WASHINGTON — Despite a new requirement for disclosure, some members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation have tucked lists of requests for special appropriations, known as earmarks, in obscure corners of their official websites, making the proposals more difficult for the public to find.
The latest edition of an annual health care poll conducted by Mass Insight suggests most people don’t find the price they pay for health coverage to be a serious problem. The poll, which will be officially released next week, also shows a large majority of people don’t want to give up anything when it comes to health coverage or the freedom to choose whom they see for medical help.
He agreed to an increase in the regressive sales tax. Local aid is highly dependent on an even more regressive tax we like to call the lottery. The governor continues to support casino gambling. Meanwhile, his modest attempts to close corporate tax loopholes have led him to lower the corporate tax rate.
Massachusetts offers a number of economic-development tax credits that are simply awarded by state officials or claimed by recipients on their tax returns. For many of these programs, the state does not disclose which companies received them. The Patrick administration, to its credit, has filed legislation requiring public disclosure.
This raises the question, if workers in Lynn could be given new jobs, then who really benefits from building the unneeded jet engines? Could it be the top management and investors at GE? Or dare I say, our hallowed congressional delegation? When we bring home the bacon, perhaps the swine that are being slaughtered are none other than ourselves as taxpayers.
Politics used to be a blood sport in this state. Now it’s bloodless. Campaigns are managed like money. Gut instinct, candor, and common sense are considered dangerous. Everything’s safe, everything’s clean.
The death of Pedro Juan Tavarez, as well as the 2006 death of Vincent Murphy, another Suffolk detainee, brings to at least 105 the number of known deaths of immigrants in custody of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2003. While the details behind these two deaths remain murky, we must ask whether they, like others around the country, were caused by the failure to provide the most basic health care to people detained in Massachusetts jails and prisons during deportation proceedings.
“Knowing that we are in no way, shape or form contributing to [civilian suffering] is really a very satisfying place to be,’’ he said.
The commission’s action kicks off the second phase of a health care overhaul that has succeeded in covering nearly every resident of the state but done little to slow the relentless growth of spending.
The recommendations, if approved by the legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick, would make Massachusetts the first state to end the practice of paying health care providers for each office visit, laboratory test or procedure.
The governor’s push comes as President Obama is threatening to withhold millions in federal stimulus dollars from states that hinder charter school growth. The US secretary of education, Arne Duncan, will join the governor at a press conference today unveiling the legislation, which will be filed today.