Progress Illinois

The latest news from the health care reform battle -- both in D.C. and here on the homefront.

A Final Bill By Christmas?

Now that health care legislation has passed out of the five relevant committees on Capitol Hill, health care advocates are starting to wonder when both chambers of Congress will take up the bills in earnest. While House leaders are moving quickly, Illinois' own Dick Durbin says that progress might be slower in the Senate. The Hill has a quick story up today outlining the reasons for the possible delay:

Even while House leaders pressed forward for a vote on a House version this week, [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid and Durbin said their hands are tied until the CBO releases its cost estimate of the Senate bill. Then the document would be published online for public review, possibly revised and re-analyzed by the CBO, and then several weeks would be needed for House-Senate conference talks.

Despite months-old predictions of a bill before Christmas, with only six weeks of legislative time remaining in the year Durbin acknowledged a healthcare bill in 2009 “is certainly a challenge.”

Will Sen. Roland Burris join Durbin and vote in favor of health care reform when he's eventually presented with the final bill? In the past few weeks, Illinois' junior senator has received heaps of media attention for his principled stance in favor of a robust public option. But the vast majority of those media outlets have failed to ask him the most relevant question: Does he intend to filibuster a bill lacking a public option or just vote against its final passage. All indications are that he would stand with his party and approve cloture, undercutting the severity of his threat:

"It's certainly going to be tough, in terms of getting this done," [Burris] told WGN-TV. "I've let it be known unequivocally that I would not support any legislation -- now they may get the 60 votes to pass it. I'm not going to be an obstructionist. I'm not here for some ego trip. I'm here to speak out for the people who have spoken to me."

Unfortunately, Sen. Joe Lieberman's threat seems very real. Yesterday, Reid's office denied reports that the lawmakers agreed in private to vote for cloture on health care. If no Republicans cross the aisle, the Democrats will need Lieberman's support to break a filibuster, a obstructionist tactic he has previously called "unfair."

Abortion Funding

While the Senate moves forward cautiously, the House is barreling ahead, preparing to vote on a final bill Saturday at about 6 p.m ET.

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Now that the Senate has overcome a procedural hump and voted by a wide margin in favor of cloture on H.R. 3548, an extension of federal unemployment insurance, Democratic Senators are laying into their Republican counterparts for the multiple delays they caused over the past few weeks. On the Senate floor today, Sen. Dick Durbin listed off the unemployment rate in the states represented by the 13 lawmakers who voted against the measure last night. "This Republican obstruction," he said, "when it comes to something this basic, is fundamentally unfair." Watch it:

The Washington Independent's Mike Lillis has a succinct primer on where the bill goes from here:

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Hoping to add some urgency to the debate in Washington, Rep. Luis Gutierrez recently said he will introduce a comprehensive immigration reform package as early as next month. But Sen. Dick Durbin isn't as optimistic that Congress will approve such a measure in 2009. "We won't do it this year, I don't want to mislead you," he told the crowd assembled for DePaul University's Perspectiveson Immigration conference this afternoon. "We have too much to do with health care reform and so many other things. But Sen. Charles Schumer of New York ... has promised that the bill will come forward next year." And Durbin's DREAM ACT, which would grant undocumented youth conditional permanent residency if they meet a set of education or military service criteria, will be central to that effort. "[W]e can do this," Durbin added. "And I know we can do it in the right way."

Watch this clip of the Senate Majority Whip's remarks, in which he describes his inspiration for the DREAM ACT, emphasizes the importance of a fair and equitable immigration system, and expresses his hope that it will be passed "in the first part of next year":

As we've repeatedly highlighted in the past week, Republicans in the Senate have been holding up efforts to extend federal unemployment benefits, attributing the delays to an internal debate over how best to fund an extension. But it turns out that the mysterious yet-to-be-released amendments that they've purportedly been working on are anything but a good-faith effort to pass H.R. 3548, which would extend an additional 14 weeks of unemployment insurance to the 1.3 million Americans who are on pace to exhaust their benefits by year's end. The Washington Independent reports:

Republicans are hoping to attach a number of amendments related to ACORN and immigration — provisions that have delayed floor action on the UI bill indefinitely, according to the offices of both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

The Republican amendments include at least two provisions related to ACORN; one related to the E-Verify program; one to pay for the UI benefits with unspent stimulus money; and one providing tax relief.

At a press conference yesterday morning, a group of Senate Democrats blasted the GOP's shameless politicking at a time when jobless Americans are growing increasingly desperate for financial security.  (Download the full transcript of the presser here.)  "I would say tothe Republicans, it's time to wake up to reality," Illinois' own Sen. Dick Durbin added from the Senate floor. "We're going to stand up for these people who have become victims of this recession. Or we're going to see more people show up to the breadlines, show up at the soup kitchens, show up at the homeless shelters."  He concluded: "It's time for us to pass these benefits now.  And the Republicans had better step aside."

It was a great speech.  Watch it in full:

A few transcribed excerpts:

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Big banks have been doling out wads of cash and stepping up political pressure on Capitol Hill in an effort to kill a package of new consumer protections. But following the latest surge in profits, along with a series of decisions to hand out historic bonuses at a time when consumers are being saddled with exorbitant fees and arbitrary rate hikes, they are losing sympathy in Washington. Even Illinois' own Rep. Melissa Bean, who agreed to introduce an amendment that would weaken the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) as the lead negotiator for the "New Democrats," appears to be taking the side of the consumers advocates who've been giving her an earful lately. The Washington Post has the details:

Large banks are on the verge of losing a key legislative battle over the shape of financial reform, an unusual setback that reflects the continued political backlash over their role in creating the financial crisis [...]

The debate came to a head last week. Bean's group said it would propose an amendment to retain the current [preemption] law. Liberals warned that if the amendment drew enough Republican support to pass, they would oppose the broader legislation to create the new agency. House leaders and the White House pressured Bean and the moderates to fall in line.

Despite tremendous pressure from the banking industry, Bean ultimately agreed.

We put out a call to Bean's office and her spokesman said only that "it's unclear" what will transpire in the House Financial Service Committee tomorrow. However, The Hill reports that Bean plans to introduce her amendment then withdraw it with the understanding that the issue will be discussed if and when the measure makes it to the House floor. The Woodstock Institute's Tom Feltner tells us that the latest developments are a step in the right direction but the battle over consumer protection is far from over.

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Republicans in the Senate have consistently said that they do not intend to defeat an unemployment extension this fall. Instead, they just want the Democratic leadership to consider some amendments they've drafted about the bills' funding mechanism. But if really want to provide more assistance to the nation's jobless, they don't seem urgent to get it done.

In an interview with the New York Times' Carl Huse today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said that his caucus is "getting ready to clear the way" for H.R. 3548, but he offered no exact details about when that might occur. Same goes for Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire), the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, who told the AP that procedural differences will be ironed out soon without providing any specific timeline.

With thousands exhausting their benefits daily, Sen. Dick Durbin continues to insist that action needs to be taken quickly. On WLS' Connected to Chicago with Bill Cameron yesterday, the Majority Whip explained why the extra insurance is so crucial in this economic climate (You can listen to the entire interview here):

Internal mp3

Looking for a way to get involved? A reader passed along this petition he created in support of the legislation. Follow the link above to sign it.

While the number of Americans filing first-time claims forunemployment benefits dipped last week to the lowest level in ninemonths, hiring is still very sluggish.The Federal Reserve thinks that the nation's recovery is still"restrained" and national unemployment could hover above 9 percentthrough 2010.

Until employers start to expand their payrolls, millions ofAmericans will remain reliant on unemployment insurance, benefits whichSenate Democrats are trying to extend this week. But Republicans keep mucking up the process, introducing semi-related amendments and calling for more debate about the bill's (H.R. 3548) funding source. As a result, workers who exhausted their benefits in September, including an estimated 20,000 in Illinois, may have to wait weeks for additional income.

Sen. Dick Durbin is not pleased with this development. On the Senatefloor last night, the majority whip scolded the GOP for effectivelyblocking the bill. "They want to drag it out," he said. "They have nosensitivity to these people who lost their job or are struggling tokeep their families together under the most difficult circumstances."Watch it:

UPDATE (1:15 p.m.): Here's some more video of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) on the Senate floor today emphasizing the need to extend jobless benefits: 

While the souring economy has left many industries struggling, that's just not the case for private education lenders and textbook publishers.  The desolate job market has spurred an ongoing spike in college enrollment and -- with tuition and fees rising twice as fast as inflation -- banks have generated enormous earnings by lending to strapped students. At the same time, publishers have jacked up the cost of textbooks, which now rival the tab for a semester of community college. As we've pointed out repeatedly, Congress' history of putting bankers before students coupled with Illinois officials' recent cuts to state-subsidized financial aid has left a growing number of students buried under a heap of debt. Over the weekend, the Peoria Journal-Star's editorial board identified these disturbing trends in higher education and wondered if "Illinois colleges are to be for the privileged only."

A few members of Illinois' congressional delegation are trying to ensure that's not the case. Regular readers know that this year is shaping up as one with historic potential for reform. Just last month, the House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3221), which would free up $87 billion over the next decade by pulling the plug on the Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) program that has allowed bankers to siphon away federal education money at the expense of students. The measure would in turn use that money to raise Pell grants to $6,900 from $5,350 and guarantee their future funding.  On a swing through Northern Illinois University on Monday, Rep. Bill Foster urged Illinois' college students to push back against lenders who are fighting the reforms in the Senate. If the bill passes, it will amount to the largest increase in student aid in the nation's history. More from the Northwest Herald:

“You need to get involved, and call your senators,” Foster told a crowd of students gathered in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center. “This issue is too important to let sit.”

Foster is also joining Sen. Dick Durbin in his ongoing effort to drive down the cost of college textbooks.

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The Obama administration's Making Home Affordable loan modification program has stumbled out of the gate. Through July, only 160,000 homes went into trial modifications, according to the Government Accountability Office. (The Obama administration pegged the number a bit higher at 235,250, but the number of successful modifications is undoubtedly lower than that.) Meanwhile, foreclosures keep stacking up. In Illinois alone, 13,000 homeowners received a foreclosure notice last month. And the economic devastation is focused in communities least able to recover. A new paper by the Woodstock Institute found that vacant, lender-owned properties "are concentrated in African American communities, go unsold longer, and incur greater losses to the lender." Clearly, more action is required to protect vulnerable homeowners and the communities in which they live.

Enter Sen. Dick Durbin and three of his Senate colleagues. Yesterday, they introduced a bill titled the "Preserving Homes and Communities Act of 2009" that would expand federal loan-modification programs to more borrowers and crack down on lenders eager to foreclose on delinquent homeowners.

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Calling it "a national disgrace" that veterans still constitute such a large share of Illinois' homeless population, Sen. Dick Durbin and members of the state's congressional delegation met with Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth yesterday to come up with a plan to address this issue. Last year alone, veterans filled an estimated 18,000 shelter beds in the Chicago area. After meeting with Reps. Bill Foster, Debbie Halvorson, Mike Quigley, and Dan Lipinski, Durbin noted that it's going to require some creative thinking to stretch federal resources and begin solving the problem. The AP reports:

"A possibility might be to turn foreclosed homes into opportunities for training and employment for veterans — maybe even ultimately a residence that they can live in," said Sen. Dick Durbin, the delegation's chairman and the Senate's second-highest ranking Democrat.

"Some homeless veterans are struggling with addictive issues and issues of mental illness, and they need counseling, and that has to be part of it."

Encouragingly, the Obama administration increased spending on homeless veterans programs by $3.2 billion this year. A majority of the funding ($2.7 billion) will be used to fill gaps in medical care and counseling services across the nation. The remaining $500 million is earmarked specifically for homelessness initiatives. Because Illinois and the Chicago area in particular have been struggling with an affordable housing crisis for years, the state's share of the funding will only go so far. To mitigate the impact on veterans, Durbin is co-sponsoring the Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act (S. 1547), which would extend 30,000 federal housing vouchers to veterans in 2010 and phase in up to 60,000 vouchers by 2013.