"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
-  Emma Lazarus, 1883

In the past few weeks the biggest policy debate has been around immigration and border control. The uproar was sparked by a law in Arizona that allows law enforcement agencies to ask suspected illegal immigrants for identification and proof of citizenship with reasonable suspicion. Many have challenged the constitutionality of this law. More importantly, people are concerned over the discrimination that is bound to result from this law. 

America has always boasted itself as a mixing pot or mixing bowl of different cultures and ethnicities. However, this same variety of different perspectives has brought about stereotyping and racial profiling. This law seems to open the floodgates on these ills of American society and borderline legalize them. The Arizona immigration has several main provisions:

• It is illegal to be in the state of Arizona illegally
• Immigrants must carry their alien registration documents at all times
• Police may question people if there is reason to suspect they are in the United States illegally
• Police may detain an individual based on suspicion that he or she entered the country illegally

The law with these provisions outraged many prominent organizations. Fraternities, the Major League Baseball Players Union, colleges and universities and many others have spoken out against the law. Opponents have even begun to protest the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team's games because of the team owner's involvement in the state of Arizona. One fraternity has boycotted the entire state and moved their national conference to Las Vegas. Students have begun to leave Arizona universities in protest of the law. You can see that the law has already started hurting the state financially while it already deals with a budget shortfall.


In response to the public backlash against the law, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed changes into the law. The primary change to the law requires law enforcement to only question suspected illegal immigrants about their status while they are being pursued for another breach of law. This change is supposed to appease the many Americans, including myself, that believed Hispanic immigrants would be profiled under the law because of their race. Whether this will actually prevent racial profiling remains to be seen...

It has been inspiring to see the large protests and rallies against the law. Seeing a group take to the streets in a peaceful manner to demand the protection of their rights reminds me of the civil rights movement by African Americans. It is good to see the same spirit lives on in someone, whether or not African Americans still have it has yet to be seen...

The Senate Democrats have used the uproar as an opportunity to present their proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, which I fully support. The proposal calls for a focus on securing our borders and controlling the flow of people in and out of our countries. The proposal also calls for the integration of current illegal immigrants into American society as long as they have not committed any crimes. These immigrants would be entered into the queue to receive American citizenship but also be required to pay all back taxes. This is the most important part of the proposal to me because it would help generate revenue for our country and states. Democrats would need GOP support to pass an Immigration bill in the Senate and the GOP has a proposal of their own. Both sides seem to agree that current immigrants should be allowed citizenship and border security is essential. 


What are your thoughts on the law? Do you support it? Oppose it? Answer the weekly poll and post your comments.

"The more the American people understand the system's broken, the more the people are going to support rules reform"
- Sen. Tom Udall 

I think this year I've heard more about Congressional procedures than in my Local, State, and National Government class in high school. From filibusters to Reconciliation, the focus for this Congress has been the various rules and procedures than can block, accelerate, or simply pass a bill or nomination. I'm sure most of these legislative procedures weren't in Schoolhouse Rock "How A Bill Becomes A Law" (see below).



Yea they definitely weren't...

A band of over 20 younger, Democratic senators (they're really not that young but everyone else in the Senate is just that old. From now on I'll call them the Young Dems) has formed a coalition in the Senate that is determined to fix the broken rules system in the Senate. During the health care reform debate and other debates of legislation in this current Congress the American public has seen every rule in the book used to alter the course of a bill or block nominations. The democratic coalition is also seeking to change the procedure for selecting Chairmanships in the Senate. Unlike the House who holds elections within their Caucuses to select leadership positions for Committees, these positions are commonly based off of seniority in the Senate.

Some examples of the use of Senate rules in the current Congress

• Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara M. Keenan was delayed nine months
• Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) placed on hold on President Obama's nominees
• Republicans  invoked "two-hour" rule in health care reform debate
• Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is allowed to maintain chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after supporting John McCain for President in 2008.

During Obama's Administration numerous legislation has been enacted, debated, or introduced that reforms many of the outdated systems in American government. Of course the biggest of all reforms if the health care reform passed last week (Read The Next Great Voyage... for a summary of the provisions and helpful resources). Currently, financial regulation reform is being discussed and prepared for floor debate in the Senate. Congress has also discussed reforms to our nation's Immigration, Education, and Energy systems. All of these reforms modernize existing laws and regulations to meet current industry practices. It is one of the primary functions of Government to ensure that the laws governing a country are up-to-date with society. I agree with the Young Dems that the rules governing Congress should not be exempt.

I'm not going to attempt to explain all of the rules and procedures of Congress because that's not my specialty. However, anyone can see that the current rules system is outdated and can be prohibitive to progress in Washington. For example, the hold used by Shelby to block Obama's nominations was a rule that began in the 19th Century to allow Senators with difficulty traveling or communicating with the Chamber to oppose bringing up legislation or a nomination without being there. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) has proposed a new rule that requires holds have support from a Senator in each party and last only 30 days.

Do you think the Young Dems will succeed in reforming the rules of the Senate? Will it matter? Is this system really broken now? What do you think?

Resources 
Younger senators take aim at old Senate rules
Senate Legislative Process
House Committee On Rules 

"For all my years in public life, I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage. We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make."

-Edward Kennedy

For decades, it has been apparent that our current healthcare system was not sustainable. Numerous times there were attempts at reform but each time it fell short. Whether it was organized medicine or health plans or both, parties opposed to reform of the U.S. healthcare system defeated any and all attempts. However, after almost a 100 years of waiting, health reform was signed into law March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama.

I know I know, there's still Reconciliation and signing that Act into law, but the major piece of legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is now the law of the land. There will be attempts to block or delay Reconciliation and campaigning on the repeal of the law by its many opponents. They will continue to reiterate their talking points of taxes, and excess spending, and baby-killing, and government take overs of healthcare, and taking away powers from the States, and Medicare cuts, and many other attacks on the reform bill and those that helped get it enacted. It is important for everyone to know the benefits of this bill and how it impact yous as a health care consumer. Below I will break down the different beneficial provisions in the bill and provide some additional resources for more, CORRECT, information.

I will admit this bill is far from perfect, but few legislation is. There are still additional measures that must be enacted to help control costs, including revising payment structure to physicians, increasing emphasis on prevention and wellness, and tort reform. Tort reform or more specifically medical malpractice reform will limit payments in frivalous malpractice lawsuits and potentially reduce the costs of medical liability insurance to doctors. It is my theory that the delay in implementation is to ensure the health care industry has the proper staff to accomodate all the new patients but also to allow for cost containment reforms in healthcare before the uninsured are fully integrated into the system.

• Prevents Health insurance plans from excluding children (2010) and everyone (2014) due to pre-existing conditions
• Prevents health plans from having lifetime caps of plans
• Requires all new private health insurance plans (2010) and all plans (2018) to offer FREE preventive care
• Helps employers that offer health benefits to retired employees age 55-64
• Ensures patients have an intenral and external appeals process for denied claims
• Requires medical loss ratio of 80% for plans in individual and small group market; 85% for large group plans. Plans that do not meet this requirement must provide rebates to policyholders. Medical loss ratio - percent of the premium that must be spent on medical care.
• Creates a temporary high-risk pool for unisured Americans with pre-existing conditions
• Requires health plans to allow parents to maintain their children on their policy until 26
• Offers assistance to states setting up offices for consumers to assist them in complaints and appeals
• Provides tax credits to small businesses to cover the cost of premiums for workers 35% of premiums (2010); 50% (2014).
• Provides rebates to seniors in the donuthole 
• Provides funds to Community Health Centers
• Provides funds for training programs to develop more primary care physicians, nurses, etc
• Imposes 10% tax on tanning activies (This provision always seemed random to me)
• Establishes long-term care voluntary insurance program
• Reduces payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Medicar Advantage - private health insurance plans provided to Seniors to provide some services not covered by Medicare
• Imposes an annual fee on drug companies
• Establishes health insurance exchanges for individuals and small groups to purchase plans
• Creates nonprofit insurance co-ops to compete with private health insurance plans
• Medicare payments will be decreased for hospitals with high rates 
• Standardizes administrative paperwork for health insurance plans
• Imposes sales tax on medical devices
• Imposes an increase in the Medicare payroll tax for individuals making over $200,000 or families making over $250,000.
• Provides subsidies for those purchasing insurance through exchanges
• Requires all Americans to have health insurance by 2014
• Expands Medicaid to cover all Americans up to 133% of Federal Poverty Level

Resources
NCSL - Federal Health Care Reform
Washington Post Express - Health Care Reform Timeline
Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals

I was just reading an article about health care reform that describes the potential paths to its passage after the Massachusetts election. It described the process that I think is the most likely and the easiest to comprehensive reform. However, this pathway also involves strategic politics and dealmaking, the same practices the Obama Administration has said they would like to cease. This led me to wonder if the form of politics so common in Washington was harmful to society or necessary for its improvement. Washington politics are characterized by closed door meetings, strategic voting, and powerful lobbying. These same polticis have been necessary to get health care reform to its closest point to passage ever. Which leads me to ask if Politics as usual are as bad as they are made out to be...?

The same Obama Administration that has preached transparency and a new era of politics inside the beltway has engaged in these activities but the deals made would be beneficial to Americans. The most well known deal made the Obama Administration in the health care reform discussion was with the pharmaceutical companies. The Administration received their support early in the process and a pledge for $80 billion in savings for Americans. A portion of the savings would benefit Seniors caught in the donut hole in Medicare coverage, In the donut hole they pay full price for prescription drugs until they reach the catstrophic threshold. The drug companies also helped garner public support for reform as part of their deal with the Administration. Although the details of this deal were discuessed behind closed doors I'd say the benefits outweigh the lack of tranparency and I'm sure grandma agrees...

In the article I read it described one of the popular methods for health care reform passage. In this method, the House would pass the Senate's version of the health care bill as a simultaneous bill with edits is passed in the Senate through reconciliation. This process is still possible although the Democrats lost their supermajority because passage through reconciliation only requires a simple majority (51 Democrats). If Congress chooses this option they would pass a reform bill with the priorities everyone agress on including eliminating discrimination for pre-existing conditions, implement guaranteed renewal of health insurance of plans, and increase eligibility for state Medicaid programs that provide health insurance to under privileged populations. Democrats up for election this year fear that they may face a backlash from voters who think this process is underhand, sneaky, and Washington Politics as Usual. At the same time they may gain 30+ million new supporters...the amount of uninsured Americans expected to receive health insurance as a result of health reform. So again I have to ask if Politics as usual in Washington really bad when it helps benefit society...?

Just when I thought he was down for the count after a right hook by Massachusetts and an uppercut from health care reform, President Obama's State of the Union address showed that he's not giving up on his agenda just yet. As with all of his speeches, the speech was eloquent, humorous, and inspiring. Also in line with Obama's other speeches, the State of the Union laid out an overly ambitious agenda that leaves me hopeful, but also skeptical. There were some pieces that, if implemented, can help to turn the tide of the economy by decreasing unemployment, spurring economic growth, and improving the political process. However, as we've seen over the past year, that is a big IF.

In the financial sector, President Obama proposed taxes on big banks, cutting tax credits for outsourcing, and investments in small businesses. The taxes on the banks is a goodwill gesture that will garner a lot of political support for the Democrats who have to face voters as angry at them as they are at the million dollar executives on Wall Street. If passed, it will increase revenue and gain some political capital for Democrats. However, I'm not sure how the stock markets would feel about that. Cutting tax credits to companies that are outsourcing is a bold move, but necessary. No longer will we have to deal with customer service agents from India!!! This intitative will help return many of the blue and white collars jobs that could be filled with Americans but are instead given to random people in random countries. The investment into loans for small businesses is one of the best proposals to come from the President to help stimulate job growth. Loans to small businesses that are still profitable in these tough times should help to lower the ranks of the unemployed. Its funny that this is an idea that has been touted by the GOP for awhile...

If legislation passes that implements these intiatives, the jobs created won't be the same ones we lost. Sorry Detroit but the American car manufacturers will probably never rehire the thousands they terminated during the recession. The news jobs that are created will require higher education and specialized training. I would imagine these careers will be in education, energy, and health care; All were areas President Obama stressed in the State of the Union as priorities in securing America's future. Obama proposed tax credits for families paying tuition and student loan forgiveness for careers in public service which was music to the ears of every college student, graduate or undergraduate, and graduates struggling with student loan payments. The President also continued to stress the need for health care reform, which Congress completely dropped the ball on. He noted that health care reform has never been this close to passing and there is no need to quit now.

For all the inspiring iniatives proposed by Obama two proposals seemed completely unrealistic to me. Removing lobbying from Capitol Hill is as realistic as President Obama inviting Glenn Back over for a beer. For all the bad press lobbying receives, it's necessary to keep legislators informed on the numerous topics they vote on. President Obama also stressed bipartisanship efforts in producing legislation in congress. The GOP said no to almost everything over the past year. Their reward...the coveted Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy. Good luck on those Obama...

The President inspired me last night to believe that he still has a plan to get us out of this mess. Now, he has to make sure that these intiatives come to pass or the Democrats will be Obama's whipping boy in November. As President Obama stated last night, "We don't quit. I don't quit" I just hope the Democrats don't quit while they're ahead...literally...with a huge majority in the House AND the Senate.