Politics Daily

Politics Daily

Filed under: Barack Obama, Iraq, Economy, Polls, Obama Administration, Afghanistan, Poll Watch

Barack Obama's path to the presidency got its first big boost when he upset Hillary Clinton in the January 2008 Iowa caucus, riding his message of change, but now fewer than half of Iowans approve of his performance in office, according to a Des Moines Register poll conducted Nov. 8-11.

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Filed under: Senate, Democrats, Republicans, Health Care, The Capitolist, Independents

With no votes to spare, Democratic senators moved health care reform past its first major hurdle Saturday night, with a party-line, 60-to-39 vote to begin consideration of the 2,000-plus page bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled this week.

The fate of the measure came down to two moderate Democrats -- Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Both women had withheld their support for debating the bill until the last hour, but announced in the afternoon that they would vote with Reid -- at least for now.

"My vote today should in no way be construed as an indication of how I might vote as this debate comes to an end," said Senator Landrieu. "After a thorough review, I have decided that there are enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward, but more needs to be done."

Senator Lincoln echoed her colleague's skepticism, saying she would vote to move forward with the debate, but stressing that she wants changes to the legislation -- including striking the public option entirely -- before she would consent to vote for it on final passage. "I have concluded that it is more more important to begin debate rather than simply dropping the issue and walk away," Lincoln said.

The bill that senators will begin debating after Thanksgiving combines proposals passed by the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Committee Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), and is designed to make health insurance more accessible and affordable. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would expand coverage to 94 percent of Americans at a cost of $848 billion over the next 10 years.

In addition to imposing new regulations on insurance companies, the legislation would create health insurance exchanges, which would function as a marketplace of last resort where Americans could choose between private insurance, non-profit cooperative insurance, and a government-run public insurance option. While Democrats differed in their levels of enthusiasm for the bill, Republicans were unanimous in their opposition, describing Reid's proposal as everything from a spending binge to a Ponzi scheme.

Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who voted for the Democrats' bill in the Senate Finance Committee, voted against debating it Saturday night. She objected to many of the the policies in the version of the bill that emerged from the Majority Leader's office, including the public option. Mostly, Snowe was critical of the closed-door, partisan process used by Reid to combine the two committee bills.

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), the top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee and the only accountant in the Senate, warned of the bill's potentially catastrophic effect on the federal budget deficit. "Perhaps the best way to qualify this bill is to say it keeps me up nights," Enzi said, summing it up in one word: "Disaster."

Other Republicans, such as Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah objected to the bill's abortion provisions, which are weaker than the House-passed bill, as well as the bill's estimated cost of nearly $1 trillion to the taxpayers over the next decade. Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond said there were so many objectionable elements to the proposal that his colleagues had a hard time choosing which ones to go after first. "We're like a mosquito in a nudist colony," he said. "We have so many targets to attack in this bill we don't know which one to hit."

Democratic leaders defended their bill, with Reid saying of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), "The facts he is talking about do not exist, except in the minds of people who do not understand this bill." Several Democrats also invoked the late Sen. Ted Kennedy before casting their votes, including Kennedy's close friend Connectucut Sen. Chris Dodd, who said "there is no greater compliment we could give to Ted Kennedy than to pass this bill."

In the minutes before the vote, Sen. Max Baucus, a leader for the Democrats in health care reform, said to his fellow senators, "History is knocking on the door. Let's open it."

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Filed under: Senate, House, Abortion, Health Care, Polls

Women's groups expressed dismay on November 7 when the House passed a health care bill with unprecedented abortion restrictions. The Stupak-Pitts amendment prohibits any health plan participating in the proposed nationwide exchange from offering abortion coverage, meaning virtually all plans. The initial alarm has now turned to anger and mobilized a backlash against Democrats who voted for the amendment, along with a nationwide push to keep the restrictions out of the upcoming Senate bill.

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Filed under: Senate, Democrats, Republicans, Abortion, Health Care, Immigration, The Capitolist, Independents

Ending weeks of speculation, Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) announced Saturday afternoon that they will vote with the Senate's Democratic majority to move forward on the 2,000-plus page health insurance reform bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled this week.

Landrieu stressed that her vote to begin discussion of the measure does not ensure her support to pass the bill. "My vote today should in no way be construed as an indication of how I might vote as this debate comes to an end," she said. "After a thorough review, I have decided that there are enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward, but more needs to be done."

She also addressed media reports that Reid's bill includes a special provision directing $100 million to Louisiana for Medicaid payments. "I am not going to be defensive about asking for help in this situation," Landrieu said, noting that the bill actually includes $300 million for her state and that Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, supported the request. "I am proud to have asked for it. I am proud to have fought for it. That is not the reason I am moving to debate."

After Landrieu's announcement, Lincoln declared that she, too, would support Reid on tonight's vote. Had the two senators not gone with the Democrats, the measure would have failed by two votes and Reid would have been forced to modify the language until he could muster enough support to go on.

Like Landrieu, Lincoln said that she wants changes to the bill-- including striking the public option entirely--before she'll vote to pass it. But, she said, "I have concluded that it is more more important to begin debate rather than simply dropping the issue and walk away."

Lincoln has been the subject of intense lobbying by health care reform activists, as well as the target of withering criticism by Republicans preparing a challenge for her Senate seat next year. "I will not allow my decision to be dictated by my political opponents nor by interests from outside of Arkansas," she said.

As the day began, advocates for and against health care reform bill mobilized to influence the outcome of Saturday's vote.

Leaders of the Tea Party Patriots blasted an email to members, urging them to call and fax the offices of 11 targeted Democratic senators, especially Lincoln, to oppose the bill, while the White House released talking points stressing the benefits of the legislation.

Republicans and Democrats spoke throughout the day as the clock ticked toward Saturday's rare evening vote, with tempers clearly worn thin. Republicans cited reports from the Congressional Budget Office and other independent auditors that the bill will raise taxes, raise health insurance premiums, cut Medicare and create hundreds of millions of dollars in unfunded mandates for states.

Reid began the debate by rebuking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who had warned that anyone who votes with Reid tonight will have to explain that decision in their home states.

"Now that is really Orwellian," Reid said. "That is Orwellian. Have a lot of explaining to do if they allow a debate to continue?"

As the Senate slogged through its Saturday session, President Obama headed to Andrews Air Force Base for a round of golf, according to the official White House pool report.

If all 60 Democrats vote as promised, the night will give Reid a much-needed boost of party unity going into what will be a divisive and heated debate on the bill as a whole. The Senate vote is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. Saturday.

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