Federal Issues: Current & Recent (Also see archive below)
Compiled by Matthew Weinstein, Progressive Maryland
Baltimore Region and Federal Issues Director
PM, Allies Launch $40 Million Health Care for America Now Campaign for Quality, Affordable Health Care for All
Progressive Maryland President Elbridge James Speaks at the HCAN
launch July 8 at the State House in Annapolis. See the Ad, Flier, Release, and video below.
Events Held July 8 in Annapolis, 52 Other U.S. Cities
As health care costs and the number of Americans without medical coverage rises (40 million now are uninsured), more and more are demanding government action to ensure quality, affordable health care for all. In response to this growing crisis, on July 8 nearly 100 national and local groups representing labor, community organizations, doctors, nurses, women, small businesses, the faith community, people of color, netroots activists, and think tanks, joined together to launch the "Health Care for America Now" campaign.
Health Care for America Now (HCAN) offers a bold new vision for health care reform: Americans would keep the private insurance they have, join a new private insurance plan, or choose a public health insurance plan. The campaign also calls for a government role in setting and enforcing rules on the insurance industry which consistently charges unaffordable prices, sets high deductibles, denies coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and drops or limits coverage when people get sick. Private insurers would be forbidden from taking away or denying insurance or making it unaffordable due to an individual’s health status. HCAN will present the principles to members of Congress and other candidates for office, who will be asked to pledge their support.
This unprecedented coalition is led by ACORN, AFSCME, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, MoveOn, National Education Association, National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, SEIU, United Food and Commercial Workers, and USAction (PM’s national sponsoring organization). Also participating in the launch were average Marylanders whose encounters with our broken health care system have left them sicker and poorer, along with PM allies: Casa of Maryland, Planned Parenthood of Maryland, the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, the Maryland/DC Alliance for Retired Americans, and the Maryland State Teachers Association.
Health Care for America Now started with a financial commitment of at least $500,000 from each of the 13 steering committee members and a $10 million grant from NY-based Atlantic Philanthropies. Over the next five months, Health Care for America Now plans to spend $25 million on paid media and have 100 organizers in 45 states. Starting today, the campaign is spending an initial $1.5 million on national television, print, and online advertising and is sending out an email blast to more than 5 million people. Copies of the print and video ads are on the website, www.HealthCareForAmericaNow.org.
- $40 Million Health Care Campaign Launched in Maryland and Nationwide, HCAN release, July 8
- Small Businesses Struggle to Provide Coverage, Community Times, Westminster, July 16
- Labor, Liberal Groups Press for National Health Plan, Washington Examiner, July 9
- Taxes Could Be Next Frontier for Health Care: Latest Medicaid Expansion is the Foundation for Universal Coverage, The Gazette, July 11
- Residents Lobby for Universal Health Care, Carroll County Times, July 9
- Maryland Groups Join National Affordable Health Care Push, Washington Business Journal, July 8
- National Coverage of HCAN Launch Events in 6 other Major Publications, July 2008
Bush Legacy Tour Bus Visits Baltimore
The rolling museum exhibit stopped at City Hall July 10, reviewing the catastrophic record of the man who will be a strong contender for the title of "Worst President Ever." This summer, the bus is bringing its educational exhibits to cities across the U.S. documenting the ongoing disasters and tragic consequences of the last seven years. See photos below, as well as the Baltimore flier, and video and background at the Tour website.
Senate Approves $162 Billion Unrestricted War Funding, While Boosting Jobless and Veterans Benefits; Md. Delegation Split
June 27, the U.S. Senate Approved 92 to 6, $162 billion in unrestricted funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to continue the administration's current military course of action beyond the end of President Bush's term in exchange for his agreement to create a new higher-education benefit for veterans and their families, and to extend unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks. The bills also provide aid to Midwest communities affected by recent flooding and block six of seven Medicaid rules sought by the administration that would have reduced spending on health care for the poor. At the same time, the Senate failed to get a 60-vote veto-proof majority on a bill to postpone a 10.6 percent fee cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients, effective July 1. (See articles in the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun.)
The House had already approved the $257.5 billion emergency spending bill which included those measures, June 19 by 416 to 12, after initially voting against Bush's Iraq War Supplemental Funding May 15. If this dark cloud has a silver lining, it's the record number of members, 155, who voted to end all funding for the Iraq War, including half of Maryland's eight members: Representatives Cummings, Sarbanes, Van Hollen, and Edwards (See the roll call vote http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll431.xml). (See Fact Sheet and articles by the Washington Post and Associated Press)
In seven disastrous years, President Bush has driven the nation into a recession on top of an endless war in Iraq, which so far has cost over 4,000 American lives and over $500 billion. In May the national unemployment rate jumped to 5.5% from 5.0% in April, the largest spike in unemployment in a single month in over two decades. Maryland's jobless rate is now 3.7%. the new bill will:
- Help about 50,000 unemployed workers in Maryland
- Cost taxpayers nothing, because the money comes from federal unemployment insurance trust funds, which have more than enough reserves to cover the cost
- Be one of the most cost-effective and fastest ways to stimulate the economy, generating $1.64 in new economic demand for every $1 spent on unemployment benefits, according to the Congressional Budget Office
PM, Vets Plant Forget-Me-Nots as Congress
Votes on War Funding likely to Pass $3 Trillion
Memorial Day in Baltimore, PM joined veterans groups to honor U.S. troops, living and deceased, by planting forget-me-not flowers under the U.S. flag waving on Federal Hill overlooking the Inner Harbor. Attendees prayed and speakers urged that America bring its troops in Iraq home safely and soon, and keep its promise to honor and take care of them after they return. (Continued below)
In the top photo above, Rose Forrest, an Iraq War veteran with VoteVets.org, who resides in Anne Arundel County, tells attendees, "Last night I watched stories about the economy and the election, both important issues, but when we have spent $500 billion and lost over 4,000 American soldiers, Iraq should be the headline." Moreover, Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning Columbia University economist, estimates the total cost of the war will ultimately exceed $3 trillion. Also in the top photo, Vietnam-era veteran, Jim Baldridge listens and waves the flag of Veterans for Peace.
In the center-left photo, Rabbi Geoff Basik offers a blessing for veterans as well as participants who then planted the flowers (bottom photo) as three TV camera crews filmed the event. The U.S. House voted May 15 and the Senate May 22 on whether to continue the Iraq War and whether to provide full educational benefits to returning veterans, as in past wars.
- See PM's news release for how Maryland's delegation voted
- See WBAL-TV report & videos: VoteVets' Rose Forrest speaking & full ceremony
- Bearing No Burden: Republicans Hold Line Against Paying Any Cost of War, Washington Post Editorial, May 27
- Iraq Spending Ignored Rules, Pentagon Says, NY Times, May 23
- War Funding Bill Stalls in House: 131 Republicans Vote 'Present,' Washington Post, May 16
- For more background or to contact Congress visit VoteVets.org
House Stands Up to Bush on War Funding and Policies,
Approves New G.I. Bill, as 131 Republicans Vote 'Present'
A $162.5 billion proposal to continue funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was defeated in the U.S. House May 15, leaving the House to pass a measure that demands troop withdrawals, bans torture and expands education benefits for returning veterans. The surprise vote against the measure resulted from opposition by 131 angry Republicans who voted "present" in protest, in addition to antiwar Democrats.
House leaders had broken the war funding bill into three separate measures. The first, to continue funding combat operations, needed Republican votes to pass over the objection of antiwar Democrats. The second would impose strict Iraq-related policy measures strongly opposed by President Bush, and the third would fund domestic priorities, including a new G.I. Bill and levees around New Orleans.
Alan Charney, program director of USAction, a national ally of Progressive Maryland, observed, "For the first time ever, the U.S. House has now taken decisive action to bring this war to a close."
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) called on the House to use the $162.5 billion in war funds for domestic priorities and stated, "It is time now for Americans to be heard and for this Congress to move forward with the safe redeployment of our troops."
