November 6th, 2009

There are two articles out of Pittsburgh today, talking about the area’s residents’ views and actions on healthcare reform.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, an article about Rep. John Murtha saying that he doesn’t expect healthcare reform to happen until 2010:

“The health care overhaul working its way through Congress probably won’t reach the president’s desk until next year, Rep. John Murtha said Thursday.

Murtha’s comments during an interview with the Tribune-Review were made as the House prepared for a rare Saturday vote on Democrats’ health care plan, which picked up coveted endorsements from the AARP and American Medical Association. Thousands of opponents to the bill gathered on the Capitol lawn around noon to denounce the bill and rally around House Republicans who oppose it.

Opponents, such as Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann, billed the rally as a last-ditch effort to stop the Democrats’ bill, but Murtha said a final bill remains months away.

“I don’t think it’ll get through this year,” said Murtha, D-Johnstown. Though the House version will pass soon, the Senate is working on its own version. “You’ve got the holidays. You’ve got all these things coming up. You’ve got Afghanistan. It’s just not likely that the Senate, slow as they are anyway, is going to come up with” a version of the bill, and reconcile it with the House’s, before year’s end.

Murtha said he will support the House bill, though he wants Democratic leaders to increase government reimbursement rates to hospitals. Most small hospitals in Western Pennsylvania are in danger of bankruptcy, he said.”

[Read more.]

And from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a story about Pittsburgh residents who traveled to Washington, D.C. to protest healthcare reform:

“Mr. McCoy, a union member and registered Democrat, came down with four busloads of Pittsburgh-area residents in a trip organized by Jeff Steigerwalt of Franklin Park. Mr. Steigerwalt — wearing a red, white and blue lei — estimated that about 200 people, wearing American flag pins that said “Pittsburgh tea party,” paid the $49 for a bus ride down — and they only started organizing the trip Monday.

The noon rally featured speeches from Republican members of Congress and celebrities, and chants of “Kill the bill” and “No you can’t,” a play on President Barack Obama’s chief campaign slogan.

Another popular proclamation: “You lie!”

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., the man who shouted the phrase at Mr. Obama during an address to Congress, was among yesterday’s speakers.

Though the topic of the day was health care, the tea partiers’ grievances were many: climate change legislation that would create a cap-and-trade pollution market, bailouts for banks and the auto industry, and out-of-control national debt. The protesters accused Mr. Obama and Congress of leading the nation down a path to communism.

“Things are not right in this country,” said Larry Thomas, 60, of Cranberry. “We’re going to wake up one of these days and the lights are going to be on and it will be like, ‘Where did my country go?’ “

[Read more.]