June 2009

Climate Change Bill
Update: 6/26 8:00 PM: H.R. 2454 passes the House 219 - 212. Congressman Rangel votes in favor of passage (to see a digest of his last 10 votes, head here.)

In the News: The Associated Press reports, "Obama Scores Major Victory on Climate."

Health Care Reform
The Lowdown: President Obama has insisted that the time is now for health care reform, and Congressman Rangel agrees. We are working hard to reach consensus and hammer out quality legislation that is affordable and covers every American. The Congressman has said that we are close to coalescing around an outline of health-care legislation that would create a public health insurance option and include a mandate requiring employers to provide insurance.

Update: 06/19 3:00 PM: The heads of the three committees with jurisdiction over health care policy − Charles Rangel of Ways & Means, Henry Waxman of Energy & Commerce, and George Miller of Education & Labor − release draft legislation that reforms our health care system.

To read the bill in its entirety, read summaries, or leave your own thoughts, head to our blog post.

Here are a few words from Congressman Rangel:
"President Obama issued a call to action to reform our nation’s health care system and the House Committees have answered in an unprecedented way, working as one to produce a draft that will help control costs, preserve and expand coverage and strengthen Medicare and Medicaid. In the coming weeks, we will continue working with our colleagues and stakeholders to move this draft forward so we can create a new day in American health care that will benefit our nation for generations to come."

Update: 06/09 4:45 PM: Congressman Rangel met with the President regarding Health Care. Here are a few of the Congressman's words, following the meeting:

“We could not ask for a better leader than President Obama to put America back on track for economic recovery and work to fix our broken health care system,” said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY).  “President Obama issued a call to action and Congress is responding, working with him to engage stakeholders and interest groups across the nation to build upon what works in our current health system and fix what is broken to ensure affordable, quality care for all.  Today’s meeting underscored that we share the same principles and commitment to health reform and we look forward to President Obama’s continued leadership to make this critical effort a reality.”

To read the full Ways & Means release, including an outline of the potential reform, click here.

Update: 06/08 7:46 PM: US Rep Rangel Discusses Health-Care Bill After Closed Meeting − Read about the latest in negotiations in this Wall Street Journal article.

Digital Transition
Update: 06/11 3:00 PM Visit our In Focus page to prepare yourself for the switch from analog to digital occurring tomorrow.

The Lowdown: According to the DTV web site: "On Friday, June 12th, the nation's full-power television stations will switch to all-digital programming. This will mean that analog television sets that are not connected to a converter box, cable, or satellite will stop working. The transition is critical because it will free up airwaves for broadband and enhanced emergency communications for our police officers, firefighters, and other first responders.

Earlier this year, President Obama and Congress worked to delay the digital television transition, because it was clear that many Americans would have been left in the dark had the conversion gone on as planned. In the months since then, we have worked to assist millions with the transition, particularly those in our most vulnerable communities."

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