Health Care

Senate Switchboards On Fire As Health Care Calls Flood Zone

Christina Bellantoni | November 20, 2009, 6:48PM

Women at a switchboard

We've heard all day about senate offices getting flooded with phone calls about the upcoming vote on the health care bill tomorrow.

As we reported earlier, Organizing for America is doing a call blast urging supporters to ask their senators to back the first procedural vote to start debate. Republicans also have been working the phones to ask senators to block the bill.

An aide to a Senate Democrat tells TPMDC their boss' phone rang so frequently today, the lines were busy for hours.

The calls "continued to fill our voicemail box over and over again," the aide said.

The overflow prompted another flood of calls to state offices. The majority of calls to this senator, who already supports the legislation, were in favor of the bill.

Health Care

Obama Administration: We (Heart) Senate Health Care Bill

Christina Bellantoni | November 20, 2009, 5:59PM

Pres. Barack Obama and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

The White House has released a statement of administration policy about the Senate health care bill that will receive its first test vote tomorrow.

If the headline above sounds familiar, so does the statement. They released a very similar one before the House health care vote earlier this month.

"They have forged a strong consensus that represents an historic step forward," the administration said of both the House and Senate bills.

Each statement talks about the bill being "the product of unprecedented cooperation and countless hours of hard work by Members of the Senate who share the President's conviction that the Nation cannot wait another year for health insurance reform."

The biggest difference - the statement on the House talked about its strong public option.

The Senate statement lauds that the bill "includes important health care delivery system and insurance reforms and cost-containment initiatives, and it would extend the solvency of Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund."

Statement in full after the jump.

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Ben Nelson

Tomorrow's Health Care Vote: A Cheat Sheet

Brian Beutler | November 20, 2009, 5:40PM

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

With Ben Nelson now in the "yes" column, there are now two known Democratic hold outs on tomorrow's health care vote: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR).

Landrieu told reporters today that she'll likely make an announcement tomorrow morning. Lincoln, on the other hand, has been unreachable, and it's unclear if, or when, she'll announce her intent publicly before the vote, which will come at 8 p.m. tomorrow night.

It's probably a safe guess that, if at the end of the day, there's something standing between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 60 votes on the motion to debate to his bill, he won't hold the vote. As unlikely as that is, here are the potential hangups.

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FL-SEN

Rubio Has No Plans To Meet With Palin Next Week, Camp Says

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 20, 2009, 5:17PM

Fmr. St. Rep. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Fmr. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist

Though he had nothing but praise for Sarah Palin, a spokesperson for Marco Rubio told TPMDC this afternoon that Rubio has no plans to to meet up with Palin when she's in Florida hawking her bestselling book next week.

"It's unlikely," Rubio spokesperson Alex Burgos said when asked about a Rubio-Palin joint appearance during the three days Palin will spend crisscrossing Florida starting Monday. "The plan is for Marco to be in Miami with his family for Thanksgiving next week."

Burgos said that Rubio and Palin haven't spoken so far during Senate primary, but hastened to add that Rubio has nothing but good things to say about the former Alaska governor. "Marco has a positive opinion of her and what she's done in Alaska," Burgos said of Palin. "She is definitely someone who's support he'd very much appreciate."

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Chuck Schumer

Is Chuck Schumer Taking Temperature On Carper's Public Option Compromise?

Brian Beutler | November 20, 2009, 5:15PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

I'd missed this before, but check out what Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) told reporters last night about conservative Democrats' push for something like a public option trigger mechanism.

"Senator Carper has been trying to help forge a compromise and I'm very proud of his efforts, and he's still at work, I understand, on that, so is Senator Schumer. They've been trying to negotiate this compromise among the various factions for a while and I think actually we're getting closer. We're not there yet. But we're a lot closer than we were two months ago, where it was just a logjam."

Schumer's name, in this context, is interesting. It's possible that she simply means Schumer is talking to all parties, trying to get everybody on the same public option page as he has been for months. But it certainly sounds like she's saying he's taking the caucus' temperature on this Carper compromise, which I outlined here.

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Capitol Hill Tea Party

Busting Rhymes In The Name Of Tea Parties

Christina Bellantoni | November 20, 2009, 5:07PM

Rapper Hi Caliber talks about freedom and low taxes in a rap video praising the tea party movement.

Don't call Hi Caliber a Republican rapper.

He prefers conservative hip hop artist, and has lent his rhyme to the tea party movement.

Cal, who wouldn't give his full name because he says he's been threatened by "liberals," starred in a FreedomWorks-produced video called "Patriotic People."

He rhymes: "Politicians need the truth, it will set you free, and I hope you paid attention to the march on D.C. ...Liberalism is like a cancerous tumor, just look at Harry Reid, Pelosi and Chuck Schumer."

TPMDC caught up with Cal, 34, a resident of the Jersey Shore.

"I am not a fan of Bush, and I'm not a rank and file Republican. I'm a conservative," he said.

Cal said he meets Democrats and Libertarians at the tea parties, and said it's unfair for liberals to call the group racist or redneck.

"I support the tea party movement because I feel they are the only people in the America who are not following lock-step, rank-and-file one of the political parties," he said.

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Bill Owens

Owens Winning The Absentee Ballots In NY-23

Eric Kleefeld | November 20, 2009, 5:03PM

Conservative Party Candidate Doug Hoffman, Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY)

The absentee ballot count is nearly completed in the NY-23 special election, with the new Democratic Rep. Bill Owens on track to gain votes in the process.

With only 813 ballots left to be counted, the Watertown Daily Times has Owens ahead by 3,398 votes over Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, with an Owens lead of 253 votes within the absentees themselves.

The early absentee figures had given a mistaken impression of Hoffman gaining, because they had come mainly from counties that Hoffman carried on election day. The remaining ballots are more than not from pro-Owens counties, so he could potentially expand his lead a little bit further.

Owens was sworn in two weeks ago, after Hoffman had conceded the election. The correction of routine clerical errors, however, narrowed Owens' margin from 5,000 votes to about 3,000, leading Hoffman to take back his concession. Wednesday night, Hoffman charged that the election was stolen: "ACORN, the unions and Democratic Party were scared, and that's why they tampered with the ballots of voters in NY-23."

Tea Party

Tea Partiers Plan Anti-Cloture Vote Rally In D.C. Tomorrow

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 20, 2009, 4:09PM

The Tea Party Patriots just issued an urgent plea to followers across the country in advance of tomorrow's procedural vote on a health care reform package in the Senate. The group is calling on Tea Partiers across the country to "Converge on the Capitol" tomorrow at 1 p.m. for yet another protest rally opposing reform.

"It's not too late to kill the bill," the Tea Party Patriots "National Coordinator Team" wrote in an email sent to supporters this afternoon.

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Health Care

Sen. Landrieu Remains Undecided On Eve Of Test Health Care Vote

Christina Bellantoni | November 20, 2009, 4:04PM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Several conservative Democrats have signaled they will vote with the party to bring the health care bill to the Senate floor for debate, but Sen. Mary Landrieu is still on the fence.

TPMDC's Brian Beutler is on the scene at the Department of Health and Human Services, where Landrieu (D-LA) joined an Adoption Day event.

"I haven't made a final decision, because I literally have been...reading the bill, and that's going to continue 'til about 6 or 7 tonight, and then after I have all the information in front of me I'm gonna make a final decision."

Landrieu said she had been leaning against voting "yes" on the motion to proceed until a meeting with Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday, which tilted her into "neutral" territory.

She said she will likely release a statement regarding her final decision in the morning.

Tim Pawlenty

Pawlenty Scraps State Campaign Finance Program -- Which Was Helping Republicans!

Eric Kleefeld | November 20, 2009, 3:53PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) made an interesting move in a series of unilaterally-imposed budget cuts, the Star-Tribune reports, by suspending a tax-refund program that partially reimbursed small political donations -- and, it turns out, was benefitting the state Republicans much more than the Democrats.

The program gave taxpayers a $50 refund if they made a political donation of at least that amount. State records show that donors to Republicans were claiming $2.9 million in these refunds, compared to only $1.1 million in refunds claimed by Democratic donors.

Give Pawlenty some points for consistency. It appears that he isn't just against public financing of campaigns when it helps the Democrats. He's against it when it helps Republicans, too.

House '10

DCCC Beating NRCC In Money Game

Eric Kleefeld | November 20, 2009, 3:00PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

Republicans may have high hopes for picking up House seats in 2010. But for now, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is easily outpacing the National Republican Congressional Committee in fundraising and cash on hand, for the filing period that ended October 31.

The DCCC raised $3.76 million, spent $3.98 million, and has $14.25 million cash on hand, with $3.3 million in debts.

The NRCC raised $3.44 million, spent $3.59 million, and has $4.17 million on hand, with $2 million in debts.

Subtracting each group's debt from its cash on hand, the DCCC has an effective net worth of $10.95 million, to only $2.17 million for the NRCC.

Both parties spent more than they took in for October, due to the NY-23 special election -- in which the Democrats picked up a Republican-held seat, and activists conservatives forced the moderate Republican nominee out of the race, in favor of a conservative third-party candidate.

Health Care

With Reid's Support Wyden And Baucus To Cosponsor 'Free Choice' Amendment

Brian Beutler | November 20, 2009, 2:33PM

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)

If this amendment passes, it could significantly change--and most experts would say improve--the Senate health care reform bill.

As part of an agreement hashed out at the end of the Finance Committee mark up process, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) will join forces to amend the Senate health care bill with Wyden's "Free Choice Act." If it can attract 60 votes, it would give low- and middle-class Americans with employer-provided insurance the option of purchasing subsidized insurance in the exchanges.

Baucus and Wyden have the support of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

"Senator Wyden has worked tirelessly to reform our health system, and I am pleased to have his support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," Senator Reid said. "I will support the inclusion of his proposal for workers whose employer coverage is unaffordable but are not able to access the exchange."

Sixty is a tough climb. It would have likely been impossible under the original terms of the Wyden amendment, which would have opened the exchanges up to everybody. This is a scaled down version of that, and it will be a hard amendment for Democrats to vote against.