Posts Tagged ‘Health Care Reform’
LiveBlog for Friday, December 4, 2009
Friday, December 4th, 2009
• John Fugelsang joins Steph in studio at 6:05am Pacific for 3 full hours of Fridays With Fugelsang!
• Christian Weller, economist with the Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to update us on jobs, the economy, and holiday retail sales.
• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to defend The Bronx, and to talk about health care reform and Afghanistan.
• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, Afghanistan, and the cops that were killed in his district.
• Unflinching on a critical first test, Senate Dems closed ranks yesterday behind $460 billion in politically risky Medicare cuts at the heart of health care reform legislation, thwarting a GOP attempt to doom President Obama’s sweeping overhaul. The Senate also backed a guarantee for all insured women age 40 and older to receive mammograms with no out-of-pocket costs.
• President Obama promised at a White House jobs forum yesterday to take “every responsible step to accelerate job creation,” including some ideas he said could be put into action quickly. He cited an expanded program to make more U.S. homes energy efficient as an example.
• The White House as authorized an expansion of the CIA’s drone program in Pakistan’s tribal areas, paralleling President Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.
Tags: Adam Smith, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Center for American Progress, Christian Weller, Economy, Eliot Engel, Health Care Reform, John Fugelsang, Medicare, Pakistan
Posted in liveblog | 375 Comments »
LiveBlog for Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
• Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about Afghanistan, health care reform, and the Jobs Summit.
• Comedian Tom Kenny calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about Spongebob Squarepants’ new Christmas song.
• Hilary Rosen, Editor at Large of the Huffington Post, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about Afghanistan, health care reform, and today’s Jobs Summit.
• Obama administration officials are hoping that today’s Jobs Summit, where he will talk job creation with business and labor leaders at the White House, will let President Obama defend his administration’s handling of the economy. No major policy announcements are expected.
• Amid soaring budget deficits, President Obama is running into congressional qualms over how to pay for his troop buildup in Afghanistan. The $30 billion cost is causing concern on both sides of the aisle. Still, leaders in Congress predicted yesterday that Obama would prevail in winning funding for the surge.
• The politically potent AARP announced yesterday that they are supporting the Democrats’ $460 billion in Medicare cuts to help pay for landmark health insurance legislation.
• White House party crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi last night declined an invitation to testify before Congress about their caper last week at the president’s first state dinner.
Tags: AARP, Afghanistan, Allyson Schwartz, Barack Obama, Health Care Reform, Hilary Rosen, Jobs Summit, Medicare, Spongebob Squarepants, Tom Kenny, White House Crashers
Posted in liveblog | 357 Comments »
LiveBlog for Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about Obama’s Afghanistan speech, and about health care reform.
• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.
• Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8am Pacific for another edition of “Humpdays With Hal.”
• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and Obama’s Afghanistan speech.
• Declaring “our security is at stake,” President Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan last night, nearly tripling the force he inherited but promising an impatient public to begin withdrawal in 18 months. The buildup will begin almost immediately and will cost $30 billion for the first year alone
• Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) asserted yesterday during a rancorous floor debate that President Obama’s health care reform will shorten the lives of seniors by cutting Medicare. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) decried such comments as scare tactics designed to kill legislation that he said would improve some benefits for seniors. At times, the debate recalled the raw charges and countercharges of the summer’s town hall meetings.
• Copies of e-mails between the White House party crashers and a Pentagon official undermine their claims that they were invited to President Obama’s first state dinner.
Tags: Afghanistan, Hal Sparks, Health Care Reform, Jan Schakowsky, John Yarmuth, Karl Frisch, Max Baucus, Media Matters for America, Pentagon, Tom Coburn, White House Crashers
Posted in liveblog | 261 Comments »
LiveBlog for Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
• Richard Wolffe, Daily Beast columnist and author of “Renegade: The Making Of A President,” calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about the latest out of the White House, including Afghanistan and the White House Party Crashers.
• Charlie Pierce, Boston Globe sports columnist and author of “Idiot America,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the news of the day, including the Tiger Woods situation.
• Craig Crawford, co-author of “Listen Up, Mr. President,” calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about his new book, which he co-wrote with Helen Thomas.
• President Obama tonight will spell out a costly Afghanistan war expansion to a skeptical public, coupling an infusion of as many as 35,000 more troops with a vow that there will be no endless U.S. commitment. His first orders have already been made: at least one group of Marines who will be in place by Christmas.
• Riven by partisanship, the Senate plunged into a debate yesterday over sweeping health care reform legislation that President Obama and congressional Dems have vowed to approve and GOP-ers have sworn to block. Debate is expected to last for weeks.
• Retail web sites kept amping up the deals yesterday the first day after Thanksgiving weekend’s strong online sales, to try to maintain the momentum. Sales for the day that the industry knows as “Cyber Monday” were up 19.6 percent over a year ago.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Charlie Pierce, Craig Crawford, Cyber Monday, Health Care Reform, Helen Thomas, Richard Wolffe, Tiger Woods
Posted in liveblog | 407 Comments »
LiveBlog for Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 30th, 2009
• John Fugelsang joins Steph in the New York Bureau for all three hours of the show today!
• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the news over the Thanksgiving weekend.
• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.
• The Senate is set to begin debate today on health care reform. Some Dem senators say they’ll jump ship from the bill without tighter restrictions on abortion coverage. Others say they’ll go unless a government plan to compete with private insurance companies gets tossed overboard. Such concessions would enrage Liberals, the heart and soul of the party.
• Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich), the leading Senate Dem on military matters, said yesterday that President Obama’s anticipated plan for expanding troop levels in Afghanistan must show how those reinforcements will help increase the size of the Afghan security forces.
• White House officials fended off new questions about how a fame-seeking couple finessed their way into the president’s State Dinner last week while the aspiring reality-TV stars themselves began trying to sell their story for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Carl Levin, Eric Boehlert, Health Care Reform, John Fugelsang, Lee Papa, Media Matters for America, Rude Pundit, White House Crashers
Posted in liveblog | 493 Comments »
LiveBlog for Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
• David Shuster, dayside anchor for MSNBC, calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the news of the day.
• Charlie Pierce, author of “Idiot America,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the news of the day.
• The White House is bracing for a tough sell of President Obama’s long-awaited decision on whether to commit tens of thousands of new U.S. forces to the stalemated war in Afghanistan, even as the president met Monday with top advisers for possibly the last major deliberations before an announcement.
• In a Cabinet meeting yesterday afternoon, President Obama acknowledged fledgling economic growth had not yet improved things on the jobs front and previewed a summit next week aimed at helping find ways to spur job creation.
• Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said yesterday that the Dems are determined to push through a health care overhaul bill, President Obama’s top domestic issue, with or without support from opposition GOP-ers.
• A bitter dispute over abortion that prompted Rhode Island’s Roman Catholic bishop to ask Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) not to receive Holy Communion has revealed the depth of the divide among Catholics over how politicians should reconcile their faith with their public duties.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Charles Schumer, Charlie Pierce, David Shuster, Health Care Reform, Jobs, Patrick Kennedy
Posted in liveblog | 407 Comments »
LiveBlog for Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, November 20th, 2009
• Christian Weller, Economist with The Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about whether we are really seeing a recovery in the economy.
• Lorie Van Auken, 9/11 Widow and one of the “Jersey Girls,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the ongoing debate about closing Gitmo and moving the trials to New York.
• John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 8:05am Eastern for another edition of “Fridays With Fugelsang.”
• Digging in for a long struggle, GOP senators and governors assailed the Dems’ newly minted health care legislation yesterday as a collection of tax increases, Medicare cuts, and heavy new burdens for deficit-ridden states. Sen. Reid has scheduled an initial test vote for Saturday evening and full debate is expected to begin after Thanksgiving.
• Defense Secretary Robert Gates is putting former U.S. Army Secretary Togo West and former Navy chief Vernon Clark in charge of a broad Pentagon review of the circumstances surrounding the Fort Hood shootings. The 45 day review will look into gaps in how the military identifies service members who might be a threat to others.
• “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” an iconic broadcast that grew over two decades into a daytime television powerhouse and the foundation of a media empire, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air. Winfrey plans to announce the final date for her show during a live broadcast today.
Tags: Center for American Progress, Christian Weller, Fort Hood, Gitmo, Harry Reid, Health Care Reform, John Fugelsang, Lorie Van Auken, Oprah Winfrey, Robert Gates, Togo West, Vernon Clark
Posted in liveblog | 514 Comments »
LiveBlog for Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
• Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the economy.
• Ted Massinello, President of the USA Coffee Company, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about the pro-union and made-in-the-USA aspects of his company.
• Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, the economy, and jobs.
• Lamar Waldron, JFK conspiracy expert and author of “Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination,” calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about his book.
• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled long-awaited legislation last night to extend health care coverage to all but 6% of eligible Americans and bar private industry from denying insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions. The bill would reduce deficits by $127 billion over a decade.
• A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Army Corps of Engineers’ failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a decision that could make the federal government vulnerable to billions of dollars in claims.
• Disappointing forecasts from technology companies and an unexpected drop in home construction added to worries about the economy and sent stocks modestly lower yesterday. The Dow fell 11 points at close yesterday.
Tags: Allyson Schwartz, Dow Jones, Harry Reid, Health Care Reform, Hurricane Katrina, Lamar Waldron, Robert Andrews, Ted Massinello, USA Coffee Company
Posted in liveblog | 385 Comments »
LiveBlog for Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
• Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform, the economy, and Afghanistan.
• Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about jobs, the economy, and health care reform.
• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.
• David Plouffe, former campaign manager for President Obama, calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about his new book, “The Audacity To Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory.”
• Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific for another edition of “Humpdays With Hal.”
• President Obama huddled with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao this morning, the final day of his visit to China. The White House praised the meetings as strengthening possibilities for future cooperation. President Obama then toured the Great Wall of China before flying to South Korea.
• Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) declined yesterday to say when he would introduce a hotly anticipated health care reform bill. He said he was waiting for a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, and that estimate won’t be completed until at least this afternoon.
• Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama yesterday for the second time but guards on board repelled the takeover attempt.
Tags: Barack Obama, David Plouffe, Hal Sparks, Harry Reid, Health Care Reform, Joe Sestak, Karl Frisch, Keith Ellison, Maersk Alabama, Media Matters for America, Wen Jiabao
Posted in liveblog | 333 Comments »
LiveBlog for Thursday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the economy.
• Mikey Weinstein, President of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to discuss the Ft. Hood shootings.
• Feminist and SuperLawyer Gloria Allred calls in at 7:30am Pacific to tell us why she thinks that Carrie Prejean has done something illegal.
• Paul Fitzgerald joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about his new movie, “Forgiven.”
• Kelly Carlin-McCall calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about her father, George Carlin’s, posthumous book, “Last Words: A Memoir.”
• Senate Majority leader Harry Reid is considering a plan for higher payroll taxes on upper-income earners to help finance health care reform legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate in the next several days, Dem officials said yesterday.
• President Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government.
• Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, said last night that he is leaving the cable news channel effective immediately.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Chris Van Hollen, Gloria Allred, Harry Reid, Health Care Reform, Kelly Carlin-McCall, Lou Dobbs, Mikey Weinstein, Paul Fitzgerald
Posted in liveblog | 331 Comments »
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