HEALTH CARE RECONCILIATION PASSES!!
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Health care reform has passed the senate by a vote of 56 to 43! It now goes back to the house for the final vote. Once again the Republicans have failed to stop progress. The first step toward Universal Health Care has been taken. This is from the Washington Post:
The Senate passed the final piece of President Obama’s landmark health-care package Thursday and sent it back to the House after Republicans identified two minor violations of reconciliation rules that forced changes to a provision on student loans.
House Democratic leaders, who had labored to pass the package Sunday by a narrow margin, said they did not expect the changes to be a significant problem and vowed to approve the bill in question later in the day.
The Senate passed the House’s package of revisions to the health-care legislation –with the two small changes — by a vote of 56 to 43.
Democratic leaders said the provisions that were struck — from the part of the bill dealing with Pell Grants for college students — do not significantly affect the student loan program or the overall health-care bill.
Senators stood and voted from their desks as the roll was called, a tradition reserved for high-profile bills. Before the vote, the Senate observed a moment of silence for the late senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the Democratic champion of health-care reform, who died last year midway through the debate.
Three Democrats voted against the bill: Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both of Arkansas, and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. All three lawmakers supported the legislation that was signed into law on Tuesday but objected to particular provisions in the reconciliation bill.
The bill now heads to the House, where the Rules Committee could begin action within hours. Democratic aides said a final vote on the package could come in early evening, although if Republicans throw up procedural barriers, the vote could be delayed until later Thursday night.
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Fist extended skyward in solidarity. I think it is the woooooohooooooooooo part. The house has to vote to fix the student loan provisions that did not fit into reconciliation for procedural reasons. At least that is my understanding.
The Right is claiming that the bill will mean that student loan interest rates will climb to 6.8%, because the fed is borrowing the money at 2.58. Students everywhere are doomed….
Something needs to be done about the banks being the middleman between the federal money and the students. They are basically shuffling paper for huge profits.
I don’t disagree. I will be paying off my student loan until I die. In other words, my student loan will never be paid off, unless my dogs can write checks. I intend to burn down my house, and trash all of my property, sort of a scorched earth policy, before I will give the bastards one cent. Damn! That sounded good 🙂
Very funny Jessica!
So, are we at the WWOOOOOOOHOOOOOO! stage yet?
I’m going for lunch soon but I should probably check and see if it is ok, since Armageddon is supposed to be here momentarily. I’ll let you guys know what I find when I venture out for my run when I come back. Now I heard this just strengthened the Pell grants is this correct? Figures that the Walmart twins voted with the republicans on this, Nelson too since Nebraska has a lot of financial institutions like NY right? *sheesh*
The president referenced this in his Iowa speech. What nut jobs these folks are!
I’ll have to catch that later, I didn’t see it when it was happening. You will be glad to know though, it appears I was not Armageddoned to anywhere while I went to go pick up my sushi lunch but the waiter was looking at me funny hmmm. I couldn’t run today, got sidetracked by a co worker so I have to do that tonight. Since I am still here, I figure I have some time left before the boogey man comes to get me. I am very glad about that, because I kind of like my life right now.