As Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, I led the fight against insurance companies that unreasonably delay or deny their customers’ valid claims. I know first-hand the lengths that industry will go to resist reform. I am deeply disappointed to learn that no member of the U.S. Senate is willing to offer an amendment [...]

In Klein’s attempt to defend the bill, he points to five cost controls. Only two seem to show some promise. Two others are dubious, with little evidence to back up the belief that they will bring down prices and one “cost control” is not even in the bill at all, just a vague hope for a better tomorrow.

Before health care was signed into law, House and Senate Republicans released bills calling for its full repeal. It’ll be amusing to watch these have the same legislative chances as liberal bills not favored by the establishment for years, but get outsized attention and influence.

I have said before that I think this bill is deeply flawed and, most importantly, does not provide an clear pathway to eventually getting real reform. But now that this bill is the new reality, now is not the time to stop fighting. I do not plan to stop fighting until we have achieved real health care reform. Like it or not, we are effectively forced to work from this new starting point. All the groups that were saying this bill must pass because it is a “positive first step” now need to quickly begin preparing for the next step.

Lincoln would rather reward banks and keep private subsidies flowing than offer that money to students. As a result, she would deprive the students of Arkansas $349 million dollars over ten years, helping as many as 58,000 college-age kids get a higher education. There’s also over $31 million dollars for Arkansas colleges and universities which Lincoln would like to leave on the table.

I really do live for moments like this.

We saw in the last days what President Obama was capable of when he truly put the force of his political skill behind an effort. But as time wore on, the mountain of data unearthed could lead to only one conclusion: this bill, with its eerie similarities to a plan written by insurance industry lobbyists in 2008, was what the president wanted.

Rather than use his talents to rein in corporate interests, as he promised on the campaign trail, the President used his office to shield them from accountability. This was our chance to weaken them, and the Americans that Obama inspired with his message of change would have fought like hell by his side to do just that. Sadly, that opportunity was squandered. President Obama made himself the defender of the corporate interest problem that we still need to overcome. Perhaps that is the best that can be achieved within our current system. If so, that is a sobering reality.

The President will sign the health care legislation on Tuesday, allowing the Senate to finish their work on the set of fixes in the reconciliation bill. Harry Reid has promised to begin work on the bill at that time. The key question here is whether or not Republicans will bother to gum up the works [...]

While the 2006 Bradbury memo doesn’t explain what DOD was doing between 2004 and 2006, the memo basically serves to turn Appendix M into an empty vessel into which DOD can throw anything it wants and have it pre-approved.

The White House and Democratic leaders have made many promises about health care reform throughout this long and winding process—from guaranteeing affordable, quality care for everyone to pledging tougher regulation of the medical industrial complex that created this broken system in the first place. If the majority party wants to honestly deliver on these promises—not to mention if they want to remain in the majority—then a concerted and immediate effort is required to prove that this week’s legislation is truly the first step toward reform, and not the last.