Democratic incumbent Louise Slaughter is one of the most liberal members of the House of Representatives, and proudly so. She’s quick-witted, a master zinger-slinger, and energetic. Her folksy populism marinates in an endearing Kentucky accent, but she can get down in the weeds, too — she’s a microbiologist — and discuss in minute detail the best circumstances to grow algae for conversion to gasoline, for example. Slaughter’s critics like to say, “Sure, she’s likeable, but what has she done?” The answer is quite a lot.
Affordable Care Act
Posted inNews & Opinion
MEDICINE: Rochester faces health-care calamity
There is a time bomb hidden in this whole health-care debate, and it has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act. This potential catastrophe is a result of the Budget Control Act that President Obama signed into law in 2011. Unless Congress and the president act to change the law, 8 percent will be […]
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Ann Romney’s flawed speech: What’s love got to do with it?
Praise flowed for Ann Romney even before she delivered her speech at the Republican National Convention last night. Hours earlier, Republicans nominated Mitt Romney for president. But Romney, polls indicate, is having trouble with women and minority voters. And it was on Ann Romney’s shoulders to help recast his image in an effort to endear […]
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Massachusetts’ low uninsured rate has political implications
Massachusetts has the lowest rate of residents without health insurance of any state in the US. That’s a simple fact, released this morning by the Census Bureau. But it has massive political overtones: Massachusetts has a health insurance system that is the basis of Obamacare. And that system — including an individual mandate — was […]
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NEWS BLOG: Health care ruling causes GOP messege scramble
One of the most interesting outcomes of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act is how unusually off message the GOP has been. Their talking points have been like marbles rolling in all directions. While talking about Governor Mitt Romney’s promise to repeal the ACA, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal referred to the law […]
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NEWS BLOG: Does Supreme Court health-care ruling jeopardize civil-rights laws?
Several commentators have been highlighting an important but largely overlooked aspect of yesterday’s Supreme Court health-care ruling: the decision related to the expansion of Medicaid. Under the Affordable Care Act, states are encouraged to expand Medicaid coverage; to make it attractive for all states to do that, the federal government will pay the full cost […]
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NEWS BLOG: Democrats need to stand up – proudly – for health-care bill
There’ll be a lot learned over the next few days, and a lot written, about this morning’s Supreme Court ruling, but one thing’s clear: Republicans want to make this a key issue in the presidential and Congressional campaigns Conservative groups are furious. (“The US Constitution died today,” says a press release from Americans for Limited […]
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Supreme Court upholds Obamacare
Reports from the New York Times, SCOTUSblog, and MSNBC say that the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote has upheld the Affordable Care Act. The law, which has become known as Obamacare, is President Obama’s signature piece of first-term legislation. The court’s decision appears to interpret the law’s requirement to purchase health insurance as a […]
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‘Something has gone very wrong with America’: Krugman and Wells
For President Obama’s supporters, this is a tense time as they wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act. If the court strikes down the act, or even the individual-mandate portion, it’ll make it that much harder for Obama to win a second term. I still think Obama did the right thing […]
