I would like to thank a dedicated reader of MNPublius for bringing this to my attention.
Today the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act passed Congress. This is the culmination of years of hard work by Jim Ramstad, the Wellstone family and Wellstone Action, and it is the fitting capstone to the efforts of Paul Wellstone to assure mental health parity in health care.
Why would John Kline want to remove Paul Wellstone’s name from the bill that I think he would be proudest of? The bill he would want to be his legacy?
From the Clerk of the House of Representatives,
7:24 P.M. -
Floor summary: DEBATE - The House proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Kline motion to recommit with instructions. The instructions contained in the motion seek to require the bill to be reported back to the House with an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of new text entitled “Mental Health Parity Act of 2008”.Mr. Kline (MN) moved to recommit with instructions to Energy and Commerce.
I didn’t hear the debate, and I don’t know Congressman Kline’s intentions (I’ll be contacting his office tomorrow for comment) but I’m curious as to why Representative Kline wanted the name of the bill changed?
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Say, Zach?
Ask Congressman Kline if he met with Minnesota’s DAV Delegation Tuesday, while you have ‘em on the phone, would ya?
This is exactly the sort of scummy thing Kline would do. Ratings aside, he is still the worst rep in MN in my book. Michelle ain’t got nothing on him.
Now he tries to take Wellstone’s name out of his most important issue. Seriously.
Kline only wants to put people’s names on things if they are Republicans.
Like the Minnesota Post Office in Dennison named after Al Quie, a former governor.
Kline also sponsored the bill to put the image of Ronald Reagan on legal tender of the USA. I forget which denomination of bill.
To be honest, we shouldn’t be putting politicians from either side of the aisle on bills, buildings, roads, airports, schools, you name it.
I don’t want to hear about the Wellstone bill or the Reagan airport. Just pass legislation and let the Pol’s past histories speak for themselves.
petty.
Let’s see what the call yeilds. Either way, I’m guessing that the fact people are going to be protected would be much more important to Paul than if his name was on the bill.
DantheMan -
You are correct, Paul would take his name off the bill in a heartbeat if he thought it would help even a little. As Tom Harkin said, “no one ever wore the title Senator better, or used it less.”
That being said, if Kline did this (and I will wait to pass judgment for Sean to confirm) there is no excuse.
Petty is the word … there can be No Spin on this one.
Regardless of the title of the legislation, Kline fought against it.
How long have we heard that Doctors should decide on treatment. So, Kline and Bachman, think that Insurance Companies should decide … not Doctors.
The House bill makes sense as it specifies that if a plan provides mental health benefits, it must cover mental illnesses and addiction disorders listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is used by mental health professionals.
Jim Ramstad will be sorely missed in Congress. I am hoping that after a brief rest from politics that he will accept the nomination as a candidate for Governor.
Ramstad for Governor. That idea could really have some legs…..
I called and left a message with John Kline’s Minnesota office at about 7:45, if I don’t hear back from them by about noon I’ll call his Washington office and his campaign. Sean
Is that the first time you’ve heard Ramstad floated as the next Gov.?
It is votes like this that will take down both Kline and Bachman next November.
Kudos to our congressmen and women who supported this important legislation!
I think Kline wanted Reagan’s image on the three-dollar bill.
If you listen to NPR’s interview yesterday afternoon, I’m pretty sure Wellstone’s son was quoted as saying that his father actually wouldn’t want his name attached to the bill’s name, don’t quote me on that though, just what I thought I heard…
Both Paul and Sheila championed hard for those often forgoten by Society be they those who were victims of Domestic Abuse or Suffering from Mental Illness.
Having Paul’s name on that Bill signifies that his work and passion is still alive in some form or another.
Bachmann and Kline will be gone come November. Those two must be joined at the hip due to the identical way they vote. They don’t represent people the people in their Districts, just their own self interests.
Well, he did it because he’s a petty chump.
“They don’t represent people the people in their Districts, just their own self interests.”
What you mean is that they don’t represent the moonbats in their districts.
They (both Kline and Bachmann) represent the interests of the people that put them in office very well indeed; which is why both will retain their offices for as long as they want them.
Squishy -
Who’s we? You got a turd in your pocket? Besides, you’re a loyal subject of Betty McCollum.
If you listen to NPR’s interview yesterday afternoon, I’m pretty sure Wellstone’s son was quoted as saying that his father actually wouldn’t want his name attached to the bill’s name, don’t quote me on that though, just what I thought I heard…
That was the Senate bill, because it was watered down.
Squishy -
Oops, read that wrong, mea culpa
Swiftee-
A lot of people aren’t as thrilled to work two jobs to get by as Bachmann seems to think they are, so we’ll see about that. I don’t know, maybe the dream that if you work hard you should get ahead makes them moonbats, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
And welcome back - may we hope this means that you realized your minstrel-show nom de jour was just insulting, and not funny?
Hey John? Read your nonsense again:
“A lot of people aren’t as thrilled to work two jobs to get by as Bachmann seems to think they are, so we’ll see about that. I don’t know, maybe the dream that if you work hard you should get ahead makes them moonbats, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.”
You got a little confused right in the middle of that thought didn’t ya?
Only a moonbat votes for someone with the hope that they’ll get a job out of it. Conservatives rely on our skill, education and intelligence; no one is voting for Bachmann to climb the ladder.
Which is why you should probably just let someone else do your thinking for you first and then copy what they say.
No problem IgnoramusMaximus, it’s not like anyone expected a coherent thought out of you either; maybe when that someone gets through doing John’s thinking for him, they’ll do your reading for you. Pfft.
You children need to read through the record again. Kline wasn’t trying to take Wellstone’s name off the bill, he was introducing the Senate version of the mental health parity bill - you know, the one sponsored by Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman - as a substitute. Now go back to your “Congress for Dummies” book and try again.
Who does your fact checking, anyways? Coleen Rowley?
TK -
Look at the vote on Kline’s motion to recommit:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll100.xml
Clearly not a non-controversial bit of record-keeping, but party-line bit of hackery (save for a few sane Repubs like Ramstad).
Back to yer spinnin’
Swiftee-
Get shoved. And its a rich day when the man who copy-pastes from Limbuagh accues me of not thinking. More than that, it wasn’t what I said.
Bachmann was actively proud of the fact that despite her consituents hard-work, many have to work two jobs. When the system gets loaded to the point where even those who work hard get screwed, I’m just wondering whether being angry over that makes them moonbats. The fact that Bachmann has no trouble with people getting screwed if they play by the rules make here the real wacko.
So you can claim that I said government should give people jobs, but I didn’t. Swiftee, it says a lot about you that you were perhaps more polite when you were displaying your vicious racism as ‘Hobo Joe’ than under you actual handle.
“When the system gets loaded to the point where even those who work hard get screwed, I’m just wondering whether being angry over that makes them moonbats.”
Nope, you’re still very confused. Here, tell you what, hold my hand and I’ll connect the dots for you.
Moonbats are A) the ones that are trying to convince hard working 2 jobbers that they should be happy to get screwed (vis. the largest tax increase in the history of the state that was just passed by the moonbat majority in the MN legislature is *good* for you), and B) the hapless boobs that believe them.
One of the reasons that we hated to see Congresswoman Bachmann leave was that she was one of our most valuable ‘bat smackers in the MN House.
Now she’s gone and the ‘bats are in a full blown taxapolooza feeding frenzy. We’ll be lucky if we don’t need three jobs before the session is finished.
Swiftee-
Bachmann was in the MN Senate, kiddo. Thats the smaller of the two chambers. The House, where the over-ride needed Republicans, that’s the bigger one, Swiftee. It has more members. And a different name. The Senate is the one the GOP has never controled. The one where GOP members might as well be potted plants for the influence they wield. That’s the one Bachmann was in.
Damn, you were brighter doing the minstrel caricature. That’s just bad man, bad. Aren’t the middle schools in White Bear Lake assigning enough home-work?
Back in October 2004, Kline blackballed an attempt to name a VA clinic after Wellstone on the grounds that he had attended some anti-Vietnam War rallies in the ’70s. Nobody in any of the local veterans organizations had raised any objections to having the clinic named after Wellstone, and in fact, they all supported the gesture. Kline was acting purely out of spite.
Why is not wanting to name a hospital after somebody any more ridiculous than wanting to name a hospital after somebody? If somebody had wanted to name it after Ventura would those opposing it been doing so out of spite?
I wonder if Walter Reed would be thrilled today to know he had a DoD hospital named after him?
“The one where GOP members might as well be potted plants for the influence they wield. That’s the one Bachmann was in.”
So, you’re saying that those hard working 2 jobbers were screwed anyway. Got it.
Here is what I’m reading on this board:
1. Earmarks are an accepted part of the DC game
2. If earmarks are part of the game, we might as well get ours
3. We should send someone to Washington who can bring as many earmarks home as possible
4. If a congressperson brings home these pet projects, they are good. If they don’t they are bad.
And we wonder why government spending is out of control. Unbelievable. For a group of people who rail on me (and other republicans) for being selfish, you sure do have a mentality of “getting yours”. I ask what is more selfish — not wanting to pay excess tax from my household, or insisting that your congressperson route as much federal tax money as possible away from the general good and into your district????
Sorry - that was meant for the other Kline thread.