In voting for health bill, Warner and Webb cite lower costs
Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Virginia, said yesterday that he voted in favor of the health-care overhaul because he thinks it will lower health-care costs.
"The status quo is bankrupting our nation and hurting our ability to compete in a global economy," he said in a statement.
Yesterday at 1:16 a.m., Warner and Virginia's senior senator, Jim Webb, also a Democrat, recorded their votes to advance the legislation.
In the end, the Senate's 58 Democrats and two independents voted to prevent a filibuster and move the bill toward likely passage before Christmas.
Like Warner, Webb said he thinks the measure will lower costs. But Webb was critical of the process, including President Barack Obama's role.
"The Obama administration declared health-care reform to be a major domestic objective, but they did not offer the Congress a bill," Webb said in a statement.
Webb said the debate "often overwhelmed the substance" of fixing the problem.
"Legislation was developed independently through five different congressional committees, three in the House and two in the Senate," he added. "This resulted in a large amount of contradictory information and a great deal of confusion among our public."
Warner and Webb said they thought that late changes in the Senate bill improved it. Warner cited the dropping of the public option.
But Warner, who had joined other freshmen senators in successfully offering amendments to the Senate bill, warned against future cost increases.
"This legislation represents a strong start, but it will require that we stay focused on reducing costs as we begin to transition away from a health-care delivery system that is based on volume and towards a system that rewards quality," Warner said.
Neither senator said he made a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to secure a vote in return for something for Virginia.
Webb said he will examine the conference report -- after differences between the House of Representatives and the Senate are ironed out. If the negotiators make significant departures from what he considered improvements in the Senate bill, he reserves the right to oppose the resulting bill.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, praised the president's work and commended Webb, Warner and the other 58 senators.
"We are now on the verge of the biggest domestic policy breakthrough since the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s," he said.
Kaine said that in Virginia, the passage of comprehensive health-care reform "would ensure access to quality, affordable health care for 1.2 million uninsured Virginians, bring security to the millions of people who are already insured, and bring down the cost of health care for all of us."
Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, which is opposed to the bill, said the organization would continue to fight it. Taking a shot at the wheeling and dealing that secured passage in the Senate, Phillips said Webb was the last Democrat to publicly announce support "and we will hold him accountable for caving."
Rep. Robert J. Wittman, R-lst, urged Democrats to scrap the bill and start all over again.
"Never in recent history has something which affects each and every citizen been crafted by a single party without a true debate and amendment process" he said.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or
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For some years now we have been raising several generations who have been schooled in the left leaning government run educational system. Little instruction on our system of government, the principles that the founders of the country tried to instill with the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Most notably the desire to limit the size and impact of government on citizens.
Now we have several generations that believe it’s governments duty to take from those who have followed the American dream and become successful and give it to those who have become dependent on government handouts and social programs to survive.
The middle class has be decimated by job losses and the ever increasing demands of paying for all the entitlements. Decades of social programs and the failure of them to actually improve the lives of those receiving should be a lesson. No amount of government and entitlements will ever take the place of individual responsibility.
Those who favor big brother government and income redistribution have managed to elect a government to fulfill their needs. They don’t realize the long term repercussions on our future generations. It’s all about them and nothing else.
Sooner or later those who have worked, been responsible for their lives and believe in the principles of our country will reach the tipping point. Citizens did it once to form the country and will do it again to save it.
Just a quick question. What is Medicaid? I thought it was a health care program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. Sounds sorta like insurance to me. So who are the 1.2 million Virginians Governor Your “Out of Here” Kaine refers to as uninsured? They must be people that don’t qualify for Medicaid and choose to not buy insurance. Or are there really 1 in 8 residents of Virginia that don’t qualify for Medicaid AND can’t afford to buy it either. Yes, it is expensive. That is why I chose to only have one child. Why I went into the military to earn an education, why my spouse went to school after my one child was older. Why we are still paying, in our fifties, for her education. Educations we both earned and paid for ourselves. Not from financial aid or parents, but earnings and the GI Bill. I have struggled through difficult times and did not buy a lot of things others enjoyed to prepare for my future. I did not drive a Lexus while my child went to college on somebody else’s tab. My son paid his way, works three jobs to offset his being laid off, is about $75,000 in education debt, and still pays taxes to support others. This country is a powder keg and nobody seems to know it. Just try to envision the resentment working Americans are feeling. Democrats may think they are achieving a victory here but the pendulum is going to swing so far, fast, and hard I hope we can control what they have started. Democracy works when it is a democracy. This is no longer a democracy and in many, many, minds, peaceful change may no longer be considered an option.
Ah, found it.
24.2-233 in the code of virginia.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+coh+24.2-233+701024
All the teaparty folks sign a recall petition. Looks like you need 237,000 signatures based on the 10% rule.
Charge Warner/Webb and the guys in the House with neglect of duty in voting for a clearly unconstitutional bill.
Seat the jury trial.
Pass the popcorn.
That would be fun to watch.
Can anyone post a link on how the recall trial process works in Virginia.
Not finding it easily.
Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid must have been supplying all these clowns with some California or Nevada desert wacko weed. During my 50 some years on this earth I have never seen the government reduce the cost of anything it meddles with, but they are experts at finding something to tax and as soon as they spend that they want more.
HA!!HA!! HA!! HA!! These clowns can’t even manage Social Insecurity, Medicare, Medicaid, Amtrak, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac etc. As they say, just sign your paychecks over to the government and tell them to send you what they don’t need.
To IGGY - your post
Comin - can i call you Thomas? As stated previously, Obama and any other
politician is in office because the majority elected them into office. The
decision is done, now they do their job. I wish we could vote on each issue
individually, but this would be utterly and 100% impossible. Oh well.
No, you may not call me Thomas, unless you enjoy being wrong. You seem to think what you say goes as the rule of law. Maybe you think freedom of speech equals the right to be offensive. Or is that your goal; to irritate? This is something you seem to do quite well judging by your posts and replies. It matters not what you have already said, or will say. Last time I checked (maybe I should double check), we all have a guaranteed right to speak. Almost singularly to prevent a tyrannical government from ignoring the wishes of the people. And no, democracy does not end on election day or we would not have a need for a free press either (Just print a couple of issues leading up to election?). I wish I could really tell you how _____ you sound. Actually I can think of many words to insert. Naive comes to mind. I said nothing about voting on each issue. If you believe what our elected officials say over and over, they encourage us to contact their offices and express our views. If you interpret it a done deal and needs no discussion then I encourage you to be the one to be quiet. I, on the other hand, with a good bit of world travel, education, and experience, understand democracy and the dangers of alternatives. This bill is obnoxious in so many ways that it is beyond belief. This is not democracy! Pork barrel, theft from one hand to the other, ignoring all polls (yes they represent us for the full term, not just election day) Millions of people are closer to showing this country what “don’t tread on me” actually means. I pray it doesn’t come to that because anarchy will follow. However, as anyone who is not brain dead should know, terrorists have shown how few people it takes to create chaos and recent economic events should show how fragile this world is. I assure you, this is the worst piece of legislation this country has ever considered and flies in the face of so many of Pres. Obama’s promises. Bipartisan? No. Pork barrel? Yes. Changing the weay things are done? No. Just more of the same democratic party ____ . The difference in living standard for millions that work their tails off is, at best, only marginally better than those that sit on their collective tail ends. We are breeding a country of enslaved subjects, not free men and women.
I hope these two understand they just voted themselfs out of office…
In favor of? No way…it’s just the way it is. The majority of people are both too ignorant of all the facts, and too lazy to learn them. We here are the minority in regards to awareness.
Just curious how me stating the way things are places me in support of them? The Sun is in the sky - doesn’t mean I support it being there, in fact I am neither for nor against….but it is what it is.
We could further discuss your point, but it transcends the topic at hand and moves towards total socio-political ideology of which I am close to alone on my thoughts and opinions. Another place, another time. Back to Health Care Reform Bill 2009 in 5….4….3….
Iggy since you are so hung up on majorities why not favor this healthcare bill be put to a vote of the people directly in the form of a national referendum?
Comin - can i call you Thomas? As stated previously, Obama and any other politician is in office because the majority elected them into office. The decision is done, now they do their job. I wish we could vote on each issue individually, but this would be utterly and 100% impossible. Oh well.
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