President Barack Obama:

Michelle and I were deeply saddened today to hear about the passing of Congressman John Murtha. Jack was a devoted husband, a loving father and a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years. His passion for service was born during his decorated career in the United States Marine Corps, and he went on to earn the distinction of being the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress. Jack’s tough-as-nails reputation carried over to Congress, where he became a respected voice on issues of national security. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife of nearly 55 years, Joyce, their three children, and the entire Murtha family.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

I am deeply saddened by the loss of my colleague Jack Murtha. I send my condolences to his wife, Joyce, the entire Murtha family and the people of the 12th Congressional district in Pennsylvania as they grieve his passing.

The scores of friends and colleagues who worked with Jack during his 36 years of service in Congress will miss the tenacity and passion that he brought to his job every day. Before his time in Congress, Jack served our nation admirably in Vietnam and holds the distinction of being the first Vietnam Veteran elected to the House of Representatives. The American people are safer because of the military experience that Jack Murtha brought to Congress. He will be sorely missed.

Congressman John B. Larson (D-CT), Caucus Chair:

In John Murtha, America has lost a true hero and patriot and the United States Congress has lost a giant. Our hearts go out to his wife Joyce and his entire family. John Murtha was a true gentleman whose handshake and promise you could trust. I have been lucky during my years in Congress to count him as a close friend and mentor. He has provided me, and every member of the Congress, with guidance and strength throughout his service.

Jack Murtha was the staunchest ally our military has ever had. He never backed down from a fight to make sure our brave men and women in uniform had the equipment they needed and a mission they could accomplish. He stood up for Pennsylvania and his district, never losing site of where he came from.

I am reminded at times like these of just how fleeting life can be - Jack Murtha made the most of his time. The country will miss him, this Congress will miss him and I will surely miss him.

Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee:

Jack Murtha was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in Congress and he was incredibly effective in his service in the House. He understood the misery of war. Every person who serves in the military has lost an advocate and a good friend today.

My wife Joan and I extend our sympathy and prayers to his wife Joyce, and the entire Murtha family.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus:

I was deeply saddened today when I learn of Congressman Murtha’s death. My heart goes out to the Murtha family on this solemn occasion.

For nearly half a century, whether it was on the battlefield as a Marine, the Pennsylvania state legislature or on Capitol Hill, John Murtha always led with distinction and honor.

He was a leader and a man of conviction, who had the courage to call for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq long before it was popular to do so.

Today, we have lost a friend and colleague and our country has lost a great public servant and statesman. Congressman John Murtha will be deeply missed.

Today, with the passing of Jack Murtha, America lost a great patriot. He served our country on the battlefield winning two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star. He served his country in his community winning the hearts of his constituents and served in the Congress winning the respect of his colleagues.

On Saturday, he became the longest-serving Member of Congress from Pennsylvania, and one of the most distinguished. He is well-recognized as a champion of our national security; always putting the troops and their families first. He quietly and regularly visited our men and women serving our country who were injured to assess their needs and offer them thanks and encouragement. As proud Marine, he was always Semper Fi!

The nation saw his courage writ large when he spoke out against the military engagement in Iraq – winning him the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

Jack was also a hero in advancing scientific research to fight breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. He measured the strength of our country by our military might and also by the well-being of the American people.

San Francisco lost a good friend in Jack Murtha. His leadership as Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee was essential in turning the Presidio from post to park.

Dedicated to God and Country, and devoted to Joyce and their family, Jack Murtha was a giant. All who served with him were honored to call him colleague. I was privileged to call him friend.

I hope that is a comfort to Joyce; their children, Donna Sue, John and Patrick; and their grandchildren that so many people mourn their loss and are praying for them at this very sad time.

In a statement defending the change, Anthem Blue Cross said:

“We understand and strongly share our members’ concerns over the rising cost of healthcare services and the corresponding adverse impact on insurance premiums,” the company said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, the individual market premiums are merely the symptoms of a larger underlying problem in California’s individual market — rising healthcare costs.”

Blaming rising health care costs is an interesting gambit – given the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross is WellPoint, which reported a staggering $2,740,000,000 in profits for the fourth quarter of 2009 alone – eight times more than the last quarter of 2008 – and more than $4,750,000,000 for all of 2009. In fact, the company reaped these record profits even as it lost more than 1.4 million members. Other health insurance company figures recently released show the same trend:

Earlier this week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a report showing the largest increase in health care spending in 50 years and estimates that spending on health care is projected to grow to 19.3% of the US economy by 2019, or account for 1 of every 5 dollars spent. The need for health insurance reform could never be more clear.

Ezra Klein explains how the Medicare provisions of the budget alternative would impact America’s seniors:

The proposal would shift risk from the federal government to seniors themselves. The money seniors would get to buy their own policies would grow more slowly than their health-care costs, and more slowly than their expected Medicare benefits, which means that they’d need to either cut back on how comprehensive their insurance is or how much health-care they purchase…This proposal would take Medicare from costing an expected 14.3 percent of GDP in 2080 to less than 4 percent. That’s trillions of dollars that’s not going to health care for seniors. The audacity is breathtaking.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of the Ryan proposal provisions on social security:

Traditional retirement benefits would be reduced below those scheduled under current law for many workers who are age 55 or younger in 2011…A system of individual accounts would be established in 2012. In that year, workers who are age 55 or younger would be able to participate in voluntary individual accounts, funded with a portion of their payroll taxes.

OMB Director Peter Orszag further explains:

[Rep. Paul Ryan’s] plan succeeds in addressing our long-term fiscal problem, which is a significant accomplishment. But let’s examine how he does that. He takes the Medicare program, and for those 55 and below turns it into a voucher program, so that individuals are on their own in the health care market. And the voucher does not keep pace with health care costs over time… He introduces individual accounts, privatization into Social Security. He has significant changes to the tax code that would provide large tax benefits to upper-income households, while shifting the burden onto middle and lower-income households.

Vice Ranking Member for the House Budget Committee Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) spoke about the Republican plan to privatize Social Security this week on MSNBC’s “Hardball”:

But [for] those under 55, we have to start a transition to a new system… I`m happy to say that… I`m willing to say that that part of the social contract is going to have to be reengineered… We had this debate in Social Security a few years ago. Now, ultimately, we weren’t victorious. There will be a transition. If you want to say that those under 55, as a transition, are they going to get the same deal as their parents? No, probably not.

Today, Democratic Caucus Chair John Larson (D-CT), Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA) and more than 20 original co-sponsors introduced a resolution in opposition to the Republican proposal to privatize Social Security. Rep. John Larson:

Republicans are dusting off their old playbook and re-hashing old ideas like the privatization of Social Security that the American people have already rejected. Their ideas would end the program as we know it and put the retirement security of millions of America’s seniors and workers at risk.

Rep. Linda Sánchez:

When the stock market crashed in 2008, it was apparent that the Republican’s push to privatize Social Security was a bad idea. Americans have not forgotten the dangers of tying their retirement security to the whims of Wall Street. It was a bad idea then, and it is a bad idea now. This resolution supports Americans who contribute all their working life to a retirement and want income security in their golden years.

The resolution:

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives against severe changes to Social Security.

Whereas Social Security has successfully and efficiently provided the foundation for Americans’ retirement security for generations and should be preserved for generations to come;

Whereas for 6 in 10 seniors, Social Security provides the majority of their retirement income, and Social Security provides nearly all of the income received by four out of ten widows and other non-married seniors;

Whereas Social Security’s essential protections for workers and their families cannot be matched by private savings, which are a complement to, but not a substitute for, Social Security’s guaranteed benefits;

Whereas, as one such protection, Social Security provides a guaranteed benefit that one can never outlive, and unlike private savings or investments, is not subject to the ups and downs of the stock market;

Whereas, as another such protection, Social Security benefits are indexed to inflation to maintain purchasing power over time, which is particularly important for women because they live longer on average than men, and the impact of inflation compounds over time;

Whereas, as another such protection, Social Security provides family benefits, protecting not only the worker but dependent children and the surviving spouse;

Whereas, as another such protection, Social Security not only provides a secure foundation of retirement, but it provides essential income to workers with severe disabilities and to survivors, representing, for a typical young family, a $413,000 disability insurance policy and a $430,000 life insurance policy;

Whereas, as another such protection, Social Security’s progressive benefit formula ensures that those with the least opportunity to make supplemental provision for retirement receive the greatest degree of protection from Social Security;

Whereas, for 75 years, Social Security has never been a day late or a dollar short;

Whereas the American people made clear in 2005 that they did not seek severe change in Social Security when they resoundingly rejected President Bush’s attempt to privatize Social Security in favor of preserving a secure, guaranteed foundation of retirement income free from the risks and losses of the stock market;

Whereas the current minority party plan for Social Security is even more extreme than the plan they advanced in 2005: (1) it cuts guaranteed Social Security retirement and survivor benefits for all workers, whether or not they wish to have a private account; (2) it diverts trillions from the Trust Fund into private accounts—eventually, four out of every ten dollars of Trust Fund contributions would be diverted to private accounts—threatening the ability of the Trust Funds to pay benefits to today’s seniors; (3) it increases Federal borrowing by $4,100,000,000,000; and (4) it subjects workers’ basic retirement security to market volatility and the risk of losses; and

Whereas privatizing Social Security means benefit cuts, diversion of Trust Fund resources, subjecting individuals to market risk and losses, and increasing federal borrowing by trillions of dollars: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Congress should stand with the American people to reject severe changes to Social Security, including any and all attempts to privatize Social Security, and instead should commit to work bipartisanly to make common-sense adjustments to Social Security to strengthen it for future generations while preserving its guarantees of secure income and family protection in the event of a worker’s death, retirement, or severe disability.

Speaker Pelosi on today’s report:

Today’s jobs report marks a welcome step in the right direction for our economy and our families: the unemployment rate is going down. The Recovery Act, which Congress passed one year ago to pull our economy back from the brink of collapse, has already created or saved nearly 2 million jobs so far.

Yet our work is far from over. This recession that President Obama inherited has taken the worst toll on our job market since World War II. Too many workers have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Leaders of both parties must work together to keep our recovery on track by helping small businesses create jobs, investing in our infrastructure and clean energy industries, and keeping police, firefighters, and teachers on the job. Congress will continue to act to build a new foundation for long-term prosperity.

Speaker Pelosi in support:

Read the Speaker’s full remarks»

Across the country, American workers, their families, and small businesses are struggling with rising health care costs and policies that put quality, affordable care out of reach. A new report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the magazine Health Affairs estimates that spending on health care grew to 17.3% of the U.S. economy – a record and the largest one-year jump since 1960. The report also finds health care expenditures as a share of GDP is projected to grow to 19.3% by 2019, or account for 1 of every 5 dollars spent on health care, nearly twice the world average:

The urgent need for health reform has never been more clear – failure is not an option. Experts commenting on the new report:

Richard S. Foster, Chief Actuary of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

With higher unemployment, people lose their jobs [and] many of them lose their healthcare coverage in the process. And under current law, they don’t have much to fall back on.

David Wessel, Economics Editor, Wall Street Journal:

If nothing changes, employers who still offer health insurance will pay more for it, and will pay lower wages as a result. In the Urban Institute’s best case, employer premiums per worker will rise 64% over the next decade. In the worst case? They more than double. Gulp!

Stephen Zuckerman, Health Economist at Urban Institute:

Failure to enact health reform will result in increasing numbers of people without health insurance because fewer employers will offer it and many employees will not be able to pay the cost of plans that are available…For people not offered employer coverage, many will not be able to get coverage due to pre-existing conditions that insurers won’t cover or because premiums simply won’t be affordable. Even people with coverage will find costs becoming a greater financial burden.

Karen Davis, Commonwealth Fund:

The health system is hurting, and we are seeing that in these numbers.

Los Angeles Times:

In the absence of change, the report raises a grim prospect for the country — a healthcare system consuming an ever greater and potentially unsustainable share of the economy even as private health coverage lags.

Kaiser Health News and USA Today on the state level impact:

The recession is forcing states such as Washington to pare back health insurance programs for low-income people, even as growing joblessness boosts demand for help. Five of six states that use state funds to assist adults not covered by Medicaid are considering cuts, barring new enrollment or raising fees…Some policy experts say such state programs wouldn’t be needed if a health care overhaul passes because most adults who now qualify would fit the new Medicaid enrollment guidelines or be eligible for federal subsidies.

Who Left Us With Huge Deficits?

President Bush More Than Doubled Foreign-Held Debt

Republican Budget Busting Initiatives v. Fiscally Responsible Obama Agenda

President Obama’s Proposed Budget Slashes Deficit in Half in Just Five Years

Let’s look at the record. Those same Republicans who support privatizing Social Security and handing seniors’ retirement over to Wall Street continue to stand behind big banks by consistently opposing common sense Wall Street reforms, corporate accountability and taxpayer protections.

The facts:

The House passed H.R. 384 in January 2009 to retroactively prohibit TARP-assisted institutions from granting golden parachutes to senior executives and granting bonuses to the top 25 executives. 90% (156) of House Republicans voted NO.

The House passed the Pay for Performance Act (H.R. 1664) in April 2009 to prohibit TARP-assisted institutions, and housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, from granting unreasonable or excessive compensation and bonuses not based on performance. 94% (163) of House Republicans voted NO.

The House passed the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act (H.R. 3269) in July 2009 to give shareholders a say on pay and on golden parachutes; require compensation committees in corporate boards to be made up of independent directors; require financial institutions, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to disclose their compensation structures if they include bonuses; and empower bank regulators to prohibit risky compensation practices if they imperil a bank’s safety and soundness. 99% (164) of House Republicans voted NO.

The House passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173) in December 2009 to bring transparency and accountability to our financial system, reform corporate pay practices, protect consumers from predatory lending practices, foster corporate responsibility, and end Bush-era taxpayer-funded bailouts. 100% of House Republicans voted NO.

The Wall Street Reform bill also reduced incentives for risky compensation by providing regulators with authority to prohibit proprietary trading, and to limit the size of large financial institutions when their excessive risk-taking threatens financial stability. 100% of House Republicans voted NO.

Economists react to the fastest GDP growth in six years:

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com:

I think stimulus was key to the 4th quarter. It was really critical to business fixed investment because there was a tax bonus depreciation in the stimulus that expired in December and juiced up fixed investment. And also, it was very critical to housing and residential investment because of the housing tax credit. And the decline in government spending would have been measurably greater without the money from the stimulus. So the stimulus was very, very important in the 4th quarter.

Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group:

I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen. The skeptics of the economic recovery are going to have some explaining to do.

Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago:

Wow, great number. It’s very solid and gives us a running start into the second half of the year when we can’t rely on government stimulus. That’s part of the plan, to get us moving as fast as possible so when life support is removed we’ll have a pulse.

Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co:

We are getting on to something that is pretty sustainable. Both consumers and businesses are beginning to increase spending. To get validation, we need to see a return in hiring, which we think we are going to get over the next few months.

Mark Gertler, New York University economist:

We can be a bit more optimistic that a sustainable recovery is indeed underway.

Speaker Pelosi on the news:

Today’s GDP numbers are a sign of economic progress, marking another step forward on the road to recovery and job creation, clear evidence that our efforts to revitalize the economy are starting to pay off.

From the first days of the 111th Congress, we have worked to create and save jobs, help small businesses, restore opportunity and economic security to the middle class, and lay a stronger foundation for the future. Economists of every stripe agree that our actions helped avert even greater economic catastrophe — from the Recovery Act and Cash for Clunkers to the first-time homebuyer tax credit.

Despite today’s good news, millions of Americans remain out of work and still struggle to make ends meet. Moving forward, we will continue to place jobs and our middle class at the center of our agenda — by completing work on initiatives that help small businesses start hiring, invest in infrastructure, create 4 million new jobs with affordable health care, create clean energy jobs, and protect Main Street from the recklessness of Wall Street.