President Obama is committed to passing health care reform that lowers costs, protects choice and expands access to quality, affordable care -- and making it happen by the end of the year. The interim goal is to pass legislation in the House and Senate before Congress goes into recess on August 8th.

Five Congressional committees (three in the House – Energy & Commerce, Ways & Means, Education & Labor; and two in the Senate – HELP and Finance) have jurisdiction over health care legislation. Given all the moving pieces and how quickly things are moving it can be difficult to keep track of where the legislation is in each committee, and what it means for the overall process.

Here’s a quick primer on what our Democratic Congressional leaders are working to do before the August recess:

In the House

- The three House committees with jurisdiction have released a "tri-committee" version of their legislation. Mark-ups (debating, amending, rewriting the legislation) in each committee are expected to begin next Monday.

- The full House is expected to vote on its version of the bill before the August recess.

Key players: Energy & Commerce, Ways & Means, Education & Labor Committee members, Chairman of Energy & Commerce Henry Waxman (CA), Chairman of Ways & Means Charlie Rangel (NY), Chairman of Education & Labor George Miller (CA).

In the Senate

- The Senate HELP Committee released its version of the bill late last week. They are currently in “mark up”.

- The Senate Finance Committee is expected to release its version of their bill as early as this week, and start its own “mark up” process as early as next week.

- Its expected that the HELP and Finance Committees will combine their versions of the bill, and bring one bill to the floor for a full Senate vote before the August recess.

Key players: HELP and Finance Committee members, Chairman of HELP Ted Kennedy (MA), Senator Chris Dodd (CT), Chairman of Finance Max Baucus (MT).

Once the House and Senate have passed their versions of health care reform legislation, Congressional leaders will work to create a combined version of the bill -- if the schedule above holds, this is the step that will happen during August recess.

Have you told your Congressional leaders where you stand? Have you signed a declaration in support of President Obama’s three principles? Have you shared your personal health care story? We've talked about health care reform for more than 50 years, now it's within our reach. Do your part to make it happen.

President Obama and our Democratic leaders in Congress have been working to pass health care reform legislation before the end of the year. Today the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) took an important step towards that goal when it released its latest version of health care reform legislation. The bill follows President Obama’s principles for reform by lowering costs, protecting patient choice and expanding access to quality, affordable care, and includes a strong public option and a shared employee responsibility provision. According to analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the plan will cost significantly less than previously estimated and covers 97 percent of Americans. Here’s the AP story and a link to the text of the bill.

Chairman Ted Kennedy (MA) and Senator Chris Dodd (CT) sent a letter to their colleagues on the HELP committee late yesterday announcing the new CBO estimate, which scored the plan at $611.4 billion over 10 years, with the new coverage provisions scored at $597 billion – a significant reduction from earlier estimates (Ezra Klein of the Washington Post did a good round up of the CBO estimates). Here’s an excerpt from their letter:

“…For the 47 million Americans currently living without health insurance, a public option will represent an opportunity to access quality, affordable care. For those who have insurance but still struggle to get the care they and their families need, the healthy competition provided by our proposal will offer a wider variety of options while keeping costs down.

“And for the many Americans who have good coverage, nothing will change. They will still be able to keep their doctor, their hospital, and their insurance plan. What our proposal offers these families is stability – no longer will Americans with good health care have to worry about losing everything if they lose or change their job, or if someone in their family becomes sick or injured.

“Even in the face of scare tactics and false claims that a public option would destroy consumer choice or the insurance industry, a vigorous public option is what Americans want. According to two recent public polls, three out of four Americans support the establishment of a public option to compete with private insurance plans and offer families better choices when making health care decisions.

“Moreover, a strong public option isn’t just what Americans want – it’s what America needs. All of us understand the importance of the work we’re doing. The health of our economy and our families rely on it. But if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. The Senate must not, and the HELP Committee will not, shy away from this challenge. We must not settle for legislation that merely gestures at reform. We must deliver on the promise of true change.”

President Obama issued a statement praising the bill, saying:

“For decades, Washington has failed to act as health care costs continued to rise, crushing businesses, families and placing an unsustainable burden on governments. Today the Senate HELP committee has produced legislation that lowers costs, protects choice of doctors and plans and assures quality and affordable health care for Americans.”

The HELP Committee could vote as early as next week on their version of the bill, which will then be coupled with the Senate Finance Committee’s companion measure.

“…The plans you are discussing embody my core belief that Americans should have better choices for health insurance, building on the principle that if they like the coverage they have now, they can keep it, while seeing their costs lowered as our reforms take hold. But for those who don't have such options, I agree that we should create a health insurance exchange – a market where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that's best for them, in the same way that Members of Congress and their families can. None of these plans should deny coverage on the basis of a preexisting condition, and all of these plans should include an affordable basic benefit package that includes prevention, and protection against catastrophic costs. I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies honest.

“I understand the Committees are moving towards a principle of shared responsibility -- making every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that employers share in the cost. I share the goal of ending lapses and gaps in coverage that make us less healthy and drive up everyone's costs, and I am open to your ideas on shared responsibility. But I believe if we are going to make people responsible for owning health insurance, we must make health care affordable. If we do end up with a system where people are responsible for their own insurance, we need to provide a hardship waiver to exempt Americans who cannot afford it. In addition, while I believe that employers have a responsibility to support health insurance for their employees, small businesses face a number of special challenges in affording health benefits and should be exempted….”

Here’s a link to the full letter from the President on the Organizing for America blog.

This week we’ve received hundreds of pictures from around the country of "Sotomayor" posters in interesting locations. We’ll be posting a bunch later today, but given Judge Sotomayor’s love of the Yankees (and the fact that she effectively ended the 1995 baseball strike by issuing an injunction against major league baseball owners), we couldn’t resist sharing these two to start:

Sotomayor, bringing people together: Fenway Park + Yankee Stadium

update: [jonah]
Here are more photos from around the country:

update 2: [jonah]
Share your photos with us! You can print out fliers and upload photos of them around your community.

Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican, is endorsing Democrat Barack Obama for president, citing the senator's steady leadership, good judgment and ability to unify Democrats, Republicans and independents.

"Senator Obama is a once-in-a-lifetime candidate who will transform our politics and restore America's standing in the world," Weld said in a statement released Friday. "We need a president who will lead based on our common values and Senator Obama demonstrates an ability to unite and inspire.

"Throughout this campaign I've watched his steady leadership through trying times and I'm confident he is the best candidate to move our country forward," Weld said.

President Bill Clinton received an extended, thunderous applause from the crowd and gave the assembled delegates plenty to cheer about. Senators John Kerry, Evan Bayh and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle also delivered speeches tonight.

Find those speeches and more here.

Tomorrow, we head to Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium for Senator Barack Obama's acceptance speech of the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

In 2004, we came so close to victory. We are even closer now, and let me tell you, this time we’re going to win. Today, the call for change is more powerful than ever, and with more seats in Congress, with more people with more passion engaged in our politics, and with a President Obama, we stand on the brink of the greatest opportunity of our generation to move this country forward.

The stakes could not be higher, because we do know what a McCain administration would look like: just like the past, just like George Bush. And this country can’t afford a third Bush term. Just think: John McCain voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Ninety percent of George Bush is just more than we can take.

Never in modern history has an administration squandered American power so recklessly. Never has strategy been so replaced by ideology. Never has extremism so crowded out common sense and fundamental American values. Never has short-term partisan politics so depleted the strength of America’s bipartisan foreign policy.

George Bush, with John McCain at his side, promised to spread freedom but delivered the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. They misread the threat and misled the country. Instead of freedom, it’s Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban and dictators everywhere that are on the march. North Korea has more bombs, and Iran is defiantly chasing one.

Our mission is to restore America’s influence and position in the world. We must use all the weapons in our arsenal, above all, our values. President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down Guantanamo, respect the Constitution, and make clear once and for all, the United States of America does not torture, not now, not ever.

We must listen and lead by example because even a nation as powerful as the United States needs some friends in this world. We need a leader who understands all our security challenges, not just bombs and guns, but global warming, global terror and global AIDS. And Barack Obama understands there is no way for America to be secure until we create clean energy here at home, not with a little more oil in five, 10 or 20 years, but with an energy revolution starting right now.

I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let’s compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you’re against it.

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what’s more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same “Rove” tactics and the same “Rove” staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.

So remember, when we choose a commander-in-chief this November, we are electing judgment and character, not years in the Senate or years on this earth. Time and again, Barack Obama has seen farther, thought harder, and listened better. And time and again, Barack Obama has been proven right.

When John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier just three months after 9/11 and proclaimed, “Next up, Baghdad!”, Barack Obama saw, even then, “an occupation of “undetermined length, undetermined cost, undetermined consequences” that would “only fan the flames of the Middle East.” Well, guess what? Mission accomplished.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When Barack Obama promised to honor the best traditions of both parties and talk to our enemies, John McCain scoffed. George Bush called it “the soft comfort of appeasement.” But today, Bush’s diplomats are doing exactly what Obama said: talking with Iran.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When democracy rolled out of Russia, and the tanks rolled into Georgia, we saw John McCain respond immediately with the outdated thinking of the Cold War. Barack Obama responded like a statesman of the 21st century.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When we called for a timetable to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, John McCain called it “cut and run.” But today, even President Bush has seen the light. He and Prime Minister Maliki agree on – guess what? – a timetable.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? The McCain-Bush Republicans have been wrong again and again and again. And they know they will lose on the issues. So, the candidate who once promised a “contest of ideas,” now has nothing left but personal attacks. How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy doubt America itself. How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn’t put America first.

No one can question Barack Obama’s patriotism. Like all of us, he was taught what it means to be an American by his family: his grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line in World War II, his grandfather who marched in Patton’s army, and his great uncle who enlisted in the army right out of high school at the height of the war. And on a spring day in 1945, he helped liberate one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald.

Ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama’s uncle is here with us tonight. Please join me in saluting this American hero, Charlie Payne. Charlie, your nephew, Barack Obama, will end this politics of distortion and division. He will be a president who seeks not to perfect the lies of Swift boating, but to end them once and for all.

This election is a chance for America to tell the merchants of fear and division: you don’t decide who loves this country; you don’t decide who is a patriot; you don’t decide whose service counts and whose doesn’t.

Four years ago I said, and I say it again tonight, that the flag doesn’t belong to any ideology. It doesn’t belong to any political party. It is an enduring symbol of our nation, and it belongs to all the American people. After all, patriotism is not love of power or some cheap trick to win votes; patriotism is love of country.

Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against us saying, “My country right or wrong.” Our answer? Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power.

This is one of those times, and Barack Obama is telling those truths.

In closing, let me say, I will always remember how we stood together in 2004, not just in a campaign, but for a cause. Now again we stand together in the ranks, ready to fight. The choice is clear; our cause is just; and now is our time to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

Thank you.

I can’t think of a time when I didn’t enjoy reading, but I don’t remember actually ever owning a book as a child. I got my break in 1970 when I came to Massachusetts on a scholarship to boarding school. For me, that was like landing on a different planet. Our daughter Katherine, by contrast, has always had her own room. By the time she got to high school, she had already traveled on four continents, and had shaken hands in the White House with the President of the United States.

One generation and the circumstances of my life and family were profoundly transformed. And though that story is still not told as often as we’d like, it’s told more often in this country than any other place on earth. That is the American story. It is who we are. It is also what we stand for as Democrats: the simple notion that through hard work, tenacity, preparation and faith each of us has a chance at the American story. That American story is at risk today. More and more families are working harder but losing ground. The poor are in terrible shape. And the middle class are one paycheck away, one serious illness away, from being poor and deeply anxious about it. Together, we can change that. We’ve done it before.

In an earlier generation, as we faced dangers abroad and widespread suffering at home, our leaders responded with more than new policies. They summoned American aspirations and called on a generation to serve and to sacrifice. And that generation, the so-called “Greatest Generation,” fought and won the war; built the federal highway system and great public universities and other institutions; expanded the middle class; and ignited the civil rights revolution. That generation—through their service and their sacrifice—made it possible for many of us to live the American story.

Barack Obama understands that we must renew our commitment to the American story today.

And the gateway is through a first-rate education. That’s why Barack Obama wants to help our kids be ready to learn when they get to kindergarten, by investing in early education. That’s why he wants to fix and fund No Child Left Behind. That’s why he wants to better train and better reward high-performing teachers, why he wants to emphasize more math and science preparation, and why he wants to support the college ambitions of young people by helping them pay for it.

Barack Obama understands, like you do, that a well-educated America will make things again because we’ll be ready for emerging industries like clean energy, life sciences and high tech, which produce good jobs as well as a cleaner environment. And in that new economy, working people will again be able to see a path into the middle class and a secure future.

Now, John McCain says he believes in education, too. But he is against fully funding No Child Left Behind, against fully funding Head Start, against hiring more teachers and wants to abolish the Department of Education. This should come as no surprise. John McCain is just more of the same say-one-thing-do-another crowd in the White House today.

The same folks who say they believe in small government and fiscal restraint are responsible for the biggest expansion in the size of government and the size of the federal deficit in American history. The same folks, with John McCain leading the charge, who say they support seniors, want to privatize Social Security and put corporate pension funds up for grabs. The same folks who call themselves “compassionate conservatives” are the folks who abandoned all those people not only after Katrina, but before that storm. The American people have had enough.

But Democrats don’t deserve to win just because Republicans deserve to lose. If the American story is to have a chance, we need more than better programs and policies. We need better vision.

When I was growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the ‘50s and ‘60s, everything was broken. Playgrounds, schools, families and lives—all broken. But we had a community. Those were days when every child was under the jurisdiction of every single adult on the block. So if you messed up in front of Ms. Jones’ stoop, she would straighten you out as if you were hers and then call home, so you would get it twice. What those adults were trying to get across to us was that they had a stake in us. They wanted us to understand that membership in a community is seeing the stake that each of us has in our neighbor’s dreams and struggles, as well as our own.

Barack Obama has challenged us to rebuild our national community. To focus not on the things that tear us apart, but on those that bring us together; not on the right or the left, but right and wrong; not on yesterday, but tomorrow. These are the possibilities Barack Obama asks us to reach for. This is the kind of leadership he offers to bring to the presidency—not because government can solve every problem in everybody’s life; but because “government,” as Barney Frank likes to say, is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together.

This will not be easy. The status quo is a powerful force. A lot of people, including some in our own party, would rather not have anybody rock the boat. If we want the leadership our times demand, we are going to have to work for it. We are going to have to ask Republicans, Independents and Democrats alike to take a chance on their own aspirations for a renewed American story. We are going to have to put our cynicism down and learn to say again, like that Greatest Generation, “Yes, we can.”

If you want the change our country yearns for, if you want leadership that inspires us to bring the best that we have and the best that we are to a renewed American cause, if you want more than a campaign for president, but a cause to renew the American dream, then let’s join hands and go to work to elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

Thank you.

It is so wonderful to be here. Nothing, nothing was going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight.

I have come here to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals, and to elect Barack Obama as President of the United States.

As I look ahead, I am strengthened by family and friendship. So many of you have been with me in the happiest and the hardest days. Together we have known success and set-backs, victory and defeat. But we have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world.

And I pledge to you that I will be there -- next January -- on the floor of the United States Senate, when we begin to write the next great chapter of American progress.

For me, this is a season of hope. New hope-for a just and fair prosperity for the many and not just the few. New hope -- and this is the cause of my life - New hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American -- north, south, east and west -- young and old -- Will have decent, quality, affordable health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.

We can meet the challenges. With Barack Obama- Yes we can. And finally, finally- Yes we will.

Barack Obama will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, group against group, and straight against gay.

And Barack Obama will be a commander-in-chief who understands that young Americans in uniform must never ever be committed to a mistake, but always to a mission worthy of their bravery and sacrifice.

We are told that Barack Obama believes too much in an America of high purpose and bold endeavor.

But when John Kennedy thought of going to the moon, he didn't say, it's too far, we can't get there, we shouldn't even try.

Our people answered his call and rose to the challenge -- and today an American flag still marks the surface of the moon.

Yes, we are Americans. This is what we do. We reach the moon. We scale the heights. I know it. I've seen it. I've lived it. And we can do it again.

There is a new wave of change all around us- and if we set our compass true, we will reach our destination-not merely victory for our party, but renewal for our nation.

And this November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans.

And so with Barack Obama -- for you and for me, for our country and for our cause - the work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on.

Leaders like them come along rarely. But once or twice in a lifetime, they come along just when we need them the most. This is one of those moments. As our nation faces a fundamental choice between moving forward or falling further behind, Senator Obama offers the change we need.

Everywhere I go in this country, people tell me that Barack Obama is making them feel hopeful the way they did when my father was president. It’s partly the words he uses—words that remind us that we are all in this together and that we each have something to contribute to this country that has given us so much. But it’s the life he has led that is the true source of this inspiration—a life spent fighting for ordinary people in neighborhoods and courts, in the state senate and the United States Senate.

I have never had someone inspire me the way people tell me my father inspired them, but I do now, Barack Obama. And I know someone else who’s been inspired all over again by Senator Obama. In our family, he’s known as Uncle Teddy. More than any senator of his generation, or perhaps any generation, Teddy has made life better for people in this country and around the world.

For 46 years, he has been so much more than just a senator for the people of Massachusetts. He’s been a senator for all who believe in a dream that’s never died. If you’re no longer being denied a job because of your race, gender or disability, or if you’ve seen a rise in the minimum wage you’re being paid, Teddy is your senator too.

If your children are receiving health care thanks to the Children’s Health Insurance Program, if you see a nurse at a community health center or if you’re benefiting from the Medicare program that he fought to create, and that just last month he returned to the Senate to save, Teddy is your senator too. If your child is getting an early boost in life through Head Start, or attending a better school or can go to college because a Pell grant has made it more affordable, Teddy is your senator too. And if you’re an 18-year-old who’s going to vote for the first time—and I bet it’ll be for Barack Obama—Teddy is your senator too.

Not only has Teddy helped put the American dream within reach for so many families, he’s been a powerful force around the world for human rights and human dignity, for refugees and the dispossessed. He helped end apartheid in South Africa and bring peace to Northern Ireland. He’s been a leader on nuclear arms control. And he took a strong, early and courageous stand against the war in Iraq.

He is a man who always insists that America live up to her highest ideals, who always fights for what he knows is right and who is always there for others. I’ve seen it in my own life. No matter how busy he is, he never fails to find time for those in pain, those in grief or those who just need a hug. In our family, he has never missed a first communion, a graduation, or a chance to walk one of his nieces down the aisle.

He has a special relationship with each of us. And his 60 great nieces and nephews all know that the best cookies and the best laughs are always found at Uncle Teddy’s. Whether he is teaching us about sailing, about the Senate or about life, he has shown us how to chart our course, take the helm and sail against the wind. And this summer, as he faced yet another challenge, he and Vicki have taught us all about dignity, courage and the power of love.

In this campaign, Barack Obama has no greater champion. When he is president, he will have no stronger partner in the United States Senate. Now, it is my honor to introduce a tribute to Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

John E. Walsh, Chair, Massachusetts Democratic Party

"Having run as someone who would bring good business sense and good paying jobs to Massachusetts, in fact Massachusetts ranked 46th in job creation during his term, our employment conditions were behind national trends … 40,000 fewer people were working in Massachusetts when he left."

Though the fate of the Democratic race to the nomination remains uncertain, one thing is for sure: voters are turning out for the Democratic primaries in number that absolutely shatter previous records — which may be a troubling sign for Republicans looking ahead to the general election.

We may not have a nominee yet, but I'll tell you this, when you look at these numbers from the across the country, one thing is for certain: our Democratic nominee will be competitive anywhere.

STATE: MISSOURI
PREVIOUS RECORD: 528,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 778,000 (98% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +47%

STATE: ILLINOIS
PREVIOUS RECORD: 1,504,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 1,809,000 (91% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +20%

STATE: NEW YORK
PREVIOUS RECORD: 1,575,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 1,744,000 (99% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +11%

STATE: NEW JERSEY
PREVIOUS RECORD: 654,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 1,104,000 (99% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +69%

STATE: MASSACHUSETTS
PREVIOUS RECORD: 793,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 1,170,000 (98% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +48%

STATE: ARIZONA
PREVIOUS RECORD: 239,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 314,000 (67% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +31%

Here's a shocker: Gov. Mike Huckabee won his home state of Arkansas.

Gov. Mitt Romney was able to hold on to the state he, apparently, despised for the twenty-plus years he lived, raised his kids and governed there.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain won in Illinois, New Jersey, and Connecticut.]]> http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/02/more_polls_clos.php http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/02/more_polls_clos.php Blog Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:44:18 -0500