TPMDC Morning Roundup
Judiciary Committee To Vote On Sotomayor
The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote today on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, and is expected to easily advance her to the full Senate. At the rate things are going in both the committee and the overall Senate, most Republicans will probably vote against her, but she should win by a comfortable margin thanks to Democrats and a few GOP Senators.
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will hold a 1:30 p.m. ET tele-town hall meeting on health care reform, hosted by the AARP. At 4 p.m. ET, he and Vice President Biden will meet with the chairs of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. At 4:15 p.m. ET, Obama and Biden will greet the expanded delegations of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
Biden's Day Ahead
Vice President Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder will make a stimulus funding announcement for law enforcement agencies across the country, at 10:15 a.m. ET in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Then in the afternoon, Biden will join Obama at the White House for the meetings with the U.S. China Strategic and Economic Dialogue delegations listed above.
New CBO Study: Public Option Wouldn't Dominate Health Care System
House Democrats are touting a new, more favorable estimate from the Congressional Budget Office -- finding that a public health care option would not crowd out the private health insurance market. "We've heard that the reform would represent a government takeover of health care," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). "In point of fact, exactly the opposite is true." The big challenge, of course, will be to prevent the public option from being scrapped by the Senate.
DeMint: "I'm Swinging" To Stop Obama's Health Care Plan
The Washington Post profiles Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), spotlighting the lead role he has taken in opposing President Obama on health care reform. "I'm swinging on this issue," said Obama. "If I can stop a government takeover, I will. . . . It's not personal. It's not political. It's about stopping a bad policy."
Coleman To Wait Until Spring To Decide On Gubernatorial Run
Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) will wait until Spring 2010 to decide whether he will run for Governor of Minnesota -- a pretty late time to start waging a campaign, but not unfeasible given the wide-open Republican field and his own high name recognition. Earlier reports had been that Coleman would not run at all, but his spokesman said instead that Coleman "just wants some time to not be running for office."
Voinovich On GOP's Problems: "It's The Southerners"
Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), who is retiring in 2010, has some tough words about the state of the GOP. "We got too many Jim DeMints (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburns (R-Ok.). It's the southerners," he told the Columbus Dispatch. "They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr.' People hear them and say, 'These people, they're southerners. The party's being taken over by southerners. What the hell they got to do with Ohio?'"
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
No, George.
You don't have too many southerners. You followed their lead, and now they're all you've got left.
The problem is you have too few of anyone else.
Still, a remarkably astute observation. I'm guessing he'll be spending a lot of time explaining it to his soon-to-be-ex-colleagues in the Senate.
July 28, 2009 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
And a depressing article in the Times today. Let's see, what has Baucus dropped from the health care plan in the interest of bipartisanship?
* A public option.
* Employer mandates.
* Taxes to pay for the plan.
Cripes. Can we join the rest of the civilized world already and have a national health plan?
July 28, 2009 9:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm beginning to agree with those that believe that if we fail to pass reform it says more about our broken system than it does about Obama's political skills.
Our system is f'ed up in a serious way....the lobbyists, the politicians, the msm.....they all hold some responsibility for the lethargy. We can go marching off to an unnecessary war and hardly anyone questions or even blinks; we torture prisoners, make people disappear, and spy on our own citizens and it barely is on the national radar; but we try to give people access to healthcare and all of a sudden the whole system comes screeching to a halt. It's unconscionable.
July 28, 2009 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think budget reconciliation is the way to go with this. Of course that assumes Reid doesn't further capitulate to the Repubs and Blue Dog DINOs. He probably will. Oh for the want of a strong Senate majority leader.
July 28, 2009 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Budget reconcilation imposes some serious constraints on what can be in the legislation. There's a full explanation over on Kos's Congressmatters site that I'm too lazy to go find, but basically, choosing between reconcilation and compromising with the so-called moderate Republicans or the Barelydems is a matter of choosing which half of the loaf you'd rather have.
July 28, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dramatic Breakthrough on Healthcare: Blue Dogs to Get Mandatory Rabies Shots
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=8020
July 28, 2009 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
"New CBO Study: Public Option Wouldn't Dominate Health Care System"
Let's pretend that this report doesn't say anything about the cost of this "reform"; that it doesn't say that only 3 more million people will be enrolled; that we didn't see any pressure from the WH on the CBO to produce a more favorable report.
So, great political breakthrough - our public option, with its gigantic cost and limited coverage expansion, will NOT take over private health insurance.!!
Ah, what won't desperate people say...
July 28, 2009 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Screw Lalo...pls disappear!
I vote for a new party if health care reform is sunk by lobbyists, blue dogs and repukes! It is time for a new alignment of interests and actions by the 70-80% of the American people who want choice and have no representation by the elected owned corporate whores.
July 28, 2009 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Much as I loathe Lowlife, he's unlikely to go away - he's rather like HIV in that, I think. Persistent and utterly debilitating to anything resembling good discussion, although if we beat on him often enough and severely enough, maybe the message will finally penetrate his incredibly thick skull. (Me, I'd be willing to do my part with a Louisville Slugger - maybe it would help.)
I do, however, have to strongly disagree with your "new party" comment. This will guarantee Republican dominance. They fall in line. What we need is to keep pushing the Dems in place further over to what the people who elected them want.
July 28, 2009 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
DeMint: "I'm swinging on this issue,"
Not sure what your sex life has to do with national health care policy, but thanks for sharing, Senator!
July 28, 2009 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
So Quimby wants some time off before deciding if he wants to run for office again?
Might I suggest the remainder of your repellent, grifting, grafting, philandering, spouse-abusing life, Norman? It's a start, anyway...
July 28, 2009 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, that's a clue to what's going on inside the Republican party. The precinct caucuses are in late Winter. Waiting until Spring means he officially won't be running at caucus time, so when he's asked why he's bypassing the endorsement process, he'll say he respects it but didn't get in on time and can go straight to the primary. This tells me Republican activists stuck by Coleman in the recount because he was the only candidate, but they don't really want him. My guess is he'll realize the primary voters don't support him either. Too bad, because at this point I don't think he'd have a hope in the general election. The public is tired of him and the attacks are freshly tested.
Odds are, the candidate will be someone loony right enough for the hard core base.
July 28, 2009 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's only for very DeMint-ish values of Obama.
July 28, 2009 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Voinivich is right, but his own Ohio congressional delegation includes some real nut cases, also.
July 28, 2009 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink