America's Maverick Part 2: Madame President

[2016]

I think CoS McAuliffe was probably the one who pushed for two seperate bills after meeting with Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker Pelosi and also the Republican Leadership and Kyl probably made it clear that his Conference wouldn't support Medicare & Medicaid under any circumstances.

I think it is a good idea to do that.

And while Paul Begala is right that Democrats will lose the House in 2010 it is very likely that they keep the Senate due to Republican being overextended from the 2004 Election.

[OSR stands with Israel]

President Clinton signs bill extending CHIP for the next 5 years

Blitzer: President Clinton signed a bipartisan bill that will extend the Children's Health Insurance program for the next 5 years. This passage of this bill is no surprise and was expected to pass but there are some changes this bill makes to the original program. For example the children of legal immigrants who previously were not eligible for this program now will be eligible , there will be extra funding given to reduce waiting times and taxes on Cigarettes and tobacco have been increased .

The President in her signing ceremony thanked members of both parties who voted for it before departing on Air Force One to Los Angeles for a joint summit which will also involve the leaders of Canada and Mexico.

President Clinton meets with Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon for trilateral meeting:



Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Flag_of_the_North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement_%28standard_version%29.svg/525px-Flag_of_the_North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement_%28standard_version%29.svg.png?20091008221357

Clinton: Prime Minister Harper , President Calderon and I just had an excellent talk about how we can improve cooperation between our nations on areas like trade, cultural relations as well as political cooperation for world affairs. While we may have a lot of differences as well there is a lot of similarities between our 3 nations and we believe we can work together to help improve the lives of all of our citizens. Now we will be open to a couple questions

Media Member 1: Was there talks about a potential renegotiation of NAFTA

Harper: No there was not a talk about a renegotiation of NAFTA as the topics we talked about would not need a renegotiation. Now I can grant you some areas might require parts of NAFTA to be amended but that would only effect a few provisions and not a significant amount.

Media Member 2: Was one of the areas you talked about working together to improve the situation in central America

Calderon: Absolutely as keep in mind Central America is part of our continent and improving the situation in Central America would benefit all of us as problems in one part of a continent can effect everyone on the continent and I believe that if our 3 nations work together we can really improve the situation for everyone living in our continent .

Clinton: Thank You but we will not be taking any more questions

[OSR stands with Israel]

Excerpts of President Clinton's Speech to a Joint Session of Congress



Souce: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/app/uploads/2019/02/RTX6LFXE-1024x683-e1549455385158.jpg

Speaker Pelosi: Ladies and Gentleman , its my high honor to welcome to you , the President of the United States!!

Clinton: Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of congress, distinguished guests and my fellow Americans , it is my great honor to speak to you in this great hallmark of democracy and I look forward to working with you over the next 4 years to make our nation a better place(Applause). Our nation is truly a great place where anything is possible but to keep it that way we must continue to work to confront the problems and challenges we face and one such challenge we face is a healthcare system that continues to get more and more expensive as the years go by and it is something we cannot sit idly by and let happen(Applause). It is also something we cannot solve by continuing to make minor reforms like we have done for the past many decades which is why we must pass comprehensive healthcare reform(Applause). The first thing we must do is expand access and my belief is the best way to do that is by expanding Medicare and Medicaid, and by providing other working class Americans with tax credits needed to ensure they can afford health insurance(Applause). Number 2 we also must regulate the markets to make sure no kid just out of college loses their health insurance , no person with pre existing conditions gets denied healthcare and that every American can buy the same plan we in Congress have(Applause). Doing this will lower costs for everybody and make it so we can have a healthcare system where every American can have access to good quality healthcare(Applause).

Now the next thing we must do is also improve childcare in this country as the fact is our kids are our future and we must do everything we can to help families in this country be able to raise their kids no matter what their income level is(Applause). To start we must guarantee every new mother in this country 12 weeks of guaranteed paid time off and every new father 6 weeks as no family should have to choose between getting the paycheck they need and spending valuable time with their newborn baby(Applause). Next we must expand the Child Tax Credit to help out parents have the extra money they need to raise their kids and make it easier for every parent in this country to send their kid to pre school if they want too(Applause). This policy by the way is not a policy just liberals or progressives get behind but conservatives as well as one as one of the core traditional values that makes a society great is having strong families and this proposal does exactly that which is why I hope and am confident this proposal can pass in a bipartisan manner(Applause).

Lastly we must continue to lead the world in the effort in the war on terrorism(Applause). While we have greatly weakened international terrorism since 9/11, we must never again become complacent as if we do that is the moment they will have the chance to make a resurgence and that is something we just cannot afford(Applause). It is why the US must continue to be the leader in promoting democracy and liberty all across the world because while not every nation can become a democracy overnight , they can still become more democratic than they are today(Applause) . For any doubters I want to point out that many authoritarian states throughout the world in the last century today are democracies because of the example we set and it is my hope that decades from now we can say the same about today(Applause). Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

Excerpts of President Clinton's Speech to a Joint Session of Congress



Souce: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/app/uploads/2019/02/RTX6LFXE-1024x683-e1549455385158.jpg

Speaker Pelosi: Ladies and Gentleman , its my high honor to welcome to you , the President of the United States!!

Clinton: Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of congress, distinguished guests and my fellow Americans , it is my great honor to speak to you in this great hallmark of democracy and I look forward to working with you over the next 4 years to make our nation a better place(Applause). Our nation is truly a great place where anything is possible but to keep it that way we must continue to work to confront the problems and challenges we face and one such challenge we face is a healthcare system that continues to get more and more expensive as the years go by and it is something we cannot sit idly by and let happen(Applause). It is also something we cannot solve by continuing to make minor reforms like we have done for the past many decades which is why we must pass comprehensive healthcare reform(Applause). The first thing we must do is expand access and my belief is the best way to do that is by expanding Medicare and Medicaid, and by providing other working class Americans with tax credits needed to ensure they can afford health insurance(Applause). Number 2 we also must regulate the markets to make sure no kid just out of college loses their health insurance , no person with pre existing conditions gets denied healthcare and that every American can buy the same plan we in Congress have(Applause). Doing this will lower costs for everybody and make it so we can have a healthcare system where every American can have access to good quality healthcare(Applause).

Now the next thing we must do is also improve childcare in this country as the fact is our kids are our future and we must do everything we can to help families in this country be able to raise their kids no matter what their income level is(Applause). To start we must guarantee every new mother in this country 12 weeks of guaranteed paid time off and every new father 6 weeks as no family should have to choose between getting the paycheck they need and spending valuable time with their newborn baby(Applause). Next we must expand the Child Tax Credit to help out parents have the extra money they need to raise their kids and make it easier for every parent in this country to send their kid to pre school if they want too(Applause). This policy by the way is not a policy just liberals or progressives get behind but conservatives as well as one as one of the core traditional values that makes a society great is having strong families and this proposal does exactly that which is why I hope and am confident this proposal can pass in a bipartisan manner(Applause).

Lastly we must continue to lead the world in the effort in the war on terrorism(Applause). While we have greatly weakened international terrorism since 9/11, we must never again become complacent as if we do that is the moment they will have the chance to make a resurgence and that is something we just cannot afford(Applause). It is why the US must continue to be the leader in promoting democracy and liberty all across the world because while not every nation can become a democracy overnight , they can still become more democratic than they are today(Applause) . For any doubters I want to point out that many authoritarian states throughout the world in the last century today are democracies because of the example we set and it is my hope that decades from now we can say the same about today(Applause). Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America

Great speech

[OSR stands with Israel]

Economic Report shows recession may have prevented a financial crises :

Blitzer: An Economic Report out from an economic study done by many major economists show that the monetary policies put in place by Fed Chair Mankiw that many blame for leading us into the 2007 recession may have prevented a much greater economic crises later on that we otherwise may have been in by now . With us is the host of CNN Money Lou Dobbs to talk more . So Lou what was in the report

Dobbs : Well the study they did was too see what the impact on the economy would have been if Mr. Mankiw did not raise interest rates the way he did and what they found was for example areas such as personal debt to GDP , housing prices , leverage ratio for banks would all be much higher . Doing so according to this economic study could very much put the economy at risk for a financial crash .

Blitzer : Couple questions is this study have disagreements with other economic studies and two what did the study show for the future  as could we still be at risk of such a crises .

Dobbs : One yes there are many disagreements on this as many economists think so keep in mind this is just one study but something that is important to keep a note on . As for the future , this study shows that no the recession didn’t fix the fundamental issue what could have caused such a crises and we could be at risk of another one 3 to 5 years from now and they said in fact all a fed induced recession does is delay the problem rather than fix it .


House announces there will be a bipartisan commission created to do further research  economic study , saying we don’t want to risk economic crises :

Cooper : Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner earlier today announced the house will be creating a bipartisan committee to do further research into the economic study and the risk of potential financial crises the national face . Both said that while the research may not turn out to be accurate we want to ensure we find out the potential risks our nation faces of a financial crises as we want to avoid that by all means .

The measure then was put to a vote and was easily approved and the commission of around 15 representatives which will contain 8 Democrats and 7 Republicans will be part of such a committee. We are also told that this special committee will request former Treasury Secretary Ben Bernanke who spent his academic career researching the 1929 crash and the Great Depression to help lead this effort .

President Clinton also signed an executive order today creating a team from the White House that will coordinate with that house committee and provide them with the resources the committee may need for this research .




 

[2016]

Very smart by President Clinton, Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner. Seems they are working quite well when it comes to the Economy.

[President Johnson]

Is Barack Obama still a senator here?

[OSR stands with Israel]

Is Barack Obama still a senator here?

Yup and he will be mentioned as some point in a 2009 update.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Hopefully Hillary's health care plan passes. It seems like something that could stave off a future Democratic President implementing something more socialist.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Ralph Nader suggests two round electoral system as reform:



King: So Mr. Nader as you know many people believe you are the reason why last year's election tied and we had to have a contingent election in Congress to break the tie. What do you say about that

Nader: This is absolutely false and it is plainly undemocratic to say another candidate is entitled to the votes you received but I do here that Washington is considering electoral reform so let me throw one out and that is lets move to a French Style System. In France there are two rounds of voting where in the first round nominees from all sorts of parties can run and then the top two candidates move on to the final round where there is a runoff to see who wins. I believe that is the best solution because one it lets one all sorts of parties run, lets people vote for whoever they really want and then releases the so called spoiler effect.

I suspect though the Democrats would not be interested in this proposal because many progressives who currently vote for them would not and they could risk not making the final round of voting .

King: Some criticisms though is couldn't you then have 100+ candidates in the first round which effectively can create a lesser evil scenario. The second is many states support the electoral college so a switch to a popular vote like France may not work

Nader: I think we should move to a popular vote cause its more Democratic but that's not even the main point. If you want to have an electoral college system for round 2 then so be it but the question is opening up the door to let people vote their conscience at least in round 1 so such a compromise would be worthy it. As for your first question well I would like to point you out that again this point is overblown because starting a new party is no where near as easy as people make it to be. You have to get a certain amount of signatures which is not easy to do, but if they reach it then they absolutely should be on the ballot as that means people want them there.

King : How many signatures should be required

Nader : I would say around 1% of Americans who voted in the previous election would be a fair number .

King : Ok thanks for coming on Ralph

Nader : Anytime John

Breaking News: Former Delaware Lieutenant Governor John Carney Elected to fill out House Seat Vacated by Education Secretary Mike Castle:



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carney_(politician)

Cooper: Ok we will be interrupting regular programming to go Wolf for an election update

Blitzer: Yes Anderson and that is CNN can now project Former Delaware Lieutenant Governor John Carney will fill out the the remainder of the term vacated by Education Secretary Mike Castle as we can project he will handily win the special election for the house seat in that state. This will also change the Democratic balance from 219 to 215 to 220 to 215 meaning the Democrats now will have 3 votes to spare when it came to bills in the House. While this result was no surprise this win does provide a boost for President Clinton's agenda in the House.

Now we will send it back to Anderson for regular programming

[OSR stands with Israel]

Education Secretary Mike Castle Presents Education Plan:

Blitzer: Secretary Castle today presented the administration's education plan to help improve the K-12 Education System in this nation and here are some of the details.

Details of Plan:
- Have Teacher Pay in Low Income Districts be higher than the ones in Affluent Districts to attract best teachers to those schools

- Increase amount of Teachers in General to reduce classroom sizes

- Require every public school in a state to have the same access to textbooks, school supplies and technology

- Increase student's access to after school tutoring to help struggling kids out

- Increase funding for special needs programs to ensure kids who require special education programs can need it

Blitzer: Now with us is former Education Secretary William Bennett. So Bill many are asking whether the department of education has the ability to carry out such a program like this

Bennett: No they do not at least not directly. What they can do and what they will do in my opinion is  fund this program through the use of block grants which then will require states and districts to agree to make these changes if they want to continue to get grants. Now of course the issue is not every state may agree to such changes which would then make the provision of requiring every school in a state to have the same materials not as effective.

Blitzer: Do you think this bill would get the 60 votes it needs

Bennett: Oh yes I think this overall framework can easily get 60 votes but the main issue is see is the details in such a bill and then carrying out such reform. As for my opinion, I will have to see the full proposal with all the details before making such a judgement.


President Clinton's former election rival, Senator George W Bush announces he will support overall framework of education proposal



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ECMoHDenY

Cooper: President Hillary Clinton's former election rival, and current Texas Senator George W Bush announces today he would be supporting the framework of the President's education plan. Here is a clip from him earlier today

Bush: After careful consideration I have decided to back the President's framework on her plan to help improve our education system. While we will still have to now work out the details the fact is the overall framework is good because we do need to ensure every kid regardless of income, special need status can have the opportunity to succeed and that's what this framework will do.

Cooper: So seems like this proposal does have backing but now of course this is just the framework and what it needs is also for the bill itself to get support, and we will see in the coming months if it does.

Hillary Clinton approvals in the upper 50s at the 100 day mark:

Approve: 58%(+2%)
Disapprove: 38%(-2)

Blitzer: President Clinton at the 100 day mark so far has so far managed to get some popularity with approvals around 58% . So David what do you think

Gergen: Well I think President Hillary Clinton so far has had a significantly better start than her husband Bill Clinton did and as you can see her approvals are almost 20 point higher than Former President Bill Clinton's were at this point. I think the main difference is unlike in 1993 the Clintons know how Washington works, how the the national press works , has had a team set unlike the last time ready to hit the ground running so I think she has had a better start so far.

Carville: Yes and while I would add is that one lesson President Hillary Clinton has seemed to learn is by having a focused start. While many would say what do you mean as she is proposing all sorts of different proposals , I will say this and that is the theme behind her healthcare reform , childcare reform and education reform come down to one thing and that is strengthening the American family and helping raise our next generation.

Blitzer: So David one thing that people have brought up is despite the fact that how controversial this past election was the GOP seems more unable to fight back then they did in 1993 after a pretty decisive win in 1992.

Brooks: Well I think one huge difference is there was this perception even if a myth in 1992 that without Perot , George Bush gets a 2nd term while this time without third parties Hillary probably wins outright so that is a difference. Next I would like to add is the GOP seems definitely far more exhausted today then they were back in 1993 as yes while they controlled the White House for longer than they did, they also had not had either house of congress for 6 years at that point and the house in particular for 38 so the GOP seemed ready to fight back.

Today the GOP after 8 years of controlling the White House , Senate and House and 14 years of controlling both houses seems definitely more fatigue. I would like to add one thing that is probably hurting the GOP is that right now was the loss of Mitch McConnell last November. The fact is Mitch McConnell was a far more ruthless leader than Jon Kyl is and not only that I want people to keep in mind that none of the top 3: Gorton, McConnell and Frist are left and 4 of the top 6 are gone too so again that has hurt them and President Clinton and Majority Leader Reid have taken advantage like expected.

Blitzer: How long do you think it will take for the GOP to make a comeback

Brooks: Well I do think you will start to see a more effective GOP opposition start to form when President Clinton encounters her first major failure like any President does at least in the House and given how narrow the Dems house majority is that could be enough to really force changes in the President's Agenda.

Carville: Well I think this is just not true cause I remember back in 1993 how much bad shape the GOP was in given they had far less seats in either house of congress than they do today and were prone to far more infighting then they are today. I think what it is , is that for an effective opposition to form you need something to either oppose in which a large part of the nation would agree or you need the party in power to mess up and right now neither thing has happened.

[2016]

I actually think that Senator Barack Obama will forgo a Re-Election Bid in the Senate and run for Governor of Illinois in 2010 instead. Maybe his wife runs for Senate or someone like Rahm Emmanuel.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Senate Passes Reconciliation portion of Healthcare Proposal as expected:

Blitzer: The Senate earlier today passed the Reconciliation portion of the Healthcare Bill as expected with every Democrat voting for it and also getting the support of one Republican Lincoln Chaffee. Now it will face a tougher obstacle for passage in the House where there are many conservative democrats that may have the votes to block the Medicare and Medicaid expansion thanks to the extremely slim majority held by Democrats in that chamber.

The Bipartisan Healthcare Bill is still being debated in the Senate Finance Committee but the chair of that committee, Senator Max Baucus has said he is optimistic that the committee can pass a bill that can get 60 votes on the senate floor in the next month or so.

Breaking News: Associate Justice David Souter Announces he will retire from the Supreme Court:



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Souter

Blitzer: We have some breaking news to report to you and that is Justice David Souter has just announced he will be retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term. Justice Souter was nominated by President George Bush back in 1990 and after nearly 19 years on the court , he will be retiring at the end of June. This retirement will give President Hillary Clinton her first nominee for the Supreme Court , so Jeff do we know of any potential picks for the Supreme Court

Toobin: Well it is still way to early to say but here are some possible names and let me be clear that this is by no means the official shortlist as these are some of the people we think are likely to be considered.

- Sonia Sotomayor
Current Position: Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

- Merrick Garland
Current Position: Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit

- Diane Wood
Current Position: Judge of the United States Courts of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

- Kim Wardlaw
Current Position: Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

Toobin: So these are some names that likely will be interviewed but as for who gets picked, well its hard to say cause it very well could be someone not on this list and heck it may be someone who may not even currently be a judge.

Blitzer: The President is about to make a statement so lets go to the White House for it

Clinton: Earlier Today, I received with regret Justice Souter's letter of resignation from the Supreme Court which will take effect at the end of this term. The reason I say regret is that Justice Souter served with great distinction and was a true defender of the rule of law, the constitution and the principles behind them as well. He also was a great legal mind, and the court will definitely miss having someone like Justice Souter on it. I also had the opportunity to convey this to Justice Souter on the phone and wished him well in whatever he chooses to do next.

Now as you all may know, one of the most important jobs a President has is to select someone to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court and due to that I have assigned some of the best legal minds in this administration to the task of helping pick and vet our next Supreme Court Justice.  Now I know many in the media have already begun speculating who I will choose but I can tell you the list of potential nominees will be long and I will make sure the selection process is not rushed given how important the job of being an Associate Justice is. Thank You but I will not be taking any questions at this moment

[OSR stands with Israel]

Fed Chair Greg Mankiw announces he will be stepping down at the end of his current term



Source : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mankiw

Blitzer : The Chair of the Federal Reserve Greg Mankiw announced he will be stepping down at the end of his current term at the end of September . Some of potential candidates to replace him are : Larry Summers , Sheila Bair , Carmen Reinhart, Paul Krugman and Gary Gensler. Of course there are more but these are some of the names put out by the New York Times today .


Breaking News: President Hillary Clinton appoints Illinois Senator Barack Obama to fill the vacating Supreme Court Seat of Associate Justice David Souter:



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P070109PS-0667_%283817333091%29.jpg

Blitzer : President Clinton we are told is getting ready to announce that she will nominate Senator Barack Obama to the Supreme Court . This pick would be a major surprise but we are told that it has been confirmed so let’s go to the White House where the President is getting ready to make a statement .

Clinton: Thank You Thank You. After weeks of careful consideration and interviewing many great and qualified candidates for the position of being our nation's next Supreme Court Justice, it is my high honor to announce that I will be appointing Illinois Senator Barack Obama to fill the vacating seat of Associate Justice David Souter. As someone who has come to know Senator Obama over the past few years, I can tell you that he is one of the brightest legal minds I have come to know and his career has shown that. At Harvard he became an editor of its Law Review at the end of his freshman year which I can tell you is very impressive and then became the first African American President of the Harvard Law Review which truly is an impressive accomplishment. After Graduating he worked as a civil rights attorney where he took on powerful special interests in the state of Illinois and made sure average citizens who had there rights violated by them were given justice, and also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago for 13 years which makes him well qualified for this position. Now it is my high honor to introduce somehow who I believe will be a great Supreme Court Justice Barack Obama

Obama: I want to start of by thanking President Clinton for giving me the high honor and an entrusting me in this very important job . The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest arbitrator of the law in our nation and the most important defender of our constitution and our rule of law. It is with this honor , I want to thank Justice David Souter for doing a great job every day for the past 18 and a half years in defending our constitution , ensuring the rule of law is upheld and in defending the rights of everyday Americans and I hope that I can do as great of a job as you did.

I also want to announce that as a current member of the senate judiciary committee , it would be a conflict of interest if I got to vet myself so for that reason I have also informed Senate Majority Leader that I will be stepping down as a member of that committee and if my nomination goes to the floor of the Senate, I will not be voting on my own confirmation as that too would be a conflict of interest.

Clinton: Neither of us will be taking questions at the moment


Senator Lindsey Graham reacts to news that that Senator Barack Obama has been appointed to fill Justice Souter's Seat:

Cooper: Senator Graham you have known Senator Obama for a few years now, so what do you think of this pick

Graham: Anderson, I can tell you that Senator Obama is definitely a very smart individual but I can tell you I am skeptical of the fact that someone who has never been a Judge, A Solicitor General or really any major role in our legal system for example has the qualifications needed to be a Supreme Court Justice. I can tell you will ask Senator Obama some very tough questions about this as he definitely needs to be questioned about this, because being a Justice of the highest court of our land requires someone to be ready from day 1.

Cooper: Well while conservatives like you may not be a fan of Earl Warren, he wasnt a judge either when he was picked and he went on to be one of the most influential justices in American History

Graham: Sure but Chief Justice Warren also was the DA of Alameda County for 14 years and then Attorney General for a state like California for another 4 before he became governor so he did have a major role in our legal system. Senator Obama on the other hand has not had that role

Cooper: Well he had been a constitutional law professor at one of the top law schools in the country for 13 years so wouldn't you say thats a important qualification

Graham: Sure and I am not denying that Senator Obama has a brilliant legal mind because he certainly does but being a Supreme Court Justice takes more than just that and thats what I will be trying to find out at his hearings.

Cooper: Would you filibuster the pick

Graham: Unless something major comes up, the answer is no

Cooper: Thanks for coming on

[2016]

What a SHOCKER but a pleasant one. I'd be really surprised if Kyl dares to filibuster this pick. He probably won't. Obama will sail through this.

The more interesting question is who gets appointed if Senator Obama gets confirmed. My guess Rod Blagojevich appoints Congressman Bobby L. Rush to the Senate and Senator Obamas Wife Michelle Obama probably runs for Congress then.

Hillary doing everything to ensure Re-Election and keep the Base motivated for the Midterms although that Obama Pick will also draw some widespread support from Independents I presume.

[BigVic]

How is Obama’s Senate career going and will he get a Senate leader
Position from the Senate Democrat caucus

[OSR stands with Israel]

How is Obama’s Senate career going and will he get a Senate leader
Position from the Senate Democrat caucus

He has been appointed to something better than that

[BigVic]

How is Obama’s Senate career going and will he get a Senate leader
Position from the Senate Democrat caucus

He has been appointed to something better than that

Associate Justice Barack Obama. The Obama confirmation hearings will be fun

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

How is Obama’s Senate career going and will he get a Senate leader
Position from the Senate Democrat caucus

He has been appointed to something better than that

I wonder how Blagojevich (whom I dreamed about today) would respond to this. Would he try to buy Obama's seat as IOTL?

[OSR stands with Israel]

How is Obama’s Senate career going and will he get a Senate leader
Position from the Senate Democrat caucus

He has been appointed to something better than that

I wonder how Blagojevich (whom I dreamed about today) would respond to this. Would he try to buy Obama's seat as IOTL?

I will definitely have an update of how Blagojevich responds to this as well.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Senate passes Healthcare Reform Bill after coming to a Bipartisan Agreement on Healthcare Reform:

Blitzer: The Senate Earlier today came to a bipartisan agreement on healthcare reform and to show you the changes from the original proposal we have marked the parts that have been removed with a slash and new provisions in bold. So here is the new bill and we are told that the house is expected to pass this bill like how it now.

Important Provisions:

Mandates:

- Creates an individual mandate for health insurance

- Large Employers would be required to provide their employers with insurance or pay into a fund that finances coverage for insured

Taxes:

- Create tax credits to help individuals purchase health insurance

- Small Businesses who provide health insurance will receive tax credits

Rules for Insurance Companies:

- Cannot deny anyone for pre existing conditions

- Lets kids stay on their parents healthcare plan till they are 26

- Requires them to reduce or in some cases remove copay fees or deductibles for certain types of preventive care

Other:

- Lets Americans Buy the same insurance plan as congress

- Increases funding to help create new providers in rural communities

-Individuals will be allowed to buy insurance across state lines

- Removes requirement that individuals have to have a qualifying high deductible plan to open and contribute to an HSA  

Blitzer: So Gloria the Senate has passed healthcare reform, which is big news for the President

Borger: Yes it is but we are told the President is not happy at all with the fact the employer mandates had to be dropped but we are told she told Democrats that she would sign such a bill as long as the House also agrees to pass the Medicare and Medicaid expansion bill as well otherwise she would not sign such a bill.

Blitzer: Alright thanks for the info Gloria


House Passes Medicare and Medicaid Expansion though Conservative Democrats weaken expansion

Cooper: The Democrats earlier today passed a bill that would expand Medicare and Medicaid though due to a few conservative democrats the bill does have some changes from the bill the senate passed. For example in the Senate version of the bill The Medicare Age would be dropped from 65 to 58 rather than 55 and the Medicaid Expansion will cover Americans whose incomes are up to 135% of the Poverty line rather than 140%. Now with us to talk more HHS Secretary Howard Dean about this news. So Secretary Dean what do you think of this latest bill

Dean: Listen I can tell you that while I wish these changes were not made , the fact is these changes will positively impact the lives of millions of Americans and paired with the other bill I think we will have legislation that will greatly improve our healthcare system. Now its not secret I wish both would go further, but the fact is they would be a fantastic pair of bills and my hope is the House quickly pass the bipartisan healthcare bill and the senate pass this version of the Medicare and Medicaid expansion so we can provide help to millions who need it as quickly as possible.

[2016]

Any Legislative Passing is a Victory for Hillary Clinton given the small margins in Congress.

What are Republicans going to run on in 2010? Just obstructing? That ain't going to fly with the Voters I think.

[OSR stands with Israel]

House Passes Bipartisan Healthcare Bill and Senate Passes Senate Version of Medicare and Medicaid Expansion:

Blitzer: The House earlier today passed the Bipartisan Healthcare Bill with the same wording with nearly 50 Republicans voting for the Bill and now the bill will be going to the President's Desk to be signed into law. The Senate also responded by passing the House version of the Medicare and Medicaid Expansion bill but this one on a party line vote, but due to the bill using a process called reconciliation it was not able to be filibustered and now will also be going to the President's Desk. These bills passage is not only a huge win for the President who now will have a key part of her platform enacted into law but a huge personal win as keep in mind 16 years ago the Clintons failed miserably in passing health reform. So James what was different this time

Carville: Well I think there are two things that were different, one Americans have had 16 more years too see why we needed healthcare reform and that definitely made an impact. As you know President Clinton has said she credits her election victory to this issue as she believes otherwise there is no doubt in her mind she would have lost the election to Senator Bush and the Republicans would still have the house so due to that she believed she had public support. Second the Clintons are more experienced at playing the Washington game then they were back in 1993 by far and thats what they did .

The fact is if the Republicans did not cooperate on the healthcare reform bill, the President Could not only have put much of her original proposal into one reconciliation bill but put things such as surtaxes and even a repeal of the McCain Corporate Tax Cuts into the bill and that gave the President leverage she used.

Blitzer: Do you think it was playing hardball

Carville: Oh sure but its the type every President plays. Like listen if you think an opposition party will come on board on an issue where the status quo would generally prefer their position without some hardball then thats just being naive. By the way this is not me being partisan as I highly doubt President Reagan or President McCain would have gotten the Democratic support they did on some of their policy agenda without them playing some hardball behind the scenes as well.

It's just how politics works and how it will always work no matter who is in power or who is in opposition.

Blitzer: We are told she will sign both bills in the same ceremony

Carville: Hey if part of the deal was not to have a separate ceremony for the reconciliation bill then I will say it is more than worth it.

President Hillary Clinton remarks after signing healthcare bills:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryweuBVJMEA

Clinton: Thank You Thank You. As you know for many decades it has been the goal of many President's and Congresses to reform the healthcare system to make it easier for every American to be able to buy health insurance and for many decades it was not able to be done. This time though we were motivated to make sure it would not be the same story and while it was not easy , we finally were able to pass healthcare reform(Applause). Thanks to these two bills passed by Congress, we now will be able to come to the aid of millions of Americans with the combination of covering more Americans through Medicare and Medicaid and by creating tax credits for others to ensure every American can be able to afford health insurance(Applause).

We also were able to take on the special interests and thanks to this bill Americans will have more choice then ever have before to choose the insurance plan that best suits them(Applause) and that includes the same plan congress has(Applause) , and also ensure that no American with pre existing condition gets denied coverage ever again(Applause). Now of course there is still one more thing these bills need to become law and that is my signature so I will now be doing exactly that.

President Hillary Clinton signs bills:

[2016]

I think these Health Care Legislations are good for America. Health Care needed to be done is some form here. Particularly Seniors will be happy with this to expand Medicaid & Medicare.

Think about States like Florida or Pennsylvania who have a big Senior Population.

[BigVic]

Differences from OTL

- Obama is a SCOTUS justice
- Hillary became the first female POTUS after a contingent election
- Dubya is Senator from Texas
- Trump is a Democrat and lost to Hillary in the 2008 Dem Primaries

What is Joe Biden doing as a Senator ITTL?