Word: reformations
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...likely to be an ugly summer of sausage-grinding in Washington. Obama's two biggest domestic-policy proposals - health-care reform and alternative energy - will be pulverized and reshaped by the Senate. The end products may be unsightly and counterproductive, if passed. A third initiative - a relatively modest regulatory reform of the financial system - is being chewed to dust by the termite lobbyists of the banking industry. A fourth initiative - the effort to buy off the banking system's "toxic" assets - is languishing, near comatose, because of the bankers' intransigence. (See who's who in Obama's White House...
...fact is, Obama may be blowing a major opportunity for reform with his domestic-policy diffidence. He came to office faced with an unprecedented economic crisis, and he focused on it successfully during his first 100 days, giving two excellent speeches about the need for a stimulus plan and general economic reform. He has lost that focus as his other initiatives have come online; he has failed to speak with precision or clarity about the bills wandering through Congress. He has failed to make clear what needs to be in those bills - and what...
...past 30 years have created a crimped, big-C Conservative playing field when it comes to public policy. Congress cringes at the hard stuff, especially anything that can be labeled a tax or a regulation. To make things more difficult, the public doesn't consider health or energy reform as crucial as the President (rightly) does. Most people are happy with their health insurance, although they're worried about losing it. And they are not clear about the sacrifices necessary to address climate change - or the national-security issues raised by our dependence on oil provided by some...
...health-care-reform package produced by Congress will be landmark," the Democratic lawmakers wrote, "and with legislation as important as this, abortion must be addressed clearly in the bill text." Pelosi's office is negotiating with the lawmakers to find some way to accommodate their concerns, but thus far, they haven't found...
Abortion-rights advocacy groups are pushing back. On July 6, the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) released a poll of 1,000 likely voters conducted by the Mellman Group indicating that 71% favor including reproductive services such as birth control and abortion as part of health reform. The poll also found that 75% believe an independent commission should determine what medical services are covered among the basic benefits offered under health reform. (Congress is also considering giving that power to the Health and Human Services Secretary.) Said NWLC vice president Judy Waxman: "Congress should refrain from practicing medicine...