Government Shutdown

House Dems Whip Against GOP Government Funding Bill Over Disaster Relief

Brian Beutler | September 21, 2011, 2:21PM

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

House Dem leadership is urging all caucus members to oppose the Republican legislation to continue funding the government past September 30 on the grounds that it cuts a popular manufacturing program to pay for federal disaster aid.

"Democratic Members are urged to vote NO on the previous question and the bill -- as disasters are an emergency and we should not have to cut good-paying American jobs to provide essential disaster relief for families, small businesses, and communities," reads a memo from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's office.

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Progressives

House Progressives Gripe That Obama's Jobs Bill Isn't Big Enough

Brian Fung | September 13, 2011, 1:28PM

Even as Republicans signaled their opposition to "stimulus"-like measures in the White House's $447 billion jobs package Tuesday, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are complaining that the bill doesn't go nearly far enough.

In a Tuesday press conference, caucus leaders unveiled a framework for job creation that included support for more infrastructure investment than President Obama's own plan includes. As part of the package, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) proposed a $227 billion emergency jobs bill that would aim to create 2.2 million jobs over the next two years. Rep. John Conyers proposed new discussions on how to implement the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, a wildly optimistic piece of legislation more than 33 years old that calls for wiping out all unemployment in the United States.

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Barack Obama

Obama's Biggest Challenge Thursday, One Of His Own Making

Brian Beutler | September 7, 2011, 9:10AM

President Barack Obama

Barack Obama will face a daunting challenge Thursday evening when he attempts to focus the government's attention away from consolidating the federal budget, and back on to immediate job creation. Here's a partial list of hurdles: Republicans oppose all new spending, unless it's offset by cuts to key federal programs; they oppose most of the specific spending measures that experts say would create jobs; many Democrats, scared of their own shadows, won't support anything that doesn't have bipartisan support; the public has soured on Keynesian spending policies, and particularly the word "stimulus"; and the White House, quite understandably, doesn't want to be left fighting for a policy that voters oppose from the outset.

To put things in starker relief, no less than his presidency and the economic fate of millions of Americans is at stake.

That's a tall order -- but it is, in part, one of Obama's own making.

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netroots2011

Progressives Still Fighting Obama, Democrats At Netroots 2011

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 16, 2011, 5:45AM

The last time thousands of progressive activists and left-leaning bloggers came together for their annual Netroots Nation conference, Democrats controlled Washington. Much of the focus was on pushing the party -- and President Obama -- further to the left, to stand up for things like the public option, an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the value of government spending to fix the economy.

A year later, with the Republicans firmly in control of the House and the 2012 presidential cycle underway, the focus is expected to be much the same. Except there's an expediency: The only way Democrats are going to win back what they lost and keep what they have, organizers and participants in this year's conference say, is to get closer to their progressive roots.

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Progressives

New Progressive Group Aims To Close The Talent Gap Between Left And Right

Brian Beutler | March 30, 2011, 1:56PM

Mark Begich (D-AK)

This winter, progressives and elected Democrats in states across the country found themselves blindsided by a coordinated wave of conservative legislation. The policies themselves were tailor-made to both advance right-leaning policy objectives, and undermine the electoral hopes of the Democratic Party: union-busting, voter ID laws, tort reforms.

Despite high unemployment, and a public clamoring for jobs, these political measures popped up in just about every state where the GOP took control of part or all of government after the 2010 midterm romp -- the ideas themselves were drafted and circulated by a network of conservative groups, and advanced by a crop of politicians that has been nurtured by the movement for years.

Looking forward, progressives want a piece of that action.

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Progressives

New Report Ranks 'Most Liberal', 'Most Conservative' Members of Congress

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 25, 2011, 9:40AM

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown (OH), Barbara Mikulski (MD) and Harry Reid (NV) were among "the most liberal" Senators last year, according to new rankings by National Journal. Republican Sens. John McCain (AZ), Jim DeMint (SC) and John Thune (SD) were among the most conservative.

National Journal is out with its annual congressional voting record rankings, which track the voting patterns of the 535 members of the House and Senate. The takeaway? Congress in 2010 was the most polarized it has been in close to 30 years. Parties in Congress are increasingly working in "virtual lockstep," which the magazine's political guru, Ron Brownstein described as the "decline of individualism in Congress" and the rise of a "a more top-down, parliamentary-style institution."

But there are still members on both sides who represent the outer edge of the party's ideological leanings. Here are National Journal's top conservative and liberal leaders in each chamber.

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Labor

Progressive Leaders Press Obama To Use Bully Pulpit In Public Worker Fight

Brian Beutler | February 24, 2011, 1:48PM

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Leading progressives in the Democratic party are pressing President Obama to get more involved in the fight over public worker rights playing out in Wisconsin and other states across the country.

Obama has publicly sided with state and local government employees against laws meant to crush their right to collectively bargain. But his political shop has run hot and cold on the question of involving him more publicly in the protests.

The co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus yesterday both called on him to speak out more loudly -- or even join the protesters in Wisconsin.

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Social Security

Dems Press Obama: Hands Off Social Security!

Brian Beutler | January 21, 2011, 2:40PM

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Ahead of the State of the Union address, House progressives want a word with President Obama about Social Security.

In a letter delivered Friday to request a meeting with President Obama, 33 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus seek assurances that he will not work with Republicans to cut or privatize Social Security.

"[T]here is no Social Security crisis," the members write.

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Progressives

Howard Dean: The 'State Of The Progressive Movement' Is Strong

Evan McMorris-Santoro | January 20, 2011, 5:25PM

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean.

Republicans may be enjoying their ascendancy and critics may be suggesting the President Obama is tilting to the right along with them, but former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean says the "the State of the Progressive Movement is strong."

In a long letter sent to members of Democracy For America -- the progressive group that operates out of Dean's 2004 presidential headquarters in Vermont -- Dean opines on the state of the left after a year that saw many setbacks for progressives, from the death of the public option to the Republicans' November electoral sweep.

"The next few years aren't going to be easy either," Dean writes. "It's going to be a fight to stop right-wing Republicans from rolling back progress and forcing gridlock in Congress."

Despite the progressive critics of Obama, Dean makes it clear that he's fully behind Obama -- and that Obama's cause is a progressive one.

"We'll need to work harder than ever to accomplish real change and reelect President Obama in 2012," Dean writes. "But we've never been afraid of hard work."

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Lame duck sesion

Top 5 Lame Duck Losers For 2010

Brian Beutler | December 24, 2010, 8:27AM

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)

Until the next Congress starts, the media will have little to prattle on about besides the Democrats lame duck accomplishments. Already lost in the coverage are two key facts: 1.) The Dems' victories came at the expense of Republicans, many of whom really blew it these past few weeks; and 2.) The Democrats didn't win everything.

Here's our list of the lame duck's top five losers.

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Barack Obama

Top 5 Lame Duck Winners For 2010

Brian Beutler | December 24, 2010, 8:25AM

President Barack Obama

Republicans attacked it as a perversion of democracy, and used it as an excuse to continue to vote against Dem priorities. Democrats recognized it as their last chance to accomplish much of anything for the next two years. People in the media mistook it for a Barack Obama renaissance.

Certainly Democrats accomplished more than most people expected they would these last several weeks. But between the victories and the compromises and the defeats, it's hard to keep track of who came out on top.

Here's a list of the lame duck's big winners to help you sort it all out.

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Barack Obama

After 'Tough Week,' Progressive Advocate Says Obama Is Still The Left's Man

Evan McMorris-Santoro | December 15, 2010, 10:15AM

President Barack Obama

Despite the tax cut deal they hate, progressive forces will be on the fighting lines for President Obama in 2012. That's the word from Democracy For America, the progressive advocacy PAC forged from the remnants of Howard Dean's 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In a wide-ranging interview Friday, DFA communications director Levana Layendecker discussed the ways Obama has hurt progressives over the past couple weeks. But she said that despite it all, the left will still stand by the man they backed in 2008 when he runs again in 2012.

The comments echoed those from Dean himself, who was briefly mentioned as a possible primary opponent for Obama by liberals angered by the tax cut deal's two-year extension of the Bush cuts on the highest incomes. Dean has said he won't run against Obama in a primary and that he doesn't expect anyone else will, either.

But if they don't primary him, will progressives just stay home, leaving Obama without an important part of his activist base? Layendecker says no. They may be mad at him now, sure. But the liberals are coming home to Obama.

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Bush Tax Cuts

54 Liberal House Dems Release Letter Opposing Obama's Tax Cut Deal

Eric Kleefeld | December 9, 2010, 12:39PM

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)

In a new display of progressive opposition to the tax-cut deal, a group of 54 House Democrats have released a letter opposing the package -- and predicting that Republicans will double-cross the Dems later on when it comes to the resulting huge increase in the national debt.

The letter, headed up by Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), declares:

Adding more than $900 billion to our national debt, as this proposal would do, handcuffs our ability to offer a balanced plan to achieve fiscal stability without a punishing effect on our current commitments, including Social Security and Medicare.

...

Without a doubt, the very same people who support this addition to our debt will oppose raising the debt ceiling to pay for it.

We support extending tax cuts in full to 98 percent of American taxpayers, as the President initially proposed. He should not back down. Nor should we.

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Progressives

Obama Dresses Down 'Sanctimonious' And 'Purist' Progressives (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | December 7, 2010, 3:52PM

In the final question of today's press conference, President Obama was asked by Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal how he would respond to Democrats who think he's compromised too much in agreeing on a two-year extension of all the Bush-era tax cuts -- even for the wealthiest Americans -- and that they have a hard time figuring out his core principles on what issues he would go to the mat for. Obama then responded forcefully, saying that the positions of such people on the left would result in getting nothing done, except having a "sanctimonious" pride in the purity of their own positions.

The president compared current complaints from progressives to sparring over health care reform, saying that "this is the public option debate all over again." Then, Obama said, while he was able to pass reform Democrats had fought for for a century, they instead viewed it as "weakness and compromise" that there was no public option. "Now, if that's the standard by which we are measuring success or core principles, then let's face it, we will never get anything done."

"This is a big, diverse country," Obama also said. "Not everybody agrees with us. I know that shocks people."

"This country was founded on compromise. I couldn't go through the front door of this country's founding," he later added. "And you know, if we were really thinking about ideal positions, we wouldn't have a Union."

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House Democratic Whip Race

Progressives For Steny? Liberal Members Line Up For Moderate Minority Whip

Brian Beutler | November 6, 2010, 8:10PM

James Clyburn and Steny Hoyer

We have a race!

When Jim Clyburn threw his name into contention to be the Democrats' Minority Whip next Congress yesterday, it touched off a tough race between himself and the Dems' current Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. The results of the midterm elections didn't help Hoyer. Many of the members who lost were moderate and conservative Democrats who saw Hoyer as a sympathetic ally in an otherwise liberal leadership. Clyburn, has significant support among members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and is more ideologically aligned with the progressive-leaning minority.

Not so fast, though.

A number of House progressives -- members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, even -- are circling their wagons around Hoyer, hoping to balance the leadership ticket next year.

In a "Dear Colleague" letter to Democratic members, progressive Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) made the pitch for Hoyer.

"I believe that it is in the best interests of our Caucus to keep Majority Leader Hoyer as a member of our Democratic leadership team--a team that helped Democrats pass a range of landmark legislation," Polis wrote. "Keeping Steny Hoyer in leadership will help to unify our Caucus and ensure that House Democrats hit the ground running in the new Congress."

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Social Security

Sestak Joins Pledge To Oppose Social Security Cuts

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2010, 9:18AM

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA)

Senate candidate Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is the latest to join the progressive petition opposing any cuts to Social Security.

"Joe joined the statement at SocialSecurityProtectors.com and opposes any effort that would not maintain present benefits," his spokesman says. "We know that two-thirds of retirees rely on Social Security for most of their retirement income and the system can be protected without risking seniors' retirement savings in the stock market. As one example of how to address solvency without harming current benefits, a return to the tax rates of the Clinton era (when we created 23 million jobs) for the top two percent of earners - the wealthiest of Americans who received the majority of the tax cuts of the Bush era (when we created zero net jobs) - would cover Social Security's shortfall over the next 75 years."

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Professional Left

Tony Blair Takes On Professional Left (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 6, 2010, 9:57AM

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says that the toughest part of being a progressive-leaning politician these days is dealing with progressives themselves. Ironically, Blair says, activists on the left often assist their right-wing opponents by piling on the pols who lean their way rather than defending them against a conservative onslaught that he says is "vicious" and begins from "the word 'go.'" Blair says the politics of the day can leave ostensibly left-leaning leaders like President Obama "in an isolated position," with right-wing opponents eager to destroy them and the activist left (more often than not) happy to help.

"I love my own politics and progressives and all the rest of it," Blair told ABC's Christiane Amanpour in an unaired portion of his This Week interview from Sunday. "But if we have a weakness as a class, when the right get after us and attack our progressive leaders, instead of defending them we tend to say, 'Yeah, well, really we've got a lot of complaints about them, too.'"

Blair said that the tendency of the left to pile on rather than defend its own leaders can leave their politicians alone to face the right wing attack machine, which Blair says is merciless. "It doesn't matter how well intentioned you think you are," Blair said of the right. "They're going to go for you completely."

"And then the interesting thing is, the progressives say, 'Hey you're not being progressive enough! Why don't you do more for us?'" Blair added. "And so you can end up in quite an isolated position if you're not careful."

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Progressives

Poll: Majority Of Americans Not Quite Sure What 'Progressive' Means

Thomas Rhiel | July 12, 2010, 11:28AM

For years, pundits and politicians on the left have been calling themselves "progressives" to avoid the apparent stigma of the word "liberal." But a USA Today/Gallup poll released today indicates that a majority of Americans still aren't sure what "progressive" really means.

According to the poll, 54% percent of adults are unsure if the word "progressive" describes their political views. Fifty-seven percent of self-identified liberals, 65% of moderates, and 45% of conservatives just don't know if the word aptly characterizes their political outlook.

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AR-SEN

Round Two! Lincoln And Halter Throw Punches While Runnin' For The Runoff

Christina Bellantoni | May 24, 2010, 2:56PM

A wild boar, and images from attack mailers targeting Blanche Lincoln (above) and Bill Halter (below)

Derivatives, Bubba and shoe leather -- the Democratic candidates in the Arkansas Senate runoff are going to be pounding the pavement and pulling out all the stops in the final 15 days of campaigning. Sen. Blanche Lincoln is bringing in the big guns for a kickoff rally Friday with former President Bill Clinton in Little Rock. Lt. Gov. Bill Halter has a progressive army on his side as national groups and labor unions send supporters his way to help knock on doors and get-out-the-vote.

Both camps say they can do a better job of getting their voters to return to the polls June 8, but statistics prove runoffs are tricky business.

In the meantime, buckle up. It's about to get a lot nastier. The state's favorite animal is a razorback, after all.

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Byron Dorgan

Despite Reservations, Most Progressives Vote For Wall Street Reform

Brian Beutler | May 20, 2010, 4:07PM

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)

Two Democrats--Sens. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA)--once again joined the GOP in an attempt to filibuster Wall Street reform, on the grounds that the bill does too little to regulate big financial institutions. But the Democrat who most vocally threatened to block the bill--Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)--ultimately chose not to, and in a way became the deciding vote. Democratic leaders needed 60 votes to break the filibuster, and without Dorgan they would have had only 59.

Why the change of heart? Dorgan cited two things when I asked him: his ability to force a vote on his flagship financial issue--banning naked credit default swaps--and the fact that, ultimately, he didn't want to stand in the way of a bill he thinks makes some, though not sufficient, progress.

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2010 elections

Howard Dean Tells TPMDC: 'Big Night' For Progressives

Christina Bellantoni | May 19, 2010, 2:30AM

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in an interview that Tuesday's elections look like a "pretty big sweep" for progressives. "They are having a big night," he said.

"My belief is that progressive Dems are a lot more appealing to mainstream voters than tea party advocates," Dean told me in an interview just after Rep. Joe Sestak was declared the winner over Sen. Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary.

"This is a big night for people who really want Washington to be a change agent," Dean said, adding the results show a "backlash" against both parties in official Washington. Dean, also former governor of Vermont and a 2004 presidential candidate, said he views Jack Conway as the progressive choice in Kentucky and said Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's forcing of a runoff in Arkansas proves that candidates on the left can prevail.

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Health Care

From Holding Out To Whipping Health Care -- How Dennis Kucinich Is Helping Dems Pass Reform

Christina Bellantoni | March 18, 2010, 9:31AM

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

A few hours after Rep. Dennis Kucinich switched his support to become a critical vote for the health care bill, he took to the House floor to ask wavering colleagues to join him. Astonished colleagues pointed to Kucinich (D-OH) darting from member to member on the House floor yesterday, saying privately they'd never seen him get so involved in whipping a vote.

It's not just progressives he's targeting to keep in the fold, it's everyone, a top Democratic aide told me. Members know that Kucinich - a staunch antiwar liberal long in favor of a single-payer system and often going out on a limb with his own agenda - is setting aside deep ideology to help get something passed. "It's a totally new dynamic. People are realizing he's doing it for history," the aide said.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) told me last night in the House Speaker's lobby that Kucinich's support is "a sign of Democrats recognizing how important this is."

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Progressives

Public Option's Fate Foretold In Sputtering Campaign To Get Senators On Board

Rachel Slajda | March 11, 2010, 7:38PM

A campaign to rally 50 senators to publicly declare that they support using reconciliation to pass a public option seems to be losing momentum -- even as the group behind the campaign insists it's getting more commitments from senators every day.

That group, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, says it has 41 senators on the record. But a closer look suggests some of the latest additions are senators who only conditionally support a public option being passed through reconciliation. And the staff of one senator on this list tells TPMDC he can't commit to it.

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2010 elections

Progressives: Punish Lincoln! Sen. Sherrod Brown: Stay Tuned!

Christina Bellantoni | March 10, 2010, 4:22PM

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

Senate Democrats attempted to reassure riled up progressive pundits today that conservaDems might indeed pay a price next January when the caucus decides who will - and won't - keep their leadership positions.

TPMDC and other news outlets are in attendance at the Progressive Media Summit on Capitol Hill, hosted by the Senate Democrats. Some here, including John Aravosis and MSNBC's Ed Schultz, are treating it as a forum to tell the Senators what they are doing wrong.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told the group he understands frustration that some Democrats "don't have the backbone we wish they had." After the Democrats were asked why the leadership doesn't strip Sen. Blanche Lincoln of her Agriculture Committee chairmanship, Brown chimed in and said that might be coming next year.

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Budget Reconciliation

Amid Health Care Chaos, Progressives See Opening For Public Option Revival

Brian Beutler | January 22, 2010, 12:55PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Health care be on life support in the House of Representatives, but as Democrats work to revive it, some progressives see an opening to bring back an element of reform that flatlined weeks ago: The public option.

They say health care reform should pass, but only after an amending bill has been passed through the filibuster-proof reconciliation process--and that amending bill should include the public option.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has delivered a strategy memo to the Chiefs of Staff of all Senate Democrats outlining this course.

"The best thing Democrats could do in 2010 is fight big corporations like insurance companies and Wall Street," the memo reads. "On health care, the path forward is obvious."

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Health Care

House Postpones Caucus Meeting--Leadership To Meet With Members Individually

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2010, 1:53PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

As an addendum to this post, which noted that House leadership would hold a caucus meeting this afternoon to regain control over their caucus and put together a new coalition to pass health care: that meeting has been canceled, and rescheduled for 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Leadership will instead hold individual meetings with key members--including progressives, and blue dogs--to achieve the same ends.

We'll bring you more information about who's involved and what the message is when we get it.

House of Representatives

House Leadership Scrambles To Contain Fallout, Right Course On Health Care

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2010, 12:34PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

It is now evident to House leadership that their plan to amend the Senate health care bill and toss it back over to the upper chamber for final passage has been scuttled. Members of the House Democratic caucus are wandering far off the reservation, and the longer that persists, the more difficult it will be for leadership to pull them back into the corral.

In an attempt to regain control over an increasingly chaotic situation, leadership will hold a caucus meeting this afternoon*, and at stake could be the fate of the reform drive that has eaten most of the first year of Barack Obama's presidency.

To right the course, they'll have to convince rank and file members--but particularly progressives, who are now in full revolt--that success is still possible, half measures won't do, and failure is not an option. Given what members are saying, though, that won't be easy.

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Health Care

What'll It Take? Obama Woos Labor Over Controversial Health Care Tax

Brian Beutler | January 12, 2010, 2:11PM

President Barack Obama

Last night, Obama administration officials, and the President himself, met with the most influential leaders in organized labor to brainstorm ways to fix to a controversial provision in congressional health care legislation, roundly opposed by unions. And it appears the White House is trying to hit the right notes to keep its fragile alliance with unions alive.

At issue is whether there's any way to square the administration's support for a tax on high-end health care plans--a major source of funds--with the concern, articulated by myriad progressives and union officials, that the tax will impact many middle class Americans, and ultimately ensnare more and more of them.

"My understanding it was really discussions surrounding policy fixes that could, to at least try to delay the impact and look at maybe raising the threshold a little more," said one top labor official briefed on the meeting.

"Secretary Sebelius was there for part of the discussion," the official went on. "They are exploring, at least, some modifications that might take into account some collectively bargained plans, maybe trying to tie some exclusion for plans that are covered by a collective bargaining agreement."

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Health Care

Progressives Press Feingold To 'Fulfill' Obama's Health Care Promises

Christina Bellantoni | December 29, 2009, 11:28AM

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is running a new health care ad in Wisconsin pressuring Sen. Russ Feingold to fight President Obama on the public option.

PCCC members identified Feingold (D-WI) as a senator they would target to oppose the final health care compromise unless it includes a public option.

The new ad, which you can watch after the jump, says Feingold has the power to "fulfill" Obama's public option promise. The release was timed to coincide with an email to members saying the progressive senator could be a "hero" on improving the health care bill.

The ad, running in Madison, Green Bay, and Milwaukee, says "any final health care bill without a public option is not change we can believe in."

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Health Care

Quelling The Drama: Democrats Mum On House-Senate Health Care Negotiations

Brian Beutler | December 23, 2009, 9:49AM

President Barack Obama talks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Oval Office.

It's been a difficult year for President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The two have clashed with each other, and Reid has clashed with his caucus, over how to solve a seemingly insoluble problem: how to push a health care bill through the Rube Goldberg-like legislative factory better known to most as the United States Senate.

But, in fits and starts, and after several near-stalls, they've done it. Today, 60 senators will vote to end the last of several filibusters, and tomorrow morning, more than 50 will vote to pass a single, historic piece of legislation. Time for a victory lap, right? Hardly.

Now that all 60 members of Reid's caucus have formed a fragile alliance, though, wouldn't you know that all anybody cares about is whether, and how, it can survive the next theater of battle--a contentious conference process where it will be merged with different, and farther-reaching, House health care legislation. In response, in a bid to keep the next weeks free of the drama of the last several months, Democrats are doing the obvious thing: keeping it extra quiet.

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Barack Obama

Poll: Dems, Independents Overwhelmingly Disappointed With Obama's Public Option Performance

Brian Beutler | December 18, 2009, 9:34AM

President Barack Obama

A finding from a new Research 2000 poll suggests Democrats and Independents are deeply disappointed with President Obama's unwillingness to truly engage in the fight for a public option.

Commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Democracy for America, the question, to 800 likely voters was: "President Obama has said he favors a public health insurance option. Senator Joe Lieberman is widely credited with forcing Senate Democrats to take the public option off the table in order to win his vote. Do you think President Obama should have done more to pressure Lieberman to allow the public option to move forward?"

Overall, 63 percent said yes, 29 percent said no, and 8 percent had no opinion.

But among Democrats, and Independents, the numbers are far more striking.

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Health Care

Grijalva: Fix This 'Sow's Ear' Of A Health Care Bill, Or I'm Out

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2009, 2:44PM

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) lays it on the line. If Senate health care legislation doesn't move significantly to the left when House and Senate negotiators meet to resolve the differences between their bills, he's a "no."

"The Senate has somehow managed to turn the House's silk purse into a sow's ear," Grijalva says in a statement. "If what the Senate is doing isn't corrected in conference with the House, I will not support the bill. Since the Senate won't use reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes, it doesn't look promising for any real change."

As of last week, there was no word on what, if anything, House progressives are planning to do to force the final package to the left. But I'm looking into it and I'll let you know what I find out.

Democracy for America

Poll: Vast Majority Say Anti-Public Option Dems Should Face Primaries

Brian Beutler | December 14, 2009, 9:33AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

Here's a snapshot of the electorate, at the moment when a small handful of Democrats have teamed up to tank the public option. A new Research 2000 poll, commissioned by Democracy for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee finds that the overwhelming majority of likely voters believe Democrats who vote against the public option should face primaries from their left.

When asked: "If a Democratic member of Congress votes against a public health insurance option, would you want a more progressive candidate to run against them in a Democratic primary?" 84 percent of respondents said "yes," 11 percent said "no," and 5 percent said they weren't sure.

Those are fairly striking numbers, particularly given last night's news that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is standing in the way of public option alternatives. Lieberman, along with Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) joined forces several weeks ago, insisting they'd filibuster a health care reform bill if it included a public option. That threat laid the groundwork for a new compromise, but Lieberman's saying even that's a no-go.

The overall survey, which will be released later today, polled 802 from December 11 through the 13th--it's margin of error is 3.5%. For the above question, which went to Democrats only question, 256 were polled, yielding a 6.1% margin of error.

Health Care

Weiner On Medicare Buy-In: 'This Is One Idea I Like A Lot'

Rachel Slajda | December 9, 2009, 11:33AM

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), one of Congress' fiercest supporters of the public option, has come out to support the Medicare buy-in proposal in the Senate Democrats' deal.

"This is one idea I like a lot," Weiner said in an email to the Daily News, calling the idea "remarkable."

Winning the support of Weiner, who has championed not only a public option but a universal single-payer system, could be a sign that the Dems' proposal may yet win over progressives, even without a public option.

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Health Care

Dean: Lieberman, Others Have 'Moral Obligation' To Block Filibuster

Christina Bellantoni | November 3, 2009, 11:59AM

Fmr. DNC Chair Howard Dean

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean told TPMDC he supports groups like MoveOn targeting his fellow Democrats on health care because they have a "moral obligation" to stand with Senate leadership on procedural votes.

"There is no moral obligation to support the leadership on an issue," Dean told TPMDC in a wide-ranging interview this morning.

"But you have a moral obligation to help the leader run the senate the way he thinks it needs to be run. What these liberal groups are doing is fine," he said.

Dean called out Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and said caucusing with a party and benefiting from committee assignments as a member of the party is dependent on supporting the party leadership.

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Health Care

Change Of Tune: Leadership, Progressives, Advocacy Groups Jump On The Opt-Out Train

Christina Bellantoni | October 27, 2009, 8:48AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

After Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's big public option opt-out reveal yesterday, the major players are looking pretty unified.

Check out all the reactions we posted at TPMLiveWire yesterday and see what they have in common, as Senate leadership, progressives and advocacy groups appear to be rallying behind the new strategy.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) was singing a different tune, reminding everyone in a statement that "I included a public option in the health reform blueprint I released nearly one year ago."

MoveOn, which was asking members to pressure Obama last week, is now shifting gears to make sure the Democratic Party gets in line and votes to block a filibuster.

Health Care for America Now was championing Reid for "standing up" and doing the right thing, collecting more than 20,000 signatures on a thank-you petition to the leader.

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