Republican Party Kills Elizabeth Warren's Student Loan Refinancing Bill With Another Filibuster

Yesterday, the Republicans successfully filibustered Elizabeth Warren's Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act. All 44 cosponsors are Democrats and all 38 filibusterers were Republicans. It needed 60 votes but fell 4 short. Murkowski (R-AK) and Corker (R-TN) somewhat fearlessly crossing the aisle and Susan Collins (R-ME)-- living in total dread of Democratic challenger Shenna Bellows-- reluctantly tagging along. Yes, she voted to end the filibuster but put that in the context of what her her pal, right wing extremist Rick Santorum, candidly said. Mike Lux reporting from Amtrak:

After a while I got up to go get something from the café car, and it turns out the guy sitting behind me was Rick Santorum, which makes it all the more fun and all the more interesting. So pretty much the whole trip this guy is working his cell phone, talking to people about how anyone is better than McCain and Giuliani would be better than McCain because then at least he wouldn't betray the conservative movement… yeah, Giuliani is bad on some issues like abortion, but at least he would stand with the conservative movement. He was saying that there are people like Susan Collins who vote moderate sometimes, but at least she is a team player who always plays with the team and never plays against the conservative side even if she has to give the liberals a vote because she's from Maine.

She also enables the Republican Party and unless Shenna Bellows beats her in November, there's a better than even chance that it will be Susan Collins who is the vote to replace Harry Reid with Mitch McConnell as the Majority Leader of the Senate and gives the GOP control of the entire federal legislature! Yesterday, in leading the filibuster against the legislation, McConnell hissed that "Senate Democrats don’t actually want a solution for their students. They want an issue to campaign on." Every Democrat (plus 3 Republicans) voted for that solution. McConnell and all but those 3 Republicans voted to give the Democrats something to campaign on. Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, said "Instead of fighting for working families and college affordability, some members of Congress are fighting to keep their millionaire constituents from paying their fair share of taxes." He had McConnell in mind, not Elizabeth Warren. "It is frustrating to watch the Senate refuse to even debate this bill while $1.2 trillion dollars in student debt stifles our generation’s opportunities," said Young Invincibles Deputy Director Rory O’Sullivan. "We are deeply disappointed that the Senate voted to block a measure that would have provided immediate relief to America’s student loan borrowers." In imploring the Republicans to stop their ugly, partisan filibuster, Elizabeth Warren went on the floor to say that "With this vote, we show the American people who we work for in the United States Senate: billionaires or students."

Bellows is often referred to as the "Elizabeth Warren of civil liberties," and while that makes sense, it underplays her ferocious commitment to the bread and butter issues that Elizabeth Warren is so completely identified with and that Bellows' campaign is so keenly focused on. She's been one of the more persistent supporters of the Bank on Students legislation of any candidate in the country. Moments after the Republicans filibustered it, I found a statement Shenna had made on the topic:

17 years ago, I graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in international politics and economics. The daughter of a carpenter, I worked hard to get into the school of my choice, and my experience at Middlebury prepared me well for a future of choices. Even with significant student loan debt that it left me with. It took me 10 years to pay off those loans, but I was set up for success. My government, my college, my country, wanted me to pay off those loans in the easiest and fastest way possible. Because it was good for all of us for me to do so. But things were different back then. Since 2000, unemployment in Maine has more than doubled, going from 3.5% to 7.7% in 2012. The unemployment rate for college graduates from the class of 2013 is at 10.9%. These students worked hard to get into college, made sacrifices along the way, and now, with few jobs available and loan collectors at their door, they feel betrayed by a promise unfulfilled. This is not the America I experienced when I graduated with my own debt.

Senator Elizabeth Warren's bill would reform student loans, so that students with existing debt are not further burdened by skyrocketing interest rates. I support her bill to “bank on students,” and I will be a champion in the United States Senate on student loans.

Last year, 260,000 college graduates were stuck working at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. This is more than twice as many as in 2007, the year the recession began. Ironically, the United States Senate recently failed to advance a bill on raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. My opponent, Republican Susan Collins, voted with her Republican colleagues against this bill. This vote did not just fail the 96,000 Mainers who would have received a raise. This vote particularly failed college graduates who are facing rising interest rates while trying to scrape together a living off of $7.25 an hour. Their loans are due-- many of their loans are past due-- and yet even those who can find work are earning so little that it will make no difference to their rising debts.

Just before I launched my campaign for U.S. Senate, I met a woman who told me with anger and sadness that her college-educated son and his wife are living with her at home because they can only find part-time work. Young people in this state are graduating with record levels of student loan debt, and they can’t find jobs.

Maine is ranked 7th in the nation for student loan debt. The average student in this state is burdened by $29,352 in debt, and with the unemployment rate as high as it is, finding ways to pay off those loans feels like an insurmountable task.

But it’s important to remember that this bill isn’t just good for our young people. It’s also good for our economy. Crushing student loan debt is choking our economic growth. The profit that is going into the government coffers is money that young people can’t spend purchasing houses, buying cars, starting a small business, or paying for the everyday goods and services that keep our economy running. We are mortgaging our country's future.

The burden on our young people is devastating and for many, permanent. Those whose loans have soared past hundreds of thousands of dollars have simply given up. One in seven borrowers defaults on federal student loans within three years of beginning repayment. Other borrowers are just barely keeping their heads above water-- in total, 30% of Federal Direct student loan dollars are in default, forbearance, or deferment. Student loans have taken our young people hostage. And it’s time we freed them of this burden.

Yesterday, as the GOP was filibustering the dreams of millions of American students, Bellows was releasing her first TV ad (up top). It's a nod to Paul Wellstone's famous Fast Paul ad and offers a very personal introduction to Bellows, her family and her roots. Maine isn't the most expensive media market in the country. A moderate amount of money goes a long way. Collins has already raised $3,882,472, while Shenna has raised $1,024,500. She's going to need people like us to keep it up between now and November. Would you like to see another Elizabeth Warren in the Senate? This is what it costs to run this ad in various Maine TV markets on some specific shows. How about picking one or more and making a contribution here?

• Bangor- WLBZ- NBC News Center $135
• Bangor- WLBZ- Dr. Phil $45
• Portland- WCSH- Today Show $50
• Portland- WMTW- Ellen $85
• Portland- WCSH- Bill Green's Maine $220
• Portland- WMTW- Jeopardy $60
• Presque Isle- WAGM- CBS News Sunday Morning $80

And Warren and the Democrats are not giving up. Bellows can be very helpful to them in passing the bill next year or the year after, whenever they have enough Democrats in the Senate to get it through. "At this point," warned Warren after the filibuster, "most Republicans want us to quiet down and fade away. They don't want us to point out that this morning, most Republicans said it was more important to protect the tax loopholes for billionaires than to cut the rates on student loans. I think it is time to come back louder than ever. I think it is time to show up at campaign events and town halls and ask every single Republican who voted against this bill why protecting billionaires is more important than giving our kids a chance to pay off their loans. I think we need to ask, and ask again, and ask again… In Washington, I hear people say that 'Elections have consequences.' I'd like to shift that just a little bit and say 'Senate votes have consequences, too.' When Republicans vote to force students to keep paying high interest rates on students loans in order to plug the budget holes from tax breaks for billionaires, then it's time to hold those Republicans accountable. I don't plan to let this issue die. I plan to fight back. And I hope people all across this country will do exactly the same." Let's make sure Shenna Bellows is right there with her fighting that battle. If Dave Brat can win in VA-07, don't let any know-it-all pundit tell you what is and what isn't "possible."

DOES MENTAL HEALTH MATTER? CRAZY REPUBLICANS DON'T THINK SO

If you've ever moseyed over to the DownWithTyranny video library and watched some of the clips I've made, you have probably noticed that whenever I need a graphic of a hero, like I did recently for the songs "Which Side Are You On? by Natalie Merchant and "Working Class Hero" by Marianne Faithfull, I dig up shots of Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, and... Paul Wellstone.

I don't want people to ever forget who Paul Wellstone was or what he stood for. Something tells me a bill that passed in the House yesterday, H.R. 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, will go a lot deeper in furthering that goal than my little YouTube clips. This bill was one of Paul's passions, something he fought for for many years. It was sponsored and finally passed by Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and a retiring Republican, Jim Ramstad from Paul's home state. Ramstad said it was the one big thing he wanted accomplished before he retired after it languished for years under Republican rule. Oddly enough, of the 46 Republicans Ramstad convinced to break with the cruel and selfish GOP caucus to vote with the Democrats to pass this ten (like Ramstad) are retiring. I suspect many of them would not have broken ranks with Boehner & Blunt, Inc. if they were looking towards a future in Congress.

The bill passed 268-148 and the purpose is to end discrimination against patients seeking treatment for mental illnesses by prohibiting insurers and group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations when they offer mental health benefits that are more restrictive from those applied to medical and surgical services. Speaker Pelosi stepped down to take the floor so she could push the bill:

"This is an issue of national significance. Every year, mental illness results in 1.3 billion lost days of work or school. That adds up to more lost productivity for mental illness than arthritis, stroke, heart attack and cancer combined. Yet bipartisan and independent research shows that there is no significant cost to insuring mental illness like any other medical disease. This legislation will be especially relevant for our returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who later become employed in the private sector. This will be potentially lifesaving for those brave men and women who served in the National Guard and Reserves, but who don't receive VA care for their entire lives."

Extreme right wingers did their best (worst) to sabotage the bill, which had 47 Republican backers and all the Democrats save 3 reactionary swine who often vote with the GOP (Jim Marshall and Nick Lampson, of course, and Ruben Hinojosa). Ironically one of the saboteurs was the extremist hack who represents Wellstone's hometown of Northfield, John Kline (R-MN). Kline failed but he made a motion to recommit (kill the bill) so a weaker Senate version could be substituted. Kline riled up the fanatics by falsely claiming that the legislation would force health care providers to offer abortions on mental-health grounds, even though he is well aware that a bill passed in 2005-- which he voted on-- allows providers to opt out of providing abortions on the grounds of "conscientious objection." The reactionary Democrats who voted with Kline to recommit the bill were Jason Altmire (PA), Dan Boren (OK), Henry Cuellar (TX), Lincoln Davis (TN), Joe Donnelly (IN), Brad Ellsworth (IN), Gene Green (TX), Ruben Hinojosa (TX), Nick Lampson (TX), Jim Marshall (GA), Jim Matheson (UT), Mike McIntyre (NC), Solomon Ortiz (TX), Silvestre Reyes (TX), and of course, Heath Shuler (NC).

A great many of the Republicans who abstained or voted yes are in precarious re-election bids in November and are afraid to stick with the GOP party line and vote against measures popular with voters. Among the out of character Republican extremists who didn't vote against it yesterday were Tim Walberg (MN), Ric Keller (FL), Marilyn Musgrave (CO), Vern Buchanan (FL), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Charlie Dent (PA), Don Young (AK), the Diaz-Balart Brothers (FL), Vito Fossella (NY), and Robin Hayes (NC).

Dennis Shulman, is both someone with a disability-- he is blind-- and a healer-- he is a psychologist and a rabbi. He is also running for Congress in northern New Jersey against one of the leaders of the Replublican move to destroy this bill, Scott Garrett. I couldn't think of anyone better qualified to ask about why a congressman from an affluent, politically moderate, well-educated area like Bergen County would vote against a bill like this. He reminded me that this is consistent with Garrett's voting record which is always against social action to give a hand to working and middle class Americans. "What troubles me deeply about Scott Garrett," said Dennis, "is that he cannot distinguish between the Bridge to Nowhere and Head Start, that he prefers corporate welfare to companies like Halliburton to ensuring that people suffering with treatable mental illnesses receive the care they need. As a pyschologist and a rabbi, I see the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act as a clearcut issue of both science and ethics, and am proud to support a bill named after one of my political heroes."

Which side are you on? How did your congresscritter vote? How about lending a hand-- or $5 or $20-- and help replace a reactionary like Scott Garrett with a thoughtful progressive like Dennis Shulman.


UPDATE: TIME TO CLEAN THE RIGHT WING RUBBISH OUT OF THE HOUSE

As we mentioned earlier, all Democrats except for 3 reactionaries who like voting with the GOP whenever they can, supported mental health care equality. Democratic challengers who are running against right-wing Republican incumbents were quick to point out to voters in their districts, the way Dennis Shulman did (above) how their stand on this issue contrasts sharply with the right wing extremists. Ron Shepston, for example, is running against California's most fanatic and hardcore wingnut, Gary Miller, someone who has personally demonstrated what happens when mental illness goes untreated. Ron talked with constituents about it froma  person perspective:

My brother has been diagnosed with a mental illness but won’t tell us what it was. Before she passed away, my mom was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic so this issue is very close to home for me. Mr. Miller’s complete disregard for the consequences of marginalizing those with mental illness in an ill-conceived pursuit of economic nirvana displays a scary callousness so characteristic of Republican members of Congress. Given all the facts Americans would make the decision that the kind of society they want to live in would be one which considered those who struggle with mental illness in while contributing to society. Republicans’ only hope is to obscure the facts.

Eric Massa jumped right on this early this morning and put out a press release that pointed out that his out-of-touch, rubber stamp opponent, Randy Kuhl was one of only two of New York's 29 congressmembers to vote no. "The Wellstone bill is one of the most important mental health bills ever to pass the House, but once again Randy Kuhl has decided to stand against families," said Eric. "If this legislation had been in place a few years ago, it's quite likely that the tragedy of Virginia Tech could have been averted. New Yorkers don't deserve to have a Congressman who consistently puts the priorities of George Bush and insurance lobbyists over those of our own families. Mr. Kuhl stood against our children four separate times during the SCHIP debate and now he stands against those that need our help the most. The working families of Western New York want a Congressman who will represent their values in Congress, not insurance lobbyists, and that's exactly why I am running."
 
Heather Wilson is running--pointlessly-- for the U.S. Senate, but she still represents, in a rubber stamp kind of way, New Mexico's 1st CD. The progressive Democrat running against her is Martin Heinrich, the kind of Democrat who stands for real family values, not the ones that disguise selfishness and bigotry. This is what Martin told us a few minutes ago:

Paul Wellstone was a true American patriot and a hero of mine. I strongly support this legislation that addresses an important issue Senator Wellstone consistently championed: seeking an end to discrimination against mental health patients. This is a bipartisan piece of legislation that even our Republican Senator Pete Domenici supported. The fact that Heather Wilson stood with health care lobbyists instead of for the rights of mental health patients is troubling. I look forward to both replacing her in Congress and helping my friend Tom Udall keep her out of the U.S. Senate.

BRIBERY FAILED... SORT OF, KIND OF

This from this afternoon's CongressDaily:

Groups that opposed a mental health parity bill that passed the House Wednesday gave five times the amount of campaign contributions to lawmakers than proponents over the past two years, according to data from MapLight.org, a nonprofit organization that tracks campaign money and members' votes. The average contribution from the bill's opponents, generally businesses and insurers, was about $37,000 from 2005 to 2007. Two-thirds of the members who received those contributions voted against the bill, translating into a $22,000 average contribution for a no vote.

...Maplight's data showed AFLAC Inc., the National Restaurant Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce among the big spenders who opposed the mental health parity bill... NRF Employee Benefits Policy Counsel Vice President Neil Trautwein, who chairs an ad hoc business coalition opposing the House bill, said active lobbying on the part of his group kept the 268-148 vote well below a veto-proof margin, which was a concern.

PICK THE CHARACTERISTIC YOU'D LIKE MOST IN YOUR POLITICAL LEADERS: FEAR OR COURAGE

One of the premises of Glenn Hurowitz's brilliant new book, Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party, is that voters are attracted to-- even crave-- strong and resolute leadership, even above and beyond issue agreement. "Voters," writes Hurowitz, "continue to look for candidates who will stand up and fight for their principles-- even if they happen to disagree with those principles."

He points to how this resolute image helped a progressive hero like Paul Wellstone, who was widely admired for voting his convictions-- sometimes less than popular convictions-- as well as arch-villain George Bush, who has successfully employed a 7 year multimillion dollar P.R. effort to portray himself as a strong leader even while he is a cowardly, vacillating and weak individual... pigheaded and stubborn but neither strong nor anchored in principle.

Throughout his book, Hurowitz points out how shallow, shifting, fearful Democrats have suffered at the polls by listening to the valueless consultants urging them to abandon progressive principles in a quest or the ever-shifting quicksands of an illusory "middle ground."

Less than half the voters even know where candidates stand on the most crucial issues of the day, and when politicians "seem to be shifting their agenda out of political expediency and not out of conviction, it hurts them when voters are considering whether or not Democrats are 'strong leaders' or 'have integrity, two measures that matter far more than a candidate's issue positions."

This is Hillary Clinton's fatal flaw. Shifting is the exact prescription the corporately-funded DLC is always urging Democrats to do to survive and it is why Democrats have fared so poorly in the last decade.

This week's Time includes a piece by Mark Halperin and Amy Sullivan, "How America Decides," that confirms much of Hurowitz's thesis but points out significant differences between the ways Democratic voters and Republican voters see politics.

As Hurowitz's research proves, both Democrats and Republicans are looking for strong leadership, although Republicans are far more concerned with "strong moral character" than are Democrats, while Democrats are far more concerned with good judgment and in finding politicians who care about people than Republican voters are.

Halperin and Sullivan claim that just over half of Republican voters consider issue agreement the #1 factor in backing a candidate, while they claim-- in direct contrast to Hurowitz's more rigorous and better analyzed research-- that 71% of Democrats are issue-oriented when it comes to deciding on a candidate. Hurowitz shows that voters actually use party identification more than actual detailed knowledge of issue stands.

The Time article claims economic issues are more important to Democrats than to Republicans (46% to 25%) and national security is more important to Republicans (47% to 23%). Democrats care far more about health care, the environment, the Iraq war, employment issues, and our nation's image and influence abroad. Republicans care much more than Democrats about same sex marriage, future terrorist attacks and illegal aliens. (It's very ugly being a Republican.)

YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT "BETTER DEMOCRATS" MEANS? WATCH A LITTLE VIDEO

This video made me cry. The right always kills people like this though.

We need more Democrats like Paul Wellstone, not compromised pieces of crap with arms and legs.