Obama To Congress: Listen To AARP, Pass Health Reform
The news today that the American Association of Retired Persons endorsed the House health care bill is obviously huge, and Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press briefing room to amplify it and add to its momentum.
Interestingly, Obama seized on the news to ratchet up pressure on Congress to pass reform. Per the transcript:
We are closer to passing this reform than ever before. And now that the doctors and medical professionals of America are standing with us; now that the organizations charged with looking out for the interests of seniors are standing with us, we are even closer.
I want to thank both organizations again for their support, and I urge Congress to listen to AARP, listen to the AMA, and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans who will benefit from it.
Dear Congress: Listen to doctors and representatives of the elderly, and get this done.
Obama’s political operation is also mounting a big push on members of Congress, and he’s coming to the Hill tomorrow. With Republicans and some moderate Dems urging caution in the wake of Tuesday’s results, it seems like Obama’s subtly wheeling into a more aggressive posture in terms of pushing Congress to get this done.
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-11-05-health-care-overhaul_N.htm?csp=YahooModule_News
” The second-ranking House Democrat predicted that historic health care legislation will be passed Saturday as the AARP, the nation’s premier lobbying group for the elderly, announced it was signing on to the bill.
Rep. Steny Hoyer said House leaders expect to have the 218 votes needed to pass the sweeping bill, which would extend coverage to tens of millions of uninsured people and ban insurance companies from turning people away.”
Funny how interest groups that back Republicans are evil, but when they back Dems, what they say is absolute gospel.
Again, you can try to play up this endorsement all you want, but it will not help the bill get past the Senate. Do you really think an AARP endorsement will help break a filibuster? Not gonna happen, and I will be laughing my rear off watching Reid try to get sixty votes.
And this still doesn’t address the half-billin dollars in Medicare cuts that will result from the House bill.
So. tomorrow is “house call” the Obama way! I am sure it will be more beneficial then what we’ve seen today.
I love watching people on the left get all excited about a bill passing in the House, only to have their hopes dashed when they find out sixty votes aren’t there in the Senate to get it passed.
Greg… shame on you for trying to play up this endorsement!
“it seems like Obama’s subtly wheeling into a more aggressive posture in terms of pushing Congress to get this done.”
No, really?
BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I feel like I just relived the entire campaign.
@Greg
Could you possibly update this to also note that the AMA has endorsed as well? Since Pres. Obama mentioned both endorsements in his statement, it seems like it would be prudent to list both within the post itself.
And thanks, for not allowing stories about mindless screaming dominate this blog for the day.
@Greg
Something as simple as:
“The news today that the American Association of Retired Persons [(AARP) and the American Medical Association (AMA)] endorsed the House health care bill is obviously huge, and Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press briefing room to amplify it and add to its momentum.”
Not a big deal, just felt both orgs should be noted.
Fyi – NYT article exposes the insanity on the Hill today. Here’s a sampling:
…Ms. Garloch, like many in the crowd who while visibly angry, could not articulate the main problems in the health care system or how they should be solved.
Some of the same people warning of too much government spending also complained that Medicare does not provide sufficient coverage.
Ms. Garloch dismissed suggestions that some hospitals, like the Cleveland Clinic in her home state, had figured out ways to provide higher-quality medical outcomes at lower cost, indicating that there might be ways to cut costs without sacrificing patient care.
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/on-the-hill-protesters-chant-kill-the-bill/
These people don’t need health care. They need EDUCATION.
If I were a Congressional Republican I would be registering as an Independent right now. They have clearly lost their minds and it’s only going to get worse. Did anyone see the pic of the lady with the cowboy hat with about 20 teabags hanging off the sides? Seriously?
And thanks for the AARP thread Greg, as a senior myself I’m really glad they’re on board and I think it will negate some of the bullshi# propaganda aimed at Seniors from the party of NO.
“These people don’t need health care. They need EDUCATION.”
These people need to vent.
That’s what they’re doing. You know what they’re really saying.
I guess saying the Senate HCR bill will never pass, is just like saying the PO is dead in the Senate. Hmmm.
Bob65 wants the socialists to stay away from his Medicare. That’s why he’s here throwing a hissy fit.
I heard a few AARP reps on C-Span radio during the August circus. I wish the news orgs would have them on rather than pundits that are more interested in how votes will affect them politically rather than how votes will affect the lives of American people.
Tena, true.
I can’t get over the fact that they’re mindlessly repeating the lies of the Right with the very perpetrators of the crime literally right behind them holding their puppet strings. I honestly cannot get over that image. Especially poignant during Boehner’s speech where he castigated government spending…. This within very recent memory of Bush’s >$5 Trillion in debt-financed war and greed. Truly a memorable image.
Those radicals at the AARP. Maybe my mom will won’t dismiss the Democrats so easily. All we need are the Grey Panthers and the Purple Hat Society!
I was SPRAYED with MALATHION @ 7years Paid 4 by the Federal Gov. 2 weeks after cancer I was dropped by BCBS and told I was on my OWN after 17 yrs of paying the SOB’s $7500 and only using it one TIME ! Many FEmale HS friends have died with no health care under the age of 45 and last month 3 females from HS in 1 Month !
“Especially poignant during Boehner’s speech where he castigated government spending….”
That’s when someone should have shouted out “You lie!” at him.
“I guess saying the Senate HCR bill will never pass, is just like saying the PO is dead in the Senate. Hmmm.”
PO’s been dead more times and more thoroughly than Monty Python’s Norwegian Blue Parrot.
“Birther Movement
Georgia Gov Candidate Asks To See Obama’s Birth Certificate
Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA), a candidate in the GOP primary for Governor of Georgia, has announced that he is signing a letter to the White House with several of his colleagues — asking for a copy of President Obama’s birth certificate.
”
Speaking of the undead…
LOL Tena I am so with you. I wonder why so many people keep missing how Obama operates-and if they think his election was just a fluke and not his careful planning and following his strategy which totally paid off.
Amazing how no one here seems to care about the AARP’s conflict of interest here and the fact they stand to make millions with their Medicare plans if this bill passes. They are no different than any other special interest that looks out for its own best interests.
“Bob65 wants the socialists to stay away from his Medicare. That’s why he’s here throwing a hissy fit”
Hahahhahahahaha, I am not throwing a hissy fit, I am busy laughing over the pending hissy fit those on this site will be throwing when this gets filibustered in the Senate. With the huge majority the Dems have in the House there was never any doubt this was going to pass. The likelihood it passes in the Senate in this form is pretty much zero, and everyone here knows it. There are at least sixty people committed to a filibuster in the Senate already, and a few more such as Lincoln and Bayh will probably join in as well.
I can’t wait for the vote on Saturday, because the yes vote will haunt vulnerable Blue Dogs, all for a bill that has no chance of getting through the Senate. Hissy fit? Nope, quite the opposite.
I know we already discussed Grayson this morning but here are his own words regarding the House Repubs unsuccessfully trying to cut him off.
“I had reserved an hour on the Floor of the House for a “special order.” When the hour began, I noted that a Harvard study had concluded that 44,789 Americans die each year because they have no health insurance. I also noted that the Urban Institute had released figures on the number of uninsured in each Congressional district. Observing that every single House Republican had pledged to block health coverage for the insured, I then did the math:
“Alabama District 1, Congressman Jo Bonner, 114 dead.”
“Alabama District 3, Congressman Mike Rogers, 88 dead.”
I continued for 23 minutes, from Alabama to Ohio. Then the Republicans demanded that I “yield,” so they could object and interrupt me. I said no: “My time is limited, and I intend to use it.” Flustered, the Republicans then asked my “words be taken down,” and threatened to call a roll-call vote, at 8 p.m., on whether I should be sanctioned.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-alan-grayson/how-the-republicans-faile_b_347237.html&cp
“the yes vote will haunt vulnerable Blue Dogs, ”
How exactly? Dude, you are laboring under the delusion that you are the majority in the country.
You’re not.
and thanks Greg for covering this story, and not just the mindless noise. Can we have Pentagon investigation post please?
Bob65
We like our special interest groups, just not yours. If you want to continue to prop of a dying insurance industry that’s your business but most of us are more interested in health care for those who can’t get it and die because of it. You have yours but the rest of us are just SOL to you.
“LOL Tena I am so with you. I wonder why so many people keep missing how Obama operates-and if they think his election was just a fluke and not his careful planning and following his strategy which totally paid off”
I just love it when people claim that setbacks, pending filibusters, tanking approval ratings, lost elections for Obama-supported candidates, increasing uneasiness amongst moderates and independents etc. are all really part of some grand strategic plan that Obama has. I guess the fact that the Senate won’t be passing anything until next year is part of this too, right? And I bet Obama was planning all along to have Joe Lieberman filibuster as well right? And those approval ratings that are well below average for a president after ten months? That must be all part of the plan too. And when Obama promised that unemployment wouldn’t go above 8% if the stimulus was passed? It was actually part of a greater scheme. He wanted unemployment to hit 10% all along.
Some of the people here are well beyond the point of parody. Never in my life have I seen a cult like this pop up around a politician. Even when Bush had 90% approval ratings after 9/11, no one on the right fawned over him like the people on this site do over Obama. To call it pathetic and embarrassing would be an understatement. Everybody outside of the Obama-sycophant cult-of-personality laughs at the ridiculous “Obama has them right where he wants them” nonsense that is peddled on echo-chamber sites like this.
Get back to me about Obama’s brilliant schemes when this thing runs into the brick wall that is the Senate.
Bob65IQ says:
“There are at least sixty people committed to a filibuster in the Senate already, and a few more such as Lincoln and Bayh will probably join in as well.”
We are all doomed. There are 60 Senators already planning to filibuster. Which only leaves forty possible votes to pass the bill, and Bob65IQ points out, that there are still lots among those remaining forty, that will join a fillibuster.
I expect, that by the time he is done tracking where those Senators stand; Bob65IQ will end up with a tally of at least One Hundred and One Senators who will join in the filibuster.
“And I bet Obama was planning all along to have Joe Lieberman filibuster as well right”
You sure are counting a lot of eggs as chickens here, my dear.
If you think YOU can depend on what Lieberman says, then you’re the only one.
I’ll bet you $50 right now that Lieberman doesn’t filibuster and another $50 that there is no filibuster at all.
Very sad news…
At lease seven people are dead and 12 wounded in a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, the base’s the public affairs office told NBC News on Thursday.
OMG -
How many votes does the AARP have? None, but the members have millions and they aren’t happy. The AMA and the AARP, really? Why don’t you tell us what the SEIU thinks? Dems are going to be destroyed by the taxpayers. Frankly you have probably already passed the point of no return, so you might as well pass it and be damned. Because you are damned either way. The AARP, laughable.
“We like our special interest groups, just not yours. If you want to continue to prop of a dying insurance industry that’s your business but most of us are more interested in health care for those who can’t get it and die because of it. You have yours but the rest of us are just SOL to you”
Yes, you are so right. Everyone who opposes this bill wants people to die. You got me.
The above quote is exactly why trying to debate the issues with true-believers is a total waste of time. Anyone who objects to the massive tax increases, the huge cuts in Medicare, the job-killing effects of the 8% payroll taxes this will cause, the $1 Trillion + price tag,they actually don’t care about any of that. They only really want people to die.
Video of President Obama’s comments on AARP and AMA endorsments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQklShC6_I4&feature=player_embedded
For those at work, who may not be able to watch the video of the President’s remarks; here is a transcript of them;
THE PRESIDENT: Hey! Hello, everybody. Please sit down. Good afternoon, everybody. I wanted to come down and just talk a little bit about health care before Robert gives his regular briefing.
I am extraordinarily pleased and grateful to learn that the AARP and the American Medical Association are both supporting the health insurance reform bill that will soon come up to a vote in the House of Representatives.
When it comes to the AARP, this is no small endorsement. For more than 50 years, they have been a leader in the fight to reduce the cost of health care and expand coverage for our senior citizens. They are a non-partisan organization, and their board made their decision to endorse only after a careful, intensive, objective scrutiny of this bill. They’re endorsing this bill because they know it will strengthen Medicare, not jeopardize it. They know it will protect the benefits our seniors receive, not cut them. So I want everybody to remember that the next time you hear the same tired arguments to the contrary from the insurance companies and their lobbyists. And remember this endorsement the next time you see a bunch of misleading ads on television.
The AARP knows this bill will make health care more affordable. They know it will make coverage more secure. They know it’s a good deal for our seniors. And that’s why we’re thrilled that they’re standing up for this effort.
The same is true for the doctors and medical professionals who are supporting this bill today. These are men and women who know our health care system best and have been watching this debate closely. They would not be supporting it if they really believed that it would lead to government bureaucrats making decisions that are best left to doctors. They would not be with us if they believed that reform would in any way damage the critical and sacred doctor-patient relationship.
Instead, they’re supporting reform because they’ve seen firsthand what’s broken about our health care system. They’ve seen what happens when patients can’t get the care they need because some insurance company has decided to drop their coverage or water it down. They’ve seen what happens when a patient is forced to pay out-of-pocket costs of thousands of dollars that she doesn’t have to get the treatment she desperately needs. They’ve seen what happens when patients don’t come in for regular check-ups or screenings because either their insurance company doesn’t cover them or they can’t afford health insurance in the first place. And they’ve seen far, far too much of their time spent filling out forms and haggling with insurance company bureaucrats.
So the doctors of America know what needs to be fixed about our health care system. They know that health insurance reform would go a long way toward doing that.
We are closer to passing this reform than ever before. And now that the doctors and medical professionals of America are standing with us; now that the organizations charged with looking out for the interests of seniors are standing with us, we are even closer.
I want to thank both organizations again for their support, and I urge Congress to listen to AARP, listen to the AMA, and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans who will benefit from it. Thank you.
Hello everyone,
I just wanted to let everybody here know that I will be ignoring the AARP endorsement and will continue with my filibuster of this bill. So, please, don’t get your hopes up, because health reform, at least with a public option, will not be passing this year, not if I have my way.
Thanks for reading this;
Joe
PS Payback is a *****, ain’t it Ned?
The trolls showed up because the AMA and AARP endorsed the bill.
They can scoff all they want – those are huge endorsements. Huge.
People poll in a large majority that they trust their doctors on this.
Um I see the trolls are more than willing to run their fingers posting comments, but nobody will put any real money on it.
The AARP cares about senior citizens the way the NEA cares about students: they are an unfortunate part of how the lobbying/taxpayer bleeding business works. What a joke you commenters are here “I wish they would have AARP shills on instead of pundits. Laughable. I wish they would too, because the membership needs to know that the AARP bosses have made a separate peace with our statist Commie-in-Chief; too many seniors mistakenly believe it represents their intertests.
“They can scoff all they want – those are huge endorsements. Huge.”
They aren’t huge enough to make me change my mind. I hate to tell you this Tena, but this bill won’t be getting sixty votes in the Senate.
Yours truly,
Joe Lieberman
“In response to the RNC’s twelve hour online town hall to “explain the democratic health care bill,” DNC Press Secretary Hari Sevugan issued the following statement:
“We’re planning a twelve second town hall to explain every last detail of the GOP health care plan.”"
Wow, the wingnuts are really flailing when they are discounting the AMA and AARP. Amazing day with Bachmannalia and Steele throwing the GOP under the bus.
So, which is it? Steele is wrong and needs to be fired or he’s right and the GOP doesn’t exist?
“they are an unfortunate part of how the lobbying/taxpayer bleeding business works.”
I guess like the NRA, Chamber of Commerce, FreedomWorks and Club for Growth?
They aren’t huge because of Joe Lieberman? I love it absolutely to death that the Right thinks they can depend on Lieberman. And they think Lieberman is gonna be their hero and he and he alone will kill health care reform.
BWAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We don’t need 60 votes in the Senate… reconciliation.
Liam… sure you need 12-seconds?
Liam, that DNC answer is gold, gold I tell you.
Liam & ifo – yeah, the DNC is getting good at this. I like it.
Andy,
That is an actual statement put out by the DNC spokesperson.
They probably expanded it to 12 seconds to allow for prolonged laughter interruptions.
Thanks, I just noticed that I miss read your post.
If the following report from CNN is accurate, at least three people were involved in the attacks at Fort Hood. That makes it far more likely that it was a terrorist attack. There have been other plots about attacking bases in other States, which were detected before they could be carried out. Here is what CNN is reporting:
“(CNN) — Seven people were killed and at least 12 others wounded in shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, according to a senior Pentagon official.
One person is in custody in connection with the incident, CNN affiliate KXXV reported.
One attacker has been “neutralized” and one has been “cornered,” Lt. Gen Russel Honore, former deputy commander at Fort Hood, told CNN.”
Once again, to paraphrase George Costanza:
“Bob65’s gettin’ upset!”
Also to paraphrase Costanza:
Bob65: “Yeah! Look at me! I was free and clear! HCR was almost dead! I was living the dream! I was stripped to the waist, eating a block of cheese the size of a car battery!”
“That makes it far more likely that it was a terrorist attack.”
I hate to take issue, but 3 people with guns? I don’t think so. Terrorists blow things and people up. They don’t get personal with it, Liam, and shooting people is more personal than terrorists get.
This was something else I’m thinking.
This shooting thing sounds pretty serious. Still one guy on the loose.
Jeebus.
Fort Hood seems at first glance like some sort of revenge/retribution killing by insiders; the military equivalent of “going postal,” perhaps.
Have I told you lately, Tena, that you’re an idiot?
This unspeakable Fort Hood tragedy will, regrettably, knock the Teabaggers right off the front pages.
I looked at the breaking news on the Killeen news channel web page – that’s where this is – the information is about the same. Three people, at least one in uniform, I read, with high-powered rifles engaged in sniper fire.
oops – meant to post the link. Sorry
http://www.kxxv.com/
Hey Andy, name one dime of taxpayer money the Club for Growth or the NRA ever got? You statists are putting on a brave face, but even you halfwits must know the votes will not be there for this.
BH, you need to turn off Mark Levin. The guy is borderline psychopath.
“Have I told you lately, Tena, that you’re an idiot?”
Thanks for letting me know I’m doing this right.
Tweets out of Kileen also don’t say much more than the news is reporting.
From Josh Marshall:
“The situation at Ford Hood is obviously extremely sketchy. But I wanted to flag a late report from MSNBC’s Pete Williams suggesting that initial reports from within the Pentagon say the incident appears to be “all military,” i.e., the victims are military but apparently the assailants are too.
I want to be very clear. There is nothing confirmed about this. This a reporter getting initial and unofficial reports from within the Pentagon. But authorities on the base do have one shooter in custody. So presumably military officials know who that person is and are drawing inferences based on that.”
Tena,
There have been other plots interrupted where there were just two or three people involved, who were planning to get on a base and shoot it up. One was a case, where just a couple of them worked at a Pizza shop.
Liam – I didn’t know about those – it’s so uncharacteristic.
“say the incident appears to be “all military,” i.e., the victims are military but apparently the assailants are too.”
This is just what this feels like. It feels like Whitman in the Tower at UT Austin.
Have I Told You Lately……..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0WFsnxECDU&feature=PlayList&p=3642691E63F38293&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=24
I voted for Obama. I fear his agenda and what it means for American taxpayers. Truly, he wants taxpayers to prosper; we’ve got a lot of Latinos to pay for, especially after he gives citizenship to millions upon millions of them. After that, millions upon millions more will move in with their new, rich American relatives.
Hey President Obama, how about listening to the public instead of AARP and the AMA. We out number them.
Yes, President Obama, please listen to the public:
72% Support a Public Health Plan like Medicare.
So lets have Medicare for Everyone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/policy/21poll.html