I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman was a part of a group of senators who spoke with President Barack Obama yesterday about healthcare reform. Bingaman is the only Democratic senator to sit on both the Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, two key committees in crafting healthcare legislation.
“I think it does give me a chance to see what the effects of one committee’s proposals will be on the others — and that’s useful,” Bingaman told the Albuquerque Journal’s Michael Coleman after the meeting of sitting on both committees. “We need to have it all integrated.”
“President Obama has made health reform a priority for the country,” Bingaman said in a statement. “Our goal now is to write legislation that ensures Americans have access to affordable and meaningful health care.”
“This will not be an easy task, but Americans deserve a strong bill that both reins in health care costs and demands quality care,” Bingaman said.
From the New York Times:
In response to a question from Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, Mr. Obama said that it was important to include a public plan option and that such a plan could help control health costs.
Coleman also caught something else of note in addition to the meeting with President Obama: Lobbyists for “Big Pharma” waiting for their meeting with President Obama.
“The lobbyists’ presence at the White House at the same time as a slew of U.S. senators made one thing very clear,” Coleman wrote. “The national health care reform debate is kicking into overdrive.”
Bingaman said he hopes that Congress can pass legislation through both Houses and head to Obama’s desk by the August recess.
