by Joeb in Health Care, Politics
Posted on March 22, 2010 at 11:58 am
Last Modified on March 24, 2010 at 10:10 pm
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It is one thing for our Congressman, Mike Capuano, to vote for the Health Care bill. It is quite another for him to have inserted into that bill a benefit that will give nearly 100,000 of his constituents from $200 to $700 a month for the next ten years, at no public cost, while doing it. That took genuine genius. And it took precisely the kind of genius that those thousands of emails and phone calls nagging for the health care vote ought to respect – now and in the future.
As recently as March 10, the New York Times reported that the Student Loan bill was in trouble – with some of those same Senate Democrats who now face voting for that bill in order to support health care reform. Check it out here http://tinyurl.com/yazspz7. Realize that Mike’s district, embracing most of Northeastern, all of Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Lesley, Emerson, BU and parts of BC, and the Fenway colleges, has the highest concentration of graduate and undergraduate students on the planet, well over 100,000. Also recognize that most either don’t vote or vote at home, since those are national universities rather than local. Yet the ones who stay – and they are many, particularly in the first few years – are the most likely new voters and remain loyal for decades once started in the Democratic Party. In fact, the Massachusetts Democratic Party is the likely source for most of the progressives in politics since, oh, around 1950 or so, just as the Massachusetts Republicans were up until and including Henry Cabot Lodge and Frank Sargent (perhaps even Bill Weld).
Register that virtually all college loans are guaranteed or direct from the federal government, and that those that are guaranteed hold the “front” bank harmless from failed payments. And that the Republicans have, for decades, argued that such guarantees are critical to increasing the volume of aid, although … quite thoroughly … there has been little or no additional student aid made available through these guarantees. In other words, the guarantees only pay the bank and do not pay your loan! You’re still stuck. And the banks have made you stuck regardless of bankruptcy.
If you can follow this this far, you should also realize that our Congressman is on the Financial Services Committee, which has a unique oversight over that loan system. The reform which was “in trouble” on March 10 would have eliminated the subsidy to the banks and increased the overall volume of student grants and loans considerably. It would invest what we – as a nation – now pay the banks in students themselves, and increase both loan and grant amounts accordingly. No wonder those banks were ready to “do the nasty” to such a bill: they would lose a golden egg. And no wonder OUR Congressman knew and tracked the laying of such an egg.
What is real genius is to slip that egg into the Health Care bill. First, it’s an act of genius because the Senate now has no choice but to approve the bill. Putting it in “reconciliation” means that it will not be subject to amendments, and so the banks and their henchmen have no leverage whatsoever. Second, it’s an act of greater genius since it impacts his district more than any other, at no public expense at all, while also transforming the second largest industry in his district – health, health care planning and prevention. He has not only isolated the opposition – those same banks who prey on college loans – but he’s liberated thousands of his constituents from years of over-priced college loan payments. At no cost to the public.
How did he do so much? Well, he held out. While hundreds or thousands of liberal – but uninformed – constituents and reactionary teabaggers called and emailed his office, he negotiated this huge – really quite dramatic – change on behalf of more of his constituents – who almost never vote while he represents them – than any previous Congressional delegate, including a Speaker and three Kennedys.
Think of this genius while you also celebrate how well he negotiated protections for our state’s MassHealth, which was also in serious jeopardy in the course of this recent debate. There are 435 seats in the House, and I would be very, very surprised if any other got as much for his or her district. In both health – the obvious – and in education, Congressman Capuano has set a bar few, if any elected representative could ever match. When you add $1billion for the Green Line, a concurrent discussion of 1 Gigabyte telecommunication speed through Google, this district is clearly distinct and one of the most powerful distinctions is its Congressman. Those who complained about his late “conversion” to health care should recognize what that timing really produced.
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I believe that’s what the call an earmark. That’s what almost every congressman does – manipulates the bill/budget passage system to flow money to his or her district. So earmarks are good now?
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No, that is absolutely NOT an earmark, Knut! An earmark is when a special project ONLY in your district is inserted in what is usually a budget bill. And, yes, many earmarks are – and have been for decades – quite good, for this and almost every district. And, no, earmarks are no longer possible without clear attribution and notice.
But re-organizing all of higher ed, Pell Grants and Loans, and financing for the next twenty years is hardly, under any conditions, an earmark. Recognizing that there are so many who would benefit in your district, that is POLITICS, not an earmark! Inserting that transition in a bill not easily amended, not easily undermined by the banks and Sallie Mae who have billions of profits to win by killing a bill already discussed in the news, on the floor of the house, and, for the past six months, by advocates and enemies, oh, that is hardly an earmark, Knut! That’s politics. And it is truly extraordinary, almost without precedent, and an important strategic insight quite rare in congress. That is real politics, Knut, and it affects millions of young adults and will substantially improve the educational opportunity of an entire generation.
Quietly slipped in just before a vote that has almost no chance of being changed in the Senate, ah, that is the skill and science of political wisdom rarely seen from any member of the House. No, Knut, you’re wrong about the earmark and you’re really wrong about money to the district. Just because we’ve got more colleges than any other similar region in the world, well, that’s just fine. Now, if those students would realize on what side their bread was buttered, and actually vote, well, that might be called politics as well.
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One more thing, Knut. The higher ed line costs the taxpayer nothing. No thing. Not any money. It is self funding from the college loan fund. It used to be a charity to pay the banks for managing the paperwork. Well, computers have reduced that need, and the billions we paid them proved a little outrageous. So it’s now going to be a direct loan from the US Government to the next generation, at cheap interest (but still twice what the US pays for the money in the first place), for a long time.
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You can spin it how you want, it’s still an earmark. It’s a proposal attached to a unrelated bill for the purpose of and unobstructed passage.
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This is great! We love that Mikey “my trunk is always open” Capuano! Capuano is making sure that we too have our snouts in the trough!
uh…er…. who is going to pay for all this pork that you “progressives” demand/whine-for? Oh yeah… our kids and grandkids. Better them than me. Right, guys?
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How does a post get to be “top rated?” Surely Joeb’s post should be top rated, in my opinion. I for one am happy we have a congressman who not only votes for the health care bill but also manages to help students at the same time. And thank you, Joeb, for your helpful explanation of what happened.
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Dear well-meaning Knut,
You can call it a whip for all I care, but earmark has a specific meaning quite different. Look it up here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmark_(politics), or here http://tinyurl.com/yalpauw. Both will tell you that it’s district or specific constituency based, that it has little history outside the specific instance, and that it is usually short term. This doesn’t fit any of those things, and wouldn’t even connect with Mike were there not so many colleges in his district. It works just as much in California or Nevada or Florida, and its impact is projected for at least a decade. Finally, and this makes both you and Xumi equally infantile, it actually costs less than paying those banks and intermediaries so much for so little. Since it is primarily financed from the loans themselves, which actually make money for the treasury (since we borrow at 1.5% and lend at 3%) would that we could really find earmarks like the reform this represents!
Really, guys you ought to do your homework before you shoot off your mouth. Look up the term before you invent its application, or you sound as idiotic as a teabagger. And, incidentally, you might look that up as well (http://tinyurl.com/nnhg8x). It’s that second definition which makes the average teenager giggle and blush at the stupidity of your friends language.
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From your link.
An earmark is an item that is inserted into a bill to direct funds to a specific project or recipient without any public hearing or review.
And no, this bill is not specific, you’re right, but because this bill is hidden, but it did not receive any public hearing or review and in my book that’s an earmark. I believe this bill drew protests from several democratic senators, that actually support student loan but believe hiding it in another bill is not the right way to go.
I see you’re on the kick of flinging insults. May I point you omitted such good ones as Nazi (always works), fascist (similar but has that good familiar feeling) and the all time favorite, ninnyhammer.
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No, just ninny is enough. If you’d check my initial story, the article from the NYTimes on March 10 shows well that the bill had already begun a round of hearings, and that they were, in turn, a result of several years of study and commission reviews and recommendations. That is hardly the earmark of a political earmark.
For that matter, virtually all Senators are in favor of “student loans,” but some are also in the pockets of the private loan sharks who have dominated the business for about a decade, when Bush “privatized” what had earlier been a public system. It really is a ninny (see here http://tinyurl.com/l47dkl) who continues a debate when he knows as little as you’ve shown yourself to know. I’m finished with it, so, if you want, you can have the last word.
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I’m very pleased to hear of this conspiracy to take government subsidies away from private student loan companies. Where did you find out about this? And did you read David Leonhardt in the NYT today? About Obama ending the Age of Reagan? That was delicious.
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This has nothing to do with anything, but I need to say it because I just can’t control myself.
While I enjoy reading the posts on this subject, it struck me that 95%of the media references, not just for this story, but for all, are to sources outside Somerville.
It’s really very sad that neither so called “newspaper” in this city can do anything but copy press releases, attend and report on free food events, and in the case of the free paper, chase ambulances and manage to assassinate the English languge in every edition.
I feel better now. Thanks.
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Somerspeak,
An additional option that you might register is that, besides the limited coverage available or intended by local media, some Somerville initiated changes have much, much larger consequence and impact. In really nice ways, doing something here affects many, many people elsewhere, usually with very positive results. The student aid and health initiatives are just two, and they are hardly the biggest, best, or most significant.
And, furthermore, while local media don’t always initiate, they usually do cover – and if they don’t they welcome contributions – like yours, mine, and others. Keep in mind, they have very meager budgets; the university folk have virtually nothing to do with them (in spite of plenty of capacity); the immigrants don’t trust them, with some reason and lots of linguistic justification; and the long term working class (who they do try to engage) won’t write for them. So, what do you expect? When you find problems, solve them, don’t get caught in complaining, although I’m glad you now feel better…. hehehe
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