If you happened to have turned on C-SPAN in the last half hour you may have noticed the Senate was full of senators but no vote going on. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid convened the upper chamber to try and get consensus on how to proceed after Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, objected to proceeding to a one-month extension …
Domestic Policy
Al Frumin’s Bad Day
In the middle of a meeting in the early evening Wednesday on – what else? – reconciliation, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer interrupted proceedings to speak with the Senate Parliamentarian. Though neither man would discuss what was going on, reports soon emerged: Tea Party protesters were planning to picket the …
Morning Must Reads: Petraeusesque
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–As Kate mentioned, parliamentarian Alan Frumin ruled early this morning that two minor clauses relating to Pell Grant funding in the health care reconciliation bill don’t make the cut for budget rules. It’s a minor hiccup and won’t radically alter the legislation. The Senate is expected …
Public Option
Ryan Grim sees an opening. Don’t count on it. At least, not now and not nationally:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6tQ0218&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
UPDATE: David Waldman sees one too.
Health Reform: Will It Work?
In the cover story for the new issue of dead-tree TIME that hits newsstands tomorrow, Kate and I, along with our colleague Alice Park, explore five elements to watch closely as policymakers translate the sweeping legislation that Barack Obama signed Tuesday into a real-world transformation of the health care system.
Kate also …
Flashback: Candidate Obama on Health Care
Think Progress noted that today marks the third anniversary of a candidate forum on health care that I moderated in Las Vegas. It’s really remarkable to compare where Obama was then on this issue to where he is now.
He made a promise that day which turned out to be more than just campaign rhetoric: “I want to be held accountable for …
Temper, Temper…
Yesterday I reported that the GOP storm on health care seemed to be subsiding. Indeed, reconciliation looks on schedule to go through by Friday, though Senator Tom Coburn says he believes he’ll be able to successful strip out certain provisions forcing the Senate to send the bill back to the House for final passage. It seems, though, …
Morning Must Reads: The Big Deal
Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy
–That’s what a signature with 22 pens looks like. Here’s who get them.
–Probably the most touted immediate effect of the health care bill, a measure preventing insurance companies from denying children coverage on the basis of preexisting conditions, may not kick in as advertised …
Pigs
Right-wing extremists are threatening Democrats who voted for health care reform with violence. This, after Congressman John Lewis was called a “nigger” and Barney Frank was called a “faggot.” This, after Congressman Randy Neugebauer called Bart Stupak a “baby killer” and, essentially, refused to take it back. The Republican Party has to …
After Passage, Health Insurers Pivot, Prepare To Back Health Care Reform
From my new story on Time.com:
The health-insurance industry, which spent months campaigning against Democratic health reform, has shifted focus in the wake of its passage, pivoting from opposition to making sure the new law succeeds beyond most expectations.
America’s Health Insurance plans will participate in a new group, …
The GOP Storm on Health Care Begins to Subside
With the help of TIME’s Katy Steinmetz:
The last few weeks Senate Republicans were all sturm und drang. “The American people are getting tired of this crap,” Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican told ABC’s This Week. “If [Democrats do reconciliation], it’s going to poison the well for anything else they would like to …
Are Legal Challenges To Health Reform Credible?
A dispatch from our colleague Alex Altman:
Less than an hour after President Obama signed the health-care reform bill into law, attorneys general from 13 states filed a lawsuit challenging the bill’s constitutionality. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, acting on behalf of 13 states, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Pensacola,
…
A GOP Silver Lining
The passage of health care reform hasn’t been easy for the GOP. But there is a silver lining (though, some Republicans might argue that encouraging their party chairman is not exactly in the Party’s best interests): Michael Steele has finally figured out a way to raise money. The RNC’s webite, www.firenancypelosi.com, which depicts the …