Summit Watch: Waxman, "The Mustache of Justice" speaks

By GottaLaff

Henry Waxman, the "Mustache of Justice", kicks butt:

Seniors ought to worry if we don't do something...

Now he's blasting Anthem, Wellpoint for upping out insurance costs 39%.

We have to hold down health care costs. One that is peculiar is medical malpractice at the federal level. The CA law has been in effect, and CA is faced with 39% increase!

We need insurance reform so more people can buy health care.

All these issues go together, as Harkin said.

And the money line (no pun):

They say, "The public doesn't want your plan." If I heard the Republican rhetoric over and over, I wouldn't want our plan either!

Coincidentally, I had just tweeted that very thing. Bingo.

Leading Blue Dog suggests opening Medicare to uninsured

By GottaLaff

I am in the midst of a Scooby Doo "wha-a?" moment:

[Rep. Mike] Ross (D-Ark.), who had emerged as a leader among centrist Blue Dog Democrats opposing the public health insurance option, has suggested something his colleagues consider even more drastic – opening Medicare to those under 65 without insurance. [...]

"I — speaking only on behalf of myself — suggested one possible idea could be that instead of creating an entirely new government bureaucracy to administer a public option, Medicare could be offered as a choice," Ross said in a statement to The Hill.

A Blue Dog said that?

His statement went on to say that he does "not support a government-run public option" and he does "not endorse this idea" of opening up Medicare.

Um, okay. As for Henry Waxman, the Mustache of Justice:

"The idea of a public option was to provide competition, but opening up Medicare would be the precursor to single-payer," said House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). "This may be an issue of semantics, but it would be very difficult to implement." [...]

Some colleagues suggested that the political heat may have pushed Ross to change position. But Ross said he hasn't changed his position, he is just proposing alternatives to keep the process moving.

Now back to the real story of the day: A kid named Falcon who didn't fall out of a balloon.

What Health Care Can Do For Your District

Looks like it could do all sorts of wonderful things in my area-

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 2nd Congressional District of Indiana: up to 13,500 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 10,200 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 1,770 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $104 million in uncompensated care each year; and 95,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance. Congressman Joe Donnelly represents the district.

The Mighty Mustache of Power strikes again!!! Pass it around.

Chamber of Commerce Slams Waxman’s Requests for Insurer Information

By GottaLaff

Defensive much, Tom? Hitting a nerve, are they?

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue on Friday pushed back on the effort of two senior House Democrats to get large amounts of potentially embarrassing financial information from health insurance companies.

In a Friday letter, Donohue told House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of that panel’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, that he was “deeply troubled” by lawmakers’ request for the information and asked that they withdraw it immediately.

Waxman and Stupak on Monday sent letters to more than 50 health insurers asking them to hand over by early September details of their executive compensation packages, conferences and retreats they sponsored, and the profitability of their products.

Donohue blasted the request as “ill-advised and economically destructive.”

“No citizen — individual or corporate — should be singled out for harassment and intimidation by the government simply because they disagree with powerful committee chairmen or seek to persuade others to embrace their viewpoint,” he wrote.

Where to even begin? The Mustache of Justice is getting in the way of Big Insurance's, um, "business practices", huh? Hey Tom, if they have nothing to hide, then what's the problem? Isn't that what the rest of us are always told?

And speaking of harassment and intimidation... how about cancer patients who get their health insurance pulled? Think they don't feel a little harassed and intimidated? How about those of us who pay through the nose to maintain ours? Or those who can't afford any to begin with...?

Yeah, "retreats" and bonuses are a real priority. Pass that on to a child whose mother just died because she couldn't get treatment, okay, Donohue? Then have a nice, relaxing retreat. With any luck, you'll need it by the time Waxman and Co. are done with you.

Much more here.

Liberals will get single-payer vote on House floor

By GottaLaff

This was from last night, but it's worth reminding everyone that we have few good people trying to do good things:

Seeking to dampen liberal anger about deals cut with centrists, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said House leaders have agreed to allow a floor vote on a government-run, single-payer system. [...]

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) offered a single-payer amendment in the Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, but withdrew it after Waxman said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had promised a floor vote. [...]

"I'm still not sure he has the votes," said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). "Some people who said they were a yes are not supporting it."

Legislation creating a single-payer system would be expected to lose, but would allow liberal members to record their support for the proposal. It will also be a tough vote for some Democrats who will be wary of upsetting the liberal base.

Many liberal lawmakers feel that the controversial "public option" that would compete with private insurers is a compromise from single-payer.

In another part of the deal, the House bill would allow the federal government to negotiate prescription drug prices and use the savings to lower insurance premiums in the health exchanges that would be established in the bill, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Hill.

Another provision calls for finding additional savings through other methods by simplifying Medicare and Medicaid administrative costs.

The cuts sought by the Blue Dogs would remain in place unless the drug negotiation and other initiatives yield savings. But any savings would be used to lower premiums.

House health care talks break down in anger

By GottaLaff

Oh great:

House healthcare negotiations dissolved in acrimony on Friday, with Blue Dog Democrats saying they were “lied” to by their Democratic leaders.

The seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stormed out of a Friday meeting with their committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), saying Waxman had been negotiating in bad faith over a number of provisions Blue Dogs demanded be changed in the stalled healthcare bill.

“I’ve been lied to,” Blue Dog Coalition co-chairman Charlie Melancon (D-La.) said on Friday. “We have not had legitimate negotiations.”

“Mr. Waxman has decided to sever discussions with the Blue Dogs who are trying to make this bill work for America,” Melancon said. [...]

If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, the only hope for passage of the bill in the House will be to go straight to the floor, an option leaders shied away from endorsing but said was an option.

But the Blue Dogs issued dire warnings to leaders contemplating that approach.

"Waxman simply does not have votes in committee and process should not be bypassed to bring the bill straight to floor,” Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), the lead Blue Dog negotiator, said on Friday. “We are trying to save this bill and trying to save this party.”

Melancon said there would be 40-45 “solid no” votes from the 52-strong Blue Dogs, among other problems throughout the Caucus.

“If they try to bring it to the floor, I think they’ll find out they have more problems with the Blue Dogs.”

Er, correct me if I'm wrong, but there are already more problems with the Blue Dogs. Now there are additional more problems. Sigh.

Waxman threatens floor vote to break impasse

Hahahaha!

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says there is "no alternative" but to have healthcare legislation bypass his Energy and Commerce Committee if Blue Dog Democrats don't accept a deal worked out Friday.

Waxman is now playing a game of legislative chicken with the Blue Dogs. He's hoping the inclusion of a study on Medicare reimbursement rates in the healthcare overhaul will be enough to placate the centrist Democrats, who say the government program short-changes hospitals and physicians in their rural districts.

If that’s not, the seven Blue Dogs could join with the committee's Republicans to "eviscerate" healthcare reform, and that’s something Waxman will not tolerate.

"I won't allow them to hand over control of our committee to Republicans," Waxman told reporters.

"I don’t see what other alternative we have, because we're not going to let them empower Republicans on the committee."

Henry Waxman Taken to Hospital in LA

By GottaLaff

Oh no, don't even...:

[...] Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) was taken this afternoon to Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles.

We contacted Waxman's office in order to confirm the story. A source in the office confirmed to us that the Congressman wasn't feeling well today, and went to a hospital for what were described as routine checks. Further details were not immediately available, and the source was unable to confirm which hospital Waxman was taken to.

Henry Waxman hires a speed reader to thwart GOP

Gotta love Hank.

We're well aware, at this point, that the House Republican strategy for opposing the Waxman-Markey climate change bill is to make the legislative process take a very, very long time. That means heaps and heaps of irrelevant amendments, written by congressmen who warn of "Global Warming Gestapo." But so far they have eschewed a maneuver that would force the Democrats to read the bill aloud. All 900-plus pages of it.

In case the GOP decides to change course, though, Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats are prepared. With a speed reader.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the new temp thinks he can plow through about one page every 34 seconds--a pretty impressive clip considering the nature of the reading material. And it means the entire stunt would only last about nine hours--significantly less than it would take if the committee's clerks were forced to do the job.

GOP plans climate bill stall in committee

Pure obstructionism. Note the word "nitpick".

Republicans know they can’t stop Henry Waxman’s ambitious climate change bill from clearing the Energy and Commerce Committee, but they’re promising to make the ride as bumpy as possible.

They plan to nitpick the Waxman bill into legislative oblivion by introducing more than 100 amendments during the committee debate. Some of those, they hope, will lure Democrats worried about the impact of energy proposals on hometown industries.

“This is not going to be one of gentlemanly, pro forma markups,” said Texas Rep. Joe Barton, the top Republican on the committee. “We’re prepared for it to take weeks or months.”

Waxman has spent weeks convincing Southern and Midwestern Democrats to support his legislation, trying to cut deals that enable them to vote for the legislation while still satisfying constituents back home. On Tuesday, he predicted that legislation would pass the 59-member committee by the Memorial Day recess even without any Republican votes.

But Barton says his game plan is ready to go. He walked into a Tuesday night meeting of Democrats with fighting words, announcing that “we are ready when you are.”

“I don’t have to pass a bill,” said Barton. “But I believe I’ve got a better chance of preventing a bad bill from getting passed than he has the chance of passing the bill he wants to pass.”

Diane Feinstein Trying to Kill Net Neutrality

Make the phone calls, this would kill, literally kill blogs like this.

According to The Register Diane Feinstein is trying to add language to the stimulus bill to allow for ISP throttling. Using the 'reasonable network management' euphemism, she tried to attach this to the broadband section. While this has been removed, she still plans to try to put her amendment back in committee. Rep. Waxman is also listed as supporting the amendment.

"This is the most backdoor of all the backdoor ways of doing things," Public Knowledge's Art Brodsky told The Reg. "Conference committees are notorious for being the most opaque of all legislative processes."

Please contact Senator Feinstein and Rep. Waxman to let them know you support Net Neutrality:

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954
TTY/TDD: (202) 224-2501

Rep. Henry Waxman
In Washington, D.C.
2204 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-3976 (phone)
(202) 225-4099 (fax)

In Los Angeles
8436 West Third Street, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 651-1040 (phone)
(818) 878-7400 (phone)
(310) 652-3095 (phone)
(323) 655-0502 (fax)

Prosecuting Bush, redux: Eight Years of Madoffs

By GottaLaff

Barry Blitt

It seems everyone's on the same page today. Frank Rich:

THREE days after the world learned that $50 billion may have disappeared in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, The Times led its front page of Dec. 14 with the revelation of another $50 billion rip-off. This time the vanished loot belonged to American taxpayers. That was our collective contribution to the $117 billion spent (as of mid-2008) on Iraq reconstruction — a sinkhole of corruption, cronyism, incompetence and outright theft that epitomized Bush management at home and abroad.

The source for this news was a near-final draft of an as-yet-unpublished 513-page federal history of this nation-building fiasco. The document was assembled by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction — led by a Bush appointee, no less. It pinpoints, among other transgressions, a governmental Ponzi scheme concocted to bamboozle Americans into believing they were accruing steady dividends on their investment in a “new” Iraq. [...]

Those of us who questioned these astonishing numbers were dismissed as fools, much like those who begged in vain to get the Securities and Exchange Commission to challenge Madoff’s math.

What’s most remarkable about the Times article, however, is how little stir it caused. [...]

After all, next to big-ticket administration horrors like Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and the politicized hiring and firing at Alberto Gonzales’s Justice Department, the wreckage of Iraq reconstruction is what Ralph Kramden of “The Honeymooners” would dismiss as “a mere bag of shells.” The $50 billion also pales next to other sums that remain unaccounted for in the Bush era, from the $345 billion in lost tax revenue due to unpoliced offshore corporate tax havens to the far-from-transparent disposition of some $350 billion in Wall Street bailout money. In the old Pat Moynihan phrase, the Bush years have “defined deviancy down” in terms of how low a standard of ethical behavior we now tolerate as the norm from public officials. [...]

Not even a good old-fashioned sex scandal could get our outrage going again. Indeed, a juicy one erupted last year in the Interior Department, where the inspector general found that officials “had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives.” [...]

It took 110 pages for the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan research organization, to compile the CliffsNotes inventory of the Bush wreckage last month. It found “125 systematic failures across the breadth of the federal government.” [...]

Who put that bogus “uranium from Africa” into the crucial prewar State of the Union address after the C.I.A. removed it from previous Bush speeches? How high up were the authorities who ordered and condoned torture and then let the “rotten apples” at the bottom of the military heap take the fall? Who orchestrated the Pentagon’s elaborate P.R. efforts to cover up Pat Tillman’s death by “friendly fire” in Afghanistan?

And, for extra credit, whatever did happen to Bush’s records from the Texas Air National Guard? [...]

Though he [Henry Waxman] remains outraged about both the chicanery used to sell the Iraq war and the administration’s overall abuse of power, he adds: “I don’t see Congress pursuing it. We’ve got to move on to other issues.” He would rather see any prosecutions augmented by an independent investigation that fills in the historical record. “We need to depoliticize it,” he says. “If a Democratic Congress or administration pursues it, it will be seen as partisan.” [...]

While our new president indeed must move on and address the urgent crises that cannot wait, Bush administration malfeasance can’t be merely forgotten or finessed. A new Justice Department must enforce the law; Congress must press outstanding subpoenas to smoke out potential criminal activity; every legal effort must be made to stop what seems like a wholesale effort by the outgoing White House to withhold, hide and possibly destroy huge chunks of its electronic and paper trail. [...]

As if to anticipate the current debate, she [Dawn Johnsen, a law professor and former Clinton administration official who last week was chosen to run the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice] added that “we must avoid any temptation simply to move on,” because the national honor cannot be restored “without full disclosure.”[...]

To make the policy decisions ahead of us in the economic meltdown, we must know what went wrong along the way in the executive and legislative branches alike. [...]

If Bernie Madoff, at least, can still revive what remains of our deadened capacity for outrage, so can those who pulled off Washington’s Ponzi schemes. The more we learn about where all the bodies and billions were buried on our path to ruin, the easier it may be for our new president to make the case for a bold, whatever-it-takes New Deal.

Waxman grants Dingell lead role on health care

By GottaLaff

Universal health care just got a boost:

California Rep. Henry A. Waxman has cut a deal with the man he dethroned last month as chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, in a bid to diffuse leftover tension from that bitter contest.

Under terms announced Thursday, Michigan Rep. John D. Dingell will take the lead on all major health care initiatives before the committee in the next Congress and have a say in personnel matters as part of an agreement worked out with his successor.

In addition, as chairman emeritus, Dingell will have "a suitable staff to assist with his work" on the panel, according to a joint release from the two lawmakers issued Thursday night. [...]

By granting Dingell a role as "the lead sponsor" of whatever national health care legislation the committee considers, Waxman is giving the Dean of the House the chance to cap his historic career by realizing his father's goal of universal health care coverage - Dingell's father, a former House member, first introduced legislation creating national health insurance in 1943.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) Taken to Hospital After Experiencing 'Discomfort'

Just in over MSNBC and Roll Call (subscription). More when I get it.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) was taken to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after experiencing what his office called "some discomfort**"

**probably just indigestion from having his hat handed to him by Waxman.

Waxman Defeats Dingell

Huge. Via Matt-

Wow.

Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.) has ousted Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell (Mich.), as Democratic lawmakers voted 137-122 Thursday morning to hand the gavel of the powerhouse panel to its second-ranking member.

The vote marks a stunning rebuke of the seniority system Democrats have honored for decades. It also constitutes a win, of sorts, for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is ideologically aligned with Waxman and has clashed repeatedly with Dingell.

That's a big deal. Looks like we could be heading for a progressive Congress. Cue conservative whining.

House Panel Backs Waxman Over Dingell As Energy Chair

By GottaLaff

The Mustache of Justice is rewarded, aptly, as opposed to say, Joe Lieberman:

ABC News has learned that House Democratic leaders have voted to strip Representative John Dingell of his chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce committee, replacing him with Henry Waxman.

In a stinging rebuke, the House Steering committee voted 25-22 by secret ballot during a closed-door Democratic leadership meeting.

The move was a dramatic one for House Democrats -- considered a victory for House liberals and environmentalists, a big defeat for Michigan and the auto industry. [...]

The vote now moves to the whole House Democratic caucus who will vote Thursday morning. Given Dingell's role as a political mover in the House, despite his loss at the Steering Committee today, he could still pull off a victory tomorrow.

I vote for the Mustache.

Another Reason to Can Joe

By GottaLaff

We already know that Harry Reid isn't a fan of Joe no mo'. Josh Marshall gives us another reason that might have slipped by us:

But one, perhaps the most obvious and substantive, has gone little mentioned. Simply put, he was terrible at it. Lieberman's committee is the senate investigations and oversight committee, the senate's counterpart to Rep. Henry Waxman's committee in the House. And if you remember a lot about Waxman's investigations and hearings and nothing about Lieberman's, that's because Lieberman didn't hold any. Even in the face of endless scandals of the late Bush administration, Lieberman couldn't find anything worth poking into.

Rule One: If one isn't good at one's job, one must be fired from said job.

Hit the road, Joe.

Gramm-pa McCain Bundler Accused of War Profiteering

By GottaLaff

We're witnessing an avalanche. They can try to dig out of all of these messes (the last two days of posts alone are overwhelming), but it's a losing proposition. The latest is all about Harry Sargeant, the Florida fundraiser who has been bundling checks for Republican Sen. John McCain:

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) released a letter today outlining his findings after reviewing contracts Sargent's oil company brokered with the U.S. Department of Defense.

They aren't pretty.

"I have been conducting oversight of procurement problems in Iraq since the war began over five years ago. The IOTC contracts stand out for the extent of the company's apparent profiteering," Waxman wrote. "Of the $210 million in profits received by the company, at least one third -- $70 million -- appears to have benefited a single individual: Mr. Sargeant."

At issue were the prices Sargeant's company, the International Oil Trading Company, charged for jet fuel. Waxman said the company offered the highest prices of six companies to bid for the military contract, but won because it was the only one with the blessing of the Jordanian royal family to deliver fuel over Jordanian land.

Waxman says that if the oil contracts Sargeant's company had been awarded to the lowest bidders, the taxpayers could have saved over $180 million.

Guilt by association, right Gramm-pa?

Pelosi orders wide Wall Street probe

By GottaLaff

Dust off that microscope, Nance:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered a broad, swift investigation of Wall Street and will demand testimony from Bush administration officials and captains of finance, congressional officials said.

House Democrats plan to aggressively look at the administration’s role in the meltdown over the weekend and to explore further regulation and government structures that would be taken up under the new president.

And the trouble could run even deeper than has been clear so far — and get more expensive for the U.S. government. The Associated Press reports that the fund established to insure bank deposits is dwindling, with the taxpayer as the lender of last resort.

"The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., whose insurance fund has slipped below the minimum target level set by Congress, could be forced to tap tax dollars through a Treasury Department loan if Washington Mutual Inc., the nation's largest thrift, or another struggling rival fails, economists and industry analysts said," The AP reported.

The hearings ordered by Pelosi will take place over the next few weeks, the officials said. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who regularly appears on Capitol Hill, will be called to testify as part of the investigation.

As the main event, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House oversight committee, wrote to Richard Fuld, chief executive of the imploded Lehman Brothers, to ask him to appear on Capitol Hill on Sept. 25.

The first presidential debate is September 26. Interesting juxtaposition.

Bush/Cheney Plame interviews subpoenaed

By GottaLaff

The Mustache of Justice is at it again:

The House Oversight Committee today “issued a subpoena to Attorney General Mukasey compelling the production of FBI interview reports of Vice President Cheney and President Bush and other documents regarding the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.”

That was the interview in which BunnyPants and the Nation of Dick held each other's hands, wasn't it? I wonder if there are any notations in the margins about that.