• House Republicans propose alternative to Pelosi Plan:  link
• Democrats having trouble with abortion coverage in Pelosi Plan:  link
• Immigration remains a sticking point for House Democrats:  link
• SURPRISE!  Pelosi Plan costs even more than previously estimated – $1.2 trillion and rising:  link
• Small businesses will bear the brunt of new taxes in Pelosi Plan, according to nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation:  link
• Business community unified in opposition to Pelosi Plan:  link
• They call this open government?  House Democrats may not allow ANY amendments to Pelosi Plan:  link
• Senate leader says health care reform may not pass before new year:  link

• Medicare premiums going up:  link
• Senate Democrat leadership warming up to Public Option:  link
• Still, not everything is smooth sailing for Harry Reid and company:  link
• Grassley leads bipartisan effort to find way to pay for Medicare fix, but:  link
• Reid, Stabenow say no:  link
• Speaker Pelosi playing hardball with moderates, rookies when it comes to supporting the Pelosi Plan:  link
• The Wall Street Journal editorial board looks at the cost of government health care plans – what was projected and what actually happened:  link
• Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen continues ringing the alarm bell on unfunded mandates upon the states:  link
• Health insurers respond to the White House’s latest attack:  link

• The New York Times reports that the White House and Congressional Democrats are looking to leave the negotiating table and push through a partisan health care reform bill:  link
• Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi writes in USA Today that the Public Option is no option for Americans:  link
• Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein says the Public Option is the “Maginot Line of health care policy”: link
• Dan Balz of the Washington Post blogs about President Obama’s problem with the Public Option: link
• The Post reports that the Obama Administration misjudged the response of some to their switch of positions on the Public Option: link
• Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are now demanding pay records for insurance company executives:  link
• An advertising firm founded by Presidential Advisor David Axelrod is doing a lot of business pushing health care reform:  link
• The Boston Globe reports on the pro’s and con’s of health care co-ops: link
• Medicare Advantage plans could be the next front in the public fight over health care reform, according to the Los Angeles Times:  link
• Senator Grassley calls medical schools on the carpet for allowing faculty to let drug companies to ghostwrite their reviews of drugs and medical procedures:  link
• Utah’s legislative auditors find $20 million in Medicaid fraud: link

• The White House may be backing down on the idea of the Public Option, according to the Washington Post this morning:  link
• The change in the Obama Administration’s position is not sitting well with some, according to POLITICO.com:  link
• POLITICO.com also reports that the White House has disabled its email box for reporting “misinformation”:  link
• The White House is also backtracking on emails that were sent to many Americans who are still wondering how the Obama administration got their email addresses: link
• Massachusetts, home of the prototype public insurance program, is terminating coverage for 30,000 legal immigrants:  link
• Wisconsin’s new public insurance program for low-income childless adults is running into problems just 2 months in:  link
• Representative Upmeyer calls on Senator Harkin to make public the bill he help passed through a Senate Committee:  link
• Mason City Health Care Forum draws big crowd: link
• Fireworks at Cedar Rapids Health Care Forum: link

From this week’s House Republican Newsletter:

HF 193 provides changes to the permit application process for carrying a weapon. These changes should bring more clarity and predictability to the process.

Under current practice, a local sheriff may deny or restrict an application for a permit to carry without providing any explanation to the applicant. The legislation approved by the Public Safety committee on Tuesday requires that sheriffs explain why an application was denied or restricted. A sheriff who denies an application is required to provide a written statement of the reasons for the denial or the restriction to the applicant by mail within twenty working days of the filing of the application.

This is seen as big step forward for those applying for permits to carry weapons. Many have complained of sheriffs across the state handling these applications very differently, making it very difficult for applicants to understand the process.

Not only does the bill address denials, but it also requires an explanation for restrictions placed on a permit to carry. Some permits are issued with such stringent restrictions that they are utterly useless pieces of paper that grant a gun owner to carry their weapon only under rare circumstances.

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From this week’s House Republican Newsletter:

Having given up on the price fixing for public projects bill (prevailing wage), the Democrats this week pushed House File 530, employee choice of doctor, or the employee doctor shopping bill.

HF 530 upsets the careful balance in workers’ compensation struck over the past 96 years. The bill reverses the current system that allows an employer to choose care for injured workers, and instead places the choice of doctor in the employee’s hands. This will destroy an employer’s opportunity to contract for health care and thus will raise insurance premiums greatly. This move will wipe out Iowa’s optimal position as a high benefit – low insurance premium state.

The bill, HF 530, provides that an employee may select their own doctor by having that doctor on file with the employer. The doctor need not be a specialist or occupational physician, and any referral to such a specialist must be paid for by the employer. Currently employers can send injured workers directly to the appropriate specialist thus avoiding the cost of the referring doctor. Under the bill, the added step of referrals and the inability of employers to contract for health care will drive up the cost of care and thus raise workers’ compensation insurance rates.

This bill attempts to “fix” a system that is not broken. Employees already have a procedure to request a change of doctor and in the overwhelming majority of cases such requests are granted. However most workers never feel the need to request alternative care. Less than two percent of those treated for work related injuries ever request alternative medical care.

Iowa workers already enjoy the highest maximum benefits of any state in the Midwest. Iowa’s rate of $1,206 per week outstrips the next highest performer, Minnesota, by $456 per week, and is far ahead of Nebraska, Illinois, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, and Wisconsin. In fact, Iowa is ranked third nationally, behind only the District of Columbia and New Hampshire.

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From this week’s House Republican Newsletter:

On January 21, House Republicans released a series of questions aimed at helping legislators of both parties dive into the state budget and bring more transparency and accountability to taxpayers.

Republicans have made Democrat leadership, department heads and staffs aware of their questions and House Republican Ranking Members will be investigating where each taxpayer dollar is spent and relaying that information back to Iowans. Republicans will be asking:

• How many new full-time employee positions have you added since 2007? Provide a listing of all full-time employee positions, complete with job titles, salary and benefits for the position and whether the position is filled? If it is not filled, how long has the full-time employee position been open?
• How will you implement the across the board cut?
• Provide us with the list of suggested cuts you provided to the governor in the fall of 2008?
• If you were forced to cut your budget by 10 percent, what suggestions would you have to reduce the budget and / or reduce the responsibilities of your department?
• What assets does your department have that can be leased or sold? What services do you provide that could be privatized or outsourced?

Republicans also raised concerns about the Democrats decision to cut regularly held and public budget subcommittee meetings. These subcommittee meetings are held at the beginning of each legislative session and typically consist of at least three meetings a week. Recently, Democrats have decided to cut back to two meetings a week.

During these tough economic times and when our state is facing serious budget constraints, it’s troublesome that the Democrats are willing to cut Iowans out of the process. Now is the time for increased discussion, ideas and solutions. It’s not the time to shut the door on input and open meetings.

From this week’s Republican Caucus Newsletter:

During the Governor’s Condition of the state address he proposed spending $43 million from the Economic Emergency Fund on helping communities recover from the storms of 2008.

Property Tax Replacement Funds: The Governor proposes spending $20 million on this purpose. Culver proposes to create a funding source for communities to help replace lost revenue and property taxes. An application process or means of distribution among disaster-impacted communities needs to be proposed.

Jumpstart Assistance: The Governor proposes spending $10 million on additional jumpstart assistance. This round of jump start is more flexible Jumpstart assistance to help meet some of the gap where federal assistance cannot be used. Some of the ways the new Jumpstart assistance could be spent is for grants for those over federal income limits, additional funding for projects just above the federal $25,000 limit on “Jumpstart Express.” Additional mortgage assistance after individuals have exhausted the three months allowed under HUD.

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From this week’s Republican Caucus Newsletter:

Last session, the Legislature approved House File 2645, a bill that dramatically changed Chapter 20, the public employee collective bargaining rules and 260C, which deals with teacher contracts and termination. The bill was rammed through in the cover of darkness and approved by the Legislature before the public outcry became loud enough to prevent its passage.

The Governor vetoed HF 2645, stating that it was “a poorly written bill with sometimes-ambiguous language that raises troubling, unanswered questions and unresolved uncertainties for management, labor and taxpayers alike. At the heart of the ambiguities is the ‘open scope’ language of the bill, which does not define what is, and what is not, a part of the ‘other terms and conditions not already excluded,’ that could be made subject to mandatory bargaining…. all of which could be made subject to binding arbitration upon impasse and which could potentially result in untold and unintended obligations resulting in substantial tax increases.” (Governor’s Veto Message, May 15, 2008)

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From this week’s Republican Caucus Newsletter:

In his Condition of the State speech, the Governor punted on the issue of how to solve the $779 million budget gap. He did however say the solution to Iowa’s problems is to borrow $700 million and spend it on infrastructure, roads and flood reconstruction.

Everyone agrees that the two most important issues facing the state this session are flood reconstruction and dealing with the self-inflicted $779 million budget gap for Fiscal Year 2010.

The Governor’s speech only dealt with one of those two issues. The Governor proposes to borrow $700 million in the form of 20-year tax-exempt state revenue bonds. The bonds would be repaid using $56 million in annual gaming revenue from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF). While not all of the details are known, it is apparent that most of this money would not be spent on flood rebuilding.

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