Stories

The push is on to dilute the climate change bills moving through Congress, and it’s not coming only from conservatives. Mother Jones’ Kate Sheppard reports today that 14 Senate Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, are urging their leadership to amend the proposal to grant more free polluting permits to the coal-burning utilities that emit [...]

Though it’s been little mentioned throughout the health reform debate, there’s a showdown brewing between House and Senate Democrats over the future of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, previously known as SCHIP.
House lawmakers have proposed to do away with the program at the end of 2013, transitioning millions of kids instead to private plans [...]

WASHINGTON — How effectively will the U.S. House health care bill cover children? Turns out, it depends on where they live. The $894 billion health reform bill working its way toward a House vote this week would repeal the Children’s Health Insurance Program, shifting some low-income kids into Medicaid and others into private plans that would both cost more and guarantee fewer benefits.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will consider legislation designed to overhaul the nation’s criminal justice system by creating a commission to examine that system and make reform recommendations to Congress. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), is designed to confront the problem of the nation’s [...]

The Senate finance panel just shot down an amendment to the committee’s health reform bill that would have required beneficiaries of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to show a photo ID in order to enroll. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the senior Republican on the Finance Committee and sponsor of the proposal, said the [...]

Arguing that the town hall forums of August have “changed the direction” of the health care reform debate, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said Thursday that he nonetheless expects a bill to pass before Christmas — though it “may be kind of miniature to what we’re talking about.”

Senate Democrats negotiating health care reforms with U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are finding out the hard way that the Iowa Republican, while boasting a reputation for reaching across the aisle, appears hard set on supporting GOP leadership above bipartisan compromise.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) didn’t succeed Thursday in his effort to amend the cash for clunkers program to disqualify those drivers earning more than $50,000 a year. (In fact, he ended up pulling his own amendment after discovering a drafting error that the Michigan delegation wouldn’t let him fix.)
Is that fair to someone of my status who [...]

Yesterday we mentioned that Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee and a fierce opponent of public health plans, had left the door open to including a public option in the sweeping health care reforms he’s currently drafting with panel Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).
Today, Grassley all but eliminated the possibility [...]

Among the greatest obstacles to sweeping health care reform this year (or any year) is the question of whether to include a government-sponsored insurance plan to compete with the multitudes of private coverage options. It’s a concept that then-Sen. Barack Obama supported on the campaign trail, and one he hasn’t ruled out from his new [...]