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Down to the wire on the Health Care Bill

This may be your last chance to let Congress know how you want them to vote! House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is currently scrambling for votes among moderate and conservative Democrats in order to pass the Senate version of health care reform, which is scheduled for Sunday.

Weekly Update on Congress: Sunday Dec 29th - Sunday Nov 6th

What happened  in Congress this week? Find out here.

Proposed Joint Resolution Could Abolish the Electoral College

Sorry for the long time without an update. During the past a month or so, the Votetocracy team has been trying to improve the site for you, but this can tough with a team of only four people, the majority of which have full time jobs. The lack of ways to fund the website does not help matters either so if any of you have not voted for us on IDEA BLOB, please do so and tell a a few friends. If we win, the money we get can help us dramatically in improving the site for you guys. Thank you for registering and bear with us! I promise you won't be disappointed. With that said, I was looking through all of the legislation on the site and one really caught my attention due to its importance and the way in which it will affect future presidential elections: Senate Joint Resolution 4.

Senator Kennedy requests Massachusetts Senate to change state law on how his successor is chosen

HEALTH CARE UPDATE: How will healthcare reform affect the elderly and retired?

Here, at Votetocracy.com, we try our best to give you the facts regarding the bills that pass through Congress and expose misinformation that many pundits and commentators (both liberal and conservative) on TV and radio may report. Some of this is simply false information that they use to convince people to follow their own hidden agenda, some are simply media spin or bias, and others might be simple oversights. Most people know that Fox News and talk radio is filled with conservative pundits so it is expected that they will have the most to say against the health care reform bill. Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck, among others, are the most notorious for these comments. Some of these may be actual and true concerns, but the way Congress seems to make a habit of misleading people just as much, it is extremely difficult for you, the people, to find out the truth if the media has an agenda too. At Votetocracy, we will give as much information from both sides of the aisle so you can make your own decision on the bills that face our government right now. One big example of this is that of the health care bill and how it affects the elderly and retired either through the section on life ending options or the changes that may be made to medicare.

What's Happening on Capitol Hill?: Saturday 7/18/09- Friday 7/24/09

A lot of important news in Congress this past week with health care reform obviously topping the Capitol Hill news list. The health care issue erupted into a big mess this past week with conflicting reports regarding what is actually in this huge 1000 page bill in the House. In addition to health care, this update also includes an update on the Sotomayor confirmation process, a loss for gun rights advocates in the Senate, the cutting of the F-22 fighter jets from a defense spending bill, Al Franken's first legislative victory since he was first seated in the Senate, and other bills and happenings from Capitol Hill you might not have heard from the media between Saturday Jul 17th and this past Friday. Then, based on this, I will give you quick rundown of what is anticipated to happen in Congress up until the August recess.

HEALTH CARE UPDATE: Senate Health Committee approves Ted Kennedy's bill along party lines

This is an update regarding the recent vote of Ted Kennedy's Health Care bill in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee-- a committee that the currently ill Senator Kennedy chairs. Kennedy was not present for the vote so Senator Chris Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, who is also a member of the committee, presided over the committee for the past few weeks as the mark up of the bill took place.

HR 1207-- Audit the Fed?

Here's a very important bill that you probably won't hear much of from the mainstream media, most likely because it was introduced by Congressman Ron Paul of Texas-- a 2008 Presidential candidate in the Republican party who has a libertarian mindset (most of the media, even Fox News, doesn't seem to like Rep. Paul very much because some of his ideas). He is known for sponsoring pretty radical legislation but his bills do get quite a bit of grassroots support while not seeing any action. This may change if Congress hears from you because I personally can't see a reason why someone would be opposed to it especially now.

 

The only place I heard it mentioned was on libertarian pundit Glenn Beck's program that is broadcasted on Fox News every weekday at 5 pm. You can also watch him on weekends usually on Saturdays at 9 pm but that seems to change quite a bit.

 

Even if you don't link Ron Paul, I strongly recommend checking out this bill. It seems to be getting quite a bit of support in the House but has not seen any action in the Financial Services Committee. It was referred to the Committee on the same day it was introduced-- Feb. 26, 2009.

Whitehouse issues promise for Government Transparency

On January 21st, 2009, President Obama, in his first the first memo of his presidency, announced his administration's commitment to ""unprecedented level of openness in Government." In this memo he ordered the Chief Technology Officer and the Director of Office Management and Budget and the Administrator of General Services to present a proposal for government transparency within 120 days. This could be a big deal for citizens.

HEALTH CARE UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Grows Impatient as Republicans negotiate

Have any Questions on health care reform?

Have any questions on health care reform? The article from the the Associated Press that is provided in this entry is a Q&A on the health care bill that is currently going through Congress right now. It should give you most of the information you need to stay on top of the basics regarding this important issue.

HEALTH CARE UPDATE: Paying for health care reform proves to be daunting task for Obama

The task of reforming health care has created quite a bit of media buzz lately, but one HUGE question remains (a rather important question that Ted Kennedy's initial bill did not try to answer, the New York Times calls it "the trillion-dollar question"): how does our government intend on paying for this rather monolithic task of covering all uninsured Americans?  However,  a recent article from the New York Times points out that Barack Obama is tackling the issue and has already confronted many politicians for their input.

WEEK IN CONGRESS: Saturday 6/6/09 to Friday 6/12/09

Wow! A lot of news to report from Congress this week! (not so much on votes but a lot of debate regarding important issues). In this entry, I'm going to talk about what Congress was doing for you this past week (or NOT doing) as partisan debate has consumed much of the week.

Here's what happened this past week:

Speaker Pelosi orders Representatives to post expense reports online

Amid all the partisan bickering in House of Representatives on issues such as spending, health care, and energy, one issue seems to get at least some support from both sides of the isle and that is government transparency.