http://unionsforsinglepayer.org/ Click on 111th Congress

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H.R.676
Title: To provide for comprehensive health insurance coverage for all United States residents, improved health care delivery, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] (introduced 1/26/2009) Cosponsors (83)
Latest Major Action: 1/26/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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COSPONSORS(83), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]: (Sort: by date)

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] - 2/11/2009 Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 1/26/2009
Rep Becerra, Xavier [CA-31] - 3/17/2009 Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] - 1/26/2009
Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. [GA-2] - 2/23/2009 Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] - 2/11/2009
Rep Brown, Corrine [FL-3] - 3/3/2009 Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8] - 2/23/2009
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] - 4/21/2009 Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] - 1/26/2009
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 1/26/2009 Rep Cleaver, Emanuel [MO-5] - 2/23/2009
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 1/26/2009 Rep Costello, Jerry F. [IL-12] - 2/3/2009
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] - 2/23/2009 Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] - 1/26/2009
Rep Delahunt, William D. [MA-10] - 1/26/2009 Rep Dicks, Norman D. [WA-6] - 6/15/2009
Rep Doyle, Michael F. [PA-14] - 1/26/2009 Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4] - 1/26/2009
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] - 1/26/2009 Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 1/26/2009
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] - 1/26/2009 Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2] - 2/11/2009
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] - 2/11/2009 Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] - 1/28/2009
Rep Fudge, Marcia L. [OH-11] - 6/2/2009 Rep Green, Al [TX-9] - 2/23/2009
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] - 1/26/2009 Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4] - 1/26/2009
Rep Hare, Phil [IL-17] - 6/11/2009 Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23] - 2/23/2009
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] - 1/26/2009 Rep Hirono, Mazie K. [HI-2] - 2/23/2009
Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] - 6/12/2009 Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] - 2/11/2009
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2] - 3/5/2009 Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] - 1/26/2009
Rep Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [GA-4] - 2/3/2009 Rep Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9] - 1/26/2009
Rep Kennedy, Patrick J. [RI-1] - 2/23/2009 Rep Kildee, Dale E. [MI-5] - 2/23/2009
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] - 1/26/2009 Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] - 1/26/2009
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] - 1/26/2009 Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 3/17/2009
Rep Loebsack, David [IA-2] - 3/24/2009 Rep Lofgren, Zoe [CA-16] - 5/20/2009
Rep Lujan, Ben Ray [NM-3] - 3/24/2009 Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14] - 2/23/2009
Rep Markey, Edward J. [MA-7] - 6/12/2009 Rep Massa, Eric J. J. [NY-29] - 1/26/2009
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] - 1/26/2009 Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 3/3/2009
Rep Meek, Kendrick B. [FL-17] - 3/24/2009 Rep Meeks, Gregory W. [NY-6] - 1/26/2009
Rep Miller, George [CA-7] - 3/19/2009 Rep Moore, Gwen [WI-4] - 2/11/2009
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] - 1/26/2009 Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38] - 1/26/2009
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] - 5/20/2009 Rep Olver, John W. [MA-1] - 1/26/2009
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] - 3/19/2009 Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] - 3/3/2009
Rep Pingree, Chellie [ME-1] - 1/26/2009 Rep Polis, Jared [CO-2] - 1/28/2009
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34] - 3/30/2009 Rep Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1] - 2/23/2009
Rep Ryan, Tim [OH-17] - 3/5/2009 Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] - 2/23/2009
Rep Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" [VA-3] - 2/23/2009 Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] - 6/9/2009
Rep Thompson, Bennie G. [MS-2] - 2/23/2009 Rep Tierney, John F. [MA-6] - 1/28/2009
Rep Tonko, Paul D. [NY-21] - 1/26/2009 Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] - 3/31/2009
Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY-12] - 2/23/2009 Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] - 3/19/2009
Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33] - 1/26/2009 Rep Welch, Peter [VT] - 2/23/2009
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 2/11/2009 Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] - 1/26/2009
Rep Yarmuth, John A. [KY-3] - 2/23/2009

more congressional testimony

This is another two vids of health-labor committee single payer hearings. Well worth watching:

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M Moore's new movie

This is a preview of M Moore's new movie coming out in October. It is a novel approach and one worthy of watching. Info from press today is that in some theatres, folks put money in the cans as the ushers came down the aisle. So much the critical thinking ability of some folks.

House labor and health committee hears from Single Payer Healthcare folks

Yesterday, the House committee on Labor and Health heard from single payer folks and folks whom do not agree with them. Here is some of the testimony:

Full committee meeting vidio on C-span and is one hour and 45 minutes. Odd that the national media said almost nothing about this committee meeting and its significance.

Of course, many pundits have proclaimed "single-payer" dead in the past. Single-payer folks were of course excluded from most of the Obama healthcare summits and most know single-payer folks were excourted from the Senate in handcuffs last month.

Move On Org and healthcare

This is a recient MoveOn.org short. I find it interesting.

Sad, these folks do not support single payer healthcare and are "Obama" folks.

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Obama open to taxing benefits

Obama, in his greatness is going to help with our overflowing wallets. He is open to taxing our meager healthcare benefits.

Yes, instead of considering single payer options like HR676; the idea to tax folks on healthcare benefits to pad the pockets of healthcare industry is gaining ground.

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Obama said to be open to taxing health benefits
June 02, 2009 8:15 PM EDT
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is leaving the door open to taxing health care benefits, something he campaigned hard against while running for president, according to senators who met with him Tuesday.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., raised the issue with Obama during a private meeting with the president and other Democratic senators and later reported the president's position: "It's on the table. It's an option."

The White House said later that Obama did not want to go that route.
"The president made it clear during the campaign that he has serious concerns about taxing health care benefits," Obama spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a statement. "He stated again his belief that health reform can't wait another year, and that while all options should be considered, those options should include the revenue proposals that he included in his budget."
The federal government would reap about $250 billion a year if it treated health care benefits given to employees like wages and taxed them.

Baucus and others are eyeing that money as they search for ways to pay for a costly health care overhaul that would extend coverage to 50 million Americans who are now uninsured. That could cost some $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

The president adamantly opposed health benefit taxes during the campaign, arguing they would undermine job-based coverage, and he criticized Republican presidential rival John McCain for proposing a sweeping version of the same basic idea. But since taking office he and members of his administration have indicated openness to almost all suggestions from Congress on health care, including taxing benefits.

Obama has made some suggestions of his own for paying for a health care overhaul, including cuts to Medicare and limiting tax deductions wealthy people can take, but they've run into opposition from Congress. And, they only add up to about $630 billion over 10 years.

Some experts think limiting the tax exclusion for health benefits is the only way to get the necessary money to pay for a sweeping health care overhaul.

But there's opposition from organized labor and from many Democrats, including House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who said recently there was "no way" he would support the approach.

Baucus wants to look at limiting - but not entirely eliminating - the tax-free status of employer-provided health benefits.

"It was not in our plan, it was not in our budget," White House budget director Peter Orszag said earlier Tuesday. "We are saying we want the legislative process to play out, and that's all we have to say on that right now."

Obama is leaving the details of crafting a health care bill to Congress and used Tuesday's meeting to urge senators to swift action.

"This window between now and the August recess I think is going to be the make-or-break period," Obama said before the meeting was closed to reporters. "This is the time where we've got to get this running."

Baucus' Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee, chaired by the more liberal Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., are both producing sweeping health bills, with some differences emerging between the two committees.

At their weekly luncheon Tuesday, Senate Democrats got a first look at Kennedy's proposals, which would include a new public insurance plan to compete with private providers. The Finance Committee is also considering a public plan though some options being reviewed are more limited in scope than Kennedy's.

Obama brought Democrats from both committees to Tuesday's meeting, urging them to get a single bill through the Senate by early August despite their differences, and telling them they might not all get everything they want, according to senators who attended. Kennedy, who's been diagnosed with brain cancer, did not attend.
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Associated Press writers Philip Elliott and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.

(note, this is a copyrighted story and I shall withdraw if objections made)

http://my.earthlink.net/article/pol?guid=20090602/4a24a3c0_3ca6_1552620090602-410695111

news on the Employee Free Choice front

This is from the Hill: http://thehill.com/business--lobby/card-check-compromise-foes-to-meet-feinstein-2009-05-30.html

Note: this version is a watered down version of the original EFCA. Yes, it will help labor; but it is not the big victory labor wished if it passes. Although details are scant, several items will be stripped from this bill. Manditary arbitration is one.

Note in the article "centerist democrats worried about angering business". Yes, our buddies the dems are yet undermining labor once again. What else is new in the last 50 years.
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'Card-check' compromise foes to meet Feinstein

By Kevin Bogardus

Posted: 05/30/09 03:25 PM [ET]
Business leaders are scheduled to meet next week with a prominent Democratic senator who has proposed a compromise on a contentious union bill that industry has heavily lobbied against

.According to a schedule obtained by The Hill, executives are visiting Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) next Wednesday as part of a lobbying push against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), legislation that would make union organizing much easier if passed. Business leaders from 12 different states, organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are flying into Washington next week to lobby against the bill.

Feinstein has emerged as a key voice on the legislation. At first, her support for EFCA wavered since she is not a co-sponsor of the bill this Congress, unlike two years ago when she also voted for cloture on the bill. But now, Feinstein has floated a compromise for one of the bill’s provisions to help garner support from Senate centrists who are worried about angering the business community by voting for the bill.

EFCA is often called “card-check” because one of its provisions would allow workers to form unions not by secret ballot elections called for by management but by a majority of employees signing petition cards stating their intention to organize.

Feinstein’s compromise would replace that provision with a requirement that union elections be decided by mail-in ballots with the design that workers, not employers, would have a choice on when to form a union while their privacy would be protected from labor organizers.

Along with Feinstein, business leaders are also scheduled to meet with Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) — centrists who could decide the fate of EFCA. They both co-sponsored the bill last Congress but Bayh is not doing so this year.Union officials have been somewhat open to changes in the bill but business groups have lobbied against any compromise, saying the legislation would hurt industry revenue by leading to more strikes and work stoppages.

They have hammered Feinstein’s proposal because they believe it would still lead to intimidation of workers by union organizers.Labor groups disagree and campaigned extensively for the bill last election.

Unions believe the legislation will boost the economy by allowing workers to collectively bargain for better wages and benefits, increasing their spending power.Introduced in both the House and the Senate in March, the bill later lost momentum as Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, then a Republican, announced his opposition to the bill.

But with his recent party switch, Specter has been involved in negotiations on an EFCA compromise, giving new hope to union leaders.They will still have to win over centrists who have shied away from the bill. Support will be needed from senators like Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) — who has come out against the bill — if it is to pass this year.
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