----- Original Message -----
To: pdla@svpal.org
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 9:09 AM
Subject: [PDLA] House Comm Passes Kucinich Amendment to Allow States to Create Single-Payer Healthcare System
By David Swanson
On Friday morning at 9:45 a.m. ET in the House Committee on Education and Labor, the committee members voted 25 to 19 to pass Congressman Dennis Kucinich's amendment to the healthcare reform bill. This amendment, if it survives the full House, the Senate, the conference, and the President, will not alter the federal legislation except to allow states to create single-payer healthcare systems if they choose to. If this change to the bill makes news, it will pass the Senate, because there is no legitimate argument against it, and the support for it is bipartisan.
The committee members voted in order of seniority through all the Democrats and then the Republicans, returning to allow those who passed or were not present on the first round or the second round to cast their vote. No members switched their votes from yes to no or vice versa, during the voting, but several passed and then voted after hearing their colleagues vote. In the final count, 25 voted Yes, 19 No, 2 left their vote as "Pass," and 3 were not there or did not respond at all.
On the first go round, these Democrats voted Yes: Woolsey, Kucinich, Holt, Grijalva, Loebsack, and Fudge. Not nearly enough, but then came the Republicans, not a single one of whom has supported single-payer h ealthcare, but many of whom apparently respect states' rights: Kline, Petri, McKeon, Souder, Ehlers, Biggert, Platts, Wilson, McMorris Rogers, Price, and Guthrie. That gave us 17 votes going into round two. Among Democrats, we then picked up Payne, Scott, Shea Porter, and Polis. Among Republicans, Hoekstra and Castle joined in. We had 23 votes moving into round three. Two more Democrats, Tierney and Tonko, brought the total to 25.
Then you have the list of members who voted for the arguably unconstitutional step of banning states from providing their citizens with healthcare, a step for which no legitimate case has been made, but which the health insurance companies strongly favor. First and foremost was Committee Chairman George Miller who led the voting with a resounding "No." He was joined on the first round by Democrats Kildee, Andrews, Hinojosa, McCarthy, Bishop, Sestak, Altmire, Hare, Courtney, Sablan, and Titus, and Republicans McClintock, Hunter, Roe, and Thompson. On the second round Democrats Davis and Hirono voted No, along with Republican Cassidy. On the third round, no more Nos were added. Not voting yes or no were: Wu, Clarke, Pierluisi, Chu, and Bishop of Utah.
There are major campaigns with a good chance of passing single-payer healthcare if Congress permits it in the following states: Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Massachusetts.
RO LL CALL ON VOTE TO ALLOW STATES TO CREATE SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE
9:40 a.m. ET, July 17, 2009
House Committee on Education and Labor
Y=Allow states to provide their citizens healthcare if they choose
N=Ban states
PASS= Pass
--= Not present or no response
Democrats
25 to 19 to 2
* George Miller, Chairman (CA-07) N
* Dale E. Kildee (MI-05) N
* Donald M. Payne (NJ-10) PASS, Y
* Robert E. Andrews (NJ-01) N
* Robert C. Scott (VA-03) --, Y
* Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06) Y
* Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) N
* Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04) N
* John F. Tierney (MA-06) --, --, Y
* Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10) Y
* David Wu (OR-01) PASS, PASS
* Rush D. Holt (NJ-12) Y
* Susan A. Davis (CA-53) PASS, N
* Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) Y
* Timothy H. Bishop (NY-01) N
* Joe Sestak (PA-07) N
* Dave Loebsack (IA-02) Y
* Mazie Hirono (HI-02) PASS, N
* Jason Altmire (PA-04) N
* Phil Hare (IL-17) N
* Yvette Clarke (NY-11) --, --
* Joe Courtney (CT-02) N
* Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) --, Y
* Marcia Fudge (OH-11) Y
* Jared Polis (CO-2) PASS, Y
* Paul Tonko (NY-21) --, --, Y
* Pedro Pierluisi (PR) --, --
* Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands) N
* Dina Titus (NV-3) N
* Judy Chu PASS, PASS,
Republicans
* John Kline, Ranking Member (MN-02) Y
* Thomas E. Petri (WI-06) Y
* Howard "Buck" McKeon (CA-25) Y
* Peter Hoekstra (MI-02) PASS, Y
* Michael N. Castle (DE-At Large) PASS, Y
* Mark E. Souder (IN-03) Y
* Vernon J. Ehlers (MI-03) Y
* Judy Biggert (IL-13) Y
* Todd Russell Platts (PA-19) Y
* Joe Wilson (SC-02) Y
* Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) Y
* Tom Price (GA-06) Y
* Rob Bishop (UT-01) --, --
* Brett Guthrie (KY-2) Y
* Bill Cassidy (LA-6) PASS, N
* Tom McClintock (CA-4) N
0A * Duncan D. Hunter (CA-52) N
* Phil Roe (TN-1) N
* Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-05) N
--
David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by Seven Stories Press. You can pre-order it and find out when tour will be in your town: http://davidswanson.org/book. Arrange to review it on your blog and Seven Stories will get you a free copy. Contact crystal at sevenstories dot com.
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http://www.truthout.org/071609A?n
Foreclosures at Record High in First Half 2009
by: Lynn Adler
Reuters: 16 July 2009
New York - U.S. home foreclosure activity galloped to a record in the
first half of the year, overwhelming broad efforts to remedy failing loans
while job losses escalated.
Foreclosure filings jumped to a record 1.9 million on more than 1.5
million properties in the first six months of the year, RealtyTrac said on
Thursday.
The number of properties drawing filings, which include notices of
default and auctions, jumped 9.0 percent from the second half of 2008 and
almost 15 percent from the first half of last year.
"Despite everybody's best efforts to date we're not really making any
headway against the problem," Rick Sharga, senior vice president at
RealtyTrac in Irvine, California, said in an interview.
Loans that were temporarily frozen by various state and federal
programs, which mostly ended in March, started pushing through the process
in the past three months.
One in every 84 households with loans got at least one foreclosure
filing in the first half of this year.
"I don't think this suggests the economy is any worse than anyone
expected but I certainly don't think it shows by itself any signs of
improvement," Sharga said.
President Obama's housing rescue is gaining momentum in refinancing
troubled borrowers with higher-rate loans and modifying untenable terms for
others.
But the programs have been off to a slow start and in some cases will be
too late or not enough to help severely struggling homeowners, industry
analysts agree.
Private sector efforts to alter loans terms have made headway but are
facing an uphill battle as the unemployment rate heads to double digits.
Problems emanating from loans made when standards were much looser have
taken a back seat to defaults stemming from job losses and wage cuts.
"Unemployment-related foreclosures account for much of this increased
activity, and the high number of borrowers who find themselves owing more on
their mortgages than their homes are now worth represent a potentially
significant future risk," James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac chief executive, in
a statement.
In June, as home prices continued to fall, albeit more slowly,
foreclosure filings rose 5.0 percent from May and 33 percent from a year
earlier.
June's foreclosure activity was the third highest on record, and the
fourth straight month of filings on more than 300,000 properties.
"If we're really going to slow down the inflow of new foreclosure
activity we are probably going to need to see more aggressive and more
integrated activity between the lending community and the government,"
Sharga said.
The Treasury Department asked the largest 25 mortgage servicers last
week to appoint a special liaison to work directly with government officials
aiming to thwart defaults.
RealtyTrac forecasts about 4 million total filings this year on 3.2
million households with loans, which means little improvement from the
first-half performance. The prior record was 3.1 million filings last year,
up from a more typical year when about 800,000 foreclosure actions would be
made.
The highest unemployment rate in nearly 26 years is the biggest factor
keeping homeowners from staying current on monthly payments, Sharga said.
But there could also be a whiplash caused by "the big white elephant in
the middle of the room" - option ARMs, or adjustable rate mortgages with the
option to make minimum payments. "A lot of them are going to be seriously
upside down, probably at least 40 percent upside down."
That would mean a borrower owes at least 40 percent more on the mortgage
than the home is worth.
A new U.S. program enabling borrowers are up to 25 percent upside down
to refinance their loans would not be enough to help most option option ARM
holders, Sharga said.
States where sales and prices soared most in the five-year housing boom
early this decade stayed hardest hit in the first half of 2009.
Nevada remained the state with the highest foreclosure rate, with one in
every 16 housing units with a loan getting a foreclosure filing. Arizona,
Florida and California followed.
Other states in the top 10 were Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Illinois, Idaho
and Colorado.
California was the state with the highest total number of foreclosure
filings in the first half, with actions taken on 391,611 properties, or one
in every 34 housing units with mortgages.
Foreclosures at Record High in First Half 2009
by: Lynn Adler
Reuters: 16 July 2009
New York - U.S. home foreclosure activity galloped to a record in the
first half of the year, overwhelming broad efforts to remedy failing loans
while job losses escalated.
Foreclosure filings jumped to a record 1.9 million on more than 1.5
million properties in the first six months of the year, RealtyTrac said on
Thursday.
The number of properties drawing filings, which include notices of
default and auctions, jumped 9.0 percent from the second half of 2008 and
almost 15 percent from the first half of last year.
"Despite everybody's best efforts to date we're not really making any
headway against the problem," Rick Sharga, senior vice president at
RealtyTrac in Irvine, California, said in an interview.
Loans that were temporarily frozen by various state and federal
programs, which mostly ended in March, started pushing through the process
in the past three months.
One in every 84 households with loans got at least one foreclosure
filing in the first half of this year.
"I don't think this suggests the economy is any worse than anyone
expected but I certainly don't think it shows by itself any signs of
improvement," Sharga said.
President Obama's housing rescue is gaining momentum in refinancing
troubled borrowers with higher-rate loans and modifying untenable terms for
others.
But the programs have been off to a slow start and in some cases will be
too late or not enough to help severely struggling homeowners, industry
analysts agree.
Private sector efforts to alter loans terms have made headway but are
facing an uphill battle as the unemployment rate heads to double digits.
Problems emanating from loans made when standards were much looser have
taken a back seat to defaults stemming from job losses and wage cuts.
"Unemployment-related foreclosures account for much of this increased
activity, and the high number of borrowers who find themselves owing more on
their mortgages than their homes are now worth represent a potentially
significant future risk," James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac chief executive, in
a statement.
In June, as home prices continued to fall, albeit more slowly,
foreclosure filings rose 5.0 percent from May and 33 percent from a year
earlier.
June's foreclosure activity was the third highest on record, and the
fourth straight month of filings on more than 300,000 properties.
"If we're really going to slow down the inflow of new foreclosure
activity we are probably going to need to see more aggressive and more
integrated activity between the lending community and the government,"
Sharga said.
The Treasury Department asked the largest 25 mortgage servicers last
week to appoint a special liaison to work directly with government officials
aiming to thwart defaults.
RealtyTrac forecasts about 4 million total filings this year on 3.2
million households with loans, which means little improvement from the
first-half performance. The prior record was 3.1 million filings last year,
up from a more typical year when about 800,000 foreclosure actions would be
made.
The highest unemployment rate in nearly 26 years is the biggest factor
keeping homeowners from staying current on monthly payments, Sharga said.
But there could also be a whiplash caused by "the big white elephant in
the middle of the room" - option ARMs, or adjustable rate mortgages with the
option to make minimum payments. "A lot of them are going to be seriously
upside down, probably at least 40 percent upside down."
That would mean a borrower owes at least 40 percent more on the mortgage
than the home is worth.
A new U.S. program enabling borrowers are up to 25 percent upside down
to refinance their loans would not be enough to help most option option ARM
holders, Sharga said.
States where sales and prices soared most in the five-year housing boom
early this decade stayed hardest hit in the first half of 2009.
Nevada remained the state with the highest foreclosure rate, with one in
every 16 housing units with a loan getting a foreclosure filing. Arizona,
Florida and California followed.
Other states in the top 10 were Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Illinois, Idaho
and Colorado.
California was the state with the highest total number of foreclosure
filings in the first half, with actions taken on 391,611 properties, or one
in every 34 housing units with mortgages.
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