Source: ABC News

In his highly anticipated address to Congress today, President Obama told ABC News that he would provide a much more detailed health care plan, saying that while he was still open to ideas, he is determined to get health care reform passed this year.

"So, the intent of the speech on is to, A, make sure that the American people are clear exactly what it is that we are proposing," Obama told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview. " B, to make sure that Democrats and Republicans understand that I'm open to new ideas, that we're not being rigid and ideological about this thing, but we do intend to get something done this year."

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"I think there are some in the Republican Party who made a strategic decision that we can duplicate what happened in 1993, '94," Obama said, referring to former President Clinton's failed attempt at health care reform and the Republicans winning back control over Congress soon thereafter. "I think that folks are dusting off that old playbook."

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On A Public Option in Health Care Reform

When asked if after his speech the public would know if he would sign a health care reform bill without a public option, Obama avoided answering the question directly.

"Well, I think what the country is going to know is exactly what I think will solve our health care crisis. They will have a lot of clarity about what I think is the best way to move forward," Obama said. "I'm not going to give you a preview of it before tonight. I want everybody to tune in."






Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/gma-exclusive-pr...

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But on Monday, Obama delivered a speech to the AFL-CIO where he voiced his support for a public option.

"I continue to believe that a public option within the basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs," Obama said.

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Chief White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says President Barack Obama will again cite a need for a public option on health insurance when he gives a prime-time speech to the nation.

Gibbs said in an interview on CBS's "The Early Show" Wednesday that Obama wants to "speak clearly and directly to the American people about what's in this bill for them."

Asked if Obama was willing to abandon a government-run plan to get a bill through Congress, the spokesman replied, "No, the president tonight will talk about the public option and will talk about the need for competition" with the private insurance market.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information.

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...


Source: Politico

White House senior adviser David Axelrod tells POLITICO that the administration is not dialing back its support for a public health-insurance option as part of a reform bill, and that a comment he made on NBC’s “Meet the Press” was misinterpreted.

Axelrod told NBC’s David Gregory that President Barack Obama “certainly agrees that we have to have competition and choice, to hold the insurance companies honest. … He believes the public option is a good tool. Now, it shouldn’t define the whole health-care debate, however.”

The Associated Press, which often sets the agenda for how other news organizations cover Sunday shows, popped up a headline saying: “White House shifts on public health care option". The story's lead: "WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's top political adviser is backing away from having a government health care plan compete against private carriers.”

Axelrod disputed that interpretation in an e-mail.
“In no way did I back off our position,” he wrote. “I must have said half a dozen times that he thinks the public option is an important tool to bring about competition and choice that will help consumers. To say that it is not the whole of health insurance reform, in a country where 160 million people have employer-sponsored health insurance and would not even be affected by this, does not mean I am backing off!”

Indeed, Axelrod also told Gregory: “He said there must be an exchange where people can get insurance at a competitive price. He believes in competition and choice. The public option is an important tool to help provoke that where there is no competition. He still believes that. ... So we want to create a pool in which people who don't have insurance, and small businesses, can go and get insurance at a competitive price. And a public option would be a valuable tool within that group, that package of plans that would be offered, private and public.”


//www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26801.h...

Source: Politico

White House senior adviser David Axelrod tells POLITICO that the administration is not dialing back its support for a public health-insurance option as part of a reform bill, and that a comment he made on NBC’s “Meet the Press” was misinterpreted.

Axelrod told NBC’s David Gregory that President Barack Obama “certainly agrees that we have to have competition and choice, to hold the insurance companies honest. … He believes the public option is a good tool. Now, it shouldn’t define the whole health-care debate, however.”

The Associated Press, which often sets the agenda for how other news organizations cover Sunday shows, popped up a headline saying: “White House shifts on public health care option". The story's lead: "WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's top political adviser is backing away from having a government health care plan compete against private carriers.”

Axelrod disputed that interpretation in an e-mail.

“In no way did I back off our position,” he wrote. “I must have said half a dozen times that he thinks the public option is an important tool to bring about competition and choice that will help consumers. To say that it is not the whole of health insurance reform, in a country where 160 million people have employer-sponsored health insurance and would not even be affected by this, does not mean I am backing off!”

Indeed, Axelrod also told Gregory: “He said there must be an exchange where people can get insurance at a competitive price. He believes in competition and choice. The public option is an important tool to help provoke that where there is no competition. He still believes that. ... So we want to create a pool in which people who don't have insurance, and small businesses, can go and get insurance at a competitive price. And a public option would be a valuable tool within that group, that package of plans that would be offered, private and public.”



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/...

 
Via Politico:

The president will describe the public insurance option as a “valuable component” to health care reform in his Wednesday speech to Congress, but he does not plan to issue veto threats either way, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I doubt we’re going to get into heavy veto threats on Wednesday,” Gibbs said. “We’re going to talk about what we can do, because we’re so close to getting it done. He will talk about the public option and why he believes, and continues to believe, that it is a valuable component of providing choice and competition, that helps individuals and small business, at the same time provides a check on insurance companies.”

Gibbs argued the public insurance option would not impact the 180 million Americans who have private insurance.

"So the vast majority, you are not going to be effected in any way, shape or form," Gibbs said.

 
Address on Health Care Reform (September 22, 1993)
Bill Clinton

Via the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia

Bill Clinton addresses Congress and asks them to support his plan to fix America's broken health care system. He argues that the current system is simply too broken, too uncertain, too expensive, and too bureaucratic to continue as currently structured. The President outlines the following six principles for restructuring: security of coverage, inclusion of all Americans, savings, choice, quality, and responsibility.

This transcript contains the published text of the speech, not the actual words spoken. There may be some differences between the transcript and the audio/video content.

http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/sp...

An excerpt from the speech not included in the video:

I know we have differences of opinion, but we are here tonight in a spirit that is animated by the problems of those people and by the sheer knowledge that if we can look into our heart, we will not be able to say that the greatest nation in the history of the world is powerless to confront this crisis.

Our history and our heritage tell us that we can meet this challenge. Everything about America's past tells us we will do it. So I say to you, let us write that new chapter in the American story. Let us guarantee every American comprehensive health benefits that can never be taken away.

You know, in spite of all the work we've done together and all the progress we've made, there's still a lot of people who say it would be an outright miracle if we passed health care reform. But my fellow Americans, in a time of change you have to have miracles. And miracles do happen. I mean, just a few days ago we saw a simple handshake shatter decades of deadlock in the Middle East. We've seen the walls crumble in Berlin and South Africa. We see the ongoing brave struggle of the people of Russia to seize freedom and democracy.

And now it is our turn to strike a blow for freedom in this country, the freedom of Americans to live without fear that their own Nation's health care system won't be there for them when they need it. It's hard to believe that there was once a time in this century when that kind of fear gripped old age, when retirement was nearly synonymous with poverty and older Americans died in the street. That's unthinkable today, because over a half a century ago Americans had the courage to change, to create a Social Security System that ensures that no Americans will be forgotten in their later years.

Forty years from now, our grandchildren will also find it unthinkable that there was a time in this country when hardworking families lost their homes, their savings, their businesses, lost everything simply because their children got sick or because they had to change jobs. Our grandchildren will find such things unthinkable tomorrow if we have the courage to change today.

This is our chance. This is our journey. And when our work is done, we will know that we have answered the call of history and met the challenge of our time.

Thank you very much, and God bless America.

It's the "No Drama Obama Administraion".

The New York Times:

White House Adviser on ‘Green Jobs’ Resigns

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/us/polit...

The republicans ran this 'drama' right out of their headquarters @ FAUX News.

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The government is trying to make it easier for Americans to save for retirement, President Barack Obama said Saturday, as he noted the toll the recession has taken on extra income and savings accounts.

One initiative will allow people to have their federal tax refunds sent as savings bonds. Others are meant to require workers to take action to stay out of an employer-run savings program rather than having to take action to join it.

"We know that automatic enrollment has made a big difference in participation rates by making it simpler for workers to save," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "That's why we're going to expand it to more people."

The new federal steps, which do not require congressional action, include:

_ Making it easier for small companies to set up 401(k) retirement savings plans in which all workers are automatically enrolled unless they ask to be omitted. Employers can set default amounts of each worker's pay — perhaps 3 percent — to automatically be deposited into the accounts without being taxed. Workers can raise or lower the contribution levels, and they choose how to invest the money. They will pay taxes on the money only when they withdraw it as retirees, when their tax rates are likely to be lower than when they are working full-time. A similar process would apply to savings plans called SIMPLE-IRAs.

_ Allowing such plans to automatically increase the amount that workers save over time unless the workers object.


Read more: WASHINGTON — The government is trying to make it easier for Americans to save for retirement, President Barack Obama said Saturday, as he noted the toll the recession has taken on extra income and savings accounts.

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More @ the link.

Source: GALLUP

PRINCETON, NJ -- The American public is evenly divided on the Justice Department's appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects. A new Gallup Poll finds that 47% of Americans approve and 49% disapprove.

The Obama administration has grappled since it took office with whether to launch a probe into the Bush administration's use of controversial techniques such as waterboarding. Some members of Congress have long called for an investigation, but the president himself has seemed reluctant to back an investigation into the matter, saying he does not want to look backward on this issue. Nevertheless, Attorney General Eric Holder announced last week that his own review of a CIA report that detailed the government's interrogation program prompted him to begin a preliminary investigation into the matter.

The Aug. 31-Sept. 2 Gallup Poll finds that rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans have fairly uniform opposing views on this issue. Seventy-three percent of Democrats approve of the investigation, while 75% of Republicans oppose it. Republican Party leaders, most prominently former Vice President Dick Cheney, have publicly opposed a review of the government's former interrogation methods.

Independents are more likely to disapprove (55%) than to approve (40%) of the probe into Bush-era interrogation methods.

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Bottom Line

When Attorney General Holder announced the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the use of harsh interrogation methods, he acknowledged it would be controversial. The new Gallup data underscore this assumption, finding a U.S. public that is evenly divided as to whether his decision to pursue an investigation is the right one.



Read more: http://www.gallup.com/poll/122753/American...

Source: Associated Press

DALLAS — When kids all across the country return to school Tuesday, some will see a welcoming message from President Barack Obama and some won't.

Obama's planned address to students has touched off yet another confrontation with Republican critics, who have battered the White House over health care and now accuse the president of foisting a political agenda on children.

The president will speak directly to students Tuesday about the need to work hard and stay in school. His address will be shown live on the White House Web site and on C-SPAN at noon EDT, a time when classrooms across the country will be able to tune in.

Schools don't have to show it. But districts across the country have been inundated with phone calls from parents and are struggling to address the controversy that broke out after Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to principals urging schools to tune in.

Districts in states including Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin have decided not to show the speech to students. Others are still thinking it over or are letting parents have their kids opt out.


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...

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"As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Steve Russell. "This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

Arizona state schools superintendent Tom Horne, a Republican, said lesson plans for teachers created by Obama's Education Department "call for a worshipful rather than critical approach."

snip

Critics are particularly upset about lesson plans the administration created to accompany the speech. The lesson plans, available online, originally recommended having students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president."

The White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."




I am a parent with two sons in high school and I think it's great that President Obama will be taking the time to do this.

The Republicans had no problem when George H.W. Bush made a similar address to schools in 1991.

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Interest groups are unleashing a torrent of modern and old-fashioned lobbying tactics at members of Congress returning for the autumn battle over health care, from spending sky-high amounts on TV ads to staging rallies in the capital and perhaps outside insurance company offices.

Plans include a massive, 8 million-piece direct mail campaign by AARP, the lobby for older Americans that has generally supported the health overhaul drive. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will send lawmakers a letter next week signed by 2,800 companies and business groups opposing the effort, and is working with local chambers of commerce to bring business people to Washington to lobby legislators later this month.

The nation's television stations, which last month hosted more than $28 million in ads on the health overhaul, may see even heavier spending in September, according to Evan Tracey, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group in Arlington, Va. Should the health battle spill into December, this year's total might hit $200 million — roughly the same as was spent in multiyear fights over tobacco regulation and the Medicare prescription drug program, said Tracey, whose company tracks political advertising.

"It's not just a couple of big players, this is coming from all corners, large and small," said Tracey, who said over 60 groups have advertised on the issue so far, more than he's seen on past issues. "This has only one way to go, and that's up."

The high-intensity lobbying underscores the pivotal moment that business, consumer, political and ideological groups believe is arriving in the health care fight.


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...

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"The next few weeks are critical," said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP.

His organization is running a national, multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign through mid-September that features an ambulance swerving from cars trying to block it as an announcer says, "Special interest groups are trying to block progress on health care reform, derailing the debate with myths and scare tactics."

snip

Health Care for America Now, an amalgam of more than 1,000 liberal and labor groups, is asking supporters to call lawmakers Wednesday and Thursday in support of an overhaul. It is also planning to have members hold demonstrations outside insurance company offices around the country later in September.

Source: New York Times

The old gang is getting together, again. The bipartisan “gang of six” Senators on the Finance Committee plan another conference call Friday morning, their second of the summer recess to include all six members.

Officially, the Senators are still working on a bipartisan health care bill — even if time is running out and events may have already passed them by.

For one thing, President Obama’s plan to address a joint session of Congress next Wednesday night suggests that he is taking matters into his own hands and no longer expecting the gang — led by Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana — to produce a bipartisan bill.

Moreover, two of the groups’s three Republican Senators, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Mike Enzi of Wyoming, have sent signals that are mixed — at best — about their willingness to work with Democrats on a compromise.

The gang is to talk for 90 minutes Friday and is expected to meet in person next week before the president speaks Wednesday night.


Read more: http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/200... /

Source: Associated Press

PADUCAH, Ky. — A former soldier is scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison without parole for the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the shooting deaths of three of her family members.

U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell is expected to hand down the automatic life sentence to former Pfc. Steven Dale Green, 24, of Midland, Texas, on Friday.

A civilian jury convicted Green in May of rape and multiple counts of murder for the deaths of the al-Janabi family on March 12, 2006, at their rural home outside Mahmoudiya, Iraq, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. The panel couldn't reach a unanimous decision about whether Green should get a death sentence, automatically making Green's sentence life in prison without parole.


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON — New jobless claims fell slightly last week while the number of people receiving unemployment benefits rose, a sign the job market's recovery will be long and bumpy.

While most economists believe the recession has ended, they predict the jobless rate will keep rising until at least next summer as the country struggles to mount a sustained recovery.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of laid-off workers applying for benefits dipped to 570,000 last week from an upwardly revised 574,000. That was a weaker performance than the drop to 560,000 claims that economists expected.

The number of people receiving jobless benefits totaled 6.23 million, up 92,000 from the previous week, which had been the lowest level since early April. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected that number, which lags new claims by a week, to fall to 6.13 million.

Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of layoffs and an indication of companies' willingness to hire new workers.


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...

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snip

Obama economic adviser Christina Romer said last week that unemployment could reach 10 percent this year and some private economists are forecasting it will hit 10.3 percent next summer before starting to improve.

snip

Among the states, California had the largest increase in claims of 8,632, which it attributed to greater layoffs in the construction, trade and service industries. The next largest increases were in Ohio and New Hampshire. The state data lag initial claims by a week.

Source: Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — Husband-and-wife political consultants James Carville and Mary Matalin, who live in New Orleans, will be the co-chairs of the host committee for the 2013 Super Bowl, which will be played in the Louisiana Superdome.

Led by the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, the Super Bowl Host Committee will be comprised of leaders from the hospitality, tourism, and economic development industries in New Orleans and Louisiana.

NFL owners voted in May to hold the 47th Super Bowl in New Orleans.


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