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Posts Tagged ‘House of Representatives’

Rep. John Murtha Dies

Posted in Congress, Politics, War, tagged , , , on February 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Politico reports that PA Rep. John Murtha has died.

POLITICO Breaking News:

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Rep. John Murtha has died at 77.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32691.html

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CA Rep. Radanovich retiring

Posted in 51 Percent, Election, Feminism, Politics, voter reform, tagged , , , on December 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

For District 19 Fresno Area, Politico reports:

Radanovich retiring

[Rep. George Radanovich (R-Calif.) announced this afternoon that he won’t be seeking reelection and endorsed a Republican state legislator to succeed him in office….]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1209/Radanovich_retiring.html

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Rep. Parker Griffith Switches Sides

Posted in Congress, Feminism, Health Care, Politics, tagged , on December 22, 2009| 2 Comments »

Politico has news:

Rep. Parker Griffith to switch sides

POLITICO Breaking News:
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Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce this afternoon that he’s switching parties to become a Republican.

For more information… http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30896.html

It’s really pretty funny. As the report says, his district is trending Republican anyway, and they have already given him over $600,000 to run Republican next time. I get how he might be upset over the Health Care reform package, but you would think he would stick around for a little more than that. It stinks to high heaven.

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House Reported to Pass Help to the Unemployed

Posted in Congress, Health Care, Humanism, Politics, tagged , , , , , on December 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Today, it was reported, HERE, AND HERE, that the House of Representatives passed a bill extending ARRA. I am still awaiting that information from the Daily Record.

The actual title appears to be: H.R.4260 “Transitional Federal Medical Assistance Percentage Act”.

Title: To provide adjusted Federal medical assistance percentage rates during a transitional assistance period.

Sponsor: Rep Green, Gene [TX-29] (introduced 12/10/2009)      Cosponsors (7)

Related Bills: S.2833

Latest Major Action: 12/10/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

If it is this bill, it is designed to last in some fashion four years, ending December 31, 2113. It includes adjustments; some are negative. It includes provisions for COBRA and unemployment compensation. It has provisions to States regarding how the bill, as an act, will articulate with their funds. There may be others that were packaged with it.

A similar and related bill has been introduced to the Senate as noted below:

S.2833

Title: A bill to provide adjusted Federal medical assistance percentage rates during a transitional assistance period.

Sponsor: Sen Reed, Jack [RI] (introduced 12/3/2009)      Cosponsors (9)

Related Bills: H.R.4260

Latest Major Action: 12/3/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Taxpayers for Common Sense has a fairly snarky comment about it’s passage In the House’s effort to get this done by the Holiday recess.

[..”But they weren’t done yet – next up, the jobs bill – basically another round of stimulus. This bill would direct $27.5 billion toward more infrastructure spending, increase aid to states and extend several benefit packages. Unlike the two earlier bills, this one is unlikely to survive the Senate intact, if at all, since the Senate is momentarily more leery of swelling this year’s predicted $1.5 trillion budget deficit. “..]

http://www.taxpayer.net/search_by_category.php?action=view&proj_id=3065&category=Wastebasket&type=Project

Based on TCS’s view, we all better call our Senators this week. I suppose it’s possible they still haven’t heard how much we are hurting out here. Or, maybe they really think that a .2% bureaucratic paper shuffle really constitutes an improvement in the unemployment rate.

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Credit Card Arbitration Change

Posted in Feminism, Finance, Justice, Politics, tagged , , , , 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.

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House Reform Bill Passes – Updated

Posted in Finance, Politics, tagged , , , , , , 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:

H.R.4173
Title: To provide for financial regulatory reform, to protect consumers and investors, to enhance Federal understanding of insurance issues, to regulate the over-the-counter derivatives markets, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] (introduced 12/2/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Related Bills: H.RES.956, H.RES.964, H.R.3126, H.R.3818
Latest Major Action: 12/10/2009 House floor actions. Status: Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union rises leaving H.R. 4173 as unfinished business.

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.

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[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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Some Basic Info on the Status of the Health Care Bill

Posted in 51 Percent, Children, Feminism, Feminist Majority, Health Care, NOW, Politics, The New Agenda, women, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 19, 2009| 1 Comment »

Update 091119 5:06 PST

For more on the the number of bills and the amendment combined with H.R. 3962 go HERE.

There seems to be some confusion in bloggerland about the health care bill. Perhaps ABC gives the best general information about the status of the bill, HERE.

To synopsize:

A House bill entitled “Affordable Health Care for America Act”, H.R 3692, was passed by the House and sent to the Senate . The download pdf is 1948 appears to have been 1990 pages( I originally got it from Speaker Pelosi’s website). The Stupak amendment was passed as part of H.R. 3692. Representative Stupak’s comments are HERE.

I have been having problems, downloading some, but not all of the documents at the Senate Site. However, if you go HERE, you will see the currently active list including H.R. 3692, and the attendant Senate bills of: “Affordable Health Choices Act”, S. 1679, from the Health, Education, and Labor Committee, in 283 pages, and “America’s Healthy Future Act, 2009”, S. 1796, from the Senate Finance Committee in 346 pages.

If you go to the section entitled “Popular Documents”  in the above Senate link, you will see a selection of many health related materials. Majority Leader Reid’s amendment would not download for me at this time. I am wondering if some documents are being withheld until the Senate has a cloture vote on whether to debate the bill(s).

I want to empathize that, I think like many of us, I am struggling through the effort to understand. There may be other bills involved that have been, or will be attached to the health care bill.  ABC has reported that the bills from the two entities combined are more than 4000 pages. As I find them I will include them as updates. Or perhaps the missing pages are the supporting documents in the Senate Popular Documents section.

Senator Boxer has released a statement today, 11/19/09, HERE. In part, she says:

[…Senator Reid also has crafted language that will keep women from being discriminated against when it comes to their reproductive health care.   The Senate bill maintains the compromise that has been in place for decades that prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion, but allows a woman to use her own private funds.



There are many issues that I am still working on, including ensuring that California is not hurt by cuts to the Disproportionate Share Hospital Program, which helps our hospitals that serve the neediest among us.
 


I am also working to ensure that the bill includes better preventative health care coverage for women…. ]

Senator Feinstein has not yet released a new comment on her site, but had done one on Oct 23, HERE, expressing her thoughts and reservations about it.

For your Info,

Representative Speier’s Statement has two statements, one against the Stupak Amendment, HERE, and one here on the passage of the House bill, HERE.

Representative Kucinich’s statement on the House Bill is HERE.

Ralph Nader’s comment is HERE.

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