NEWS

Grassley promises not to sell out his party – The Hill

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, has assured his GOP colleagues that he will not sell them out and strike a private deal with Democrats on healthcare reform, according to Republican senators.

Liberal Democrats threaten to reject House healthcare compromise – LA Times

Reporting from Washington — After months of marching in line as senior Democrats worked with the White House to develop healthcare legislation, liberal lawmakers from solidly Democratic districts are threatening a revolt that could doom President Obama’s bid to sign a major bill this year.

Industry Is Generous To Influential Bloc – Washington Post

On June 19, Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas made clear that he and a group of other conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dogs were increasingly unhappy with the direction that health-care legislation was taking in the House.

House panel prepares to wrap up health care bill – Associated Press

WASHINGTON — As recently as two weeks ago it might not have looked like much of a victory. But after a series of delays and some rancorous disputes over President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority, final House committee action on a health overhaul bill is sure to be hailed as a big step forward.

Debunking The Myths Of Health Insurance Reform – Media Matters

As Congress heads home for the August recess, Media Matters Action Network wants to make sure members are armed with the facts regarding the myths about health insurance reform. Each of these statements shares the common bond of both being completely false, and having been spoken by Republican members of Congress during the past week.

Baucus Could Lose Chairmanship Over Stalled Health Care Negotiations – Think Progress

Four House and Senate committees have produced bills to reform health care, and a deal with conservative Blue Dogs in the House suggests that the final House committee involved in negotiations will release a bill shortly. Only Sen. Max Baucus’ (D-MT) Senate Finance Committee has been unable to reach a deal, with two key Republican Senators announcing today that they plan to delay progress even further until after the August recess. In light of the Finance Committee’s inability to move forward, several senators have decided to play hardball with the Committee’s chair.

OPINION

GOP Health Plan Is Modeled on Banking Deregulation – Think Progress

Apparently incapable of coming up with a single new idea, House Republicans plan to release a health plan today which is plagiarized almost entirely from the McCain-Palin health plan that voters soundly rejected last November. Amazingly, the “new” GOP plan even lifts McCain’s widely-panned proposal to deregulate the health insurance industry in exactly the same way the banking industry was deregulated over the last several decades.

The Fire Department: A Public Option – Matt Yglesias

Tina Dupuy had a nice item in the Huffington Post yesterday noting that urban firefighting in the United States was once a private for-profit industry. Then around the middle of the nineteenth century, cities began to decide that this system was too haphazard, corruption-prone, and unfair and thus began the dread big-government takeover of firefighting.

Health Care Realities – New York Times

At a recent town hall meeting, a man stood up and told Representative Bob Inglis to “keep your government hands off my Medicare.” The congressman, a Republican from South Carolina, tried to explain that Medicare is already a government program — but the voter, Mr. Inglis said, “wasn’t having any of it.”

What’s Behind the Liberal Revolt on Health Care? – Ezra Klein

There’s been some liberal discontent over the deal struck between Henry Waxman and the Blue Dogs yesterday. In particular, House progressives are angry that the public plan, which previously could use Medicare payment rates (with some exceptions) in its first three years of operation, now has to negotiate its own payment rates from the outset. Substantively, this isn’t a particularly big deal. But then, it’s not really about this.