TPMDC Ways and Means Committee
Medicare
GOP Failing To Find Dem Cover For Privatizing Medicare
Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY)
Republicans have a message on their plan to privatize Medicare: It's bipartisan. Democrats have a counter-message: Hell no, it's not.
As the GOP works to portray Rep. Paul Ryan's blueprint for Medicare as bipartisan, Democrats are working equally hard to keep their fingerprints off it. Dem operatives see the proposal -- which in 10 years would begin phasing out the existing program and replacing it with a subsidized exchange where seniors can shop for plans -- as a huge opportunity in the elections. House Republicans passed the plan last week without a single Democratic vote.
Now, Republicans are pushing to box in Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, as a former supporter of the "premium support" concept.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Budget, DCCC, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, MEK, Medicare, Medicare Privatization, Paul Ryan, Ron Wyden, Steve Israel, Ways and Means Committee
Super Committee
Super Committee GOP Unconvinced By CBO Chief On Jobs, Austerity
Rep Dave Camp (R-MI) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
So did CBO Director Doug Elmendorf make any headway convincing Super Committee Republicans that a). the economy needs a short term boost of near term spending and tax cuts, and b). that the country shouldn't dive headlong, and unnecessarily, into austerity?
If Dave Camp is any indication, the answer is no.
The Michigan Republican, and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee said he disagreed with Elmendorf's cautionary testimony.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: CBO, Congressional Budget Office, Dave Camp, Doug Elmendorf, Jobs, Spending, Stimulus, Super Committee, Tax Cuts, Unemployment, Ways and Means Committee
Medicare
Crucial GOP Chair Delivers Blow To Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan
Rep Dave Camp (R-MI) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
Already flagging in the polls and generating heat at town halls, the GOP's Medicare plan may already be kaput after a key lawmaker indicated he won't bring it up in his committee.
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), who chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee, told an audience at a Health Affairs policy breakfast Thursday morning that since the bill is already DOA in the Senate, he wouldn't waste more time on it in the House.
"I'm not really interested in laying down more markers," Camp said, according to The Hill. "I'd rather have the committee working with the Senate and with the president to focus on savings and reforms that can be signed into law."
The dwindling prospects for the GOP's Medicare plan were already in the spotlight Thursday morning after the Washington Post ran a story suggesting Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) had dropped the proposal from budget negotiations. Cantor's office quickly pushed back, saying that he still stood by the Republican budget as the starting point for talks.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Budget, Dave Camp, Eric Cantor, Medicare, Ways and Means Committee
Health Care
Top Dem: GOP 'Dangerous To America's Health'
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA)
Here's a more political health care report, put together by the office of Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA).
This one's more of a playbook for Democrats, who in 2011 and 2012 will be batting back GOP efforts to repeal the health care reform law. For months now, Democrats have noted that full repeal of the health law will eliminate popular provisions like the ban on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.
Stark's report goes into greater depth, bullet pointing for the law's supporters the key reforms that will be repealed if the Republicans get their way.
Among the less well-known consequences of repeal, according to Stark:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Defunding health care, Health Care, Health Care Implementation, Pete Stark, Repealing health care, Ways and Means Committee
Ways and Means Committee
Boehner Questions Validity Of Rangel's 'Leave Of Absence'
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
At a press conference today, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) questioned whether Rep. Charles Rangel's decision to take a "leave of absence" as Ways and Means chairman is permitted under House rules.
"There is nothing in the rules of the House that refers to temporarily stepping aside. Either you're the chairman, or you're not," Boehner said in a clip of the press conference shown on Fox.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Charlie Rangel, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Ways and Means Committee
Ways and Means Committee
Rangel: I've Asked For 'Leave Of Absence' As Ways And Means Chair
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
Less than a week after the ethics panel found he violated House rules by taking corporate-funded junkets to the Caribbean, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) announced this morning that he has asked Nancy Pelosi for a "leave of absence" from his duties as chair of the Ways and Means Committee, pending completion of various ethics investigations.
Rangel took no questions from the press, but added that "from the very beginning I have offered this to Speaker Pelosi."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Charlie Rangel, Nancy Pelosi, Pete Stark, Sander Levin, Ways and Means Committee
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