Word: reformer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Others point out, however, that the rest of the country may not feel the urgency that Florida, given its 2000 experience, feels with regard to election reform. Critics also politely suggest that Florida, considering its reputation for election mishaps, may not exactly be the model to follow in these things. But Floridians will just as readily suggest that their struggle to get it right makes them experts of sorts. Either way, whether or not the Nelson-Whitehouse bill passes, it looks as though Florida is leading the way back to the paper...
...Peterson achieve this consensus? By buying off the reform factions. California Representative Dennis Cardoza and the fruit-and-vegetable lobby agreed to support the bill once Peterson threw $1.6 billion at specialty crops. He added $4.7 billion for nutrition, $4.5 billion for conservation and $100 million for black farmers, which brought progressives, sportsmen and the Congressional Black Caucus into the fold. Even the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition dropped its opposition for scraps: $5 million for organic research, $22 million for organic certification and $30 million to help farmers sell value-added products. "The programs that really benefit small farmers are tiny...
...official story of how health-care reform was conceived in Massachusetts could hardly have been less inspiring--or promising. In the earliest days after Mitt Romney's election in 2002, goes the tale, the new Governor of Massachusetts sat down in his office with his old friend Tom Stemberg, founder of the Staples office-supply chain. "There are lots of things you can do to make this state better," Stemberg told him. "But if you really want to make a difference in the long term, you should fix the health-care system." Romney did not exactly jump at the prospect...
...couldn't pay for it. But with a third of the state budget going toward health care, the sheer inefficiency of treating the sore throats of the uninsured in emergency rooms didn't sit well with the businessman in Romney even after he'd told Stemberg that health-care reform was not on his agenda. Meanwhile, religious groups and health-care advocates were pushing their solution: a liberal universal-health-care ballot initiative that would raise taxes. And the picture was about to get significantly worse: Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson was threatening to take away $385?...
...they desperately needed to persuade HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson to allow Massachusetts to keep the $385 million in Medicaid funds that Washington was threatening to take away. The money would also give them leverage back home with health-care providers and businesses, two powerful constituencies and potential opponents of reform...