PRESS RELEASE
After Unprecedented Armtwisting,
House Passes Nazi Health Care
Nov. 9, 2009 (EIRNS)—The health care bill rammed through the House of Representatives on Nov. 7 is one more step towards the self-destruction of the Obama Presidency. This bill, which will have to be reconciled with the Senate bill, in one final text, once (if) it is passed, provides for cuts of $450 billion in Medicare, the public program that insures 41 million Americans over 65. Those giant cuts will especially affect expensive life-saving treatments. The House bill does not include the infamous Independent Medical Advisory Committee (IMAC) which is supposed to establish every year which treatments shall be denied and to whom. The IMAC, however, is contained in the Senate bill, and the White House will make sure that the final text incorporates the Senate version.
In order to ram through the vote, Speaker Nancy Pelosi forced Democratic members of the House to remain in Washington over the weekend, away from their constituents, many of whom had paid a visit to Washington two days before, to let it be known they did not want this bill. After intensive intimidation and arm-twisting, it went through with a very slim five-vote margin (220 to 215, with 39 Democrats voting against.) In a last minute compromise, Pelosi included a passage against funding abortions, which is likely to be taken out of the final bill in the House-Senate conference. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), a former Presidential candidate and one of the Democrats who voted against the bill, released a statement saying that the bill would strengthen the power of the for-profit health insurers—the HMOS—and thus worsen health care for all Americans.
The Obama Presidency and Congress refuse to listen to the citizens. The mass demonstration in Washington, D.C. Nov. 5 against the President's fascist health-care reform—which drew some 20,000 people, in response to a call issued a mere 5-6 days before—only underscores the reality of the mass strike process which underlies the recent electoral results. According to organizers on the scene, the predominant identification of those attending was "independent," and they were eagerly receptive to the strategic and economic solutions being put forward by the group of LaRouche organizers who were present. The American population is furious, and profoundly dismayed, about the deepening economic breakdown crisis, which is throwing people en masse out of their jobs and their homes.
In the wake of the House vote, the pressure is on the Senate, which had postponed action until January. Now Senate Majority leader Harry Reid promises to get the bill done by Christmas, even if it takes Saturday sessions. Given the mood of the American people, this is far from certain.
