Ted Cruz HAS to make outlandish comments so he can stand out in the crowded clown car coming to a town near you in 2016! I noticed Ricky Santorum was on MEET THE PRESS on Sunday and when host David Gregory referred to him as a possible pres candidate in '16, Ricky didn't protest.
"I felt trapped between the two worlds in front of me," writes Justin Porter. One was Harvard and unlimited opportunity; the other was a home that needed him. Should he defer enrollment? Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times
A Classic High Achiever, Minus Money for a College Consultant
By JUSTIN PORTER Published: July 30, 2013
Travis Reginal and Justin Porter were friends back in Jackson, Miss. They attended William B. Murrah High School, which is 97 percent African-American and 67 percent low income. Murrah is no Ivy feeder. Low-income students rarely apply to the nation’s best colleges. But Mr. Porter just completed a first year at Harvard, Mr. Reginal at Yale. Below, Mr. Porter writes about his journey. Click here to read Mr. Reginal’s essay [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/a-first-generation-student-striving-to-inspire-black-youth.html (next below)].
JUST as the glossy brochure promised, from the moment I touched foot on the Harvard campus last fall, I was exposed to an exhilarating and illuminating new world.
I have discussed the rise of China with Larry Summers over a few slices of pizza, taken a genetics course taught by one of People magazine’s sexiest men alive (shoutout to Kevin Eggan), and sat in the front row as one of my favorite writers, Atul Gawande, gave an astonishing talk on the difference between coaching and teaching.
Still, my freshman year was probably one of the most troubling of my life.
I was born and raised 1,500 miles away, in a small apartment in Jackson, Miss. For my entire life, it has mainly been just my mother and me. I have a loving father, but he and my mother broke off their engagement shortly after my birth, and since he worked odd hours as a bus driver, I rarely saw him when I was growing up.
I am an only child, so my mother overpowered me with her love. For someone who sees so much beauty in the world, she worked awfully hard to protect me from it. Television, rap music, even basketball with the kids on the block were beyond consideration. It left me a bit resentful as a teenager, but I grew to appreciate her enormous sacrifices — walking me to the library every afternoon, laboring at multiple jobs to keep food on the table, telling me stories late into the night.
When I announced the summer before my senior year of high school that I had decided to apply to a school in New England, I noticed a hint of hesitation before a warm smile enveloped her face. I pretended not to see, but I was never able to forget it. I tried to articulate my reasons for wanting to leave — to prove I was smart enough, fear of taking the path of least resistance, the classic teenage feeling of being trapped — but the words just made me sound shallow and ungrateful.
Nonetheless, I began to buckle down on the college applications — an early one for Harvard and roughly a dozen others standing by. I knew the odds of getting into Harvard were not in my favor, and my high school couldn’t offer much because our senior counselor was responsible for hundreds of students. So I read tons of college preparation books. If there was one lesson I learned from them, it was that nothing kills a winning application faster than a trite “Allow me to tell you about the time I won the town race” essay. I wrote about the growing tension I noticed between the sciences and the humanities. And months in advance, I approached my incredible yet overworked teachers with a smile and recommendation requests, already placed in stamped envelopes.
You might consider me a classic overachiever, minus the money for a college consultant. I had taken every Advanced Placement class [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/a/advanced_placement_program/index.html ] I could fit into my schedule — 9 of the 12 Murrah [ http://murrah.jpsms.org/home ] offers. I had participated in science competitions at state and national levels. I had the requisite leadership roles: editor of my high school newspaper and president of its chapter of the National Honor Society. I had started a debate team with some of my closest friends, and spent my free time tutoring elementary and middle school children in mathematics and English.
I felt trapped between the two worlds in front of me. One held seemingly unlimited opportunity — full scholarship, career advancement, travel possibilities. But what would I sacrifice in exchange? My mother and I have never been on firm financial ground, and that was not going to magically change. It suddenly hit me why I was so troubled by her hesitant look: it was the same look she gave me the first time we were evicted from our home. What would happen to her if I left? When she was laid off from her job a few weeks later, my fears multiplied.
The guilt was invasive; beneath my smile, shame dominated my thoughts. I spent the last few weeks of my senior year worried sick — that if I left she would not have enough to eat, a safe place to live, loving company to listen to her stories. I decided to defer my acceptance.
She would hear nothing of it. “Your acceptance into Harvard is one of the shining accomplishments of my life,” she said, “and I’ll be damned if I see you give it away.”
I did not.
Earlier this year, I read an article about the failure of elite colleges to attract poor students: a Stanford study had found that only 34 percent of top students in the lowest income level had attended one of the country’s 238 most selective colleges.
I do not believe that increasing financial aid packages and creating glossy brochures alone will reverse this trend. The true forces that are keeping us away from elite colleges are cultural: the fear of entering an alien environment, the guilt of leaving loved ones alone to deal with increasing economic pressure, the impulse to work to support oneself and one’s family. I found myself distracted even while doing problem sets, questioning my role at this weird place. I began to think, “Who am I, anyway, to think I belong at Harvard, the alma mater of the Bushes, the Kennedys and the Romneys? Maybe I should have stayed in Mississippi where I belonged.”
Then there were the existential questions: why it all matters, the recurring evaluations of my dreams and underlying motivations (did I really want to be a doctor?), even considerations of the problematic socioeconomic structure I was trapped in. (Harvard students commonly spend the summer after freshman year traveling abroad. I passed up an internship in Greece. It was paid, but I didn’t think I could handle the travel costs.)
Over the course of this year, I have changed in ways I never anticipated. As I watch my peers — an eclectic collection of literary enthusiasts, science geniuses, musical virtuosos and mathematics prodigies — humbly strive for excellence in their respective fields, I feel inspired, slightly inadequate and hopeful for the future.
I think I know now why my mother let me go. Harvard has forced me to grow and take a candid look at the world, and at myself.
Suffice it to say, I would not trade the experience for anything.
"At Yale, I saw the wealth inequality face to face," writes Travis Reginal, the first in his family to attend college. Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times
A First-Generation Student Striving to Inspire Black Youth
By TRAVIS REGINAL Published: July 30, 2013
Travis Reginal and Justin Porter were friends back in Jackson, Miss. They attended William B. Murrah High School, which is 97 percent African-American and 67 percent low income. Murrah is no Ivy feeder. Low-income students rarely apply to the nation’s best colleges. But Mr. Reginal just completed a first year at Yale, Mr. Porter at Harvard. Below, Mr. Reginal writes about his journey. Click here to read Mr. Porter’s essay [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/a-classic-high-achiever-minus-money-for-a-college-consultant.html (above)].
CONAN O’BRIEN might have been previewing my freshman year at Yale when he said: “There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized.”
It was early May, the day before the end of the year. Finals-week hysteria was over. Yet an unshakable anxiety pressed on my chest. I told a friend about my struggle and she said, with the wisdom women seem to always possess, that it must be about going home.
I didn’t understand at first. I was excited about summer break after a hard year of schoolwork. Then I got it. I felt I had done the one thing I feared most: let people down. My grade-point average was not the worst, but I was not proud of it. As the first generation in my family to attend college, the margin of error is small. My family is “low income,” and I am supposed to go to college and excel to provide a better life for everyone back home. And the community back home is desperate for healing.
My mother was 15 when I was born. My parents were naïve, reckless and, in my father’s case, overwhelmed. So I was raised in a single-parent home. No one is surprised to hear that, unfortunately. That’s the norm in many African-American communities; in Jackson, more than half the households with children under 18 are single-parent.
Thanks to my mother, who highly values education, I found a productive substitute, burying myself in studying and reading. In 10th grade, I joined a new speech and debate club at Murrah High School [ http://murrah.jpsms.org/home ], started by a classmate named Justin Porter (now at Harvard). In him, I found what I had long hoped for — a black male who could push me intellectually. The work we did gave me a depth of analytical skills, perhaps my greatest preparation for college. I also found release in writing poems. In my admissions essay, I gave the reader a glance over my shoulder — at “the process of emptying my soul” — as I composed one.
Postsecondary administrators and pundits wonder why smart students from low-income families are not applying to top institutions. For one, said students may not know what is required to apply to an Ivy League [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/ivy_league/index.html ] school. Had I not done my own research, I would not have known I had to take SAT subject tests. Also, it was important that the schools let me know I had a chance of getting in.
I knew I had a great shot at an Ivy League school after being selected by Dartmouth for a free visit to campus the summer before senior year. Yale, too, reached out — based on my “outstanding achievements” — and sent a letter saying they thought I could thrive at their school and should apply. And so I did. I applied early action but was deferred. When I finally viewed the e-mail congratulating me on my acceptance, it was a glorious moment, but it was bittersweet. The number of black students in the Ivy League is nothing remarkable, and we continue to be outnumbered by other minority groups. Most Murrah students were going to local state schools, and there were those who did not continue their education at all.
For low-income African-American youth, the issue is rooted in low expectations. There appear to be two extremes: just getting by or being the rare gifted student [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/gifted_students/index.html ]. Most don’t know what success looks like. Being at Yale has raised my awareness of the soft bigotry of elementary and high school teachers and administrators who expect no progress in their students. At Yale, the quality of your work must increase over the course of the term or your grade will decrease. It propelled me to work harder.
More than one of every eight Yale students will be the first in their families to graduate from a four-year college, according to the Yale admissions Web site. At Bulldog Days [ http://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/bulldog-days ], a weekend for admitted students that Yale paid for me to attend, people talked about resources for first-generation students. But during the school year I had no clue where those resources were. I was lost navigating courses, and took classes I thought I could cope with but were not the best for the skills I wanted. As a black student I felt I had something to prove, and stubbornly didn’t seek help. It was foolish: I finished quantitative reasoning in the middle of the class instead of the top.
I also opted for courses that had the least expensive books, because I had to cover them myself. At Yale, I saw the wealth inequality face to face. Though I was on a full scholarship, a surprise bill arrived from the financial aid office stating I owed almost $1,000 for the university health plan. I was under the impression it was free — no one had discussed prices at the numerous meetings for freshmen. Very few times in my life have I panicked more: $1,000 is nothing to many students, but it would place a tremendous burden on my mother. Fortunately, I was able to cancel the plan before the deadline. Whew!
I have had awkward conversations at Yale, including one with writing tutors who assumed I didn’t know what a subordinate clause was. Some students were amazed I made it to Yale given my circumstances. Adults would ask how I was adjusting to a culture so different from what I was “used to.” But I think students of other races have more of an adjustment in interacting with me. Considering the negative images painted of black men, I am constantly thinking of my race and how others view me.
I am spending the summer in Louisville, Ky., in the Portland community, which outsiders consider the ghetto. I am working with Neighborhood House [ http://www.nhky.org/new/ ], a nonprofit organization whose mission is to break the cycle of poverty and prepare students to be college ready. My job as a youth leader is to unbury and showcase to them the talents they possess.
The anxiety has not gone away. I do not feel like the accomplished person everyone thinks I am. But I hope to inspire African-American youth to pave a path to success, regardless of the college they go to or the trade skills they acquire. I know from my personal story that many young people living in at-risk neighborhoods have large imaginations, passionate hearts and deep desires to transcend their community.
*
MotherFather: A Poem by Travis Reginal
Published: July 30, 2013
I wake up at 3 in the morning with a pile of work I haven’t touched and deadlines that stand as daunting as skyscrapers and I think about you mother.
I’m reminded of how at the end of each conversation there’s this awkward pause
Where neither one of us can find the strength to say I love you.
It’s not that I don’t, but rather the only way I could express the way I feel
Is if I were to place my beating heart in your palms.
I remember being in the airport at the beginning of my freshman year in college,
Suitcase full of insecurities and doubts,
With a pocket full of literary tricks up my sleeve,
And a penchant for smiling my way through everything.
But that day gratitude didn’t have enough room in my chest.
Nothing could stop the levies in my eyes from breaking.
Tears that resembled waterfalls
Spelled your name on my cheeks and stained my plane tickets.
No, this feeling has to be more than love.
Because words will never be enough
To describe a woman whose laugh is like the first meal in a while for a starving child.
Mom, you don’t give yourself enough credit. You were 15, with a lifetime of dreams
Tucked away in that precious head of yours,
Until some smooth-talking guy
Whispered empty promises,
Took your dreams away as if he was doing you a favor,
And gave you a child as a parting gift.
Dad, if I would’ve known that moment was the closest you would ever be to me and my mother I would have forgiven you at conception.
But little did I know, you had aborted me in your mind.
And little did I know, that no matter how hard I tried or how far I hid myself in another reality as a child,
That eventually you would cross my mind again.
Every time I see another boy playing with his father,
Every time I shave and realize that it shouldn’t take this long,
Or every time my tie is slightly off-center because I watched that how-to-tie-a-tie video
Too many damn times for my liking and I didn’t have anyone to show me how.
It’s a sad day indeed, when you have to Google search how to be a man.
I tried to make myself visible, make it impossible for you to ignore me
Do whatever it took to make a headline somewhere.
I made sure I’d work to be the top of my class in the hope you’d hear my graduation speech broadcast across TV
Like I even ran track because I heard you were pretty fast in high school
And if I won something, that would give us something in common
Besides our first names.
But mother, I don’t want this to be another sob story.
I want you to remember that we lived every
God-given moment to the fullest with what we had.
We left permanent footprints on shores
Where everything else was washed away.
I don’t see life as a struggle
Just as an opportunity to show what we’re made of.
So let’s take memories past and write them on the face of giants so the world can see.
Mother I will toast to your heartbeat,
That I hear in my dreams at night.
It’s a rhythm of hope and vitality that I never want to stop moving to.
Republican National Committee To CNN, NBC: Cancel Hillary Clinton Programming 08/05/2013 WASHINGTON -- The Republican National Committee on Monday threatened not to partner with NBC and CNN for the 2016 GOP primary debates if the networks don't cancel their plans to air documentaries on Hillary Clinton. "It's appalling to know executives at major networks like NBC and CNN who have donated to Democrats and Hillary Clinton have taken it upon themselves to be Hillary Clinton's campaign operatives," RNC chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. "Their actions to promote Secretary Clinton are disturbing and disappointing." Priebus added that if the networks do not agree to pull their programming prior to the start of the RNC's Summer Meeting on Aug. 14, he will "seek a binding vote stating that the RNC will neither partner with these networks in 2016 primary debates nor sanction primary debates they sponsor." [...] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/rnc-hillary-clinton_n_3708062.html [with embedded video report, and (approaching 11,000) comments]
--
Kathleen Sebelius Criticizes 'Dismal' Conservative Effort Urging Young People Not To Enroll In Obamacare 08/05/2013 WASHINGTON -- As the Obama administration ramps up its efforts to educate the public about enrolling in Obamacare, conservative groups are waging a campaign of their own, urging people not to sign up. FreedomWorks has made mock Obamacare "draft cards" [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/04/so-youve-burned-your-obamacare-draft-card/ ] (no such card really exists), telling young people to burn them and pledge not to purchase health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. A conservative radio host has launched a "Refuse to Enroll" [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/29/1227464/-New-anti-Obamacare-campaign-Health-insurance-is-bad ] campaign, with the intent of making it "difficult for the law to function as its proponents want it to." In a call with reporters on Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius dismissed the conservative counter-campaign, saying it is unfortunate and would ultimately hurt young people. "I don't think we're going to spend a lot of time and effort trying to estimate who they may discourage from getting health insurance to provide security for themselves and their family," Sebelius said in response to a question about the effect these efforts will have on enrollment. "I think it's a pretty dismal effort underway." "They're an accident or a diagnosis away from what could potentially be a lifetime of bankruptcy and maybe getting life-saving care and benefits," she added. "We're going to just do our best in outreach to this group. We know that a lot of young adults don't have health insurance as their top priority, so reaching that group is challenging, because they're thinking about a lot of other things." Americans will be able enroll in health care plans for 2014 from Oct. 1 to March 31, under the marketplaces created by Obamacare. While there will be other enrollment periods for special cases, young people who have a change of heart after taking FreedomWorks' pledge and suddenly need insurance after March 31 will not qualify [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/04/so-youve-burned-your-obamacare-draft-card/ ]. [...] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/kathleen-sebelius-obamacare_n_3708198.html [with (over 6,500) comments]
National Rifle Association Enemies List Now Includes Scientists, Zoos
By Christina Wilkie Posted: 08/05/2013 2:25 pm EDT | Updated: 08/06/2013 12:58 am EDT
WASHINGTON -- In a move bizarrely reminiscent of its "anti-gun" enemies list [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/nra-anti-gun-policies-list_n_2600096.html ], the National Rifle Association announced a new plan Friday to target scientists, environmental groups, government regulators and individuals who favor banning the use of lead in gun ammunition.
The targeted attacks are part of Hunt for Truth.org [ http://www.huntfortruth.org/ ], a newly revamped effort by the nation's largest gun lobby to block attempts to regulate the use of lead in bullets. Regulations have been proposed in some states after studies have shown that millions of birds -- most notably the highly endangered California condor -- are dying of lead poisoning after ingesting lead bullet fragments.
The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, estimates [ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/ ] that hunters in the United States shoot more than 3,000 tons of lead into the outdoors every year, and that as many as 20 million birds die annually from lead poisoning.
To the NRA, however, the proposed bans on lead in bullets represent an "assault" on "traditional" hunting and on hunters' rights.
"Anti-lead ammunition groups will not rest until all lead ammunition, and ultimately hunting, is banned," the gun lobby claimed in a Friday press release.
The NRA singled out a law under consideration in California which would require hunters in the Golden State to use lead-free ammunition. Lead free bullets are widely available [ http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/condor/certifiedammo.html ] from top manufacturers, and have not been shown to function any differently than bullets containing the highly toxic element.
In order to rally its members to oppose the lead regulation, the NRA described a conspiracy theory involving crooked scientists, phony research, and a shadowy network of nonprofits, zoos and government agencies all conspiring to ban hunting.
According to the NRA, an "activist portion of the scientific community" has formed "a highly organized network of like minded researchers with an agenda to ban lead ammunition." In order to thwart this looming threat, "Hunt for Truth will expose the researchers associated with 'faulty science' critical of lead ammunition," the gun lobby says [ http://www.huntfortruth.org/players/researchers/ ].
Scientists aren't the NRA's only new targets. Nonprofits like the San Diego Zoo and the California Condor Recovery Team are also on the enemies list. The NRA claims these groups "have considerable influence over many legislators and regulators," which they use to "capture" the regulatory agencies and bureaucrats responsible for lead ammunition restrictions.
"Under this capture theory, NGO’s, legislators, regulatory agencies and researchers work in concert to implement policies and regulations to ban traditional ammunition," the NRA alleges.
As of Monday, the NRA had yet to list any scientists it planned to target, but there were seven environmental and wildlife conservation groups on the site, including the National Resources Defense Council and the Center for Biological Diversity. Four government agencies were also singled out: the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the California Department of Fish and Game, the Los Angeles Zoo and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
A spokesman for the NRA declined to comment on the listings.
OPINION: Cruz's irresponsible plan to defund Obamacare
By admin 11/08/2013 08:50:00
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT)
Ted Cruz won his seat in the U.S. Senate vowing to repeal "every syllable of every word" of the Affordable Care Act.
With Democrats in control of the Senate and President Barack Obama in the White House, the health care law isn't headed for the legislative trash can. Repeal is not a realistic option. So now Cruz wants to defund the law, even if defunding it results in a government shutdown.
It's a petulant, irresponsible plan.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah pitched the idea to try to fiscally neuter Obamacare. A continuing budget resolution expires Sept. 30. Lee wants members to Congress to pledge to vote against any new continuing resolution that includes money for the health care law. Cruz backs the idea and eagerly became the primary spokesman trying to sell it.
Cruz has said that "under ordinary Washington rules" he and his colleagues can't prevent Obamacare from taking effect. Yet Cruz is counting on Washington rules to defund the law.
Specifically, he is counting on the Senate's obstructionist filibuster rules that render majority support for legislation meaningless unless at least 60 senators agree to end "debate" on a bill to bring it up for a vote. Cruz says he needs to rally 41 Republican senators to the cause to prevent a vote on any continuing resolution containing money for Obamacare. He's been traveling the country to put pressure on "scared Republicans" who have refused to join the defunding effort.
The defunding effort runs the risk of shutting down the federal government, which would harm the country. Republicans are right to worry the public will blame them for the turmoil a government shutdown would create. Republicans paid dearly when House Speaker Newt Gingrich's budget tantrum in 1995 led to a government shutdown. The move weakened Republicans and strengthened a reeling President Bill Clinton, who won re-election the next year.
Republicans in and out of Congress are no fans of Obamacare, but many of them have been speaking against shutting down the government to defund it. Mitt Romney's done so, as have Karl Rove, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer and U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, who called the plan "the dumbest idea I've ever heard." Romney's running mate in last year's presidential election, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, who chairs the House budget committee, dared to point out the inconvenient fact that Obamacare can't be defunded since virtually all of the money that supports it isn't covered by continuing resolutions.
A key component of the health care law takes effect soon. Gov. Rick Perry and other state leaders refused to set up a health insurance marketplace in Texas as outlined by the law, so the federal government is putting one together for the state instead. The marketplace, or exchange, is where Texans looking to buy insurance can compare plans and enroll in one. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was in Austin last week to update local and health industry officials on the exchange's status, which is scheduled to be up and running Oct. 1, with coverage set to begin Jan. 1.
There is much about the Affordable Care Act to be concerned about, and it is far from perfect. Like any new, complicated law, it will need significant adjustments over the years.
We expect confusion and problems as the law takes full effect. The 2006 implementation of Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit passed in 2004 by a Republican Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, went badly, but tweaks were made and the program has become a popular one.
One difference between now and 2006 is Democrats, though unhappy with many of Medicare Part D's provisions and the way Republicans rammed it through Congress, worked with Republicans to make the program run more smoothly rather than constantly working to subvert it. Indeed, a part of the Affordable Care Act that took effect in 2010 helped 4 million seniors cover a gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage.
Most Americans like the parts of the health care law already in effect. Among the syllables Cruz swore to repeal were rules preventing health insurance companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions or prohibiting insurance companies from canceling coverage when a policyholder gets sick.
The Affordable Care Act, for better or worse, probably is here to stay. We suspect Cruz knows this, and knowing this, he could try to change the law in ways he finds more palatable. But that would require building congressional coalitions and persuading colleagues to vote his way. It would require governing. Instead he chooses to grandstand.
___
(c)2013 Austin American-Statesman, Texas Distributed by MCT Information Services
In Dramatic Reversal, Michigan Senate Passes Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion
Dylan Scott August 27, 2013, 8:15 PM 5308
The Michigan Senate voted Tuesday to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, extending health coverage to more than 400,000 low-income residents, but not without a little legislative drama first.
The GOP-controlled chamber approved the bill by a 20-18 vote at about 8 p.m. Tuesday after being in session for more than eight hours, much of it spent in caucus debating how to get the expansion passed. Eight Republicans finally joined 12 Democrats to pass the bill.
The House, which had already passed an expansion bill, will soon take a concurring vote, and Gov. Rick Snyder’s office confirmed to TPM that the governor would sign the legislation when it reaches his desk.
Before the bill ultimately passed, the legislation was stuck in parliamentarian limbo for more than two hours.
The bill needed 20 votes out of the 38-member Senate to pass. On its first vote at about 5:30 p.m., it received 19 yea votes and 18 nay votes in a floor vote, but Republican Sen. Patrick Colbeck, who is vehemently opposed to expansion, abstained from voting. If he had cast a nay vote, leaving a 19-19 tie, then Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Calley could have cast the tiebreaking vote to pass the bill, as Calley has pledged to do.
But because Colbeck didn’t vote, the bill failed when it didn’t reach the 20-vote threshold. The Senate then immediately voted 21-17 to reconsider the vote and went into recess so the party caucuses could meet. It took more than two hours before the Senate reconvened and finally passed the bill.
Sen. Tom Casperson, a Republican, switched his vote after securing an amendment that reformed hospital payments for uncompensated care for the uninsured. According to tweets from local reporters, Casperson had been expected to vote for the expansion initially, but unexpectedly voted nay on the first floor vote. His yay on the second floor vote made Calley’s tiebreaking vote unnecessary.
The Senate also rejected two alternative proposals that would have relied on state-only funding to expand health coverage.
Michigan joins a handful of other red states that have signed onto this key piece of Obamacare, which grants Medicaid eligibility to people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Arizona and North Dakota are two other uniformly Republican states that agreed to the expansion; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also endorsed an expansion proposal from his Democratic-controlled state legislature.
As TPM reported last week .. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/08/more-republican-states-could-agree-to-obamacare-medicaid-expansion.php , several key red states — of which Michigan was one — are still debating the Medicaid expansion. Proposals in Ohio and Virginia are very much alive and could be approved before Jan. 1, 2014, when the expansion goes into effect. There is a substantial impetus for those states to get expansion passed as soon as possible: the ACA requires the federal government to cover 100 percent of the costs from 2014 to 2016.
But because more than 20 Republican-controlled states rejected the expansion, made optional by the U.S. Supreme Court in its Obamacare ruling, up to three million fewer people are expected to be covered under the law, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
It wasn’t an easy path to passage in Michigan, despite Snyder’s enthusiastic endorsement. The Senate had rejected the House’s expansion bill earlier this summer, and Senate GOP leaders were forced to break their own version of the “Hastert Rule” — which usually requires a majority of the majority caucus to approve a bill for it to reach the chamber floor — to get the expansion passed.
Fla. Gov. Rick Scott, a former health care company executive who won office by attacking the health law and calling for deep cuts to state spending, later endorsed the health law and signed one of the largest budgets in state history, complete with pay raises for teachers. Similarly, Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, and Rick Snyder, R-Mich., are battling their GOP-dominated legislatures to expand Medicaid, a big part of the health law.
[...]
The movement's top strategists acknowledge the tea party is quieter today, by design. It has matured, they said, from a protest movement to a political movement. Large-scale rallies have given way to strategic letter-writing and phone-banking campaigns to push or oppose legislative agendas in Washington and state capitals. In Michigan and Ohio, for example, leaders have battled the implementation of the president's health law and the adoption of "Common Core" state school standards. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/04/tea-party-gop-rift_n_3703351.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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