As Nancy Pelosi has saved the Affordable Care Act

When she pleaded with their sisters Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had tears in his eyes. He knew that he hated what he was asked to do. She hated. But if you are soft, the whole thing could fall apart. They had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve something truly monumental goal, the Democratic president had been denied for nearly a century: the creation of a universal health care program. But the only way to get there, they said it was to compromise one of their estimated principles: the right to choose abortion of women. It was Friday, November 6, 2009. The House was to vote on his health care bill is the next day. For months, Pelosi had been immersed in negotiations on the massive, complex legislation. Now he had come to the final point of attack, one that has not been in person or painful for Pelosi. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that it has confirmed the extension supported health care, would not the bill unless it sharply restricted access to abortion, and a small group of pro-life members would not vote for the bill, you unless signed out compel bishops. Throughout the day, Pelosi had been in meetings and on the phone, trying to get the compromise bishops for women to surrender. But neither group were from the spot. It was now evening, and she had exhausted tactics. The only thing that was left to lay their cards on the table with members who most rely on them to speak for them and protect their interests- liberal women. “I do not know what to do,” he told them an uncommon, or perhaps strategic, admission of weakness by Pelosi, who always seemed to know what to do. The women were furious. Louise Slaughter, eighties, chairman of the House Rules Committee, he grew up in Kentucky hold secret friend an illegal abortion. He marched into the right to abortion protests in their youth, has pushed for Reproductive Rights in Congress and was a founding member of the Pro-Choice Caucus. She came to Washington in 1987, just months before Pelosi, Pelosi and cheered rising through the ranks as a victory for women across the world. To slaughter and other free women abortion issue was one inviolable right of women to determine what happens to their body. It was not negotiable. Well, in a bitter irony, the first female president of the Chamber was to ask the cave. Pelosi has listened patiently as the women bled. The vast majority of Democrats were members of the pro-choice caucus, but was told that they were the ones that had to be persistent minority. This massacre said was a betrayal, not only women in Congress, but the women of America. Pelosi has pushed some papers across the table: their counts. The story that we were told it could be considered any subject make it powerful. Without changing the bishops, he said. ‘I do not have the votes’ Since the New Deal had Democratic presidents seek to create a national health program. FDR has proposed universal health care twice, but both times he did put it shortly to the Congress. His successor, Harry Truman, also favors universal coverage, but there has never been a priority. John F. Kennedy pushed for a program that the elderly, Medicare to make sure, but fell short of spending left to Lyndon B. Johnson to do the job. Johnson also created Medicaid to provide part of the state programs fund health care for the poor. After taking office in 1993, Bill Clinton awarded to health policy to his wife, Hillary. He worked on the legislation in the vicinity of secrecy, then placed the huge bill to Congress as a fait accompli. Hillary care, as it became known, the system would have health insurance based on employer eliminated, replacing it with the healthcare networks. Republicans argue that the government’s plan would give too much control to increase the population of the costs and giving fewer choices. The healthcare industry flooded the airwaves with scary television commercials. also been covered in the Democratic Congress was not cut out much of the massive legislation. Several committee chairs competing proposals produced. Pelosi was part of a group of progressive, legislation introduced a system of “single-payer” run by the government to create. The Clinton plan was chosen not to, and what followed was to kill the 1994 Republican landslide, the health reform prospects for more than a decade. But the problem worse. Most people do, but when they have lost their health insurance through their employers, their jobs, were at the mercy of the lightly regulated private market. Insurers are free to choose their customers and to choose, which meant they would refuse to cover someone who was ill, and charge women more than men for coverage. Insurance was looking for excuses to deny claims, drowning in paperwork and doctors make the sick who are fighting for the care they needed. And because the cost of premiums and deductibles screwed, ate more and more companies of the salaries and budgets of families. Many Americans were just an accident or a diagnosis away from bankruptcy. Health services had not been a priority for President Obama in the Senate during its short period of time, but when he became president has been shown to perform surveys that it was voters greater problem. When he accepted the Democratic nomination, health care reform had become a central promise of his campaign. In ads and speeches, he spoke emotionally of his mother, Ann Dunham, ovarian cancer died at the age of fifty-1995 Your recent months, Obama said, were not consumed by thoughts about his life and his family, but the struggle with medical billers and concerned about their insurance. The Obama team had studied the Clinton experience and lessons was determined to learn from it. They wanted Congress ended the legislation, rather than the President of the hand up to “stone” tablets like Obama political adviser David Axelrod said, and wanted the health sector on board, if possible. Obama has proposed that the employer-based remains intact, so most people with insurance that would not be interested. New regulations insurers would stop abusive practices of intervention. People without employer-based insurance would be able to order a plan for the state market, and companies would have to compete for the best deal. An “individual mandate” would require that anyone can get covered. Those who could not afford it would receive subsidies, while the poor would get insurance by the government through the expansion of Medicaid that would fund the federal government. to present a proposal for the new health system would be a heavy for any president in the best circumstances. But it has been put forward by a neophyte of Congress in the midst of an economic collapse. Axelrod understood the meaning of his daughter-the problem of chronic epilepsy nearly bankrupted his family had, but warned Obama as the new president took office, that perhaps the timing was not right. Obama is not the agreement. If you do not do it now, he argued, could not for another decade or done. “What we should do,” he said, “? Put my approval rating on the shelf and admire him for eight years” This was the Obama Pelosi liked: the player, the dreamer, the president, who believed in the words that he often quoted from Martin Luther king, in “the fierce urgency of now.” in July 2009, there were 60 Democrats in the Senate, the vast majority for both parties since 1980. But the health care bill was stalled, compiled by the Finance Committee in the bottle when the White House moderate Republicans courted He thought that Obama and his advisers could win. Pelosi Republicans thought fools commission was courting. planned from the beginning, it is the legislation would get zero GOP votes. “Understanding the president is not the way this game works?” When asked Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff. “He wants it done and loved, and you can not have both want?” Instead of waiting for the Senate, the Chamber receives its own start. Pelosi has ordered three committees to work together, a form “Tri-Com”, which had its logo and totes. Single-payer was not on the table, but liberal House sought a “public” insurance option include government-run health care, selling policies to the public and in competition with insurance companies. Saw insurance, of course, the public option as a mortal threat. While the jitter Senate continued, the House bill was the end of July the committee. Then came August. Congress is traditionally the month of August the members a chance to relax, recharge and reconnect with their constituents. But in August 2009 it is not shaping up to be much more than a holiday. At town hall meetings in their districts, facing Democratic lawmakers blast furnace of anger. Hundreds of activists have taken some meetings assault. The thrust was calculated to bring the bill and the president. “If we are able to Obama, to stop this,” said a Republican senator, a group of right-wing organizers, “will be his Waterloo. It will break.” The seized opponents proposed a determination by a Republican, that sessions consulting end optional life could fund for the elderly, and she turned into a top Euthanasia “conspiracy of left people aged death panels”. Then, at the end of August, Senator Ted Kennedy has died after a long illness. Kennedy had called universal health care “the cause of my life.” Before you become too ill to serve in the Senate, he had been working to lay the foundation for health care reform. His death was a severe psychological blow for Democrats reeling. To give them a boost, conceived Obama a prime-time address in the House chamber. Obama did in his speech read from a letter Kennedy wrote before his death. Health care, he had written was “primarily a moral issue.” As Obama’s passionate case of urgency, Democratic lawmakers of agitated hearts was here that old magic Barack Obama who lost throughout the bargaining over public options and cost curves had. Obama addressed the myths about the bill promising that there are no death panels, would not pay for abortion coverage and does not depend on illegal immigrants. Suddenly the president was interrupted by a shout from the audience: “You’re lying” It was Joe Wilson, a Republican congressman from South Carolina. For Pelosi, the panel was a perfect example: the eloquent African-American president, his high ideals headlong crash of a white Southerners into irrational anger, preferred his feelings on the subject. Right talk radio Wilson (After the speech, the phone rings Wilson. It ‘been wanted his wife. Who, they know that the “mother” who had invited the president? Was) celebrated as heroes. And then there were the bishops. Pelosi Catholic faith was real and pious, a central part of their identity since childhood. But their policies do not always pursue with the church. Pelosi took the position of the hair-splitting that supports the right of women opting for themselves, even if they personally believe abortion to be wrong. “A woman,” as she put it, “has given to her by God’s free will.” It ‘was an attitude that has put them at odds with his family back in Baltimore. ready to start his career to give them a floor speech for Reproductive Rights, he confided to a colleague that he hoped he would not see his mother. Pelosi clashes with the church was bitter and public, as he stepped to the fore. On the eve of his 2007 sworn in as speaker, demonstrators gathered when he visited the exhibition to his alma mater, the public service was closed to avoid chaos and crawled Pelosi and through a back door. Some archbishops said Communion should be denied, and she feared she could be denied the sacrament. For a while ‘visited another church in San Francisco every Sunday is discarded to avoid. When he went to the Vatican in February 2009 and met with Pope Benedict XVI, he taught them passionate about abortion and euthanasia, then a proud public statement put out about having done. And so when the position of the Church on abortion, the last sticking point in the talks was 2009 home health care, it was personal for Pelosi. He tried everything he could handle the opposition bishop. He put the language in the bill banning abortion funding. He knew personally called a cardinal in Rome. He won the nuns groups. But none of that was enough. The bishops have sent a newsletter to be beaten every American community calling for the bill if they do not get their change. They printed fliers that showed a pregnant woman with the words “abortion is not health care, because the killing is not healing.” They sent a phalanx of bishops to the Capitol to lobby. The archbishop of Boston expressed Obama personally on the issue, as they shook hands with Kennedy’s funeral. Pelosi had every trick they tried to learn about the votes he needed for the collection. He promised two members of California that they would take their water problems. He convinced a member of the Liberal Congress that it plans to stay retired for health care was finished. He got a former president of the University of Notre Dame a moderate Democrat from Indiana to lean on. He attended the annual football game between members of Congress and Capitol Police, wearing a shirt that said, “Mean Machine 1” and rooting for Heath Shuler, the quarterback of the Redskins turned congressman, who was undecided about design law. He added a provision for transplant patients, a tax on medical devices and a tax credit for paper companies, each giveaway touching a vote or two. At one point she was so exhausted half a cup of coffee on purpose scary situation for their employees drank, knowing that the minimum of caffeine may increase their usual level of intensity to a frightening degree. Yet, with the bishops over, she did not rule out the votes. And so, set this Friday, after a long day of negotiations, she calls her liberal colleagues in and around the situation. Since the therapy session wore made her cheeseburger for all and continued to listen. It was 11:00 by the time the women stormed out of the session, angry with reality Pelosi had to admit forced: the bill does not happen without changing the bishop, and were going down, not going to let the bill after who had come so far. She knew it and they knew it. He sat down with them until they realized there was no other choice. Louise Slaughter was so angry that late night of her meeting denied the Committee under the chairmanship to participate. They take root in his office with two other pro-choice women. It seemed like a commission approved the bill on C-SPAN. The next day by a vote of 220-215 passed health care reform in the house. The Senate has finally begun hearings in mid-September, and in October the bill was approved by the Finance Committee. Senate leaders had always given up Republican support, but they needed the votes of each individual Democrats, including moderate south. The public option was dropped. Pelosi worried that the bill may be too weak to be effective. But in the end, on Christmas Eve, the Senate bill. House and Senate have passed different laws, and now they had to forge a compromise. In January, Obama has presided over three days of contentious negotiations between the House and Senate Democrats. The price House bill was over a gazillion dollars, while the cost of 800 billion Senate, and Obama wanted to meet in the middle. The second night, they took a break for lunch, and Obama asked her to come up with what they were willing to give. The senators order pizza combed through the bill and returned in grants of $70 billion. Then it was the turn home. announced “The House” Pelosi, “You are nothing.”, he continued the talks with Obama pushing the gap to only 20 billion US dollars pocket money in financial conditions was. Obama has proposed a way to fill the void, and representatives Henry Waxman to close by lieutenants Pelosi beep. “They presented a series that seems reasonable,” he said. “I can not speak for the house, but it looks like something we can work towards.” Pelosi shot a hand to cut him off. “Henry is right about two things,” he said. “One, you have to sit on a number. And two, Henry does not speak for the house.” Among the other negotiators, Pelosi seemed unreasonably stubborn. Obama grew tired of what he considered childish bickering. “Stop this bullshit,” the president said. “I’ll go upstairs and go to bed.” Pelosi and others have started to gather to leave their belongings. But Emanuel held. It was almost midnight, but he would not let go, get up, he has to come together in a row. So, finally, in the early hours of the morning, as Pelosi. The negotiations were almost finished, taken as a flash. On January 19, Massachusetts held a special election to fill the Senate seat of Kennedy. And despite the beloved Kennedy legacy, despite the fact that it was one of the most a Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown, elected liberal states in the country. It ‘was a big blow to the health of democratic hopes, made cruel irony of his being home Kennedys. Without 60 votes in the Senate, with Republicans united in opposition, no matter what compromise the House and Senate have agreed, because the Senate would not pass it. health care reform was over. “It ‘s dead,” Barney Frank told reporters. Other Democrats have expressed similar opinions on Cable TV. Emanuel and Axelrod held a small piece of legislation that would expand health care for low-income children. The president seemed to flicker. In an interview the day after Browns victory, has said he would support a bill that quickly, even if it contains only “key elements” could pass the reform. Pelosi said, to curb the White House in Emanuel and harass him to stop their members of his “legal eensy weensy design.” In a meeting in the Oval Office, addressed the issue directly Pelosi. “Mr. President, I know there are some on your staff who want to take mushy approach,” he said. “This is unacceptable.” Obama has taken their side. They wanted to go for it. If the House bill, the Senate had passed already passed, Obama could sign a law. Pelosi said the bill before the Senate “a non-starter.” You’d just get home bill over the line, with its delicate balance of concessions liberals and conservatives. If a herculean achievement had been to reach the house of the Senate to pass the bill seemed virtually impossible. Pelosi estimated as 180 members no longer had the Senate bill would have happened at the beginning agree, which means it needs about 40 more. in one of the press conferences Pelosi, asked the reporter, decided how to proceed. “You go through the gate,” he said. “When the door closed, you go over the fence. If the Z aun is too high, we’ll pole vault. If this does not work, we parachute. But there will be the approved health care reform to the American people get.” In first session of the House Democratic Caucus after the election of Massachusetts, Pelosi heard nothing. The meeting went on for hours, as a member of a member of the decline of the legislation complained worked so hard. All two thousand to give their side of Behemoth health bill insurance for more than thirty million people around at all these efforts, the negotiations in tears with the bishops. The members filed out of the room convinced that it was over. In the next meeting Caucus Pelosi got to talk. Here, they said, it is how to take the ball healthcare reform. The White House had a plan. operation method of “reconciliation” would be called budgetary aspects of the legislation allows caregivers to go with only 50 votes in the Senate. So hit the White House, the house could be the bill passes the Senate detested, and then reconciliation, the two houses could pass a companion bill touches with a budget number. The Senate bill was more conservative than the House bill without public option and a lower price. Its funding abortion ban was weaker than the house. It ‘was at Pelosi has made to convince caucus, the Senate bill in conjunction with reconciliation to happen, “sidecar”. The health care bill was unpopular, and interested members of a swing districts lose their places on them. But the damage was done, it may have to try to attack and probably failing, or could be attacked to try and success. Pelosi colleagues said that she believed that the reform of the health system a performance was so monumental that it would be worthwhile to lose the majority. The point of power to them, he could not keep his only-had to be to achieve the things that people would benefit. Pelosi has started another round of furious scramble vote. The pro-life to get to the White House promised an executive order that would limit abortion had sharp funds like the House bill. For the conservative Blue Dog Democrats, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid elaborated funding compromise the reconciliation bill. For liberals bring along unsteadily, Pelosi and Obama were playing on their conscience, they remember the moral significance of a bill which, though imperfect, health care would be made available to an estimated 31 million Americans. Pelosi has called Reid get every Democratic senator to sign a letter promising for the reconciliation bill to a vote, in order to let their members when dry would not have been published. On 12 March, Pelosi sent a note to his caucus. “We just need to break down the plaster and a voice,” he wrote. Pelosi has worked tirelessly members. At one point, after they are presented with a list of more than sixty members who needed a call, John Lawrence, his chief of staff, was waiting for the list under the guidance would divide the team. “Give me the list,” he said, and proceeded to call all of them are. The talks went to the wire down the back. On the eve of the vote, a moderate midnight the group was negotiating session on repayments. But on March 21, with the bill on the floor, Pelosi rose to make his speech for the closing. Members who voted for this law, he said, would go down in history: “We are the ones who established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, to join health care for all Americans.” The vote was called, and when the count crept upward, Democrats began singing on the floor of the house: “Yes, we can!” After the law passed, 219- 212, with no Republican votes, the floor exploded into applause and embrace. Many of the books written articles and then on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would be the presidents of performance which obviously was there and the boring drama in the Senate, more job stress Pelosi at home. Senate leaders still think that their job is harder because they have to get 60 votes, while House partisans argue that the overlap house with its hundreds of characters and layers of interest and blocks, is infinitely more complex. But it is impossible to say whether the Senate has struggled because Reid task was controlled by the difficult nature of what Pelosi or to get to work because Pelosi was better controversial legislation through the chamber of his party. For Pelosi allies, it was the Senate as the child shot down that gets all the attention, and promised rich small advances, while the expectations of talented, well-educated brothers to meet higher. Why did they make it look easy, short of people, it was. And ‘it compared with the royal swan that seems to glide on the water, but actually it’s big, black, ugly webbed feet is angry with children. In a caucus meeting, a member of the Liberal Congress Steve Cohen, passed out buttons that read, “pelosicare: I was there.” Retrieved from PELOSI, Molly Ball Posted by Henry Holt and Company May 5, 2020 Copyright © 2020 by Molly. ball. All rights reserved.
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