National Politics

In his address to a joint session of Congress tonight, President Obama said,
"The time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action," the president told members of the House and Senate who showed their partisanship in their reactions throughout the 45-minute speech.
"Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do," Obama said. "Now is the time to deliver on health care."
Obama was interrupted more than 50 times by applause from members of Congress, including a few bipartisan gestures of approval.
But one member, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., interrupted the president's speech to yell, "You lie!" after the president asserted his proposals would not provide health insurance to illegal immigrants.
Later, Wilson offered a written apology.
"This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill," he said. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."
Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany delivered the Republican response to President Obama's speech on health care.

The President's Plan for Health Reform

“It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance.
It will provide insurance to those who don’t. And it will lower the cost of health care
for our families, our businesses, and our government."
– PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

 
If You Have Health Insurance,
the President's Plan:
•Ends discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.
•Limits premium discrimination based on gender and age.
•Prevents insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it most.
•Caps out-of-pocket expenses so people don’t go broke when they get sick.
•Eliminates extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money.
•Protects Medicare for seniors.
•Eliminates the “donut-hole” gap in coverage for prescription drugs. 
 If You Don’t Have Insurance,
the President's Plan:
•Creates a new insurance marketplace — the Exchange — that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices.
•Provides new tax credits to help people buy insurance.
•Provides small businesses tax credits and affordable options for covering employees.
•Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.
•Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national “high risk” pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created. 
 For All Americans,
the President's Plan:
•Won’t add a dime to the deficit and is paid for upfront.
•Requires additional cuts if savings are not realized.
•Implements a number of delivery system reforms that begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality.
•Creates an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system.
•Orders immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine.
•Requires large employers to cover their employees and individuals who can afford it to buy insurance so everyone shares in the responsibility of reform. 
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32491712

BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate and haunted bearer of the Camelot torch after two of his brothers fell to assassins' bullets, has died at his home in Hyannis Port after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.

For nearly a half-century in the Senate, Kennedy was a steadfast champion of the working class and the poor, a powerful voice on health care, civil rights, and war and peace. To the American public, though, he was best known as the last surviving son of America's most glamorous political family, the eulogist of a clan shattered again and again by tragedy.

His family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.

"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all."

President Obama, on vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., said he and the first lady were “heartbroken” to hear of Kennedy's passing.

“An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time,” Obama said.

Young senator
Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962, when his brother John was president, and served longer than all but two senators in history. Over the decades, he put his imprint on every major piece of social legislation to clear the Congress.

His own hopes of reaching the White House were damaged — perhaps doomed — in 1969 by the scandal that came to be known as Chappaquiddick, an auto accident that left a young woman dead.

Kennedy — known to family, friends and foes simply as Ted — ended his quest for the presidency in 1980 with a stirring valedictory that echoed across the decades: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."

The third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history, Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in May 2008 and underwent surgery and a grueling regimen of radiation and chemotherapy.

His death late Tuesday comes just weeks after that of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver on Aug. 11.

‘Ally and a dear friend’
Nancy Reagan, the widow of President Ronald Reagan, was one of the first to speak out from the Republican Party.

"Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised by how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family," she said in a statement.

"But Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research, and I considered him an ally and a dear friend. I will miss him," she said.

Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose wife, Maria Shriver, was Kennedy's niece, praised “the rock of our family: a loving husband, father, brother and uncle.”

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said that both the Kennedy family and the Senate have "lost our patriarch" and vowed Congress would renew the push for the cause of Kennedy's life, health care reform.