Reply #5: the time to FIGHT is now, don't wait until terrible reforms are set in concrete! [View All]

[thotzRthingz]

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"This fight isn't over," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "I guarantee you, the people who voted for this bill are going to get an earful when they finally get home for the first time since Thanksgiving."

While Republicans expressed outrage, several Democrats and their lobbyist allies talked of winning changes in the bill in the conference committee.

Key differences remain between the House bill, which includes a government-run "public option" insurance plan and pays for health care with a millionaire's tax, and the Senate bill, which lacks the public option and funds programs with a tax on premiums. The House bill also has stronger provisions for ensuring that public money does not pay for abortions.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned that the Senate version "includes exorbitant new taxes on middle-class health benefits."

"It's political suicide," he said.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) told reporters that a House-Senate compromise was inevitable.

"It's pretty clear to me, and I think pretty clear to all of you, that nobody is going to be happy with this," he said, and added, "Everybody is going to have to give."

- source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/unclean_bill_AhRSuJIFVCdozkmlA0y22N