Senate

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Public Option Now Has Legs in Senate
 Public Option Now 
 Has Legs in Senate 

so much for baucus bill
Oct 20, 2009 8:58 AM CDT

Public Option Now Has Legs in Senate

Hostile insurance industry pushes Dems to consider grab-bag of proposals

(Newser) - The public option, left for dead by the Max Baucus bill that passed the Finance Committee just weeks ago, has a new lease on life in the Senate. Credit goes to a CBO report underwhelmed by that bill's efforts to encourage competition, and a big power play by the insurance...

Energy Lobby Split on Climate, Thrilling Greens

Natural gas companies squabble with Big Oil as Senate negotiates

(Newser) - With the Senate set to consider legislation to tax carbon and rein in global warming, a split has emerged among the energy lobby that may make it easier to pass a clean-energy law. Natural gas producers favor a bill, while their colleagues in the oil industry oppose it; electric companies...

Six Senate Swing Votes


 Six Senate 
 Swing Votes 
HEALTH REFORM
Oct 14, 2009 12:55 PM CDT

Six Senate Swing Votes

From Dems who swing right to left-leaning GOPers, debate promises suspense

(Newser) - As health care reform bills merge and change on the Senate floor, the pool of legislators to watch has grown. The Wall Street Journal takes a look:
  • Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: Her vote for the Finance Committee bill was clutch, but "doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow,"
...

Obama Praises 'Critical Milestone' of Baucus Bill

Instead of celebrating, 'now is time to dig in'

(Newser) - President Obama called today's passage of legislation by a key Senate committee "a critical milestone" toward getting a health care overhaul this year, but said "now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back." Obama spoke in the Rose Garden about two hours after the...

Jay Rockefeller Is the New Teddy
 Jay Rockefeller 
 Is the New Teddy 
analysis
Oct 7, 2009 1:10 PM CDT

Jay Rockefeller Is the New Teddy

Senator inherits Kennedy's cause of health care reform

(Newser) - Jay Rockefeller shares little of the temperament of the late Ted Kennedy, but what they do share is essential. “Massive wealth and a virtual lock on his Senate seat frees a man to do what he believes in,” writes Margaret Carlson. And for both men—the West Virginia...

Senate Bill Likely to Come Down to Reid, Dodd, Baucus
Senate Bill Likely to Come Down to Reid, Dodd, Baucus
HEALTH NEGOTIATIONS
Oct 7, 2009 11:27 AM CDT

Senate Bill Likely to Come Down to Reid, Dodd, Baucus

Baucus, Dodd the only senators with secure seats at negotiating table

(Newser) - Every senator worth their salt is salivating for a seat at the table when Harry Reid merges the Senate’s two competing health care bills—but the vast majority will instead have their noses pressed to the glass. Reid hopes to speed things up by keeping the group small, Politico...

2010 a Toss-Up as Indies Flee the Dems
 2010 a Toss-Up as 
 Indies Flee the Dems 
gallup poll
Oct 7, 2009 10:03 AM CDT

2010 a Toss-Up as Indies Flee the Dems

But trend and dismal 21% approval of Congress could spell Dem's demise

(Newser) - The sizable lead among registered voters Democrats have maintained since the 2006 midterm elections has eroded to almost nothing. In the latest Gallup poll, Dems have just a 2-point advantage over Republicans going into the 2010 midterms, 46% to 44%, well within the sampling error. That’s down from a...

House Dems Fear Senate, WH Steamroll on Health Care

Moderates don't want to spend risky votes on legless progressive bill

(Newser) - House Democrats on both ends of the spectrum are feeling sorry for themselves as they struggle to shape a final health care reform bill. The bill is widely expected—based in no small part on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proclamations—to include a public option, a tax on wealthy Americans,...

GOP to Steele: We Set Policy, Not You

(Newser) - Congressional GOP leaders met with RNC chairman Michael Steele late last month to assert their authority when it comes to policymaking, and while those involved said the get-together in House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office was routine, Politico's sources described it as heated. Of particular concern was Steele’s...

Obama Makes Backstage Push for Public Option

Despite public retreat, president plying Senate moderates

(Newser) - Though Barack Obama has publicly backed off in his support for the public option, behind the scenes he’s campaigning hard to make it happen. He’s spent a lot of time in recent weeks calling moderate senators like Olympia Snowe, Ben Nelson, and Maria Cantwell, armed with polls showing...

Republicans Can Retake House in a 2010 'Landslide'

If trends continue, Republicans could gain 40 seats

(Newser) - Fred Barnes surveys the political landscape and sees the possibility of Republicans gaining up to 40 House seats—and thus regaining control of the chamber—in the 2010 elections. "A landslide of that dimension is quite possible," he writes. Democrats have time to reverse the trend, but they're...

Forget Baucus: Reid Takes Reins on Health Care

Tough issues will be on the table as the majority leader tries to hammer out a bill

(Newser) - In the Senate Finance Committee, it's all over but the voting, and Democratic hopes for health care reform now rest with Harry Reid, who has to pull something cogent (and passable) out of a welter of conflicting proposals from several committees. That puts him the "in the eye of...

I'd Vote for Health Bill: Frist

Obama's reforms are a step in the right direction, former Senate majority leader says

(Newser) - Health care reform legislation has the unexpected support of a prominent physician: former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist. If he were still in politics, “I would end up voting for it," Frist said. The surgeon also blamed some Republicans for not engaging seriously in the health care debate:...

Unbowed by Loss, McCain Fights for Moderate GOP
Unbowed by Loss, McCain Fights for Moderate GOP
ANALYSIS
Oct 2, 2009 7:26 AM CDT

Unbowed by Loss, McCain Fights for Moderate GOP

Senator fills leadership void with donations, endorsements, advice

(Newser) - Less than a year ago John McCain still hoped to be president, but the Arizona senator has a new mission now: reshaping the Republican Party around his own brand of moderate, pragmatic conservatism. While previous unsuccessful candidates for the top job have withdrawn after defeat, McCain is offering endorsements to...

How Edwards' Aide Morphed From Devotee to Sellout

Tell-all author was disturbingly attached to senator, to his wife's dismay

(Newser) - Andrew Young was right there every time John Edwards needed a Diet Coke, dry cleaning, a ride from the airport, and finally a babydaddy for his mistress. The "personal servant" who turned tell-all author—other aides even called him Edward’s “butt boy”—showed a fierce devotion...

GOP Indulges in Health Amendment Free-for-All

(Newser) - Reasoned debate is all well and good, but the more than 300 amendments offered to the health care reform bill by finance committee Republicans are “dangerously close to a parody,” Dana Milbank writes. Or maybe they’re already there. Take Orrin Hatch’s request for “transition relief...

Harkin: I've Got Votes to Pass Public Option

Democrats have votes to break filibuster, pass bill, he says

(Newser) - Sen. Tom Harkin sees no good reason Democrats can’t pass a health care bill that includes a public option. “I have polled senators, and the vast majority of Democrats—maybe approaching 50—support a public option,” the newly minted Health, Education, Labor and Pensions chairman said today....

2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution
2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution
OPINION
Sep 29, 2009 9:38 AM CDT

2010 Won't See Another Republican Revolution

Parallels with 1994 are exaggerated

(Newser) - Hopeful Republicans are starting to play up the similarities between 1994 and 2010 but any talk of a second Republican Revolution is probably just wishful thinking, writes Ed Kilgore in the New Republic. The Republican capture of the House in '94 was made possible by retiring Democrats—some 22 of...

Dukakis Is Gracious on Senate Snub
Dukakis Is Gracious on Senate Snub
Sep 25, 2009 6:48 AM CDT

Dukakis Is Gracious on Senate Snub

But allies say he was passed over due to Kennedy pressure

(Newser) - For a while it looked as if Michael Dukakis would be headed to the Senate to fill Ted Kennedy's seat, but the former Massachusetts governor says he's fine with being passed over. "Hey, after you've run for the presidency of the United States..." the 1988 candidate told the...

Ex-DNC Chair Kirk to Replace Kennedy

Family friend, former staffer was emcee at Teddy's memorial

(Newser) - Deval Patrick has chosen former Democratic Party national chairman Paul Kirk to replace Ted Kennedy in the Senate, giving Barack Obama the 60th vote he needs to pass health care reform. The 71-year-old Kirk is a former Kennedy staffer, and was such close friends with the senator that he served...

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