Progress Illinois

Just because the House passed a health care reform package on Saturday night doesn't mean the "debate" about the bill's provisions is complete. First, the Senate has to pass its own version. Then both chambers will have to approve whatever legislation emerges from the conference committee. In other words, there's a lot of work yet to be done.

As such, Republican opponents are still on the attack.

On WTTW's Chicago Tonight this evening, Carol Marin will host a panel discussion on health care featuring GOP Rep. Peter Roskam and Democrat Jan Schakowsky. Roskam can be expected to take a number of predictable swipes at the House bill.  He may also treat viewers to his new argument that the individual mandate represents the "criminalization" of everyday citizens who don't want to buy publicly-funded insurance. Watch him whip out a pair of handcuffs during his floor statement on Saturday (via Hot Air):

So is Roskam correct in asserting that those who don't comply with the individual mandate can be subject to five years in prison and $250,ooo in fines?  In fact, that's a gross oversimplification.

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On multiple occasions this month, Fox Chicago has parroted conservative talking points about the health care bills circulating in Washington and their purported effect on Medicare. So it probably should come as no surprise that the station's anchors would fail to rebut such claims when put forward by their guests.

Still, it's irritating to watch this exchange between GOP Rep. Peter Roskam and Fox Chicago Sunday host Jack Conaty yesterday. In the first minute of his appearance, Roskam asserts that the House health care bill "goes after seniors" because it cuts "Medicare by $500 billion." Watch it:

Democrats have proposed reforms that will slow or eliminate some Medicare spending overtime. These include a number of measures, such as changes to the flawed physician payment system and the elimination of unnecessary subsides to the wasteful Medicare Advantage program. By ironing out inefficiencies, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that this policy change could achieve $500 billion in gross savings over ten years. That money would be plowed back into the system to expand care to those who lack coverage. But benefits for most seniors will not be cut be cut as a result. And for those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, the program that allows private providers to compete for Medicare patients, all they would lose would be extraneous add-ons like vision care or gym club memberships, not standard coverage. Conaty should have these facts at his fingertips.

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Back from his surprise trip to Honduras, in which he and a Republican delegation met with the nation's interim president President Roberto Micheletti (who assumed power through a military coup and has been subsequently condemned by the Obama administration and the European Union), Rep. Peter Roskam had some generous things to say about one of his travel partners, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina). Listen as he speaks admiringly of his congressional colleague on WLS’ Don Wade and Roma:

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ROSKAM: Senator DeMint is so grounded and wise and I came away just very, very impressed with him.

Is there a second Jim DeMint serving in Washington? Because if we're talking about the South Carolina arch-conservative, words like "grounded" and "wise" seem a tad inappropriate.

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This morning, U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk and fellow Republican Rep. Peter Roskam will hold a press conference in downtown Chicago that aims to directly tie SEIU Illinois (which sponsors this website) to the embattled Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).  In particular, they're pushing the U.S. Census Bureau to sever ties with SEIU because of the affiliation.  Here's an excerpt from Kirk and Roskam's press release:

One SEIU local union, the Illinois Homecare Workers and Home Childcare Providers, sprouted from ACORN's organizing efforts and pays rent to ACORN.  SEIU national president Andy Stern serves on ACORN’s advisory council.  According to his own Web site, ACORN Founder Wade Rathke is the “Founder and Chief Organizer” of SEIU Local 100.

In Illinois, SEIU Local 880 rents office space from the “Chicago Organizing and Support Center”, an ACORN affiliate, and both Local 880 and ACORN have offices at 209 W. Jackson Blvd in Chicago.

Putting aside the ridiculousness of the right wing's recent campaign against ACORN, Kirk and Roskam really should have done more research -- and perhaps watched less Glenn Beck. 

Just last week, CBS 2 Chicago investigated the relationship between SEIU and ACORN here in the Land of Lincoln.  Reporter Mike Flannery noted that the group known as ACORN Illinois actually "collapsed in 2007" after local leaders Denise Dixon and Madeline Talbott "complained that ACORN's then-national leader, Wade Rathke, put his brother in charge of finances, was concealing key money moves and was, in short, a scandal waiting to explode."  "We just felt things were not right at the top," Talbott told Flannery.  She and Dixon went on to start the organization Action Now.

Before going after ACORN, Kirk should have thoroughly researched his own voting record as well.  From Abdon Pallasch's Friday Sun-Times article:

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(See Alexi Giannoulias' response below the fold.)

As we noted last night, the U.S. House has officially approved -- by a wide margin --  H.R. 3548, a bill that would provide an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance to workers from 27 states (as well as the District of Colombia and Puerto Rico) where unemployment rates top 8.5 percent. For the 20,000 workers in Illinois who have already exhausted their benefits and the 50,000 more who will do so at the end of the year, the short-term assistance could help prevent financial collapse. The extension will also spur consumer spending, one major goal of the Obama administration's stimulus plan. "With the unemployment rate in Illinois at over 10 percent," Rep. Phil Hare said after the vote, "it makes perfect sense to continue to provide unemployment benefits so ordinary people can pay their bills and hold onto their homes."

Not according to two of Hare's Republican colleagues from Illinois. Rep. Peter Roskam was one of just 83 representatives to vote against the bill. Meanwhile, U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk -- along with Democratic Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Bobby Rush -- missed that vote and the two other roll calls taken yesterday evening.

In the past, Jackson and Rush have consistently supported extending unemployment benefits.  But how would Kirk voted if he had been in attendance?

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Looking for reactions on President Obama's health care address last night, WFLD's Good Day Chicago dialed up a pair of Illinois Congressman, Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Peter Roskam. Their responses are interesting in so much as they illustrate fairly well the current politics at play in Washington.

Jackson, who hasn't made many media appearances since his name was brought up in the Blagojevich indictment, praised the president for selling the American people on the importance of "more stability and security, on quality and affordable choices for all Americans, and reigning in the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government." When asked whether intra-party disputes about legislative details could thwart reform, he said lawmakers on the center-left need to join together and pass universal coverage now or risking losing their seats next year. Watch it (the relevant section begins at 1:30):

JACKSON: I certainly think that [the Democrats] do [have enough votes] and I certainly hope that they do or the 2010 election cycle is going to be very difficult. It's an off-presidential election year. Central to the Democratic Party’s platform for the last 40 or 50 years has been the idea of universal coverage for all Americans. And the idea that the President of the United States or this Congress under Democratic control would back away from covering all Americans would certainly be a form of suicide for the Democratic Party.

Roskam wasn't quite so excited by what he heard.

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Congress returns to Washington next week and elected officials are using their last days of the August recess to continue discussing health care reform with their constituents.  Tonight, we'll be attending Rep. Jan Schakowsky's town hall meeting in Niles and will have some coverage in the morning.

If you can't make it to the northern suburbs, be sure to tune into WLS Radio tomorrow night at 7pm for the station's Health Care Town Hall Meeting. Pat Cassidy will moderate a panel that includes congressmen Danny Davis (D) and Peter Roskam (R), Dr. Claudia Fegan of Physicans for National Health Care, and other health care experts and industry reps. The event will also be streamed live online. You can find all of the details here.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius created a firestorm among liberal pols and activists when she reiterated on Sunday that the White House, while supportive of the public option, does not view it as "the essential element” for health care reform. On the airwaves and in print, lefty commentators blasted the Obama administration for its newest hedge, including Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, who wrote that "we didn't elect Obama to be an expedient president." Meanwhile, 60 congressional progressives sent a letter again warning they would vote against any bill -- either the House version or the conference report -- that does not include a public option. Unlike the last letter, which was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi in late July, this version landed on Sebelius' desk and included three more signatories. And netroots activists are raising money to "reward" lawmakers who stand by their promise.

The main concern of House progressives like Rep. Jan Schakowsky is that any co-op model created by the conservative Senate Finance committee would be too small and fragmented to provide real competition to the insurance companies. At least 500,000 people would have to join the non-profit insurance pools, according to estimates from Sen. Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota), before they would be powerful enough to negotiate reasonable prices with health providers. As Ezra Klein wrote yesterday, "the co-op does not solve a policy problem so much as it solves a political problem." That problem, of course, is finding a compromise that public option critics -- those who don't believe a public insurer limit costs and provide access to high-quality care better than the profit-driven private system -- can support.

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As the national battle over health care reform enters a crucial stage and lawmakers make their case to voters during the August recess, we're going to be regularly tracking the latest health care news across Illinois. Here's our first update:

Schock's Misleading Memo

While Illinois Democrats were busy advocating for comprehensive health care yesterday, Illinois Republicans kept up their effort to stand in the way of such reform. This morning over his Twitter feed, Rep. Aaron Schock sent along a memo, prepared by Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-WI), providing (PDF) "key facts about the House Democrat health care bill for the 18th District of Illinois." But as you'll see, Cantor and Schock use the term facts rather loosely. Here's the first of many distortions in the two-page sheet:

Independent analysis by the Lewin Group shows that 2 out of every 3 people would lose their current coverage, including up to 114 million people who receive health benefits through their employer or other current coverage if a government-run plan “competes” with private companies.

The Lewin Group is hardly "independent." In fact, it's "wholly owned" by UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation's largest insurers. And the Congressional Budget Office released a preliminary analysis (PDF) of the House Democrats' so-called "tri-committee" bill last week and found that a net 3 million people will gain employer-based insurance under the Democratic plan.

But Schock and Cantor aren't done:

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Republicans in Illinois are looking for all sorts of ways to justify their vote against the cap-and-trade bill. Strangely, two congressman have settled on one of the least controversial and most effective sections: energy efficiency standards.

Earlier this month, Rep. Peter Roskam went on WLS Radio’ Don Wade & Roma and imagined a scenario in which a "bureaucrat out there with a pocket protector and half-glasses" could prevent someone from selling his or her home because it did not meet new criteria approved in the House climate bill." More recently, Rep. Don Manzullo painted a similar picture on KROC, suggesting that if state energy efficiency standards are federalized, "a bunch of guys who live in apartments, probably in Manhattan," would make the final decision on whether or not a home can go on the market." Listen here:

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MANZULLO: What this means is it’s a complete usurping of state and local zoning and building codes by this arbitrary federal code made up by a bunch of guys who live in apartments, probably in Manhattan ... and that’s how bad this bill is.

Let's review the underlying details again.

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