Reid - vote on Sat to stop filibuster; Yes, it covers abortion; Double Dip Recession

1) Senate Health Care Bill Faces Crucial First Vote on Saturday The Senate is expected to vote Saturday on whether to take up the legislation. The majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, refused to say Thursday whether he had the 60 votes needed to clear that procedural hurdle (meaning that if he is able, he will invoke cloture to stop a filibuster - this essentially means no opposing arguments can be heard when the bill itself is voted on). …Under the Senate bill, insurers would not be required or forbidden to cover abortion. But, the measure says, in every part of the country, the government would have to ensure that there is at least one plan that covers abortion and at least one that does not. The secretary of health and human services would decide whether a proposed new government insurance plan would cover abortion. In general, if insurers cover abortion, they could not use federal money to pay for the procedure. They could use only subscriber premiums and would have to keep the money separate from subsidies received from the federal government. Opponents of abortion describe this bookkeeping arrangement as a sham. “It’s a shell game,” said Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska. But Mr. Johanns said he doubted that the Senate would accept the stringent restriction adopted by the House. “I don’t see it in the final bill,” Mr. Johanns said. “I don’t believe there are enough pro-life senators to break a filibuster to make this a part of the final bill.” Hmm. I think I remember saying that the final bill would cover abortion. …A major difference between the bills is the effective date for important provisions, like the requirement for people to obtain insurance and the obligation of employers to help pay for it. Many provisions of the House bill would take effect in 2013. But to help hold down the cost of the bill, Mr. Reid decided to delay the effective date for many provisions by one year, to 2014. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/health/policy/20health.html?_r=1 1a) Sen. Reid’s Government-Run Health Plan Requires a Monthly Abortion Fee Just like the original 2,032-page, government-run health care plan from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) massive, 2,074-page bill would levy a new “abortion premium” fee on Americans in the government-run plan. Beginning on line 7, p. 118, section 1303 under “Voluntary Choice of Coverage of Abortion Services” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run health plan. Leader Reid’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions (line 13, p. 120). What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run health plan. It’s right there beginning on line 11, page 122, section 1303, under “Actuarial Value of Optional Service Coverage.” The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account – and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services. See: http://republicanleader.house.gov/blog/?p=690 1b) More details on the cloture vote… …Democrats hold 58 seats in the Senate, and two independents generally vote with them, but several moderate Democrats — Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas — have yet to commit to allowing debate to begin. Reid met privately with the three before releasing his bill Wednesday, and Nelson later issued a statement strongly suggesting he would support fellow Democrats on the procedural vote. Landrieu said Thursday she has not yet decided how she'll vote, adding: "I want to get to the debate. I am not trying to derail this bill. Reid has pointedly declined to claim the 60 votes needed to clear a must-pass procedural hurdle this weekend before debate can begin. "We'll find out when the votes are taken," he said Thursday. On a controversial issue that threatened to derail the House-passed bill, Reid would allow the new government insurance plan to cover abortions and would let companies that receive federal funds offer insurance plans that include abortion coverage. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091119/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul 1c) And more… …His immediate concern is whether the Senate's 58 Democrats and two independents will stick together to block a Republican filibuster of the massive health care bill. No GOP senators are expected to help, and it's not clear that any Republicans will vote for the final bill itself later this year. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091119/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama 2) 3M CEO Sees Possibility Of A Double-Dip US Recession CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- There is a "good chance" the U.S. economy will slip into a so-called double-dip recession next year, unless consumer spending improves and unemployment begins falling, 3M Co. (MMM) Chairman and Chief Executive George Buckley said Thursday. During remarks to the Executives' Club of Chicago, Buckley said the economy is reaching a plateau where excess inventories have been wrung out and industrial production is aligning with wholesale and retail market demand. But if retail demand doesn't turn higher and instead falls back early next year, U.S. GDP growth will lose momentum as well, effectively creating conditions for another recession. "I actually think there's a good chance of it," he said, noting that consumer spending remains under pressure because the U.S. unemployment rate remains high at more than 10%. See: http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200911191706dowjonesdjonline000745&title=3m-ceo-sees-possibility-of-a-double-dip-us-recession 2a) Obama harbours fear of 'double-dip recession' Barack Obama has warned that the US economy could head into a “double-dip recession” unless urgent steps were taken to rein back America’s mounting levels of public debt. …“I think it is important though to recognise that if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the US economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession.” Really? See: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6922325.ece 3) Which leads us to the next story… The Cloward/Piven Strategy of Economic Recovery Using borrowed money for a band-aid bailout of the economy should seem backwards to most people. However, it likely is a planned strategy to promote radical change. Those naively believing that President Obama is simply rewarding his far-left base, and will then move to the political center, must wise up. The assumption that Obama will need the nation to prosper in order to protect the 2010 mid-term election incorrectly assumes that he esteems free market capitalism. He does not. Rather than win through superior ideas and policies, the Democrat plan for success in the mid-term elections is to win by destroying political opposition. …The Cloward/Piven Strategy is named after Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. Their goal is to overthrow capitalism by overwhelming the government bureaucracy with entitlement demands. The created crisis provides the impetus to bring about radical political change. …Because these programs are financed with deficit spending, the effect of the Cloward/Piven Strategy becomes doubly destructive. Talk about a perfect storm! The Democrat stimulus plan is a mechanism whose goal is the destruction of the traditional American way of life. It is bitter irony that the American taxpayer will actually fund the destruction of his own ability to live according to the values of our Founding Documents. It is not alarmist to identify this situation as a coup d'etat (emphasis mine). See: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/02/the_clowardpiven_strategy_of_e.html 4) Senate confirms controversial judge WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday confirmed U.S. District Judge David Hamilton for the Chicago-based federal appeals court, approving a nominee targeted by conservatives as a liberal activist. Hamilton was approved on a 59-39 vote and became the eighth of President Barack Obama's judicial nominees to win confirmation. He is the third confirmed for a U.S. appeals court, which is usually the last stop for federal court cases. Republican senators — backed by their conservative allies outside Congress — had blocked a vote for five months until Democrats overcame a filibuster last Tuesday with a 70-29 vote. …Republicans attacked Hamilton's rulings and his work in the distant past for two liberal organizations: the American Civil Liberties Union in Indiana; and as a fundraiser over two months for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, the troubled group that is under fire from Republicans on Capitol Hill. See: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5grQHSwLPcLkQZhThfU7x8m6vToTwD9C2R9KG0