The Political Bridge

Opposition Grows To Charging Tolls on Ohio River Bridges

By Marcus Green • [email protected] • March 23, 2010

Architect Steve Wiser argues that charging tolls to cross the Ohio River will harm Louisville and “separate our states.”

 

Financial planner Shawn Reilly views tolls as a tax that will hurt working-class residents and small businesses in Louisville and Southern Indiana.

Both are part of a movement fueled by social networking sites like Facebook to oppose tolling area bridges to help pay for the $4.1 billion Ohio River Bridges project — and, in some cases, calling for a fresh look at the plan.

To read more click Courier-Journal

From WBKO TV: Dr. Mongiardo's(D-KY)Position on the Healthcare Reform Bill

"I would be for this bill," said Mongiardo, "if I had assurances that this is not the end of the process. Because this really doesn't do anything to lower the cost or improve the health care outcomes of our patients. This is not in itself the end all be all. So I would support it, if this were the first step to a much broader health care reform.

 

Bipartisan Deal Falls Apart, Endangering Expiring Unemployment Benefits

 The Hill

By Walter Alarkon and Alexander Bolton - 03/25/10 09:30 PM ET

A bipartisan Senate deal to briefly extend a package of expiring provisions fell apart Thursday night, endangering unemployment aid set to expire April 5.  

Senate leaders from both parties had neared a deal to allow swift passage of a package providing benefits for another week that would be fully paid for, according to Senate sources from both parties. The compromise was needed because Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) blocked Senate Democrats from quickly passing a month-long extension. Coburn objected because its cost -- $9.2 billion -- wasn't offset and would increase the $12.7 trillion national debt.

An Account of the Money that Health Insurance, Big Pharma, and Labor PACs Spent to Influence Congressional Votes on the Health Care Reform Bills

From the Center for Responsive

H.R. 3590 Summary	All Health $	Health Insurance $	Pharmaceutical $	Labor $	Labor to Health Ratio	Health to Labor Ratio
Dem Yes Total	$100,073,776	$11,178,985	$15,573,305	$200,940,967
Dem Yes Average	$456,958	$51,046	$71,111	$917,539	2.0	0.5
Dem No Total	$13,248,547	$1,499,387	$2,060,574	$23,474,589
Dem No Average	$389,663	$44,100	$60,605	$690,429	1.8	0.6
GOP No Total	$96,329,051	$12,079,036	$18,250,419	$18,710,039
GOP No Average	$541,174	$67,860	$102,530	$105,113	0.2	5.1
All No total	$109,577,598	$13,578,423	$20,310,993	$42,184,628
All No Average	$516,875	$64,049	$95,807	$198,984	0.4	2.6

Here is an additional table that summarizes the percentage differences in contributions received by lawmakers who voted "yes" and those who voted "no" on the Senate's health reform bill.

H.R. 3590 Summary	All Health	Health Insurance	Pharmaceutical	Labor
Dem Yes v Dem No	17%	16%	17%	33%
All No v All Yes	13%	25%	35%	-78%
GOP No v Dem No	39%	54%	69%	-85%

Below is a table showing the total and average contributions received by members of the House since 1989 from the labor sector and all health interests -- including a specific breakdown for just health insurers and just pharmaceutical interests -- as well as the ratio between the two. This table is for H.R. 4872, the package of changes to the main bill's provisions that still needs Senate approval.

H.R. 4872 Summary	All Health $	Health Insurance $	Pharmaceutical $	Labor $	Labor to Health Ratio	Health to Labor Ratio
Dem Yes Total	$99,285,996	$11,048,060	$15,485,955	$201,944,303
Dem Yes Average	$451,300	$50,218	$70,391	$917,929	2.0	0.5
Dem No Total	$14,036,327	$1,630,312	$2,147,924	$22,471,253
Dem No Average	$425,343	$49,403	$65,089	$680,947	1.6	0.6
GOP No Total	$96,329,051	$12,079,036	$18,250,419	$18,710,039
GOP No Average	$541,174	$67,860	$102,530	$105,113	0.2	5.1
All No total	$110,365,378	$13,709,348	$20,398,343	$41,181,292
All No Average	$523,059	$64,973	$96,675	$195,172	0.4	2.7

Here is an additional table that summarizes the percentage differences in contributions received by lawmakers who voted "yes" and those who voted "no" on the reconciliation fix bill.

H.R. 4872 Summary	All Health	Health Insurance	Pharmaceutical	Labor
Dem Yes v Dem No	6%	1.6%	8%	35%
All No v All Yes	16%	29%	37%	-79%
GOP No v Dem No

From the LA Times: Senate Changes to the Health Care Reform Bill

The 153-page reconciliation package represents a small fraction of the gargantuan healthcare legislation that the House approved over the weekend and the president signed Tuesday.

But it makes several major changes to the main healthcare bill, including expanding subsidies that the federal government will provide to low- and moderate-income Americans starting in 2014 to help them buy health insurance.

The package also scales back a new 40% excise tax on high-end "Cadillac" health plans and delays its implementation until 2018.

It imposes a new tax on couples making more than $250,000, who will pay a 3.8% Medicare tax on capital gains and other investment income for the first time.

The bill boosts federal aid to states to help them expand their Medicaid programs, replacing a provision in the main healthcare bill that singled out Nebraska for special assistance.

And it would gradually close the gap in Medicare drug coverage known as the "doughnut hole," phasing it out completely by 2020.

Together, the healthcare legislation signed by the president and the reconciliation package approved Thursday are expected to cover an additional 32 million Americans by 2019, boosting the percentage of non-elderly Americans with insurance from 83% to 94%, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The bill also establishes a broad new framework of government regulation to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to people who are sick and to require insurers to provide a minimal level of benefits.

The coverage expansion would not be cheap, requiring an estimated $938 billion over the next decade to expand Medicaid, to give tax credits to small businesses to help them cover their employees and to provide insurance subsidies to Americans who do not get benefits at work.

Most Americans will for the first time be required to carry health insurance or pay a penalty.

Because the cost of the expanding coverage is offset by new taxes and cuts in what Medicare will pay insurers, hospitals and other providers over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the legislation will actually reduce the deficit slightly by 2019 by an estimated $143 billion.

 Read More ClickL.A. Times

Vote Tally in the House on the Senate Changes to the Health Care Reform Bill: KY Democrat Ben Chandler Votes Nay

  FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 194 (Democrats in roman; Republicans in italic; Independents underlined)
  H R 4872   YEA-AND-NAY   25-Mar-2010   9:02 PM
  QUESTION:  On Motion to Concur in Senate Amendments
  BILL TITLE: Reconciliation Act of 2010

	Yeas	Nays	PRES	NV
Democratic	220	32		1
Republican		175		2
Independent
TOTALS	220	207		3

---- YEAS 220 ---

Ackerman Andrews Baca Baird Baldwin Bean Becerra Berkley Berman Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blumenauer Boccieri Boswell Boyd Brady (PA) Braley (IA) Brown, Corrine Butterfield Capps Capuano Cardoza Carnahan Carney Carson (IN) Castor (FL) Chu Clarke Clay Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly (VA) Conyers Costa Costello Courtney Crowley Cuellar Cummings Dahlkemper Davis (CA) Davis (IL) DeFazio DeGette Delahunt DeLauro Dicks Dingell Doggett Donnelly (IN) Doyle Driehaus Edwards (MD) Ellison Ellsworth Engel Eshoo Etheridge Farr Fattah Filner Foster Frank (MA) Fudge Garamendi Giffords Gonzalez Gordon (TN) Grayson Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutierrez

Hall (NY) Halvorson Hare Harman Hastings (FL) Heinrich Higgins Hill Himes Hinchey Hinojosa Hirono Hodes Holt Honda Hoyer Inslee Israel Jackson (IL) Jackson Lee (TX) Johnson (GA) Johnson, E. B. Kagen Kanjorski Kaptur Kennedy Kildee Kilpatrick (MI) Kilroy Kind Kirkpatrick (AZ) Klein (FL) Kosmas Kucinich Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lee (CA) Levin Lewis (GA) Lipinski Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Luján Lynch Maffei Maloney Markey (CO) Markey (MA) Matsui McCarthy (NY) McCollum McDermott McGovern McNerney Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Michaud Miller (NC) Miller, George Mitchell Mollohan Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (VA) Murphy (CT) Murphy (NY) Murphy, Patrick Nadler (NY) Napolitano Neal (MA) Oberstar Obey

Olver Ortiz Owens Pallone Pascrell Pastor (AZ) Payne Pelosi Perlmutter Perriello Peters Pingree (ME) Polis (CO) Pomeroy Price (NC) Quigley Rahall Rangel Reyes Richardson Rodriguez Rothman (NJ) Roybal-Allard Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Salazar Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schauer Schiff Schrader Schwartz Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Serrano Sestak Shea-Porter Sherman Sires Slaughter Smith (WA) Snyder Speier Spratt Stark Stupak Sutton Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Tierney Titus Tonko Towns Tsongas Van Hollen Velázquez Visclosky Walz Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Watt Waxman Weiner Welch Wilson (OH) Woolsey Wu Yarmuth

---- NAYS 207 ---

Aderholt Adler (NJ) Akin Alexander Altmire Arcuri Austria Bachmann Bachus Barrett (SC) Barrow Bartlett Barton (TX) Berry Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boehner Bonner Bono Mack Boozman Boren Boucher Boustany Brady (TX) Bright Broun (GA) Brown (SC) Brown-Waite, Ginny Buchanan Burgess Burton (IN) Calvert Camp Campbell Cantor Cao Capito Carter Cassidy Castle Chaffetz Chandler Childers Coble Coffman (CO) Cole Conaway Cooper Crenshaw Culberson Davis (KY) Davis (TN) Dent Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Dreier Duncan Edwards (TX) Ehlers Emerson Fallin Flake Fleming Forbes Fortenberry

Foxx Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Goodlatte Granger Graves Griffith Guthrie Hall (TX) Harper Hastings (WA) Heller Hensarling Herger Herseth Sandlin Hoekstra Holden Hunter Inglis Issa Jenkins Johnson (IL) Johnson, Sam Jones Jordan (OH) King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Kissell Kline (MN) Kratovil Lamborn Lance Latham LaTourette Latta Lee (NY) Lewis (CA) Linder LoBiondo Lucas Luetkemeyer Lummis Lungren, Daniel E. Mack Manzullo Marchant Marshall Matheson McCarthy (CA) McCaul McClintock McCotter McHenry McIntyre McKeon McMahon McMorris Rodgers Melancon Mica Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller, Gary

Minnick Moran (KS) Murphy, Tim Myrick Neugebauer Nunes Nye Olson Paul Paulsen Pence Peterson Petri Pitts Platts Poe (TX) Posey Price (GA) Putnam Radanovich Rehberg Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rooney Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross Royce Ryan (WI) Scalise Schmidt Schock Sensenbrenner Sessions Shadegg Shimkus Shuler Shuster Simpson Skelton Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Souder Space Stearns Sullivan Tanner Taylor Teague Terry Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Turner Upton Walden Wamp Westmoreland Whitfield Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Young (AK) Young (FL)

---- NOT VOTING 3 ---

Buyer

Davis (AL)

Reichert

CONWAY CAMPAIGN(D-KY) RELEASES NEW AD ON HEALTHCARE REFORM

I just wanted to be sure you had seen the announcement of our newest campaign ad, which we emailed to supporters earlier this morning. Our grassroots are fired up about health care reform. They know Jack's support of the legislation will help Kentucky working families and the hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians who have been abused by insurance companies, and desperately need access to affordable health care coverage.  They are angry our primary opponent Daniel Mongiardo is standing with Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning who want to "throw it out and start over." That's why we are reaching out to them to help us fund television air time for this ad. You will find a link to the ad in the email below or you can click here and you can view a statement-by-statement fact check of the ad by clicking here.
 
Please feel free to call me with any questions. Thanks.
 

Allison Haley
Press Secretary
Jack Conway for U.S. Senate
[email protected]
4121 Shelbyville Road
Louisville, KY 40207

Mongiardo(D-KY Campaign Challenges Conway(D-KY) Explain His Silence on Chandler’s “NO” Votes On Healthcare Bill

Does Jack Conway Still Support Ben Chandler?

Conway Embraces ‘G.O.P. Big Lie’ Tactics: Continues Lying About Mongiardo’s Support for Health Care Reform

 

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Statement from Dr. Daniel Mongiardo U.S. Senate Campaign

It is unfortunate that Jack Conway continues to blatantly lie about Dr. Daniel Mongiardo’s support for healthcare reform.  Daniel Mongiardo’s position is very clear. He supports healthcare reform.  (Click here to see Mongiardo's ad.)

Jack Conway has confused Daniel Mongiardo’s position supporting health care reform with his political ally and mentor, Congressman Ben Chandler.  It is Congressman Ben Chandler who  actually voted "NO" and AGAINST healthcare reform on three separate occasions.  If Conway feels so strongly about the healthcare bill, why isn’t Conway criticizing Congressman Chandler for voting “NO” on healthcare coverage for 900,000 Kentuckians, voting “NO” on pre-existing conditions, and voting “NO” on strengthening Medicare for seniors—as Conway has falsely attacked Mongiardo.

We challenge Jack Conway to state what he thinks about Congressman Ben Chandler’s three “NO” votes on the House healthcare reform bill and why he believes Democrats should vote against Ben Chandler.  Has Conway been silent about Congressman Chandler’s vote against the healthcare bill because Chandler is a strong supporter of Conway or because Conway’s attacks on Mongiardo are pure politics designed to win votes?

Jack Conway and GOP opponents of healthcare reform have one thing in common: they can’t tell the truth when it comes to healthcare reform. Having returned to Eastern Kentucky after medical school to provide needed care, including opening a free health clinic for the working poor, Daniel Mongiardo has been on the front lines fighting to improve healthcare in Kentucky. For 10 years, as a State Senator and Lt. Governor, Daniel has fought to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors, expand health care to more Kentucky children and transform an outdated, broken health care delivery system into a modern, safer, less costly system.  Unlike Washington’s political insiders who are backing Jack, Daniel believes that Kentuckians know truth and character when they see it and they will reject Jack Conway’s false, negative campaign.

 

The Executive Director of the California Nurses Association Writes: Next Time Let's Get Health Care Reform Done Right

Rightwing opponents fought as hard to block this legislation as they would have against a Medicare for all plan. As more Americans recognize the bill does not resemble the distortions peddled by the right, and become disappointed by their rising medical bills and ongoing fights with insurers for needed care, there will be new opportunity to press the case for real reform. Next time, let's get it done right.

To read more click real health care reform

From Kentucky Jobs with Justice: State Employees Health Benefits are in Jeopardy

Now more than ever, Kentuckians need to be able to count on quality public services.  Especially in this tough economy, working families depend on public services to get by.

But this week the state Senate has proposed additional cuts across the board to state government and passed a budget that means health insurance for state workers - which covers nearly 265,000 Kentuckians – will become even less affordable.  

Currently, only 18% of our state employees – some of the lowest paid state workers in the nation – opt into the expensive family insurance plan.  This leaves far too many of their family members uninsured.  

By cutting services the public depends on and increasing health care costs for public employees and their families, lawmakers will be reducing the spending power of working families – and that will have a direct, detrimental effect on local communities.

**It’s Not Too Late to take action!**

The budget now moves to a Conference Committee made up of Senate and House Leadership to approve a final budget before it is sent to the Governor.

**Call 1-800-372-7181 today**
Tell the Senate & House Majority Leadership that:  Cuts to State Services and Public Employees Hurts EVERYONE!

Thank you!