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TPM's David Kurtz provides a great example of how NOT to bargain on HCR: Schumer is [. . .] a pragmatist, and surely he's known for several days what's becoming obvious to all of us today: they don't have the votes. [. . .] [A]t this point you're just denying reality if you think all that ...
Congress
Charles Schumer
While Sen. Harry Reid has 60 votes for tonight's vote, you have to read the fine print to know what it means and doesn't mean. It's not a vote on the health care bill, but only a vote on whether debate can begin on it. [T]his vote simply says that the Senate is prepared to have a debate on ...
Congress
Health care
Harry Reid
Does Harry Reid have the votes for a health care bill that does not have a public option? Does Nancy Pelosi have 218 votes for a health care bill that does not have a public option? I think the answer is no. Today's Senate vote on bringing the Reid HCR bill to the floor for debate strikes me ...
Congress
Nancy Pelosi
Harry Reid
Time Magazine reports on The Fall of Greg Craig : Obama quietly killed the Gitmo plan in the second week of May; Craig never got a chance to argue the case to the President. "It was a political decision, to put it bluntly," says an aide. ...The White House realized it had to start over on ...
White House
Barack Obama
George W. Bush
Via FDL , David Broder : While the CBO said that both the House-passed bill and the one Reid has drafted meet Obama's test by being budget-neutral, every expert I have talked to says [. . . t]hese bills, as they stand, are budget-busters . Here, for example, is what Robert Bixby, the ...
White House
Harry Reid
Barack Obama
We are so screwed : This recession has taught us that we can’t return to a situation where America’s economic growth is fueled by consumers who take on more and more debt. In order to keep growing, we need to spend less, save more, and get our federal deficit under control. We also ...
White House
Barack Obama
Economic Meltdown
Democratic National Committee
While the Big 3 (Florida, Alabama, Texas) won't be tested today, there are plenty of interesting games on the slate. Let's start with the Oregon Ducks traveling to Arizona. Both Oregon and Zona can win the Pac 10 by winning out. If neither win out, it becomes a free for all. Oregon is a 6 point ...
Other
Bob Dylan singing Santa? Levjoy says on Twitter it sounds like a Yiddish folk song , and he's got a point. Here's Digby on Luke Russert's reporting on health care. Firedoglake has today's highlights . Fernando Bermudez left Sing Sing prison today , after serving 17 years for a murder he ...
Other
McJoan at Daily Kos explains what needs to be fixed in the Senate version of the public option in the health care bill: It's the date on which the states can opt out. First, There's no requirement of a waiting period before states can opt out, which in this political environment means the ...
Other
President Obama, upon the recommendation of Colorado's two U.S. Senators and others, has nominated former Denver Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Villafuerte for Colorado U.S. Attorney. Republicans are having a hissy-fit. The brouhaha is over the criminal case of former ICE agent Cory ...
Other
James Comey and Jack Goldsmith, high-ranking Department of Justice officials under Bush, have an op-ed in the Washington Post defending Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees in federal criminal court instead of a military commission ...
Law
Eric Holder
9/11
Just finished participating in a call with Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) regarding Afghanistan. I imagine Senator Specter was a bit surprised by my questions from the more hawkish view on Afghanistan. Senator Specter's position is that he opposes troop increases in Afghanistan and even questions ...
World
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Arlen Specter
So, in my fantasy football league, I lost Ronnie Brown for the season and have nothing good at running back. What do I do? I offered up my best player, Peyton Manning, for the best deal I could get. The result? I got Tony Romo, LaDainian Tomlinson and Roy Williams for Manning (plus two throw ...
Other
Firedoglake is against it: It is encouraging that Senator Reid respected the will of the American people and included a public option in the merged Senate bill. However, the addition of a state opt-out provision threatens to leave millions of Americans at the mercy of private insurance ...
Congress
( Warning : This post is going to be controversial and expresses my views only.) Both the House and Senate bills would create a voluntary federal program to provide long-term care insurance that pays small cash benefits to people with severe cognitive or physical disabilities. Like the ...
Other
Health care
The Wall St. Journal reports the new Senate health care bill imposes a 5% tax on receipients of elective plastic surgery. The tax would fall on the individuals who undergo the procedures. If they don’t pay it when they’re billed for their surgery, then it falls to the provider who ...
Other
Here's the text of the new Senate Health Care Reform Bill. Via Huffington Post : Reid's bill includes a national, government-run insurance plan that would be available to consumers within the health insurance exchanges that the reform effort establishes. States could opt out of the plan. On ...
Congress
Health care
President Obama made it official today. His administration will not close Guantanamo by the one year deadline in January. Part of that is due to the inability to find countries willing to take the detainees. And while Attorney General Eric Holder was strong in his commitment today to U.S. ...
