Things are looking up on the healthcare front:
House leaders laid plans to hold what Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a “historic” vote on health care as soon as late next week, aides said Friday, while President Obama pushed back an upcoming trip to Asia by three days to remain in Washington.
….Under the latest plan, which was still being developed this week, the House would accept the version of health-care reform that the Senate approved on Christmas Eve, with the promise that Congress would adopt adjustments to the new law soon after. The timetable under consideration would put the bill up for a final vote in the House on March 19 or 20.
That’s only a week away. And it gets even better!
Democratic Congressional leaders struck a tentative agreement on Thursday that breathes new life into President Obama’s proposed overhaul of federal student loan programs. The deal would bundle the bill into an expedited budget package along with the Democratic health care legislation, which would allow for both measures to be passed by the Senate on a simple majority vote.
….The bill would end government payments to private, commercial student lenders, leaving the government to lend directly to students. It would also redirect billions of dollars to expand the Pell grant program for low-income students, and to pay for other education initiatives.
Now we’re talking. A vote by next weekend, and while we’re at it we’ll also end the insane practice of paying banks billions of taxpayer dollars to make federally guaranteed loans that the federal government can make directly for a lot less. That’s what we elected these guys for.
