Posted in Finance, Health Care, Politics, tagged Health Care Reform, Senate on December 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
POLITICO Breaking News:
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Democrats and Republicans have agreed to take the vote on final passage of Senate health reform legislation at 8 a.m. Christmas Eve, far earlier in the day Thursday than originally expected, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev. ) announced.
For more information…http://www.politico.com
Posted in Congress, Finance, Health Care, Justice, Politics, Women's Rights, tagged H.R. 3590, Health Care Reform, Patient Protection and Affordable health Care Act, S.AMDT.3276, S.AMDT.3277, US Senate on December 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Part seven of the continuing saga of H.R.3590.
On December 21 at 1:08 AM EST, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on H.R. 3590. This means they have decided to cut off further debate and vote on whether to pass the health reform bill, still known under it’s original title as the “Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009”, but amended to read: “ Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”.
This means the fifteen amendments and the agreed to tabling motions will stand. The remaining 459 amendments that were submitted will not be debated. There are, however, two additional new amendments that were submitted and agreed to as part of the motion to invoke cloture. They are: S.AMDT.3276, the so called “Manager’s Amendment”, introduced by Harry Reid, and S.AMDT.3277, an amendment as seen below, that directs the bill start date to be five days after it becomes an act by presidential signature.
S.AMDT.3276 contains the language directing the “compromise” on women’s rights over their bodies regarding abortion. It also contains the language on Medicaid disbursement by the Federal Government for new Medicaid patients. There is an intriguing reference to ARRA on page 13500, which might mean something if they decide to extend it.
S.AMDT.3276 was only available on the Congressional Record pages, so I have cut, pasted and printed the pages to .pdf to produce the document S.AMDT.3276. As with any pdf document it is keyword searchable. For your info, in the Record, 39 pages were used, however, when I printed it to .pdf, it took 178 pages.
The final vote, possibly turning this thing into an act, may come today.
Manager’s Amendment
S.AMDT.3276
Amends: H.R.3590, S.AMDT.2786
Amendments to this amendment: S.AMDT.3277
Sponsor: Sen Reid, Harry [NV] (submitted 12/19/2009) (proposed 12/19/2009)
AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
To improve the bill.
TEXT OF AMENDMENT AS SUBMITTED: CR S13490-13529
STATUS:
12/19/2009:
Amendment SA 3276 proposed by Senator Reid to Amendment SA 2786. (consideration: CR S13477-13478)
12/19/2009:
Cloture motion on amendment SA 3276 presented in Senate. (consideration: CR S13477-13478; text: S13477-13478)
12/20/2009:
Considered by Senate.
12/21/2009:
Considered by Senate.
12/21/2009:
Cloture on amendment SA 3276 invoked in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 60 – 40. Record Vote Number: 385.
COSPONSORS(3):
Sen Baucus, Max [MT] – 12/19/2009
Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] – 12/19/2009
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA] – 12/19/2009
Enactment Date Amendment
S.AMDT.3277
Amends: H.R.3590 , S.AMDT.3276
Sponsor: Sen Reid, Harry [NV] (submitted 12/19/2009) (proposed 12/19/2009)
AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
To change the enactment date.
TEXT OF AMENDMENT AS SUBMITTED: CR S13529
STATUS:
12/19/2009:
Amendment SA 3277 proposed by Senator Reid to Amendment SA 3276. (consideration: CR S13478; text: CR S13478)
12/20/2009:
Considered by Senate.
12/21/2009:
Considered by Senate.
SA 3277. Mr. REID proposed an amendment to amendment SA 3276 proposed by Mr. Reid (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Dodd, and Mr. Harkin) to the amendment SA 2786 proposed by Mr. Reid (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Dodd, and Mr. Harkin) to the bill H.R. 3590, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the first-time homebuyers credit in the case of members of the Armed Forces and certain other Federal employees, and for other purposes; as follows:
At the end of the amendment, add the following:
The provisions of this Act shall become effective 5 days after enactment.
Posted in Congress, Feminism, Finance, Health Care, Justice, Politics, Women's Rights, tagged H.R 3950, Health Care Reform, McConnell, Nelson, Patient Protection and Affordable health Care Act, Senate, Stupak on December 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Politico is reporting that the Senate has reached a compromise on the Health Care Reform Plan.
By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN & CHRIS FRATES | 12/19/09 9:34 AM EST
Updated: 12/19/09 12:57 PM EST
POLITICO 44
Senate Democrats announced a deal Saturday morning on a wide-ranging overhaul of the nation’s health care system, setting a course for a vote by Christmas and delivering President Barack Obama a badly needed victory on his top legislative priority.
A 13-hour negotiating session that stretched into the night Friday finally clinched the support of the last Democratic holdout, moderate Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) The handshake deal cleared the way for a series of votes that could stretch until 7 p.m. Christmas Eve.
Blue Lyon has a good synopsis of what the Health care reform might do to abortion as it relates to State exchanges. For a .pdf description of a health exchange go HERE.
Senator Ben Nelson’s snagging of 100% Federal funding for all new Nebraska Medicaid patients, is a perfect example of the argument expressed by EuandUs last week on the difference between Representatives and Senators – that being how Representatives represent people and Senators represent states.
To reach this bill’s passage they will have to do a lot of voting yet, and then send it to reconciliation with the House bill. It’s gonna take 45 million to make Senator Nelson make him king of his state. In the mean time, the Stupakians are plotting. Which persons actually are involved in the reconciliation anyway? Anyone know?
And what about all those remaining 459 amendments sitting there?
Posted in Feminism, Finance, Justice, Politics, tagged Banks, Credit Cards, House Domestic Policy, House of Representatives, Kucinich on December 18, 2009| 2 Comments »
This is good news. So it’s voluntary; for now, this will help. If you have ever looked at the fine print on the arbitration clauses of your credit card, or tried to win a dispute, you’ll realize you signed your right to complain over to the arbiter that the bank chooses. Thank you, Representative Kucinch, and the House Domestic Policy Subcommittee! I don’t know how many of us can get a new credit card right now, or if any of these banks are really issuing new ones, but the change in the arbitration clause is worth planning around if you are in the market. Don’t give up your rights!
Kucinich Announces Credit Cards That Don’t Cost You Your Legal Rights
Kucinich 111th1
Washington, Dec 17 –
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) released the following statement:
“This holiday shopping season, consumers have the choice of using credit cards that don’t take away their legal rights. Until now, all major banks have required their customers – through provisions hidden in the fine print of credit card agreements — to give up their constitutional right to their day in court. Those agreements have required customers to settle their disputes through a process called arbitration. In July, the House Domestic Policy Subcommittee, of which I am the Chairman, held a hearing in which we showed that mandatory arbitration is arbitrary, and that results depend more on the arbitrator to whom the case is assigned than on the facts or the law that applies.
“Since that hearing, my staff has been communicating with all the major banks, and today I can announce that six of those banks will not have arbitration clauses in their new credit card agreements. Those banks are JPMorganChase, CapitalOne, PNC Bank, TD Bank, Bank of America and Regions Bank. I want to congratulate those banks for their decisions.
“I particularly want to congratulate JPMorganChase and CapitalOne. Those two banks will be issuing new credit card agreements that also allow their customers the right to a jury trial and the right to participate in a class action. I strongly encourage the other banks to follow their lead.
“For the first time in years, you can choose what credit card to use by considering all its terms—interest rate, minimum payment, fees, rewards, and whether it requires you to give up your right to use the courts that our state and federal Constitutions have created for you.”
http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=163669
Contact: Nathan White (202)225-5871
Now, if we can just get rid of the usurious rates. Debt load is a magical thing. If it’s lower, we can breath a little life into the economy, and the banks get a write off on an artificial loan they should have never had.
Posted in Children, Climate, Communications, Feminism, Finance, Human Rights, Justice, Men's Rights, Nature, Politics, War, Women's Rights, tagged Clinton, Copenhagen, Global Warming, Green, GreenHouse Emissions, Nelson, Obama, Pelosi on December 17, 2009| 2 Comments »
Politico has a lot to say about Cop15 today:
By GLENN THRUSH | 12/17/09 7:20 AM EST
Updated: 12/17/09 10:23 AM EST
[COPENHAGEN — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton threw a climate change Hail Mary on Thursday in hopes of salvaging the Copenhagen talks from collapse – pledging U.S. participation in a multinational fund to provide poor nations with a $100 billion a year by 2020. This is considerably more than the 10 billion originally promised, though not as much as some would like the US to commit….]
Since, however, President Obama is still planning to show up at the Conference on the 18th, we are all hopeful that she is again paving the way for one of his triumphant entrances.
Just in case you weren’t sure we had enough USAns rampaging through Copenhagen, Nancy Pelosi took 20 house members with various interests in Science, there on Thursday. Should I hazard a guess that this is the contingent of House members that will be expected to support the 100 billion pledge Clinton promised, to poor countries to keep from drowning when their islands disappear? Sub Saharan Africans, too are in the process of drowning in an ocean of sand, as skyrocketing maternal mortality rates, starvation, coastal fishing loss, and loss of water are enveloped by desperate and futile wars.
The consensus is that 90% of the new emissions will come from poor and developing countries, not China and the USA. We already reached close to our “full” capacity at production of airborne water and landborne garbage.
In counterpoint, certain senators, including one Ben Nelson, of recent abortion news fame, think that even though the US has been THE leading polluter, and therefore one of the MAIN causes of warming, the poor countries ought to just fix it themselves. After all, we are having such a difficult time at home, they ought to just give us a break. Can you believe this?
“They’ve got to come up with their own,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). “We’re not asking them for money, as far as I know.”
Why aren’t they suing us? Careful guys, your caste mentality is showing.
Finally, Dipnote sends a lovely factoid. Did you know that traditional cook stoves, per unit, are the considered the worst polluters in the world?
And who usually winds up slaving over them?
Posted in Climate, Finance, Humanism, Justice, Nature, Politics, tagged China, Climate Change, Copenhagen, Global, GreenHouse Emissions, UN, USA on December 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Against the background of the Chinese refusal to allow monitoring of green house emissions and insistence that the 1992 treaty be honored in which they are to receive assistance toward the reduction of such emissions, the US Agenda was that of “pragmatism”. Meanwhile smaller nations, notably from Africa, walked out briefly in protest on Monday over proposed assistance and perceived sidelining of the Kyoto Protocol.
Through the week concerns continued that progress of the overall climate negotiations regarding technical, financial and emotional issues, for an interim agreement, was too slow and would leave too much unsettled when world leaders sit down to negociate a binding global accord next year.
SOS Hillary Clinton was scheduled to attend today’s conference and leaders events in advance of the President’s arrival on the 18th.
Then today, Japan Times reported the following:
Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009
Gridlock threatens to doom COP15
By ERIC JOHNSTON and SETSUKO KAMIYA
Staff writers
[COPENHAGEN — U.N. negotiators at the COP15 conference worked through the night Tuesday, increasingly desperate to reach agreement before more than 120 world leaders gather Thursday night and Friday and following an official warning that the stalemated negotiations could doom the conference….
…One of the main sticking points on financing is which developing countries should receive financial assistance. U.S. officials have stressed they would refuse to provide China with funds. On Tuesday, China said the world’s poorest and most vulnerable should be prioritized, a sign Beijing may agree to U.S. demands that funding target small island states in the Pacific or African nations threatened by global warming, rather than large, industrialized developing countries such as itself…]
Neither China nor the US has yet signed the Kyoto Protocol as regarding green house gas emission. This is a continuing major issue for many signatory countries. Most would prefer to keep the Kyoto Protocol, however, there is negotiation ongoing to develop a second legally binding protocol that the US might sign.
Posted in Feminism, Finance, Justice, Politics, tagged Fraud, Tax preparation on December 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »
We had someone impact our life, like this guy in the article below, once. The really fun part came when we, as clients, had to repay taxes with penalties for the bogus tax credits our preparer had filed, cuz doncha know, the creep’s (our) money was long squirreled away. We were lucky since we had invested relatively little. Others had invested up to $100,000 and more.
The taxpayer is responsible for their own tax filing, since they are the ones that sign on the dotted line. One exception might be when an attorney signs for you.
December 16, 2009
From Denny Walsh:
[A federal magistrate judge issued a no-bail arrest warrant this morning for a Sacramento tax preparer and investment counselor accused by the Internal Revenue Service of stealing more than $8.5 million from his clients over the past five years….]
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/crime/archives/2009/12/feds-to-arrest.html
Posted in Finance, Politics, tagged Economy, Financial Reform Bill, Frank, H.R4173, House of Representatives, reform, USA on December 11, 2009| 2 Comments »
Update
As of 4:20 PM PST, the Daily Digest has not yet produced the record for today, indicating the vote, the 11th of December. However, find below the House passed reform bill, as entitled:
The bill has several short titles. You may hear several of them. The titles in italics represent portions of the bill:
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009
Accountability and Transparency in Rating Agencies Act of 2009
Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009
Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009
Credit Risk Retention Act of 2009
Dissolution Authority for Large, Interconnected Financial Companies Act of 2009
Federal Insurance Office Act of 2009
Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009
Investor Protection Act of 2009
Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets Act of 2009
Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009
Go HERE to open the information on the summary page. There are reports that the Senate version is not at the same stage and may take as long as six months to pass.Dakinikat, over at the Confluence has a good post on moral hazard, HERE. It is a timely and apt post in relation to the just passed H.R.4173. Risk is always present in any activity. Either we leave the cat with the pigeons and trust it will behave, or we buy the cage, and transfer the risk into losing a paw to the cat if it misbehaves.
***********************
[Politico Breaking News
The House has passed a sweeping financial regulatory reform bill by a vote of 223 to 202. The bill is designed to prevent a repeat of last year’s economic meltdown by creating a new consumer watchdog agency and new regulations on everything from credit cards to executive compensation.
For more information…http://www.politico.com]
I’ll have more in a bit.
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Grab and Keel 