The Grand Ole Opry may have been next door but Sarah Palin preached to the choir on Saturday at the National Tea Party Convention and brought down the house. The two-day event, held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Hotel, had been a relatively placid affair – Tea Partiers learned how to social network and reach out to young …
Harry Reid
Could Dems Lose the Senate?
Sure, it’s improbable, but — as Charlie Cook points out in my new time.com story out this morning — it’s now mathematically possible. After all, virtually no one predicted the Dems could win back the Senate in February 2006. On the bright side, I bet Russ Feingold breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Tommy Thompson joined a hedge …
Michael Steele, Liz Cheney and the Carnival of Buncombe
National politics is a circus, a carnival, a battlefield, a 24-7-Drudge-Cable-Politico mudfest–and yet still, somehow, serious adults find a way to run the stuff.
Think about the terribly boring suits in the Congressional leadership, on K Street or in the best White House offices. It has always been thus. Think too about the past …
Health Reform: The Issue to Watch
With the House returning to session tomorrow, the final stretch of negotiations over health reform begins in earnest. While there are plenty of differences to be worked out between the House and Senate bill, the so-called “Cadillac tax” is emerging as the main flashpoint. Here’s a brief story I wrote on this for TIME.com.
The Health Care Bill: Looking Forward
Over at TIME.com, fellow Swampers Kate Pickert, Amy Sullivan and I look forward to some of the issues that will be important as the House and Senate attempt to reconcile their two versions of the bill.
Open Thread: The Senate Votes on Passes Its Health Care Bill
I’m up early this morning to watch the coverage of the Senate vote on health reform. Capitol Hill looks so festive that I am a little sorry that I didn’t make it up there to see it in person.
Vice President Biden just arrived to preside in his capacity as president of the Senate, though it doesn’t look like he will be needed to break …
Senate Health Bill: The Economists Are Happy Again
Wonk alert! Incoming!
Close readers of this blog will know that I’ve been interested in the mood swings of a group of prominent economists with regard to this Senate health care bill. Brad DeLong tells us they now have sent yet another letter–this one congratulating Harry Reid on putting some additional cost containment in the bill. …
Harry Reid — Vindicated?
He didn’t win it pretty, but he won. Harry Reid showed, once again, why being Senate Majority Leader is the second hardest job in Washington. And on some days, the hardest.
Putting Some of the Reform Back Into Health Reform
NOTE: On Sunday, CBO changed its long-term estimates of cost savings, which it said were based on a misunderstanding of this bill. Please see this update.)
Given the drama and suspense of the past few weeks, it’s understandable that the first round of commentary about the new Senate health bill would focus on the deals that Majority …
Senate: The Deal Looks Done on Health Care
Multiple sources are now reporting that Nebraska’s Ben Nelson, the last Democratic holdout, is now saying he will support the latest version of the health care bill. That makes 60 votes, enough to overcome a fillibuster.
So what’s actually in this bill? And what did it take to get the last votes? I’m still going through it, and will …
The Week In Review and What’s Next for Health Reform
Word is that Majority Leader Harry Reid will unveil changes to the Senate’s health reform bill on Saturday morning. The timing is part of Reid’s effort to get a final vote on the legislation by Christmas Eve. Of course, even the most carefully plotted timeline means nothing without the 60 votes Reid needs to break an expected GOP …
Amidst the Lieberman Drama, Some Wrangling Over Drug Prices
Tonight the Senate began voting on amendments to the health care bill for the first time in days. Near the top of the agenda: an amendment from Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan that would have allowed U.S. pharmacies and drug wholesalers to “reimport” drugs from foreign countries. It was was voted down 51-48. (Amendments need 60 votes to …
Re Re Re: Lieberman’s Health Care Coquetry
The well-sourced Carrie Budoff Brown is reporting this at Politico:
The White House is encouraging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to cut a deal with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), which would mean eliminating the proposed Medicare expansion in the health reform bill, according to an official close to the
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