Monday, March 1, 2010
Tea Partiers on 'Alert' as Democrats Lay Groundwork for Health Care Passage
From: FoxNews.com
Democrats appear to be gambling that a perceived lull in Tea Party activism, combined with an eight-month window to the November midterm election, is going to buy them enough time to muster the simple majorities they need in the Senate and House to give President Obama at least partial victory in his push to remake the nation's health care system.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Obama will have a proposal on the table "in a matter of days."
"Time is up," she said in an interview Sunday.
But conservative activists, particularly the Tea Party groups, are gearing up for a fight to the last vote, even if political judgment day may seem far off.
"Health care is right now our first priority because we know ... it's so close to passing, and if we look away for one second, it will," said Shelby Blakely, a leader with Tea Party Patriots and executive director of its media arm, New Patriot Journal.
The all-fronts push for health care reform by top Democrats in Washington is a sharp turnaround from late January, when President Obama declared in his State of the Union address that "jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010" while burying the section on health care. But Blakely argued that Obama was "intentionally" playing down the issue to make the debate less toxic.
"I think they created the lull on purpose," she said. "Just because it's not front-and-center in the news cycle does not mean it's gone away."
The third Tea Party Express tour -- a road show of anti-tax, anti-spending activists -- is set to start March 27 in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home turf of Nevada and wend its way toward Washington, holding rallies at dozens of stops along the way. More than 1,000 Tea Party rallies are planned nationwide for the April 15 tax day demonstration. Both the tour and the tax day rallies are expected to focus heavily on health care reform.
Blakely said April 15 is "the next big thing" in the health care reform battle, but that the Tea Party groups will be watching the debate carefully, ready to jump in with carefully applied pressure to key lawmakers.
Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell said the group, and the 400,000 people on its mailing list, will be on a "high degree of alert" in the coming weeks.
Pelosi, in an interview Sunday with ABC's "This Week," appeared to be trying to mollify the Tea Party movement by appealing to its anti-establishment instincts.
"We share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C.," she said, adding that the Republican Party was "hijacking the good intentions" of those in the movement who "share some of our concerns" about special interests.
While Tea Party groups say they're no fans of a number of Republicans in Congress, it's highly unlikely they'd see a friend in the Democratic leadership team either.
Republicans say that if Democrats go through with plans to pass the health care reform bill without major revisions, they can kiss their majority goodbye.
"It is my belief that the Democrats will lose their majority in November if they ram this thing through without any bipartisan support," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., told Fox News on Monday.
But top Democrats are signaling that that may be the price to pay for a historic piece of legislation that could fundamentally reshape the health care industry.
Asked Sunday what she says to members afraid of losing their seats in November, Pelosi said, "We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress. We're here to do the job for the American people."
Obama concluded his daylong White House summit on health care reform Thursday by telling Republicans that his party may have to "go ahead and make some decisions," and if so, "then, that's what elections are for."
Article Weblink:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/01/tea-partiers-alert-democrats-lay-groundwork-health-care-passage/
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Obama will have a proposal on the table "in a matter of days."
"Time is up," she said in an interview Sunday.
But conservative activists, particularly the Tea Party groups, are gearing up for a fight to the last vote, even if political judgment day may seem far off.
"Health care is right now our first priority because we know ... it's so close to passing, and if we look away for one second, it will," said Shelby Blakely, a leader with Tea Party Patriots and executive director of its media arm, New Patriot Journal.
The all-fronts push for health care reform by top Democrats in Washington is a sharp turnaround from late January, when President Obama declared in his State of the Union address that "jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010" while burying the section on health care. But Blakely argued that Obama was "intentionally" playing down the issue to make the debate less toxic.
"I think they created the lull on purpose," she said. "Just because it's not front-and-center in the news cycle does not mean it's gone away."
The third Tea Party Express tour -- a road show of anti-tax, anti-spending activists -- is set to start March 27 in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home turf of Nevada and wend its way toward Washington, holding rallies at dozens of stops along the way. More than 1,000 Tea Party rallies are planned nationwide for the April 15 tax day demonstration. Both the tour and the tax day rallies are expected to focus heavily on health care reform.
Blakely said April 15 is "the next big thing" in the health care reform battle, but that the Tea Party groups will be watching the debate carefully, ready to jump in with carefully applied pressure to key lawmakers.
Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell said the group, and the 400,000 people on its mailing list, will be on a "high degree of alert" in the coming weeks.
Pelosi, in an interview Sunday with ABC's "This Week," appeared to be trying to mollify the Tea Party movement by appealing to its anti-establishment instincts.
"We share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C.," she said, adding that the Republican Party was "hijacking the good intentions" of those in the movement who "share some of our concerns" about special interests.
While Tea Party groups say they're no fans of a number of Republicans in Congress, it's highly unlikely they'd see a friend in the Democratic leadership team either.
Republicans say that if Democrats go through with plans to pass the health care reform bill without major revisions, they can kiss their majority goodbye.
"It is my belief that the Democrats will lose their majority in November if they ram this thing through without any bipartisan support," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., told Fox News on Monday.
But top Democrats are signaling that that may be the price to pay for a historic piece of legislation that could fundamentally reshape the health care industry.
Asked Sunday what she says to members afraid of losing their seats in November, Pelosi said, "We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress. We're here to do the job for the American people."
Obama concluded his daylong White House summit on health care reform Thursday by telling Republicans that his party may have to "go ahead and make some decisions," and if so, "then, that's what elections are for."
Article Weblink:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/01/tea-partiers-alert-democrats-lay-groundwork-health-care-passage/
CRIST SAYS HE WOULD NOT SCRAP DEMOCRAT HEALTH CARE REFORM
Miami, FL – U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio today issued the following statement in light of Governor Charlie Crist’s declared position that he would not scrap the current Democrat health care reform, as reported by the Palm Beach Post (article below):“Once again, Charlie Crist has shown why Floridians can't trust him to go to Washington and stand up to the misguided agenda of President Obama and Congressional Democrats. At a time when Americans are pushing back against the government takeover of health care and calling for a complete reset to this flawed bill, Charlie Crist says he would not scrap it. Even more problematic, he claims he would approach health care in the same way he handled the stimulus. Floridians know all too well the soaring debt and expansion of government that resulted from that misguided approach.
“Make no mistake, the current health care proposal is a deeply flawed plan that should be scrapped entirely in favor of a truly bipartisan approach that won't sacrifice the things that have made our health system the best in the world."
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Palm Beach Post
http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/02/crist-says-he-would-not-scrap-dem-health-care-reform-cant-identify-part-worth-keeping/
By Michael C. Bender
Saturday, 2/27/2010
Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, told The Palm Beach Post editorial board on Friday that, unlike many Republicans in Washington, he didn’t think President Obama should scrap his health care reform proposal:
“There may be parts of it that you don’t have to scrap. There are three parts of it that I would like to see scrapped: It would raise taxes significantly, it would raise rates significantly and it would take half-a-trillion dollars out of Medicare.
“I think the real issue here, as it relates to health care, is that people want it to not cost so much and people want to have access to it. I think there is a consensus of agreement that the health care that is delivered in America is good. But it’s not easy to get it and it’s too expensive when you do get it.”
Asked if there were any parts of the bill he liked, Crist said:
“I don’t think a whole lot. Watching the discussion yesterday (Thursday) you get a chance to sort of see more of it be ferreted out. You know, I’m the kind of guy … I’m pragmatic. The stimulus is a great example. We needed the money. Every other Republican governor took it, too. I was just maybe a little more honest and straight forward about it. Well, shame on me for being honest. But, you know, as it relates to health care, if there are good ideas, I’m willing to look at them. And I would take that same approach to any issue in Washington.”
Asked again if there were any parts he liked he said:
“Not at present. No.”
Not one good idea?
“There may be. There may be. You know, I’m pretty focused on Florida right now. I mean, after the session I’ll be more focused on the issues in Washington. But I’ve got to do my first job first.”
A Sit Down With Osceola County Commissioner Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr.
By: Jeremy Fetzer (2/25/2010, 1:45 p.m.)After his first year in office, newly elected County Commissioner Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr. understands the importance of hard decision making to address critical issues facing Osceola County comes at a price.
Fred Hawkins Jr. was elected as Osceola Commissioner District 5 in 2008 and has had a tough first year facing major policy decision regarding the county budget, the increase of county millage rates and fire fees, and the controversial vote by the Florida State legislature regarding the commuter rail system known as SunRail.
Through all these tough decisions, Chairman Hawkins realizes his conservative and free market principles which he holds dearly to his heart will help Osceola County find real, long term solutions to job creation here locally and will be able to limit the tax burdens on each family in the county.
Chairman Hawkins’ top priority for 2010 is not to increase taxes, focusing on economic development to create long term employment opportunity for county residents, and focusing on creating a smaller/smarter local government.
During our conversation I asked Chairman Hawkins about the unanimous vote to increase millage rates and fire fees which he stated, “He did not feel if he voted against the increase it would have changed the outcome but he understands it was the wrong solution and he still gets heartburn over it”. He went on to say he is not going to vote on a fire fee increase the next time around until the fire budget has been thoroughly reviewed and all options have been put on the table first. He stated he would rather cut back services than increase the financial burdens on families during these hard economic times.
As for the controversial SunRail legislation which Osceola County residents have a $121 million dollar bill, he stated while the County Board of Commissioners supports mass transit the County cost for the system is unaffordable and voted against the final resolution because of the price tag. While the Florida Department of Transportation is working with the county to lower some of the cost, Chairman Hawkins still believes the county just can’t afford the SunRail system at this time.
Chairman Hawkins went on to say, “If it is in the yellow pages, government should not be doing it!” He believes the government’s role is to provide the basic services to the community which they cannot provide for themselves and doesn’t mind if people say he is to the right wing Commissioner…
When looking back at the first year in office I asked Chairman Hawkins what inspired him to run for office? He stated, “His 6 year old daughter”. He said when he looks around Osceola County and thinks about every father’s dream of having their child go to the best college, get the best degree, and have the opportunity to fulfill the American dream he believed those opportunities where not available here in Osceola County. He said his goal and reason for going into public service is to rebuild the trust with the citizens of Osceola County and to provide an opportunity for economic development so one day his and everyone’s children can come home to Osceola County to build the American dream.
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