The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.
Health Care Battle Lines Drawn For Summer Brawl
Major grassroots effort with pushback against insurance lobby. NYT: "...President Obama, Congressional Democrats and leading advocacy groups are laying the groundwork for an August offensive against the insurance industry as part of a coordinated campaign to sell the public on the need for reform. The effort will feature town-hall-style meetings by lawmakers and the president, including a swing through Western states by Mr. Obama, grass-roots lobbying efforts and a blitz of expensive television advertising. It is intended to drive home the message that revamping the health care system will protect consumers by ending unpopular insurance industry practices, like refusing patients with pre-existing conditions ... The tough talk, however, has risks. The industry trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, is urging members to confront Democrats at public meetings, and the rising tensions could make it difficult for the president to keep insurers at the negotiating table."
Conservative plan to be out in force. W. Post: "Republican leaders have pledged to use town halls, ads and other forums to intensify their assault on the Democratic-led reform effort. 'I think it's safe to say that, over the August recess, as more Americans learn more about [Democrats'] plan, they're likely to have a very, very hot summer,' House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said."
The Treatment's Jonathan Cohn asks if the Left is ready to fight the RIght: "[Conservatives] are also starting to get organized. Americans for Prosperity, the conservative interest group, recently had tea party protesters show up at a town hall meeting being held by the staff of Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. Groups like this plan to spend August doing the same thing, dozens of times over, while they simultaneously flood the airwaves with ads picking apart reform legislation, bit by bit. A lot of this will be classic astroturf organizing, in some cases bankrolled by the health care industry. But these outbursts will be effective all the same. A big reason getting health legislation through the House was harder than expected was the experience freshmen and moderate Democrats had in early July, after voting for a cap-and-trade bill. When they returned to their districts, all they heard was complaints--in many cases, angry complaints. Now the right has a chance to channel that anger before a final vote is cast. And so the question going forward is, will the left answer it?"
DailyKos' slinkerwink lays out a grassroots action plan: "The Republican crazies are coming out in full force to local townhall and community events being held by Democratic lawmakers--with only one goal--to interrupt the Democratic lawmaker on health care reform, and shout right-wing talking points at him or her to scare the rest of his or her constituents at that event by sowing confusion and fear in the crowd. They want to break the Democrats and make them afraid to support REAL health care reform, and strip out the public option when they return back from the August recess. We NEED you to call and USE the FDL Recess Tracker tool to find out where these Democratic lawmakers are going to be holding their town hall events, because we NEED you to attend these events to support your Democratic lawmaker's push for health care reform and urge him or her to support the public option in health care reform, because the crazies are going to out-work us on this issue if we don't step up now!"
Waxman-Blue Dog deal seen as strengthening hand for a public plan option. Politico: "By Friday, though, public plan advocates were suddenly feeling pretty good. They didn’t get exactly what they wanted in the Energy and Commerce Committee bill — their first preference was a government-run plan tied to Medicare rates rather than negotiated rates — but they had strengthened their hand against the Finance Committee. 'There will be a backstop,' said a Democratic Senate official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy. 'It ensured that whatever happens in the Senate Finance Committee, there will be something of a firewall in the conference. The House will be an equal partner in the conference, and they will be united in presenting a pretty viable, strong public option and one of the two committees marking up in the Senate will have done the same.'"
Rep. Rangel knocks Blue Dogs for weakening public plan on Fox News Sunday: "...what the Blue Dogs have done is just increase the costs in terms of negotiating."
CQ on next steps for the House deal: "Democratic leaders and committee heads will have to find a way to resolve differences in the versions of the bill (HR 3200) approved by two committees — Education and Labor and Ways and Means — and a compromise measure approved, 31-28, late July 31 by the Energy and Commerce Committee that includes proposals crafted with moderate Democrats on the panel who had opposed the original bill over cost concerns. The House is looking now to pass the bill in mid-September, a few days after Congress reconvenes ... [The Rules Committee] will create the bill’s final version and will adopt the procedure for floor debate..."
PCCC gets under Sen. Ben Nelson's skin. The Hill: "A liberal activist working with an advocacy group founded by former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean has attacked Nelson as 'bought and paid for by health and insurance interests' and suggested he is 'corrupt' and 'out of touch.' Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), made the charges in a scathing statement that said Nelson 'feels perfectly comfortable lying to his constituents' if he continues to object to a liberal TV ad criticizing him. Green vowed to expand the ad’s frequency..."
NYT reports simple majority vote in the Senate still on the table: "Yet with the [Senate Finance] discussions so far failing to produce an agreement, Democrats are exploring whether they could use the tactic as a last resort to secure a health care victory if they have to go it alone. The answer: It would not be pretty and it would not be preferable, but it could be doable. 'This is tough stuff,' said Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Budget Committee, 'but, yes, it is more than theoretically possible.'"
In These Times' Art Levine dresses down media for allowing smears to spread unchallenged: "The fate of health care reform could be determined by progressive and labor groups’ ability to fight right-wing lies and health industry lobbying against meaningful reforms during the August Congressional recess. But even as debunked smears continue, such as the claim the bill aims to kill old people through 'death care,' progressives are being hamstrung by mainstream media coverage. That’s because respected news organizations, not just Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, have allowed lies, misinformation and other distortions about health care reform to flourish. One little-noticed reason: the media’s never-ending emphasis on covering the political “horse-race” of a story, rather than the policy side in a clear, emotionally compelling way."
Cash for Clunkers Extension Uncertain in Senate
WH presses Senate to pass House extension. NYT: "Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the government would kill the highly popular incentive deal if the Senate did not follow the lead of the House, which voted Friday to give the program an additional $2 billion."
The Hill on Senate hesitation to approve House extension: "As news broke that the $1 billion auto-trade in program had almost burned through its appropriation, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) released a statement that said the price of their support to extend it would be tougher mileage standards ... Meanwhile, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) sent a Twitter message on Friday raising cost concerns with the program."
Republicans attacking program, using it to undermine health care. NYT: "Republicans say the problems with the program are another strike against the Obama administration as it pushes for a speedy overhaul of the health care system that would involve a government-run insurance program. They argue that government involvement in any industry is a recipe for disaster. Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, said the 'cash for clunkers' program was an example of the 'stupidity coming out of Washington right now.'"
Breakfast Sides
FT questions if Fed is cutting bad deals with banks: "Wall Street banks are reaping outsized profits by trading with the Federal Reserve, raising questions about whether the central bank is driving hard enough bargains in its dealings with private sector counterparties, officials and industry executives say. The Fed has emerged as one of Wall Street’s biggest customers during the financial crisis, buying massive amounts of securities to help stabilise the markets. In some cases, such as the market for mortgage-backed securities, the Fed buys more bonds than any other party. However, the Fed is not a typical market player. In the interests of transparency, it often announces its intention to buy particular securities in advance. A former Fed official said this strategy enables banks to sell these securities to the Fed at an inflated price."
Bloomberg on skirmish among power companies in climate debate: "Some of the largest U.S. electricity companies, including Duke Energy Corp. and American Electric Power Co., are fighting what may be a $100 billion battle with smaller cooperatives, community providers and state regulators over the right to pollute. As the Senate writes a bill to control greenhouse gases, the groups are swarming over a pot of free permits that cap carbon emissions and create a trading system of pollution rights. Lawmakers want to broker peace the way they did two decades ago when they gave AEP and other coal-plant operators license to pollute as part of a deal to curb acid rain. Critics decried the decision as a giveaway to the 'big dirties.' 'Acid rain was a big political compromise; in essence it was a multibillion-dollar bribe,' said Frank O’Donnell, president of the Washington-based environmental group Clean Air Watch. 'The only difference with carbon is the stakes are far bigger.'"
Terrance Heath contributed to the making of this Breakfast
