Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, one of the top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, today said he would not vote for President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. The decision is a surprising blow to Sotomayor as Hatch not only voted for the last 12 nominees to the bench — Republican or Democrat — but he also …
Domestic Policy
Health Care: Follow the Money?
Swampland commenters are constantly exhorting me on the link between health industry campaign contributions and the difficulties that health reform is having getting through Congress. There is indeed a lot of money being lavished on the key players in this fight, and there is a lot of good reporting being done on that. There should be,
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The House Bill and Health Care Costs
Back when I was in the newspaper business, there used to be a kind of story that we called a “clip and save”–a clear, concise explanation of something that you wanted to keep handy for reference as you wrote your own stories about a complicated subject. If there’s an internet equivalent of that for health geeks (and for voters trying to …
The Health Care Push
In advance of Obama’s prime-time news conference tonight, here’s a look at where things stand.
Graham Becomes 5th* Republican for Sotomayor
When President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor made her rounds on Capitol Hill, one of her harshest critics was South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham who said after that first meeting that he was “deeply troubled” by her nomination. Something must have happened on the way to the hearings last week because on …
Health Care: Obama Engages More Deeply
Is Barack Obama finally channeling LBJ to save his health reform initiative? As we’ve noted before, the President until now has stayed away from the nitty-gritty of the negotiations on Capitol Hill, largely because he wants to avoid the mistakes that the Clintons made in 1993, when they tried to dictate to Congress precisely how to …
Health Reform, Medicaid and the Governors
A look at why cash-strapped Governors are resisting one of Washington’s biggest ideas for expanding coverage.
UPDATE: The NGA has sent this letter to Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley. Also, here’s their latest assessment of the economic situation in the states: Grim and getting grimmer.
The Mayo Clinic Diagnoses the House Health Bill
Although there are some positive provisions in the current House Tri-Committee bill – including insurance for all and payment reform demonstration projects – the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the
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Health Care and the GOP
I’m guessing that the word “experiment” was pretty effective with the focus groups:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAnpL752syM&hl=en&fs=1&]
(Via our friends at C-SPAN)
Dr. No
The sun rises in the east. The sky is blue. Bill Kristol advises Republicans to vote against health care reform. The first time he tried this, in 1994, he established a reputation for tactical “brilliance,” as he managed to intimidate Bob Dole–whose life was saved by government health care–into opposing the Clinton effort. The …
Health Reform: Bending that Curve
In reading the comments of CBO Director Doug Elmendorf from yesterday, a number of Swampland commenters asked what, precisely, might be done as part of health reform to (1) put more downward pressure on health costs overall and (2) make it deficit-neutral, as President Obama has promised.
Today, OMB Director Peter Orszag reminds …
Health Care: A Better Way
For the past few years, I’ve been pushing Senator Ron Wyden’s Free Choice Act as the best way to reform the health care system. Ezra Klein, now of the Washington Post and still no relation of mine (except friend), feels the same way and explains the bill here. This is a solution that promises universal coverage, has been scored …
A Big Setback for Health Reform?
Read this quote, from Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf, testifying before the Senate Budget Committee. You are going to hear it repeated often by opponents of the health reform bills that have been unveiled thus far.: