Archive for the 'House' Category

Sales 101 – A primer for the Salesman in Chief

By mw | Related entries in Barack, Democrats, Health Care, House, Republicans, Senate

If I were to guess what the American people are looking to buy, it would be something that can be articulated pretty simply and emerges from some basic American values of fairness and common sense. I’d say it is really about these three things:

1. Every American gets a baseline level of solid health care. No one is left behind.
2. No American need be at risk of financial ruin or bankruptcy because they get sick.
3. The program is manageable and fiscally responsible. Americans want to feel reasonably certain we won’t see mushrooming costs like with Medicare and the prescription drug plan.

That’s it, Mr. President. We don’t need “Free! Free! Free! Preventive Care!” or a set of Ginsu steak knives to sweeten the deal. Put together a package that does these three things, pitch them clearly and simply, and you’ll close the sale.

August 14th, 2009 | Permalink| 10 Comments »

Republican Congressman Takes On Birthers…Sort Of

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, House, Obama, Republicans, Video

You have to feel for Rep. Mike Castle. Because dealing with loons like this has to make him question what’s going on with the Republican base. Especially when everybody starts clapping for the birther and booing Castle when he says Obama is a citizen.
And then she convinces everybody and pledge allegiance to the flag!
Seriously…watch it…

When [...]

July 20th, 2009 | Permalink| 18 Comments »

House Puts Forward Unified Health Care Plan

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Health Care, House

The big story here is that the House put forward a single bill from three separate committees with competing interests. That’s significant since this was one of the biggest problems in 1994…each committee put forward their own bills and chaos ensued.
Also, the estimates says it’ll eventually cover 97% of folks who aren’t covered already, and [...]

July 15th, 2009 | Permalink| 8 Comments »

Pelosi: No To Health Care Co-Ops

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Democrats, Health Care, House, Pelosi, Republicans, Senate

House Dems are bound and determined to make a public option their first priority, and I can understand why. This has been a long time coming and they’re convinced that only the federal government can compete with private industry.
But what she’s missing is the idea that Kent Conrad brought up…which is the public option may [...]

June 12th, 2009 | Permalink| 23 Comments »

Pelosi Vulnerable to a Coup?

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Democrats, House, Pelosi

Has the controversy surrounding Nancy Pelosi’s statements on torture made the Speaker vulnerable to a coup? John Feehery of Politico thinks so.
Feehery compares Pelosi to Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott, two former leaders in congress whose declining popularity intersected with controversial statements and resulted in political ouster. Pelosi is already a toxic name for Blue [...]

May 18th, 2009 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

House Passes Measure to Tax Bonuses

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Bailouts, House

Given all the press the AIG bonuses have garnered, you’d think our only economic problem was a few nearsighted/greedy execs at one insurance firm. Today, the House took AIG backlash to the next level by passing a bill which would levy heavy taxes on such bonuses. Specifically:
The bill would levy a 90 percent tax on [...]

March 19th, 2009 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

“Stimulus plan” still needs more stimulus

By John Burke | Related entries in Economic recovery, Fiscal stimulus, House, Obama, Senate

I strongly support a massive fiscal stimulus to restore an atmosphere of confidence, avert a continued, severe downward spiral, and give the economy a big enough jolt to jump start a recovery.
But the $819 billion plan (really a $1.2 trillion plan including interest on the debt) adopted by the House of Representatives yesterday isn’t it. A large [...]

January 30th, 2009 | Permalink| 6 Comments »