+Republican Party | 800 days ago

Rock Bottom

By Jay Newton-Small

Take a good look around, Democrats, this is likely to be as bad as it’s going to get. As Kate Pickert and I note in a story out today on time.com, the 24-hour cable net cycle has been stuck on ugly process maneuverings in the vacuum of no score from the Congressional Budget Office and [...]

+Senate | 802 days ago

And here we go…

By Jay Newton-Small

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. Here’s a brief guide to the health care final sprint (at least the schedule that we can predict) in the House over the next week: Monday 3pm This afternoon the fun will begin with an anticipated Congressional Budget Office score followed by* a House Budget Committee markup of the [...]

+State Governments | 928 days ago

Dems Go It Alone

By Jay Newton-Small

I asked a lot of members over the weekend: why pass the bill now? After the August protests there had been much speculation that the House would wait for the Senate to act. Some members said that Speaker Pelosi didn’t want them going home for another recess to face more Tea Party madness (the House, [...]

+Republican Party | 930 days ago

The Final Push

By Jay Newton-Small

We’re now in the midst of four hours of final debate on the health care bill. After two hours of gabbing – double the time allotted thanks to GOP foot dragging – the House passed the rule on the bill 242-192 with 15 Dems joining all Republicans in voting Nay. The vote provided some hope [...]