Holidy Newsletter from Sen. Specter

I'm just going to cut and paste it.

Dear Friend,

From the cloture vote, it is now apparent that 60 Democratic Senators are in favor of comprehensive health care reform. This legislation is an important step in seeing to it that adequate health care becomes a right in America and not just a privilege.


Click below to watch my video message on healthcare

It is not the bill that I would have preferred and there is an oppuntunity [sic] to improve it in conference. I would like to see a strong, robust public option. I would like to see more clear-cut language on a woman’s right to choose. But it has many important features. It covers 31 million more Americans. It has important insurance reforms. No longer can an insurance company reject a claim because of a pre-existing condition. No longer can there be a lifetime limit on insurance coverage.

I consider the legislation similar to the Civil Rights Act of 1965. It was a very good law, but it took a preliminary legislative enactment in 1957 and another in 1964 - each an incremental step - to set the stage for what was satisfactory and adequate civil rights legislation.

It is regrettable that there is such divisive partisanship in the Senate today. When we took the cloture vote, every one of the 60 Democrats said ‘Aye,’ and every one of the 40 Republicans said ‘Nay.’ It is the same attitude that pervaded the Senate during the stimulus package which I think was indispensible to avoid a 1929 Depression. I believe that when you have thousands of people dying each year because they don’t have insurance or adequate medical care, this bill is a very significant step forward.

Have a happy and healthy holiday season.

My best,

Arlen Specter

Basically, he's saying that although this isn't the bill he would've preferred he's going to support it.  Gotta love the Senator's strong moral convictions... Hell I don't agree with it, and I don't know what's in all of the bill, but I'm going to support it since doing something is better than doing nothing.

Specter Sends Out Email Blast with hopes of Avoiding Senate Walk of Shame

Senator Specter send out an email the night of the vote to continue consideration of the "Health Care Reform" bill.

Dear Friends,

The Congress is continuing its work to try to get healthcare reform legislation, and I believe the prospects are reasonably good that we will produce a bill. I hope that the bill will have the public option - and a robust public option. We will have a cloture vote tonight and I believe that we should be able to get 60 Senators at least to agree to start the debate.

Click below to hear my take on healthcare reform

It would be my hope that my colleagues would not draw lines in the sand or stay in inflexible positions. We need to move ahead, and doing nothing is not an option. The problems of so many millions of Americans uninsured and the problems of the rising healthcare costs makes it imperative that action be taken.

I think that the bill which has been proposed is a very, very good start. It is obviously subject to amendments and some modification. But the total cost has come in at about $850 billion over 10 years and is projected to save about $130 billion to reduce the deficit. In the second decade it is projected to save even more, up to as much as $650 billion. President Obama has committed not to sign a healthcare bill which adds to the deficit, and I’m committed not to vote for a healthcare bill that adds to the deficit.

It is my hope that the bill will emerge with very strong provisions on preventative care. That includes annual examinations without additional costs and encouraging people to have the annual exams to catch many problems at their early stages, like heart disease or ailments, before they develop into debilitating and expensive chronic diseases. I disagree with the recent recommendations to cut back on mammogram screenings or pap smears. I think that early detection is vital and well worth the cost. I can tell you from my personal experience: an MRI detected a brain tumor the size of a golf ball between my skull and my brain back in 1993. It could have been a very, very serious matter had that early detection not occurred.

Healthcare reform is vital and we’re determined to get a good bill.

Sincerely,

Arlen Specter

I'm composing my response to the Senator now.

I have absolutely no reason to expect that he will retract his current position and support a sane, fiscally responsible, and NO-COST solution which will not grow the size or power of government for health care reform that the majority of Americans will support.

A Sad Day for America

It appears that the President has gotten his way and the Senate has passed the much controversial "Economic Recovery Plan".

Radio talkshow host Rush Limbaugh (I don't normally listen to him, but I'm listening today) commented that this bill is more about government control than "Economic Stimulus". You see this bill caters to the lower class very heavily and also to the unionized very heavily.

Republicans were gaining support (remember election 2000 and 2004) and the Democrats were loosing support, so this bill will help cement the Democratic base and assure millions of votes in upcoming years.

The truth is this bill is really a big cluster****. Did you know that in the bill there are provisions for UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE?

You might say... "Well, what's so bad about that?" I'll tell you "what's so bad about that."

I'm sure you've all had to deal with government bureaucracies to some extent whether it's standing in line at the DMV, dealing with government compliance to regulations, paying your taxes, or whatever.

I'm betting that if you filled out a customer satisfaction survey you'd probably say that you were less than satisfied.

That is what this UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE will do for America.

The government in an attempt to give everyone equal care will give everyone equal mediocre care. However, you might say "that's still not soooo bad", but let me remind you that the Senate; Congress; and all in government have their own health care and won't be held to the same standards.

Typical...

Rush Limbaugh says this, "Betsy McCaughey has written a column at Bloomberg detailing some of the most onerous provisions in this stimulus bill on health care, and there's a new bureaucracy created, the national coordinator of health information technology -- now, listen to this -- the national coordinator of health information technology will monitor treatments that your doctor gives you to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective."

So the government now has final say over what kind of treatment is appropriate. I'm sorry... you have bone cancer and the doctors think that you probably won't survive... we can't treat you. Amazing! Actually that's not the word I was looking for. Disgusting!

However even this provision isn't as bad as the massive spending that this bill entails. We are in an economic recession, that is a fact. China is no longer buying up American debt, that is a fact. The Federal Reserve doubled the amount of dollars in circulation within the last year alone, that is a fact. This bill creates some jobs but at a cost exceeding $900,000 per job, that is a fact.

And our elected officials are naive enough to think that spending more money will solve our problem of not having enough money? Obama's naive enough to think that "the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life."

This is a sad day for America indeed.

Lord, Forgive us, stay Your hand.