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Lobbyists on pace for record year - 12/23/2009 12:59:30 PM   
Brain


Posts: 3792
Joined: 2/14/2007
Status: offline 		I thought if he was elected Obama would get better results but I guess it's just the same old same old. He passes a bad/adequate at best, healthcare bill with no public option and no reduction in age for those who want to use Medicare from 65 to 55, big deal. Russ Feingold said it appears this was the bill Obama wanted for healthcare in the first place. Wow. You would think Obama would remember his poor mother who had cancer fighting with insurance companies that her cancer was a pre-existing condition.

Obama has to do better because there hasn't been enough real change. What I don't understand is why if he raised so much money on the Internet does he/they take all this money from lobbyists? I think Obama needs to appoint Ralph Nader to get some real election reform so money doesn't keep corrupting the political process.

Lobbyists on pace for record year - - POLITICO.com

Washington’s influence industry is on track to shatter last year’s record $3.3 billion spent to lobby Congress and the rest of the federal government — and that’s with a down economy and about 1,500 fewer registered lobbyists in town, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Many lobbying firms have escaped the worst of the corporate belt-tightening, thanks, in large part, to the ambitious agenda set out by President Barack Obama — who, ironically, came to Washington with a pledge to break what he considered the undue influence of special-interest lobbyists.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30882.html
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RE: Lobbyists on pace for record year - 12/23/2009 1:13:56 PM   
popeye1250


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RE: Lobbyists on pace for record year - 12/23/2009 2:07:32 PM   
tazzygirl


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Brain

I thought if he was elected Obama would get better results but I guess it's just the same old same old. He passes a bad/adequate at best, healthcare bill with no public option and no reduction in age for those who want to use Medicare from 65 to 55, big deal. Russ Feingold said it appears this was the bill Obama wanted for healthcare in the first place. Wow. You would think Obama would remember his poor mother who had cancer fighting with insurance companies that her cancer was a pre-existing condition.

Obama has to do better because there hasn't been enough real change. What I don't understand is why if he raised so much money on the Internet does he/they take all this money from lobbyists? I think Obama needs to appoint Ralph Nader to get some real election reform so money doesn't keep corrupting the political process.

Lobbyists on pace for record year - - POLITICO.com

Washington’s influence industry is on track to shatter last year’s record $3.3 billion spent to lobby Congress and the rest of the federal government — and that’s with a down economy and about 1,500 fewer registered lobbyists in town, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Many lobbying firms have escaped the worst of the corporate belt-tightening, thanks, in large part, to the ambitious agenda set out by President Barack Obama — who, ironically, came to Washington with a pledge to break what he considered the undue influence of special-interest lobbyists.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30882.html


Brain, wtf? I dont think Obama is taking money, at least not by what your article is saying. His political agenda... health care reform especially... has spurred a massive lobbying spending spree.

Twenty-five top recipients of government bailout funds spent more than $71 million on lobbying in the year since they were rescued, an extensive review of federal lobbying records by the Huffington Post reveals.

A year after taxpayers forked over $700 billion to help rescue the biggest names in banking, insurance and the automotive industry, those same institutions are using portions of the cash to influence legislation with a direct impact on taxpayers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/top-bailout-recipients-sp_n_346877.html

Im not liking everything Obama is doing... however, dont blame him for what is happening with the lobbying.

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RE: Lobbyists on pace for record year - 12/23/2009 4:00:44 PM   
Brain


Posts: 3792
Joined: 2/14/2007
Status: offline 		I have to go out right now so I don’t have time to research it but I think he took money and I would be shocked if he took no money whatsoever from health insurance companies. I’m virtually certain he took money from pharmaceutical companies because he said a long time ago something about how they still have a deal. In any case I found this article expressing a different approach to getting real healthcare reform.

Michael Kieschnick: Ignore Lieberman to Win Real Health Care Reform 
 
And what should take the place of Lieberman's rules? Reid already has the power -- contained in this year's budget resolution -- to enact much of the health care reform through budget reconciliation, which requires 51 votes. There are 51 votes for the best -- not the worst -- elements of great health reform. Or the Senate could change it's own rules to eliminate or alter the filibuster. Any reading of Senate history makes it clear that the filibuster has been used most often to defeat progress, not to stop special interests or reactionary initiatives.

And if Sen. Reid will not use reconciliation or change the filibuster rules, then at a minimum he should hold a series of individual votes on the critical issues currently bundled together in the massive reform bill. If he were to ask for my advice, I would start with a prohibition on discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Let's put everybody on record whether they are in favor of the current practice of vicious discrimination.

Health care matters far too much to let rules designed to stop change block us. And it is cynical beyond measure to call Lieberman's demands real reform.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kieschnick/ignore-lieberman-to-win-r_b_394479.html

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RE: Lobbyists on pace for record year - 12/23/2009 4:12:14 PM   
vincentML


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Carl Bernstein: US Congress Is Corrupt, Systemically Broken


During an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe today journalist and author Carl Bernstein lamented that the debate over and the writing of health care reform legislation has shown us "Congress at its worst."
Bernstein harshly critiques the nation's legislative branch as a body that is "responsive only to money and special interests" while ignoring the public and national interest:

article and video here.


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