All eyes will be on the Senate Finance Committee as it prepares to vote on Max Baucus's (D-MT) $829 billion healthcare bill. While the measure is expected to pass through committee, not everyone has pledged full support, namely Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Baucus was buoyed last week by the Congressional Budget Office's assessment of his bill whereby the non-partisan agency declared that his legislation would help reduce the deficit over the next 10 years. On Monday, however, the American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) rained on Baucus's parade by criticizing his healthcare legislation stating it would cost Americans more money by 2019. The White House rushed to decry the report lest it derail current support among Blue Dog Democrats and some key Republicans. Linda Douglass of the White House Reform Office told Talking Points Memo DC that AHIP's study "completely ignores critical policies will lower costs for those who have insurance options to millions of Americans who are priced out of today's health insurance market or are locked out by unfair insurance company practices."
The Senate will also be looking at extending unemployment benefits to 14 weeks and up to 20 weeks for those states that have a higher than 8.5% unemployment figure. The issue is of great concern to lawmakers as an election year looms and the the national unemployment for September was 9.8%, the highest it's been since 1983. The National Law Project predicts just over 1 million Americans will see their benefits cut off by the end of the year.
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It's so nice our congresspeople take a nice, long, long weekend so they can be refreshed enough to work their tails off for 2 1/2 days before taking another "extended" weekend off.
Meanwhile, the unemployed in America are forced to do without while Congress dawdles.
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