Rangel blames Blue Dog Democrats for cost of health care plan

Staff Reporter

Posted August 3, 2009 9:37 AM

Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is pushing back against efforts by conservative Democrats to limit health care reform.
Rangel, the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, is supporting efforts to include a government or public option for consumers to choose from in selecting their health care. Americans are entitled to an alternative, and that's the public option," Rangel said. "I don't think there's anything for the private sector to be afraid of."
But some conservative Democrats and Republicans oppose the plan because they don't want to hurt the private insurance industry.
Rangel argued on Sunday that so-called Blue Dog Democrats have undermined efforts to control the cost of the proposed reform bill, according to Politico.com. The Harlem Democrat complained that Blue Dogs have added measures that will prevent the government insurance plan from competing effectively against private insurers.
"What the Blue Dogs have done is just increase the cost in terms of negotiating," Rangel said on "Fox News Sunday."
Rangel's concerns echo the sentiments of Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. "Even as they complain about the plan's cost, the Blue Dogs are making demands that would greatly increase that cost," Krugman wrote in his New York Times column last week.

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Source: http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2009/08/rangel-blames-blue-dog-democra-002160.php

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P.S. Blue Dog, Blue Dog?

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Who are these people, and why are they getting so much airplay?

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I mean, forgive me for digressing. But, what are the "core" values of these Blue Dogs?

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The "key" to what is at stake with the globalized government man-dated health care is that the state will control people's lives literally!

The good doctor, bad doctor treatment, ring any one's bell?

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So, what's your "take" on these Blue Dogs and their espoused cause? You know.

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*Popular expressions and cliches used ad nauseam; you know!

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Who are the current Blue Dogs?

Blue Dog Leadership Team

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA-03), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip

Blue Dog Members

Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
Baca, Joe (CA-43)
Barrow, John (GA-12)
Berry, Marion (AR-01)
Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
Boren, Dan (OK-02)
Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
Childers, Travis (MS-01)
Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
Costa, Jim (CA-20)
Cuellar, Henry (TX-28)
Dahlkemper, Kathy (PA-03)
Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
Griffith, Parker (AL-05)
Harman, Jane (CA-36)
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (SD)
Hill, Baron (IN-09)
Holden, Tim (PA-17)
Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
Marshall, Jim (GA-03)
Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
Melancon, Charlie (LA-03)
Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
Ross, Mike (AR-04)
Salazar, John (CO-03)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
Scott, David (GA-13)
Shuler, Heath (NC-11)
Space, Zack (OH-18)
Tanner, John (TN-08)
Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
Wilson, Charles (OH-06)

http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/Member%20Page.html

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Caribbean trip under scrutiny by House panel

By Susan Crabtree

Posted: 06/01/09 07:19 PM [ET]

The House ethics committee is reviewing a trip Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and several other members took to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten last year.

Ethics committee Staff Director Blake Chisam and Todd Ungerecht, counsel to the panel’s ranking member, have asked for information from a conservative group that has raised questions about a November 2008 conference at the St. Maarten Sonesta Maho Bay Resort & Casino.

Earlier, the new Office of Congressional Ethics interviewed staff members to some lawmakers who attended an event at the sun-swept resort billed as the Caribbean Multi-Cultural Business Conference.

Besides Rangel, Democratic Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick (Mich.), Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas), Donald Payne (N.J.), Bennie Thompson (Miss.) and Virgin Islands Del. Donna Christensen attended the event.

The conservative National Legal and Policy Center’s president, Peter Flaherty, traveled to St. Maarten and found evidence that corporate sponsors paid for the conference.

House rules imposed by Democrats after they took back the House in 2006 bar lawmakers from accepting travel lasting more than two days if corporations that “employ or retain a registered lobbyist” are underwriting or organizing any part of them.

Lawmakers who attended listed the New York Carib Foundation, a non-profit group affiliated with a newspaper aimed at New York City’s U.S. Caribbean immigrant community, as the sponsor.

But photos and transcripts taken by Flaherty show evidence of corporate involvement. Several banners above and below the main podium included corporate logos of Pfizer, Citigroup, IBM, Verizon, AT&T, Macy’s and American Airlines. Flaherty also heard Kilpatrick and Payne thank business “sponsors.”

Chisam and Ungerecht contacted the conservative watchdog group on May 22 to request information on the conference. Flaherty replied with a letter to the ethics committee on Friday, along with 18 photos, a transcript of the morning conference sessions, including Kilpatrick’s remarks, notes of Payne’s remarks, and a copy of the conference program.

Flaherty also filed a formal ethics complaint calling for full-fledged investigation into the trip.

“My characterization of the trip as a ‘junket’ is based on my observation that the sessions were lightly attended,” Flaherty wrote in the complaint. “Most attendees spent significant time at the beach or the pool. Members of Congress attended the sessions when they had a speaking role.”

Rangel spokesman Emile Milne declined to comment, citing the office’s “no comment” policy on ethics committee matters.

Jackson Lee’s office said she paid for the travel herself. It is unclear whether Jackson Lee used personal or office funds for the trip’s costs; her office did not respond to specific questions about how she paid for the trip.

Jackson Lee Chief of Staff Leon Buck said OCE interviewed him as well as the office scheduler about the trip in March.

“We just showed them the background information that we had received from the [New York Carib News Foundation],” Buck said.

It’s unclear whether the panel has launched a full-blown investigation into the Caribbean trip or whether the committee has expanded its ongoing probe of Rangel’s personal finances and fundraising activities to include the travel. The panel usually announces the formal launch of an investigation after taking a preliminary look into the matter.

The interviews of staffers suggest the OCE, an independent panel created last year, looked into the Caribbean trip and found enough evidence to recommend a full ethics committee investigation.

Rangel late last week predicted that the ethics panel would wrap up its investigation “very soon.” He also said he expected to be called in for questioning.

Democrats imposed stricter limits on corporate-sponsored travel to prevent the type of abuse unearthed during the Jack Abramoff scandal. Lawmakers who attended Abramoff-organized golf junkets to London and Scotland, as well as other luxurious locales, listed several nonprofits as having paid for the travel even though corporations footed the bill.

In calling for an investigation, Flaherty highlighted Payne’s public recognition of each corporate sponsor during an evening session. He also noted Payne’s denial in a previous article in The Hill that he saw posters bearing corporate logos above and below the podium where he and other speakers made remarks.

“As evident from the photographs, Payne’s representation that he did not see the logos on the podium sign or on the banner above the podium is implausible,” he said. “Corporate sponsorship was also obvious in the program and in items provided participants at registration, including a bag with the Macy’s logo on its side, and a notebook embossed with the Citigroup logo.”

Payne’s office had not responded to a request for comment by press time.

Flaherty attended the conference for more than two days until the police approached and questioned him just hours before a dinner featuring Rangel.

“I was detained on the Sonesta property by the Police Korp of St. Maarten,” he wrote. “I was questioned and my driver’s license was taken from me. I was asked where I was born, my occupation, my marital status, my purpose for visiting St. Maarten, my hotel room number and many other questions. I was released after being told that ‘conference organizers’ did not want me to attend additional events.”

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Source:http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/caribbean-trip-under-scrutiny-by-house-panel-2009-06-01.html

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Great: Ethics Panel Investigating Rangel 'Virtually Disbanded'

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Great: Ethics Panel Investigating Rangel 'Virtually Disbanded'


So nice that were living in the age of openness and transparency where everyone will now be, according to Barack Obama, taking responsibility. Well, it's pretty transparent nothing will ever come of the investigation into Charles Rangel, and the Democrats are openly flaunting it.
Nobody's home at the House ethics committee that's supposed to be investigating Rep. Charles Rangel.

The panel created on Sept. 24 to probe the Harlem Democrat's alleged ethical lapses has been virtually disbanded, after meeting only twice in four months on the matter, The Post has learned.

Of the four congressmen named to look into the powerful Ways and Means Committee chairman, only one remains - Alabama Republican Jo Bonner. The three others left the Rangel probe last month when they were "rotated" off the 10-member Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

The dormant investigation won't be jump-started until three incoming ethics committee members are assigned to the Rangel probe later this month.

Because the committee conducts its work in secret, it is not clear if any progress has been made on the Rangel investigation. In the committee's recently released 100-page report on its work in the 110th Congress, only four paragraphs mention the Rangel probe, listing five alleged ethics breaches and noting that the panel had not been able to complete the investigation.

The panel has already missed Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Jan. 3 deadline for filing a final report on Rangel.

The investigative subcommittee was convened three weeks after a Post exposé reported that the 38-year lawmaker failed to declare rental income on a beachfront villa he owns in the Dominican Republic.

Among other alleged breaches referred to Congress: Rangel's use of four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem; his use of congressional stationery to solicit donations for an academic center named in his honor at City College; his storage of a vintage Mercedes at a House parking garage; and a $1 million pledge to the Rangel Center from an oil-drilling company that benefited from Rangel-sponsored tax legislation.

Critics say the shuffling of committee members will delay an already lackluster probe.

"It will clearly slow things significantly to bring the new members up to snuff," said Norman Ornstein, a congressional analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.

"The lack of any visible activity, such as interviews with many principals or visits to the Dominican Republic or any progress report, are all discouraging."

The probers should have been required to stay on the investigation to avoid further delays, said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, an ethics watchdog group.

"Four months after the investigations started, there is no investigative subcommittee, no public hearings, and no sign of any progress whatsoever," he said.
All this from the most (ahem!) ethical Congress ever.

Source: http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2009/01/great-ethics-panel-investigating-rangel.html

Republicans call for Rangel to step aside

Tue Sep 9, 2008 5:19pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Republican leaders on Tuesday called on New York Democrat Charles Rangel to step down as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee pending a House investigation of possible ethical breaches.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Republican leaders questioned Rangel's ability to lead the committee after his lawyer revealed last week that he failed to report $100,000 of income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic.

Rangel, who has represented New York City's Harlem district for 38 years, plans to hold a news conference on Wednesday to discuss the tax filing error and to answer the Republican letter, an aide said.

Last week his attorney, Lanny Davis, told reporters that Rangel plans to file an amendment to his previous tax returns and likely has no federal tax liability on the investment.

"Given Chairman Rangel's continuing ethical lapses, he cannot effectively carry out his duties as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee," said the letter signed by House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and other Republican leaders.

The letter also took a broad swipe at the Democratic-led Congress, accusing its leaders of failing to advance legislation to encourage more domestic oil production.

Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami accused Republicans of playing politics and trying to divert public attention from financing scandals that have hurt the Republican party.

"The American people would be better served if Republicans would stop playing politics and allow the bipartisan Ethics Committee to do its job," he said in a statement.

Rangel's finances have been under scrutiny since July, when the New York Times reported that the lawmaker lived in multiple reduced-rent apartments provided under a plan to preserve affordable housing in New York City.

Rangel defended his right to maintain those below-market rentals, but agreed to give up one office that he used for campaign activities.

Rangel has asked for a congressional ethics inquiry on that matter and was considering requesting a similar review of his Dominican property, Davis told reporters last week.

(Reporting by Donna Smith, editing by Vicki Allen)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0932536420080909?sp=true