White House marshals resources to complete health reform

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fate of healthcare reform lies in the hands of the U.S. Congress, but the White House will use every weapon it has to steer its top policy priority through the legislature and into law.

Healthcare Reform

President Barack Obama and aides will make the public case for reform in speeches, interviews and blog posts in the weeks ahead.

"I'll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time before the full Congress even gets into session, because the American people need it now," Obama said in an interview with PBS' "Newshour" that aired on December 23.

But they will also work behind the scenes to push Democrats to get over any objections and back a plan resembling the one passed by the U.S. Senate.

"The White House has some serious human assets to deploy, not only a skilled and experienced legislative relations staff, but also a chief of staff who understands the way the Hill works and is pretty good at the carrots and sticks game," said William Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton now at the Brookings Institution.

Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was a veteran of the Clinton White House who became a power player in the House of Representatives and is considered a master of the art of cutting back-room deals.

"The White House has been preparing for this end game for a long time," Galston said.

After passing their own versions of the sweeping push to overhaul the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry, the House and Senate must now merge them into a single bill, which each has to pass before sending it to Obama.

Obama and his fellow Democrats have trumpeted progress on the healthcare overhaul as a major achievement, but they must resolve significant differences between the House and Senate bills and, after months of wrangling, do it quickly.

"We're like 90 percent there. We're really close," said David Kendall of Third Way, a centrist Washington think tank that supports the healthcare bill. "The differences that remain are significant, but they're not overwhelming."

HOW TO PAY FOR IT

The biggest difference between the House and Senate bills is how they are financed, and analysts said that disparity could be the highest hurdle for congressional negotiators.

The House would impose a 5.4 percent surtax on high-income Americans. The Senate has a 40-percent excise tax on high-cost "Cadillac" insurance plans, strongly opposed by labor unions typically among the Democrats' strongest supporters.

Kendall said House and Senate differences over how to pay for reform could be overcome by doing more to control costs in the final bill and exempting some Cadillac insurance plans for union members doing high-risk jobs.

The White House says negotiations will not force the House to accept all of the Senate Democrats' plan. "There are elements of it (the House bill) that we definitely like," one administration official said.

Democrats want to deliver a major legislative victory for Obama and sell the public on what they believe are the benefits of reform, well before they fight to preserve their majorities in the House and Senate in November elections.

"A lot of Democrats are running scared right now, they're looking for help and they are looking for a safety net and the White House is in a position to provide both," Galston said.

The administration is determined not to be sidetracked by security concerns after the botched December 25 airliner bombing and efforts to cut high unemployment.

"When you're president of the United States you've got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time," deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton told reporters.

Obama was meeting in the Oval Office on Tuesday with House Democratic leaders, and leaders of the Democrats in the Senate were to participate by teleconference.

With Republicans staunchly opposed to the reform plans -- only one House Republican backed its bill and no Senate Republicans voted in favor -- the final measure is likely to be negotiated among Democratic leaders and the White House.

They are likely to skip a formal House-Senate conference that would include Republicans who could use the process to slow down the bill.

That plan has been criticized as contravening Obama's promises to run an open government and include Republicans in the process, but Democrats contend that skipping formal conferences has become common practice on Capitol Hill.

Source:reuters.com/

Holiday horror after woman struck by car

TRAGEDY: Members of the Blenheim Volunteer Fire Brigade cover the scene where 68-year-old Deborah Howell (inset) was fatally hit by a car.







The husband of a leading United States journalist killed while holidaying in Marlborough says his wife always told him to face reporters if anything happened to her.

Former Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell, 68, a veteran newspaper editor, was fatally injured when she was struck by a car on Rapaura Rd, near Spring Creek, north of Blenheim, about 12.10pm Saturday.

She had stepped out of the car she was in to take a photograph when she was hit by an oncoming vehicle. Her husband, Peter Magrath, said he believed she was not used to cars driving on the left, and had looked the wrong way.

Sergeant Dan Mattison, of Blenheim, said Ms Howell was taken to Wairau Hospital by Blenheim St John Ambulance with serious injuries. She died soon after.

Mr Magrath, a former University of Minnesota president, agreed to talk to The Marlborough Express, because his wife always told him to face reporters.

"You don't have to answer questions, but I would dishonour her if I didn't talk to reporters," Mr Magrath said.

Ms Howell led two newspapers to three Pulitzer prizes.

According to the Pioneer Press, Ms Howell spent 14 years at the Minneapolis Star as a reporter and editor. She joined the Pioneer Press in 1979 as assistant managing editor. She became managing editor in 1982, executive editor in 1984 and editor in 1987.

She left the paper in 1990 to become chief of the Washington bureau for the Newhouse newspaper group and editor of Newhouse News Service, before she was named ombudsman, or reader representative, of the Washington Post, a position she held until 2008.

Mr Magrath said his wife worried very much about what effect new media would have on newspapers.

"She wanted [newspapers] to continue to be strong for democracy and information."

Mr Magrath said the couple, from Washington, DC, arrived in Wellington on December 30 from Sydney. They travelled to Blenheim on the Interislander ferry on Saturday, and intended to spend more than two weeks in the South Island, travelling to Christchurch, Franz Joseph, Wanaka and Queenstown.

"We came because we wanted to be in the mountains and we wanted to see New Zealand."

Mr Magrath said the couple were being transferred to accommodation by Marlborough Travel when his wife asked the driver to stop, because she wanted to take a photograph on Rapaura Rd.

Ad Feedback "She got out of the car. I think she looked the wrong way – right instead of left.

"I didn't see it happen, but all of a sudden I knew."

Mr Magrath said New Zealanders were "good people and nice people, but I'm finding that in a way I didn't want to find out.

"Everyone is being compassionate and helpful. I have nothing but appreciation for the people here."

He said he had "lost the love of my life".

"I lost my lifetime girlfriend, my wife, my companion.

"I wish it was a nightmare, because you can wake up from nightmares."

He said his wife of more than 21 years was one of the United States' leading women journalists and was – "tough and good and not a self-promoter".





DISBELIEF: Deborah Howell's husband, Peter Magrath, a former University of Minnesota president, has lost the love of his life.

Source:stuff.co.nz/

American Airlines Flight 331 from Washington D.C. to Kingston, Jamaica Crashes Upon Landing, Splits in Two

American Airlines Flight 331 traveling from Washington D.C. to Kingston, Jamaica crashed upon landing and split in two late Tuesday evening.



According to reports the plane overshot the runway after attempting to land in severe storms, crashed and then broke in half. There were no immediate reports of casualties but several passengers were taken to hospitals near Norman Manley International Airport.



While American Airlines Flight 331 originated in D.C. it stopped in Miami before continuing to Kingston.

Source:transworldnews.com/

Hollywood Comes to Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Medical Association (NMA) in collaboration with award winning actor Egypt formerly Devin T. Robinson X of AIDS Awareness Poets, Inc., will host a free movie premier of "God, Me... HIV?" on the eve of World AIDS Day, November 30th at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW in Washington D.C, 6:30 pm EST. The film, an adaptation of Egypt's 2005 one-man show "God Did Not Give Me HIV" will showcase seven confessional narratives about the HIV pandemic. Egypt will fuse his comedic/poetic acting and motivational skills to... entertain, educate, and empower audiences.


The Nation's Capitol has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Washington Metropolitan area. There are 42,000 persons who are living with HIV/AIDS in Washington, DC, which is 200% higher than the entire nation. Eighty-two percent of persons with HIV/AIDS in the Washington Metropolitan area are African Americans and other minorities.


Tickets to the movie "God, Me... HIV?" which is rated PG-13 are free through the National Medical Association. The program, held at the Newseum, includes a reception starting at 6:30 p.m. followed by the screening of the movie premiere. Moviegoers will also have the opportunity to be tested for HIV/AIDS by the Whitman Walker Clinic at no cost. The evening will end with a question and answer session with a panel of experts.


Founded in 1895, the National Medical Association is the nation's oldest and largest medical association representing the interests of more than 30,000 African-American physicians and their patients. The NMA repeatedly advocates for policies that would assure equitable and quality health care for all people.


Sourceearthtimes.org