The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.
Baucus Makes Concessions Before Today's Cmte Session
Baucus agrees to increase subsidies, unclear who it would help. NYT: "The changes could add $28 billion to the 10-year cost of his bill, [which] could still meet President Obama’s stipulation that health care legislation not add to the federal budget deficit ... It was not immediately clear how much Mr. Baucus would increase the subsidies. He said he wanted to reduce the maximum amount that moderate-income Americans would have to pay in premiums under the legislation to less than 12 percent of income. The subsidies 'will clearly be more generous,' he said. However, it was not clear if they would be as generous as those provided under the bills approved by the Senate health committee and by three House committees."
Baucus considering changes to proposed tax on expensive insurance plans. W. Post: "Some Democrats complained that the tax would strike hardest at residents of expensive urban areas and those with risky jobs, such as coal miners, firefighters and other public safety workers. In a meeting Monday night with Finance Committee Democrats, Baucus cautioned that lawmakers may have to find additional revenue sources or cost savings ... One option Democrats were discussing was to expand Medicaid as a potentially less expensive way to cover low-income people."
Reuters validates charge that co-ops can't compete with private insurers: "Analysts said the proposal sets the stage for multiple regional co-ops that would likely lack the leverage in negotiating rates to strongly compete against established players." (via Walker Report)
The AMA has issues with the Baucus bill related to doctor reimbursements.
The Treatment assembles panel of judges to rate Baucus bill on "Truman" scale, gets 6.1 out of 10: "...judges were more impressed with the plan's fiscal elements than its coverage elements ... it is projected to save money. On the other hand, it does so in part because it is stingier with what it gives: Fewer subsidies for people, to help them buy insurance, and less comprehensive guarantees of insurance. Plus there's no public insurance option."
The New Republic's Jonathan Chait disturbed by GOP rejection of Baucus bill: "Republicans have overwhelmingly emphasized two objections to Democratic proposals: they would increase the budget deficit, and they would allow a public plan to compete with private insurance. In response to these objections, Max Baucus produced a plan that reduces the budget deficit by significant and growing amounts over time, and includes no public plan whatsoever. You wouldn’t expect every single Republican to come on board. But the fact that zero Republicans endorsed his bill even after their putative objections were completely satisfied is significant and disturbing."
ProPublica reports public option opponent and Blue Dog Rep. Mike Ross in suspect real estate deal with pharmacy chain: "[Ross] sold a piece of commercial property in 2007 for substantially more than a county assessment and an independent appraisal say it was worth ... Ross sold the real estate in Prescott, Ark., to USA Drug for $420,000 -- an eye-popping number for real estate in the tiny train and lumber town about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock ... he owner of USA Drug, Stephen L. LaFrance Sr., also paid the Rosses $500,000 to $1 million for the pharmacy's assets and paid Holly Ross another $100,0001 to $250,000 for signing a non-compete agreement. Those numbers, which Ross listed on the financial disclosure reports he files as a member of Congress, bring the total value of the transaction to between $1 million and $1.67 million. And that's not counting the $2,300 campaign contribution Ross received from LaFrance two weeks after the sale closed."
Predictions of Fast Action in Congress
Change.org's Tim Foley stresses the importance of a bill out of committee: "...the fate of the public option won’t be sealed in the Senate Finance mark-up. There’s still merging the Finance and the HELP bill (which contains a public option), and then merging the Senate bill with the House bill (which also contains a public option). But we need a bill out of Senate Finance before we can even begin that mud-wrestling."
Baucus optimistic bill will clear cmte quickly. Swampland's Karen Tumulty: "Baucus and his staff are predicting that the committee will actually reach its final vote by the end of the week. That looks pretty optimistic to me, though Baucus has been moving with uncharacteristic speed to resolve as much as he can in advance."
The Hill reports Speaker predicts House vote "within weeks": "During an event in Philadelphia on Monday, Pelosi said the House will pass a healthcare reform bill 'within weeks.' Jumping ahead of the Senate could irritate Blue Dog Democrats and politically vulnerable lawmakers who don’t want to vote on liberal proposals they see as having little chance of becoming law. Liberals want to counter the Senate Finance Committee’s more conservative-leaning plan."
Obama, Jintao Address UN On Climate Today
AP previews today's UN climate summit: "While attention turns to U.S. President Barack Obama's first U.N. speech, the most substantial changes may come from what the presidents of China, India and other major economies spell out for billions of people and their households, businesses and farms in the decades ahead. Those leaders are expected to make more ambitious commitments than the U.S. leader, whose hands are still tied by Congress ... But neither China nor India say they will agree to binding greenhouse-gas cuts like those envisioned in a new climate pact to start in 2013. They question why they should, when not even the U.S. will agree to join rich nations in scaling back their pollution."
UN climate chief suggests China will surprise today. Reuters: "Yvo de Boer said he expects Hu to announce, in a speech to a U.N. climate change summit in New York, a series of measures 'that will take Chinese emissions very significantly away from where they would have been and are.' 'This suite of policies will take China to be the world leader on addressing climate change,' he said." ClimateWIre adds: "it will likely take the form of a 'suite' of voluntary targets for emissions with domestically enforceable measures. It will include standards for China's industrial-sector emissions, automobiles and new targets for building efficiency ... [and] China appears poised to launch a voluntary carbon-trading system."
Grist's Emily Gertz talks to tcktcktck's Kumi Naidoo on the need for climate activism this week and beyond: "Naidoo acknowledges that expectations among both negotiators and activists about the likely outcome of the December talks are growing increasingly pessimistic. Even so, he believes that there’s still time to create a different outcome. 'If we can change the context of the political world' by turning out hundreds or thousands of people to demand climate action, he says, 'we know that failure to act will be an electoral liability for a lot of nations.' Turning out citizens is also crucial for the civil-society campaigners who will be at Copenhagen, he says, to prove that there’s a sizable global constituency in support of strong action on global warming. 'Otherwise, why should any of these leaders listen to us? We have to show that citizens are behind us.'"
Boxer plans to introduce bill next week, hearings in October. ClimateWire: "Sources off Capitol Hill say they expect Boxer to start legislative hearings during the week of Oct. 5, with a tentative markup penciled in for the week of Oct. 12. Of course, much depends on the fate of the Senate health care bill, just how quick U.S. EPA can turn around an economic analysis of Boxer's legislation and whether the chairwoman wants to satisfy key moderates on her panel, which include Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) ... Senate Democratic aides say Boxer has settled on [a 2020 target for cutting emissions of] 20 percent, and she will make the case by arguing that the slightly higher target [than the House bill] is not that big of a leap given recent estimates from the Energy Information Administration that show U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fell 6 percent last year because of the recession and a shift away from coal and toward natural gas."
Sen. Sherrod Brown looking to increase investment in green manufacturing, keep trade provisions in climate bill. Washington Independent: "Brown has already introduced the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology Act (or, the IMPACT Act) in the Senate, which would provide $30 billion to help small and medium-sized manufacturers transition to clean energy technology through a revolving loan fund ... And last week Brown appeared at a summit hosted by Third Way and the Breakthrough Institute to discuss the creation of a $15 billion National Institutes of Energy program, modeled after the National Institutes of Health. Brown said he is considering whether to offer legislation similar to the groups’ proposal. 'It more than piqued my interest,' said Brown ... Brown is also involved with a group of 10 senators looking to make sure trade protections are included in the bill. He said they are in talks with the White House to make sure that is included. ... 'Border equalization has to be in there. If it isn’t, I certainly can’t vote for that,' said Brown."
Enviros galvanized to stop Sen. Lisa Murkowski's anti-EPA climate amendment. ClimateWire: "Yesterday, 32 environmental groups sent a letter urging the Senate to reject Murkowski's draft amendment because it would 'ignore worldwide scientific consensus that carbon dioxide is a pollutant that threatens public health and welfare, block Clean Air Act protections, and delay the move to clean, American-made energy.' ... Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) may be among those moderates [considering support of the amendment.]
New judicial ruling allows states to use power companies for carbon emissions. NYT: "...Monday’s decision means that all three branches of the federal government could have a role. In addition to the possibility that Congress will act, the Supreme Court held in April 2007, that global warming gases were a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, and thus could be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency."
Carbon capture pilot project about to launch. NYT: "...Mountaineer is poised to become the world’s first coal-fired power plant to capture and bury some of the carbon dioxide it churns out. ... Some industry experts argue that retrofitting them could prove far more feasible than building brand new, cleaner ones. Yet the economic viability of the Mountaineer plant’s new technology, known as carbon capture and sequestration, remains uncertain."
Banking Lobby Opposes Dodd Plan
Lobbyists attack consolidation of regulation. Dodd aide signals flexibility. W. Post: "Financial industry lobbyists on Monday denounced a proposal that would eliminate the four federal agencies now overseeing banks and instead create one super-regulator, calling the plan unwieldy, harmful to the banking system and a possible a roadblock to wider financial reform ... 'Industry will argue anything we do that they don't like is going to threaten the success of the overall effort, and that's an excellent PR strategy on their part,' said Kirstin Brost, spokeswoman for the Senate Banking Committee. 'But the fact of the matter is, this is how you get a bill. You debate, you compromise, you get a final product. We haven't drawn a lot of lines in the sand.'"
Rep. Frank rips Blue Dog plan to kill consumer protection agency. HuffPost: "'As soon as I saw the story, I called Minnick and said, "You've really gotta retract it,"' Frank told HuffPost, saying he was 'absolutely opposed' to the proposal and told Minnick as much when they spoke about it last week. A Minnick spokesman didn't return a call."
