Subject: [big campaign] updated advisory
From: "Brad Woodhouse" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:12:53 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

www.CANCampaign.org <http://www.cancampaign.org/> 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:              Contact:   Jeremy Funk, 202.470.5878

DATE: April 28, 2008

***Media Advisory for Tuesday, April 29th at Noon, ET, Grand Hyatt,
Tampa Bay***

Local Healthcare Advocates Respond to John McCain's Remarks in Tampa on
Healthcare, Call on McCain, Martinez to End Opposition to Expanding
Healthcare for Children, Vote to Override Bush Administration Cuts to
Medicaid 

Nurses, Healthcare Professionals, Families, Advocates Hold Press
Conference at Hotel of McCain Fundraiser to Respond to Senator's
Healthcare Remarks at Moffitt Cancer Center, Call on Him, Martinez to
Support Expanding State Children's Health Insurance Program, Protect Low
Income Families from Medicaid Cuts   

Tampa, Florida - Nurses, healthcare professionals and advocates and
families concerned about the healthcare mess in America will hold a
press conference at noon in the Pelican Room at the Grand Hyatt Tampa
Bay to respond to remarks delivered by U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
at the Moffitt Cancer Center and to call on him, and U.S. Senator Mel
Martinez (R-FL), to end their opposition to expanding the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and to vote to override $13
billion in Bush Administration cuts to Medicaid.  The press conference
is being organized by SEIU, the Florida Consumer Action Network, a
USAction affiliate, and Americans United for Change, among others.  

SEIU, AFSCME, USAction, Americans United for Change and MoveOn.org
Political Action, among others, have worked together to expand SCHIP to
cover 10 million children, up from the 6 million it covers now, and to
overturn a Bush Administration directive which would slash Medicaid
funding by $13 billion, through a campaign called Change America Now
(CAN).  McCain supports Bush Administration policies on healthcare which
have resulted in millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage
over the past seven years and huge spikes in drug prices, healthcare
services and insurance premiums.  

McCain, last year, voted in the Senate against authorizing an additional
$35 billion to be spent over the next five years, the amount America in
spending in Iraq every 100 days, to expand SCHIP to cover 10 million
children.  Bush vetoed the additional funding twice and twice the House
of Representatives failed to override the vetoes.  The Congress is
likely to revisit the legislation later this year.  Martinez joined
McCain in voting against expanding SCHIP while U.S. Senator Bill Nelson
(D-FL) voted in favor of the legislation.   In the meantime, the House
of Representatives voted last week to overturn Bush Administration rules
which would slash funding for healthcare for low income Americans
through Medicaid by $13 billion.  The Senate is likely to take up that
bill in the coming months at which time McCain's vote could be critical.

 

WHO:             Nurses, healthcare professionals and advocates and
families concerned about the healthcare mess in America

WHAT:           Press Conference Responding to McCain Healthcare Remarks
in Tampa and Calling on Him to Support Expanding SCHIP and
overturning Bush Administration Efforts to Slash Medicaid by $13 Billion

 

WHEN:           Tuesday, April 29th at 12:00 PM, ET

WHERE:        Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay

2900 Bayport Dr. 

The 'PELICAN' Room

Tampa FL 33607

 

-30-

McCain Voted To Cut, Eliminate, Restrict Health Insurance Coverage for
Low Income Children and Pregnant Mothers At Least SIX Times. [SCR 27, 
Vote #76
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=105&session=1&vote=00076> , 5/21/97][S 949, Vote #149
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=105&session=1&vote=00149> , 6/27/97][HR 4810, Vote #204
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=106&session=2&vote=00204> , 7/17/00] [H.R. 976, Vote #307
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00307> , 8/2/07] [S 3, Vote #45
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00045> , 3/11/03][H.R. 3963, Vote #401
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00401> , 10/31/07] 

McCain Opposed Extending Coverage To Uninsured Children. On October 31,
2007, after President Bush vetoed the first SCHIP reauthorization,
McCain again opposed expanding SCHIP to millions of additional children.
He voted against a motion to invoke cloture and bring the
reauthorization forward for a vote before the Senate.  The motion passed
62-33. [H.R. 3963, Vote #401
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00401> , 10/31/07] 

McCain Opposed Reauthorizing SCHIP And Providing Insurance For Millions
Of Uninsured Children. In August 2007, McCain voted against passage of
H.R. 976, which would have reauthorized the State Children's Health
Insurance Program (SCHIP).  According to Knight Ridder, "The Senate
proposal would provide coverage to 3.2 million" uninsured children and
renew coverage for the 6 million children already covered by the
program.  The legislation passed 68-31. [H.R. 976, Vote #307
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00307> , 8/2/07; Knight Ridder,
8/2/07] 

*        McCain Opposed SCHIP Because It Would Cover Too Many Children.
McCain not only voted against SCHIP, he went to the Senate floor to
argue against covering millions of additional children, arguing "the
program has expanded beyond what Congress first intended. In some cases,
SCHIP coverage has been extended to middle-income children."
[Congressional Record, 8/2/07] 

*        McCain: Covering Uninsured Children Is Too Expensive. According
to the Washington Post, McCain said, "[what] was supposed to be for low-
income Americans is now up to 400 percent of the poverty level, just
like the Medicare prescription drug program, an unfunded liability."
[Washington Post, 10/10/07] 

 

April 24, 2008

House Passes Bill Challenging Bush on Medicaid Cuts 

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted Wednesday to block the Bush
administration from cutting federal spending on Medicaid
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthto
pics/medicaid/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>  health care for the
poor by $13 billion over the next five years. President Bush has
threatened a veto, but supporters have more than enough votes to
override him in the House, and maybe in the Senate, too.

Two-thirds of House Republicans joined every voting Democrat in the
349-to-62 vote to impose a one-year moratorium, through next March, on
seven rules changes that the administration said were needed to curb
waste and abuse in Medicaid, the state-federal partnership to provide
health care to the poor.

Supporters of the bill said the rules would merely shift financial
burdens to the states at a time of economic distress, while reducing
access to health care for the country's neediest people.

Representative John D. Dingell
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/john_d_din
gell/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , Democrat of Michigan and chairman of
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the rule changes were
opposed by the governors of all 50 states, state Medicaid directors and
others. "They know the devastating effects these rules would have on
local communities, upon hospitals and upon vulnerable beneficiaries,"
Mr. Dingell said.

The House vote margin was well above the two-thirds needed to override a
veto. Congress has overridden a Bush veto only once, last November on a
water projects bill. But the legislation must first move through the
Senate Finance Committee and get a vote on the Senate floor. 

The White House, in a statement Tuesday warning of a veto, said the bill
would "thwart these efforts of the federal government to regain fiscal
accountability and integrity in Medicaid." 

 

________________________________

From: Moira Mack [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 1:23 PM
To: Jeremy Funk; hildebrandtewes.com, bridgett; [email-masked];
[email-masked]
Cc: Brad Woodhouse
Subject: RE: Media Advisory: Tuesday, April 29 at Noon Grand Hyatt,
Tampa Bay

Ok - we're on it. Resending, pitching and then Ali is going to do a
little googling into key reporters to hit and I'm gonna pull out the FL
contacts who I dealt with previously on Bethany SCHIP stuff.

 

Also two items that might be useful for TPs:

*E. Edwards has noted that McCain has enjoyed government hc all his life
but he would deny it to other Americans. As a long time beneficiary of
government hc he hasn't had to sift through the paperwork and work
through the red tape of the private hc/hmo industry.

*Flip Flop with SCHIP fight 2007-08?

McCain Authored Cigarette Tax, Denouncing Opponents for Not Caring About
Children
"McCain's legislative initiatives drifted more toward regulation,
taxation and expanding government. He authored a $1.10 - a- pack
cigarette tax, angrily denouncing the Republicans who voted it down for
not caring about children.
[McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, page 82]

 

See more in a Boston Globe editorial:

In 1998, McCain called for a $1.10 increase in the tax on cigarettes.
Last year, he opposed a 61-cent increase in that tax.

The flip-flop on the tobacco tax is typical of the Arizona senator's
willingness to trim his sails. In 1998, McCain was such a supporter of
raising the tobacco tax to fund a campaign to reduce smoking by youths
that industry advertisements blasted the measure as the "McCain Tobacco
Tax Bill." McCain accused the tobacco companies of having "sacrificed
the truth and our children to their greed." The industry managed
eventually to kill the bill when backers failed to get enough Senate
support to block a filibuster.

Children would also have been the beneficiaries of last year's smaller
hike in the tax: it was to support a major expansion of the State
Children's Health Insurance Program. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama both favor the increase.

Asked last fall why he opposed the 61-cent tax hike, McCain suggested
the government should not rely for children's health funding on an
activity - smoking - that it hopes to discourage. He did not even
acknowledge that the bigger tax itself would help to curb tobacco use. A
true straight-talker would have simply admitted that in Republican
primaries he did not want to be in the position of supporting a tax
increase of any kind. Back in his 2000 presidential campaign, his
advocacy of the bigger tobacco tax hike hurt him in the South Carolina
primary, which George Bush won after McCain had handily defeated Bush in
New Hampshire.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/
2008/04/13/mccains_expediency_express/

 

From: Jeremy Funk [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 12:47 PM
To: moira hildebrandtewes.com; [email-masked];
[email-masked]; [email-masked]
Cc: Brad Woodhouse
Subject: FW: Media Advisory: Tuesday, April 29 at Noon Grand Hyatt,
Tampa Bay
Importance: High

Need help - 

This one is so important that I think we should double up on pitching.
We've sent to our full FL list and u should too to the Tampa portion of
your FL list  - can u all start making calls and figure out the best
healthcare and political reporters in Tampa.  

I'll make calls later today too after I finish the TP's

-------------------------------------------------------
Jeremy J. Funk
Press Secretary, Americans United for Change
Office: 202.470.5878
Mobile: 605.366.3654
[email-masked]
<mailto:[email-masked]> 

www.americansunitedforchange.org

________________________________

From: Brad Woodhouse 
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 12:33 PM
Subject: Media Advisory: Tuesday, April 29 at Noon Grand Hyatt, Tampa
Bay

www.CANCampaign.org <http://www.cancampaign.org/> 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:              Contact:   Jeremy Funk, 202.470.5878

DATE: April 28, 2008

***Media Advisory for Tuesday, April 29th at Noon, ET, Grand Hyatt,
Tampa Bay***

Local Healthcare Advocates Respond to John McCain's Remarks in Tampa on
Healthcare, Call on McCain, Martinez to End Opposition to Expanding
Healthcare for Children, Vote to Override Bush Administration Cuts to
Medicaid 

Nurses, Healthcare Professionals, Families, Advocates Hold Press
Conference at Hotel of McCain Fundraiser to Respond to Senator's
Healthcare Remarks at Moffit Cancer Center, Call on Him, Martinez to
Support Expanding State Children's Health Insurance Program, Protect Low
Income Families from Medicaid Cuts   

Tampa, Florida - Nurses, healthcare professionals and advocates and
families concerned about the healthcare mess in America will hold a
press conference at noon in the Pelican Room at the Grand Hyatt Tampa
Bay to respond to remarks delivered by U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
at the Moffit Cancer Center and to call on him, and U.S. Senator Mel
Martinez (R-FL), to end their opposition to expanding the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and to vote to override $13
billion in Bush Administration cuts to Medicaid.  The press conference
is being organized by SEIU, the AFL-CIO, the Florida Consumer Action
Network, a USAction affiliate and Americans United for Change, among
others.  

SEIU, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, USAction, Americans United for Change and
MoveOn.org Political Action, among others, have worked together to
expand SCHIP to cover 10 million children, up from the 6 million it
covers now, and to overturn a Bush Administration directive which would
slash Medicaid funding by $13 billion, through a campaign called Change
America Now (CAN).  McCain supports Bush Administration policies on
healthcare which have resulted in millions of Americans losing health
insurance coverage over the past seven years and huge spikes in drug
prices, healthcare services and insurance premiums.  

McCain, last year, voted in the Senate against authorizing an additional
$35 billion to be spent over the next five years, the amount America in
spending in Iraq every 100 days, to expand SCHIP to cover 10 million
children.  Bush vetoed the additional funding twice and twice the House
of Representatives failed to override the vetoes.  The Congress is
likely to revisit the legislation later this year.  Martinez joined
McCain in voting against expanding SCHIP while U.S. Senator Bill Nelson
(D-FL) voted in favor of the legislation.   In the meantime, the House
of Representatives voted last week to overturn Bush Administration rules
which would slash funding for healthcare for low income Americans
through Medicaid by $13 billion.  The Senate is likely to take up that
bill in the coming months at which time McCain's vote could be critical.

 

WHO:             Nurses, healthcare professionals and advocates and
families concerned about the healthcare mess in America

WHAT:           Press Conference Responding to McCain Healthcare Remarks
in Tampa and Calling on Him to Support Expanding SCHIP and
overturning Bush Administration Efforts to Slash Medicaid by $13 Billion

 

WHEN:           Tuesday, April 29th at 12:00 PM, ET

WHERE:        Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay

2900 Bayport Dr. 

The 'PELICAN' Room

Tampa FL 33607

 

-30-

McCain Voted To Cut, Eliminate, Restrict Health Insurance Coverage for
Low Income Children and Pregnant Mothers At Least SIX Times. [SCR 27, 
Vote #76
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=105&session=1&vote=00076> , 5/21/97][S 949, Vote #149
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=105&session=1&vote=00149> , 6/27/97][HR 4810, Vote #204
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=106&session=2&vote=00204> , 7/17/00] [H.R. 976, Vote #307
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00307> , 8/2/07] [S 3, Vote #45
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00045> , 3/11/03][H.R. 3963, Vote #401
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00401> , 10/31/07] 

McCain Opposed Extending Coverage To Uninsured Children. On October 31,
2007, after President Bush vetoed the first SCHIP reauthorization,
McCain again opposed expanding SCHIP to millions of additional children.
He voted against a motion to invoke cloture and bring the
reauthorization forward for a vote before the Senate.  The motion passed
62-33. [H.R. 3963, Vote #401
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00401> , 10/31/07] 

McCain Opposed Reauthorizing SCHIP And Providing Insurance For Millions
Of Uninsured Children. In August 2007, McCain voted against passage of
H.R. 976, which would have reauthorized the State Children's Health
Insurance Program (SCHIP).  According to Knight Ridder, "The Senate
proposal would provide coverage to 3.2 million" uninsured children and
renew coverage for the 6 million children already covered by the
program.  The legislation passed 68-31. [H.R. 976, Vote #307
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00307> , 8/2/07; Knight Ridder,
8/2/07] 

*        McCain Opposed SCHIP Because It Would Cover Too Many Children.
McCain not only voted against SCHIP, he went to the Senate floor to
argue against covering millions of additional children, arguing "the
program has expanded beyond what Congress first intended. In some cases,
SCHIP coverage has been extended to middle-income children."
[Congressional Record, 8/2/07] 

*        McCain: Covering Uninsured Children Is Too Expensive. According
to the Washington Post, McCain said, "[what] was supposed to be for low-
income Americans is now up to 400 percent of the poverty level, just
like the Medicare prescription drug program, an unfunded liability."
[Washington Post, 10/10/07] 

 

April 24, 2008

House Passes Bill Challenging Bush on Medicaid Cuts 

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted Wednesday to block the Bush
administration from cutting federal spending on Medicaid
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthto
pics/medicaid/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>  health care for the
poor by $13 billion over the next five years. President Bush has
threatened a veto, but supporters have more than enough votes to
override him in the House, and maybe in the Senate, too.

Two-thirds of House Republicans joined every voting Democrat in the
349-to-62 vote to impose a one-year moratorium, through next March, on
seven rules changes that the administration said were needed to curb
waste and abuse in Medicaid, the state-federal partnership to provide
health care to the poor.

Supporters of the bill said the rules would merely shift financial
burdens to the states at a time of economic distress, while reducing
access to health care for the country's neediest people.

Representative John D. Dingell
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/john_d_din
gell/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , Democrat of Michigan and chairman of
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the rule changes were
opposed by the governors of all 50 states, state Medicaid directors and
others. "They know the devastating effects these rules would have on
local communities, upon hospitals and upon vulnerable beneficiaries,"
Mr. Dingell said.

The House vote margin was well above the two-thirds needed to override a
veto. Congress has overridden a Bush veto only once, last November on a
water projects bill. But the legislation must first move through the
Senate Finance Committee and get a vote on the Senate floor. 

The White House, in a statement Tuesday warning of a veto, said the bill
would "thwart these efforts of the federal government to regain fiscal
accountability and integrity in Medicaid." 

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "big campaign" group.

To post to this group, send to [email-masked]

To unsubscribe, send email to [email-masked]

E-mail [email-masked] with questions or concerns
 
This is a list of individuals. It is not affiliated with any group or organization.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---