Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 22, 2009 - Hands off our health care!

Senate will resume consideration of the conference report for the fiscal year 2010 Defense authorization bill, H.R. 2647. The bill authorizes $680 billion in defense programs, including $130 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill also includes an unrelated provision extending federal hate crimes laws to cover gender identity and sexual orientation. At 11:45 am, a cloture vote on the Defense authorization conference report is scheduled.

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid failed to get the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1776, a $247 billion deficit-financed bill to prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors. The cloture motion was rejected 47-53. The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Roberto Lange to be District Judge for the District of South Dakota. Also,last night, Democrats filed cloture on a bill to extend unemployment insurance, H.R. 3548.

Enemies List: Yesterday, we reported about Senator Lamar Alexander (TN) taking to the Senate floor to ask the White House not to create an "Enemies List." In light of the White House battle against Fox News and conservative media in general, check out the one minute video clip where House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence spoke out from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, defending conservative media outlets and against the bias. One key quote by Rep. quote: "So to my friends in the so-called mainstream media, I say, conservative talk show hosts may not speak for everybody but they speak for more Americans than you do."

Nationalization of Health Care: Today’s New York Times headline, “Democrats Lose Big Test Vote on Health Legislation,” acknowledged the problems facing the behind closed door Democrats, especially Senate majority leader Harry Reid, on their push for health care reform. The Times writes, “Democrats lost a big test vote on health care legislation on Wednesday as the Senate blocked action on a bill to increase Medicare payments to doctors at a cost of $247 billion over 10 years. . . . Reid . . . could not blame Republicans. A dozen Democrats and one independent crossed party lines and voted with Republicans.” The Wall Street Journal editorial offers a real meaning to yesterday’s vote: “Maybe there's more anxiety among Democrats about a huge permanent increase in government health spending than the White House is willing to let on.”

The Los Angeles Times points out, “The roll call vote was a field guide to the kind of Democrats who will have to be persuaded that the costs of the broader healthcare bill are fully offset, including Southerners like Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and fiscal conservatives like Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota.”

Today’s Gallup poll explains a great deal of this Democrat angst. Gallup writes, “Compared with last month, Americans have become more likely to say the costs their family pays for healthcare will get worse if a healthcare bill passes. . . . In addition to costs, a greater percentage of Americans now compared with last month also expect their healthcare situation to get worse in terms of the quality of care they receive, their healthcare coverage, and the insurance company requirements they have to meet to get certain treatments covered.” Gallup looked at Americans still undecided on the Democrats’ health care proposals and found, “In general, Americans who are undecided . . . predict it is more likely to make their own situations worse rather than better -- especially in terms of cost.” Remarkably, even among supporters of the Democrats’ health care legislation, most don’t believe their health care will improve in terms of costs, quality of care, coverage, and insurance company requirements.

And of course, Americans remain deeply concerned about spending and the deficit. Democrats have spent a lot of time this week touting the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, but you haven’t heard them talk about the numbers it found on the deficit. The vast majority of those surveyed, 68%, believe the Democrats’ health care reforms will increase the deficit, and a majority, 51%, disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the deficit.

If Democrat senators are responsive to Americans’ concerns about spending and negative impacts on their health care, Harry Reid and the White House hopefully could have a real problem on their hands. As Sen. Mitch McConnell said yesterday, “With a record deficit and a ballooning national debt, the American people are saying enough is enough.” A majority of people once informed of the facts are saying, "Hands off our health care!"

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