The healthcare reform bill passed into law earlier this year is "definitely an advantage" to Democrats at the polls this fall, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asserted.
Pelosi, who helped shepherd the legislation through the House earlier this year, expressed confidence that the bill would be an asset to Democrats in the next 41 days before the midterm congressional elections.
"It is definitely an advantage for us, because we have aligned ourselves with those who passed Social Security, Medicare and now healthcare for all Americans, not as a right, but a privilege," Pelosi said in an interview aired Tuesday evening on NPR to mark the six-month anniversary of the reform bill becoming law.
Republicans have made the healthcare bill a centerpiece of their election-year messaging, promising to repeal parts or all of the legislation and replace it with different reform.
When it comes to repeal, Democrats have used the GOP pledge to "repeal and replace" as a cudgel against Republican incumbents and candidates by highlighting popular reforms in the bill that would be threatened by a repeal.
Pelosi conceded that Republicans might have done a better job, at times, of setting the message about the bill, but said Democrats would be strengthened by running with the legislation.
"So some aspects of the bill are popular with the public. The Republicans, always the handmaidens of the special interests, have long beat the drum about what this bill is not about, and we have not made up that part of the debate," she said. "But we are proud of it, and our members gain strength from their support of it. We think it will be a very positive factor in the election."
But polls show the public is still very mixed about the legislation. The Kaiser Health Foundation, which has tracked public opinion about the law, found that opposition to it had ticked upward by the end of August. Forty-five percent of Americans now have an unfavorable opinion of the legislation, the poll found, while 43 percent have a favorable view of the law.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) prevailed against a primary challenger Tuesday who sought to punish him for his vote against the healthcare reform bill.
Lynch had 64 percent of the vote to 36 percent for union activist Mac D'Alessandro. The Associated Press called it with 88 of 225 precincts reporting.
Lynch hadn't faced a difficult primary in his five terms in office but his vote against healthcare reform legislation angered unions, some of which campaigned against him. D'Alessandro, a first-time candidate for office, served as the New England political director for the Service Employees International Union, which spent almost $300,000 on direct mail and other activities in support of him.
He called Lynch's healthcare vote the "final straw" that prompted him to run.
"It goes all the way back to his vote to authorize the war in Iraq and its continued funding time and time again, even as our economy here at home fell apart,” he told The Hill Monday, also citing Lynch’s anti-abortion position.
Still, healthcare was a big part of D'Alessandro’s campaign.
"I think that his 'no' vote on healthcare was a vote against the interests of middle-income families, middle-class families, working families, not to mention small businesses," he said. "Those are reforms that benefit a lot of working families in this district."
The SEIU said the challenger put up an "impressive result" against the incumbent.
"Mac D'Alessando may have come up short in his campaign but his impressive result proves that when you stand up for your beliefs you will never stand alone,” SEIU Massachusetts State Council President Mike Grunko said in a statement. "Mac ran for Congress on a set of values and principles that will never waver and a support for working families that make us proud to call him part of our SEIU family."
Lynch wasn't without union support. He was endorsed by the AFL-CIO during the primary, but the union didn't make any independent expenditures on his behalf.
Despite the improved chances for a Republican takeover of the House, some unions are spending against Democratic incumbents who voted "no" on healthcare reform.
Unions vowed to go after members who didn't support the bill, and some are keeping that pledge.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), for instance, has spent almost $300,000 on direct mail and other activities in support of union activist Mac D'Alessandro's primary challenge to Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.).
D'Alessandro and SEIU officials say he wasn't recruited to run because of Lynch's vote against the healthcare reform bill in March, but it's been the main issue of his candidacy.
"I made a decision on my own, and what I like to say is that the only person who asked me to get into this race was Steve Lynch," D'Alessandro told The Ballot Box.
He said healthcare wasn't the only reason he decided to run but rather, it was the "final straw."
"It goes all the way back to his vote to authorize the war in Iraq and its continued funding time and time again, even as our economy here at home fell apart," he said, also citing Lynch's anti-abortion position.
Lynch wasn't without union support — he was endorsed by the AFL-CIO during the primary, but the union didn't make any independent expenditures on his behalf.
D'Alessandro maintains that support for Lynch among "working families" has dropped since he voted against healthcare reform.
"I've canvassed and door-knocked and talked to small-business owners in every city and town in this district and there is a lot of frustration with Congressman Lynch’s vote on healthcare reform," he said. "A lot of it."
"I think that his 'no' vote on healthcare was a vote against the interests of middle income families, middle-class families, working families, not to mention small businesses," he said. "Those are reforms that benefit a lot of working families in this district."
Lynch's campaign says concerns about government spending and the deficit are what the congressman hears about from his constituents.
"When Steve knocks on doors he hears concerns about the healthcare reform bill and the Wall Street bailout, and the concern is with the positions Mac holds on both of those bills," said Scott Ferson, a spokesman for Lynch's campaign.
Ferson suggested D'Alessandro had been knocking on doors in Somerville and Cambridge, which are in the more liberal 8th district. "Thank God we're running in the 9th," Ferson said.
Another endangered House Democrat is out with a campaign ad creating some separation from his party's leadership in Washington.
Freshman Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-Md.) is expected to face a strong GOP challenge in November. He defeated state Sen. Andy Harris (R) by less than 3,000 votes in 2008 and represents a district that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won with 59 percent of the vote in the most recent presidential election.
In the 30-second spot, Kratovil says he makes decisions based on "facts not politics," which is why he "voted against the three trillion dollar budget, the big bank bailout and against the healthcare bill."
"You see for me, it's not about Democrats or Republicans," Kratovil continues. "It's about commonsense and doing what's best for our families. Maybe that's why I'm ranked one of the most independent members of Congress."
Kratovil's ad follows a pattern of a number of incumbent Democrats running away from their party's leadership in Washington in their ad campaigns. Reps. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.), Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) have released similar ads highlighting their votes against some Democratic priorities in Washington.
Harris is running again in 2010, but faces a Republican primary challenge Sept. 14. Kratovil is unopposed on the Democratic side. The race is considered a toss-up in November.
Republicans on Thursday used new figures regarding unemployment and the deficit to argue that the healthcare reform law is bad for the economy.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, said the Congressional Budget Office's mid-yearbudget outlook forecasts years of red ink despite the new law.
"Today’s CBO outlook only underscores what we already know — the current pace of U.S. spending is unaffordable and unsustainable, and without a change in direction, this country is headed for fiscal calamity," Gregg said in a statement. "Democrats argued that their massive health care plan would get the deficit under control, but we can see now that was simply smoke and mirrors."
The latest figures forecast a $1.3 trillion deficit in FY 2010 and a nearly $1.1 trillion deficit in FY 2011, Gregg said — "$71 billion higher than projected in March due to newly enacted legislation."
"Over the next 10 years," he adds, "Congress' spending spree will drive the cumulative deficit to more than $6 trillion, $250 billion more than was projected just six months ago."
Congressional Democrats and the White House say they never claimed that healthcare reform by itself would turn the government's fiscal situation around.
"The fact that more action must be taken on the deficit even after enactment of the Affordable Care Act [...] is a distinct question from whether the health legislation helps to improve our fiscal course — which it does," former White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said in June.
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), ranking member of the Senate health panel, for his part focused his attention on a two-page analysis in the Congressional Budget Office mid-year outlook that considers the effects of the new law on labor markets.
"This week the number of unemployed Americans reached 500,000, the highest level seen in the past nine months. Unfortunately, the new health care law makes a bad job market even worse," Enzi said. "The CBO report confirms that the health care law will increase labor costs, and will discourage employers from expanding their businesses and investing in their workers."
The report does say that firms with 50 or more employees will likely pass on the penalties they will pay if they fail to provide healthcare to workers, likely in the form of lower wages and other compensation. Since firms can't pay below minimum wage, the CBO says, they may also end up hiring fewer low-wage workers or shifting to part-time and seasonal employees.
However, CBO adds, the law makes it easier for people to buy insurance on their own so they won't be tied down by their employer's health benefits, "thereby enabling workers to take jobs that better match their skills." The law may make the U.S. workforce healthier and more productive, some have argued.
But the bigger effect, the CBO says, will be on labor supply rather than demand. Since more people will have access to Medicaid or subsidized private insurance, according to the CBO, they'll be richer and therefore less motivated to work.
The report forecasts that the law could reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by "roughly half a percent."
The pro-abortion rights group EMILY's List launched an Internet campaign on Tuesday aimed at creating support for the 32 female candidates it is endorsing for state and federal office this year.
The campaign, called "Sarah Doesn't Speak for Me," aims to counter former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) high-profile endorsements of "Mama Grizzly" candidates who want to restrict abortion rights.
At a press conference Tuesday, EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock called the Mama Grizzlies "backwards-looking."
The charge immediately drew reaction from the competing Susan B. Anthony List, which supports abortion opponents for office.
"EMILY’s List is running scared — and it shows," Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. "Clearly, in this ‘Year of the Pro-Life Woman,’ which Sarah Palin helped make possible, women have found their political voices. Pro-life ‘Mama Grizzlies’ represent the majority of women across the country."
Schriock called her group's new campaign a "get out the vote hub" and drew particular attention to three key races where its candidates are running against Sarah Palin's endorsees: the California Senate race pitting Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) against Republican Carly Fiorina; the Minnesota House race where Tarryl Clark hopes to unseat Rep. Michele Bachmann (R); and the New Mexico governor's race pitting Democrat Diane Denish against Republican Susana
Martinez.
The EMILY's List campaign features an Internet video of women in bear costumes mocking the "Mama Grizzlies" slogan. The women caution Palin that "there are plenty of Mama Grizzlies out there who would disagree with you."
EMILY's List says it raised $43 million during the 2007-2008 election cycle and has helped elect 80 pro-abortion-rights women to the U.S. House and 15 to the Senate since 1985. During her press conference, Schriock twice declined to say how much the group was spending on its new campaign.
The Susan B. Anthony List, for its part, recently launched a bus tour through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania to build momentum for its endorsed candidates. The group says it has elected 75 pro-life women to the U.S. House of Representatives and seven to the U.S. Senate since 1992.
Florida physicians have "no confidence" in the American Medical Association's handling of the healthcare reform debate, Florida Medical Association (FMA) President Madelyn Butler said Monday.
"The FMA House of Delegates strongly believes that the American Medical Association has failed to represent practicing physicians on the issue of healthcare reform," Butler said in a statement. "The FMA has voted to express these grave concerns to the AMA by sending a letter conveying a vote of 'no confidence' in the current AMA leadership regarding this issue. After passionate debate and testimony, the overwhelming sentiment was that the FMA members and leadership continue to have serious concerns about the effectiveness of the AMA and its ability to represent physicians' interests."
The Florida Medical Association's House of Delegates over the weekend was expected to take up a resolution splitting with the AMA, The Hill first reported last month. The resolution was proposed by Fort Myers plastic surgeon Douglas Stevens, who called the AMA's inability to get Congress to reform the Medicare payment system for physicians — something the traditionally conservative doctors lobby expected in exchange for supporting the Democrats' law — a "fiasco."
In the end, the Florida group declined to take up the resolution, opting to send a strongly worded letter of disapproval to the AMA. The letter isn't expected to be completed until the end of the week.
"It is important that the FMA continues to advocate for Florida's physicians and our 20,000-plus members and ensure that Florida's physicians stay engaged as we develop federal policy and advocacy positions on behalf of organized medicine," Butler said. "Therefore, the FMA will continue to send a delegation to the AMA's annual and interim meetings. We are hopeful that the AMA will recognize the concerns of the FMA, one of the largest and most representative healthcare associations in the nation, and we will continue to ensure that the FMA aggressively carries out its mission in Florida of helping physicians practice medicine."
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), furious at the AMA for its support of Democrats' healthcare reform law, gleefully drew reporters' attention to the news out of Florida on Monday.
