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.
The Senate worked through the weekend on health care reform, so here’s a quick recap of what they got done during that time. The answer is, actually, not all that much.
President Barack Obama spoke to Democratic Senators for about half an hour behind closed doors. Notably, he did not mention the public option. As Politico reported:
Obama spoke for about 30 minutes, taking no questions, according to Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who said Obama didn’t made a specific pitch for any one provision, including the public option
There were some votes that happened, however; four roll call votes to be exact. Only one, an amendment by John Kerry, D-Mass., passed.
The Kerry amendment, which would prohibit any cuts to home health care that would affect patients, passed 96-0.
An amendment by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D.-Ark., which would have limited the compensation of executives of health insurance companies to $400,000, failed on a 56-42 vote (the amendments need 60 votes to proceed).
Senator Tom Udall voted for the bill while Senator Jeff Bingaman voted against.
Bingaman spokesperson Jude McCartin explained the Senator’s decision in an e-mail to The Independent Sunday night.
McCartin said the bill was “was narrowly focused on one small aspect of the issue.”
If this amendment was a means to bring down health care costs, then it’s unclear why it focused only on insurance executives. (Why not hospital executives, why not insurance company profits?) Sen. Bingaman has been pressing for transparency in the entire industry. For example he believes all consumers should know how much of their premiums go toward the cost of health care vs. profits, compensation, etc.. (This is already in the underlying bill.) He believes this would inform / affect consumer behavior, which in turn would affect how the industry does business.
Bingaman was one of three Democrats, along with Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman who caucuses with the Democrats, to vote against the amendment.
Another amendment that failed was one by John Ensign, R-Nev., that would have curtailed trial lawyer contingency fees as a way to provide malpractice reform. This amendment fell by a 32-66 vote with four Democrats and Lieberman voting for and 12 Republicans voting against. Both Bingaman and Udall voted against the amendment.
The other roll call vote this weekend was a Saturday motion to recommit the bill with instruction to the committee on finance which failed 41-53.
This would have sent the bill back to committee with the instruction to take out language that cuts about $120 billion from the Medicare Advantage program.
A vote on an abortion amendment crafted by Nebraska Democratic Senator Ben Nelson is expected tomorrow. The conservative Democrat has threatened to filibuster the bill if the amendment fails.
Nelson has said he wants his amendment to be similar to the amendment by Bart Stupak, D-Mich., which severely restricts abortion access. The Stupak amendment passed the House and is a part of the House bill.
Democratic Party Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Politico that he does not expect the language of the amendment to be part of the final Senate bill.
