Public Congress

At the close of an address on health reform to Congress, President Obama reminds people: “I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan, than to improve it.”

“If you misrepresent what’s in this plan, we will call you out,” he adds. “And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.”

He also talks about a letter he received from late Senator Ted Kennedy that was written in May, but delivered to Obama after Kennedy’s death. In the letter, Ted called health reform “unfinished business” but was confident that “this is the year” that it would pass.

Obama also remarked on when it is necessary fo government to step in.

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Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) says Washington Democrats’ unprecedented decision to cancel this year’s budget will wreak havoc on our economy and make it even harder to put people back to work.

The House Budget Committee’s top Republican, Ryan says Democrats’ plan to continue their out-of-control ‘stimulus’ spending spree and raise taxes on middle-class families is a “recipe for disaster.”

He also challenges President Obama and Washington Democrats to stop running out the clock and “make the tough choices they promised they would, put moral obligation before political expedience, and focus on what’s in the best interests of the next generation, not the next election.”

With economists saying immediate fiscal discipline is needed to create jobs, Ryan notes that Republicans have already identified $1.3 trillion in specific spending cuts that could be implemented right now.

Rep. Ryan is in his sixth term representing the people of Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District.

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President Obama says during an address on health reform to Congress that death panels are “a lie,” abortions would not be funded under the plan, and illegal immigrants would not benefit, to which an audience member – identified as Rep. Joe Wilson – shouted back, “Lie!”

He also comments that he does not want to put insurance companies out of business. “I just want to hold them accountable.”

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In a ruling sometimes characterized as protecting “corporate free speech,” the US Supreme Court held this month that “the Government may not suppress political speech on the basis of the speaker’s corporate identity” in the case of Citizens United vs the Federal Elections Commission and my support for the free speech rights involved found me in some strange company while this landmark legal decision caused some other people to change their minds or to consider changing their policies, as I show in this video.

You can find the full text of all the opinions in Citizens United vs the Federal Elections Commission online at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf

The clips I use in this video from ABC’s “This Week” come from the program broadcast on January 24, 2010, and the full segment from which I took the clip of South Carolina’s Republican Senator Jim Demint is available online at http://abcnews.go.com/video/video?id=9648277

The clips I use in this video of Sam Donaldson and George Will are also from that broadcast of ABC’s “This Week” and come from the full segment available online at http://abcnews.go.com/video/video?id=9648509

The clip I use of “The Daily Show” comes from the January 25, 2010, segment available online at http://tinyurl.com/SupremeCorp

The clips I use of Lawrence Lessig come from his YouTube video titled “Lessig on Supreme Court Campaign Finance Decision: Change Congress Video” available on his ChangeYourCongress YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87YOBDzxwj4

The clip I use of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address comes from the public domain video available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1PWQtCDaYY

The image I use of the email from Lawrence Lessig is also available on his website at http://change-congress.org

And, finally, the image I use of the New York Sun’s article titled “ACLU May Reverse Course On Campaign Finance Limits After Supreme Court Ruling,” comes from the page at http://www.nysun.com/national/aclu-may-reverse-course-on-campaign-finance/86899/

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IN FULL: President Obama spoke before Congress in his first State of the Union address.

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A Republican House member shouted “You lie” during President Obama’s health care speech to Congress on Wednesday, and members of both parties condemned the heckling. South Carolina Democratic Party chair says Wilson “embarrassed” state. The outburst came when Obama denied that proposed health care legislation would provide free health coverage for illegal immigrants. Immediately, Wilson shouted, “You lie!” . The outburst caused Obama to stop and look toward the heckler. “That’s not true,” the president responded. Behind him, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared shocked and turned toward the outburst as Vice President Joe Biden looked down and shook his head. Loud boos echoed through the chamber immediately after the outburst.

While it was the most attention-getting, Wilson’s shout wasn’t the only demonstration of displeasure made by Republicans during the speech.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, wore a sign around his neck that said, “WHAT BILL?” And when Obama asked Republicans to share their health reform ideas with him, a small group raised up a stack of papers above their heads.
After the speech, Republican Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate defeated by Obama last year, called Wilson’s outburst “totally disrespectful” and said he should apologize.

Appearing on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” he said there was “no place for it in that setting or any other and he should apologize immediately.”

Other Republicans also criticized Wilson, along with the expected Democratic condemnation.

“It was crude and disrespectful,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, a top Senate Democrat. “I think the person who said it will pay a price.”

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, called on Wilson to go to the floor Thursday and apologize. She said Wilson’s comment and other GOP tactics “strike me as odd. … The minority leader has to get control of his conference.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told CNN affiliate WIS-TV in Columbia that he, too, was disappointed.

“The president’s combative tone did not justify a member of Congress shouting out, ‘You lie,’ ” said Graham. “Our nation’s president deserves to be treated with respect. It was an inappropriate remark, and I am glad an apology has been made.”

South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler took it further.

“Once again a South Carolina Republican has embarrassed our state,” Fowler’s office said in a statement that referred to S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s extramarital affair.

“Never has any member of Congress shown such disrespect for the president during a speech,” Fowler wrote. “One would think that as a member of the military, Joe Wilson would have more respect and patriotism than he displayed tonight. When Congressman Wilson insulted President Obama, he also insulted the American public. Joe Wilson is a poor example of a statesman and an American. He owes an apology to the president and the American people.” The Democrat hoping to unseat Wilson in next year’s midterm elections also quickly seized on the Republican’s outburst.

“Rep. Wilson’s behavior tonight exemplifies everything that is wrong in Washington,” Democrat Rob Miller said in a statement provided to CNN. “Instead of engaging in childish name-calling and disrespecting our commander-in-chief, Joe Wilson should be working towards a bipartisan solution that makes quality, affordable health care available to each and every South Carolinian.”

After the speech, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, tweeted that it was the “biggest” disappointment of the evening. “Biggest disappointmnt of evening, the total lack of respect shown by one member for the President,” she wrote. “Never acceptable to behave like a jerk.”

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RASMUSSEN:
Obama Approval Index: -21 (matches lowest yet)
Strongly Approve 22% (matches lowest yet)
Strongly Disapprove 43%
Newly arrived Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts accused President Barack Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a “bitter, destructive and endless” drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.

“An entire year has gone to waste,” Brown said in the weekly GOP radio and Internet address. “Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and many more jobs are in danger. Even now, the president still hasn’t gotten the message.

“Somehow, the greater the public opposition to the health care bill, the more determined they seem to force it on us anyway.”

Brown himself can claim responsibility for the Democrats’ failure to pass health overhaul legislation to date. They were on the verge of doing so before Brown claimed the late Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat in a special election upset in January, depriving Democrats of their filibuster-proof supermajority and throwing the health care effort into limbo.

(AP) Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, talks with Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., on Capitol Hill in…
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It has been gradually revived, and Democrats are now pushing for final passage before Easter under complex Senate rules that would allow them to sidestep a Republican filibuster. Republicans in the House and Senate are unanimously opposed to the sweeping legislation, which would extend coverage to some 30 million uninsured Americans with a new mandate for nearly everyone to carry insurance.

The House minority leader, Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in an interview for broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that if House Democrats had the votes to pass the health care bill they would have acted by now.

“They tried to do this in June and July of last year, if they had the votes then, it would be law. They tried to pass it in September, October, November, December, January, February, guess what? They don’t have the votes,” Boehner said.

Brown, as a state senator in Massachusetts, voted in favor of the universal-coverage law in that state. The bill he supported in Massachusetts has a number of features in common with the Democrats’ legislation, including a mandate for nearly everyone to be covered.

But he campaigned on a promise to be the Republicans’ crucial 41st vote against Obama’s health plan, and said Saturday that his victory amounted to a message from voters that Washington should “get its priorities right.”

“We need to drop this whole scheme of federally controlled health care, start over, and work together on real reforms at the state level that will contain costs and won’t leave America trillions of dollars deeper in debt,” Brown said.

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President Obama Address to Congress & Nation

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President Obama Address to Congress & Nation

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President Obama Address to Congress & Nation

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