Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It was a busy Wednesday in politics, so let's get to it.
HEALTH CARE: The President continues to delve head first into the fight over health care reform. Today, he held a rally St. Louis, MO where he said boldly that "the time for talk is over. It's time to vote." That's a lot more unequivocal than he's been in the past. He called the Republicans out for not doing anything about health care for the last 10 years when they were in charge, and he said that for Republicans it's "never the right time." It seems that the President Obama is trying to energize his base, which is very smart. House Democrats are facing a lot of pressure right now, and it is very important that some of that pressure come from the left.
On the Hill, the big news today is that the CBO will release a cost estimate for the revised health care package. This estimate will include the Senate bill, and the reconciliation bill full of proposed fixes. We may start to hear some more firm positions from House Democrats once the CBO releases its cost estimate.
Meanwhile, the Senate GOP is trying to scare House Democrats into not supporting the Senate version of the health bill. They say that House Democrats should not trust the Senate to enact the package of fixes through reconciliation. Republicans insist that they will be able to strip the reconciliation bill of non-budget related provisions. Isn't it fascinating that suddenly Senate Republicans care about the political well-being of House Democrats?
The White House is still insisting on a March 18th deadline for the House to pass the bills. We'll get a better idea of whether that's doable tomorrow.
THE SENATE: The Senate today passed a bill that extends expiring tax provisions, as well as unemployment and COBRA benefits through the end of the year. The bill costs about $150 billion, but any economist will tell you that the costs of not extending these safety net programs during a recession would cost a lot more. The bill passed by a vote of 62-36. Every Democrat save for Ben Nelson (NE) voted for the bill, as did Republicans Bond (MO), Collins (ME), Murkowski (AK), Snowe (ME) and Voinovich (OH). Prior to a vote on final passage, the Senate voted 66-33 to end debate on the bill. Republicans Brown (MA), Cochran (MS), Chambliss (GA) and Isakson (GA) voted to cut off debate on the bill even though the opposed it. I wish we saw more of that in the United States Senate!
The Senate now moves on to consideration of a bill to authorize FAA programs. No word on when they'll take up that $15 billion jobs bill that the House sent back with amendments last week.
THE HOUSE: The House today voted on a bill that would require all troops to leave Afghanistan by the end of this year. House leaders promised anti-war liberals like Dennis Kucinich a chance to debate and vote on President Obama's troop escalation. I personally believe that the House leadership should not do any favors for Dennis Kucinich as long as he continues to stubbornly oppose health care.
The bill failed by a lopsided vote of 65-356. 60 of the "yes" votes were from liberal Democrats and 5 were from libertarian-leaning Republicans (including Ron Paul).
Off the floor, House Democrats unveiled a new policy that prohibits earmarks geared towards for-profit defense companies. I don't think this policy will do anything to reduce the deficit. Earmarks make up a tiny portion of federal spending. I do think this prohibition is a good for ethics. Hopefully it will stop the defense industry from buying access to Congress.
Republicans are expected to respond with a proposal to put a moratorium on earmarks altogether. It always amazes me that both parties make such hay about earmarks. They're not hurting anyone, and they're barely putting a dent in the deficit. It takes a lot of time away from focusing on actual problems.
That's it for today. We'll keep you up-to-date on health care tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Extenders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Extenders. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Daily Strike-3/9/10-The Extenders
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. We're entering another "final" crunch in health care reform. It should make things exciting here for awhile.
HEALTH CARE: All eyes are on whether House Democrats can muster 216 votes to pass the Senate health care bill and a separate package of fixes through reconciliation. There weren't too many developments today. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD) threw a bit of cold water on the White House's imposed March 18th deadline for finishing the bill. Hoyer said that he would try to meet that deadline, but he wasn't certain it could happen.
On the procedural front, it looks like Democrats have a couple of neat ideas up their sleeve. The House is looking into adopting a "self-executing" rule that would govern debate on the health bill. Basically, the rule would include a provision that says that if the House passes the reconciliation bill, it also passes the Senate version of the bill. This way, vulnerable House members would not have to vote directly for the Senate bill, with its controversial provisions. Democrats also might attach an unrelated bill that would reform the student loan industry to the package of health care fixes. The rules stipulate that Congress can only pass one reconciliation bill per year. The student aid bill passed the House back in September, but the bill's fate became doomed in the Senate, where many Senators are beholden to creditors based in their home states. By attaching the loan bill to the health care fixes, it could pass with 50 votes in the United States Senate. Republicans might make a fuss, but Democrats would be smart to realize that people care more about tangible accomplishments (and the student loan bill is a huge one) than legislative wrangling.
One other thing I wanted to mention: many websites are doing "whip counts" to see where House members stand on the health care bill. I'm not quite sure I trust these counts. As Ezra Klein has pointed out, and it's a very important point, members express objections and threaten to vote against bills in order to exact maximum concessions from their leadership. This doesn't necessarily mean they oppose the bill. It does, unfortunately, make the bill much more unpopular when potential supporters attack it all the time.
THE SENATE: The Senate today voted to move forward on a bill that extends various expiring tax provisions, and includes an extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits through the end of the year. The Senate is poised to pass the bill tomorrow afternoon and send it over to the House. This bill is extremely important to make sure that those stung by the recession have money to spend. It will not only save them from suffering, but it will also have a multiplier effect when they become consumers.
A vote to cut off debate on the bill passed 66-34. Every Democrats except for Ben Nelson (NE) voted to move the bill forward, as did Republicans Brown (MA), Chambliss (GA), Cochran (MS), Collins (ME), Isakson (GA), Murkowski (AK), Snowe (ME), and Voinovich (OH). I guess Scott Brown is once again breaking from the conservative activists who helped elect him.
The Senate voted on a few amendments to the bill as well. The first amendment, offered by Senator Coburn (R-OK) would require Congress to post all spending online that violates PAYGO budgeting rules. The amendment was agreed to by a unanimous vote of 100-0.
The next amendment, offered by Senator Murray (D-WA) would have expanded funding for summer employment programs. This seems like a no-brainer during a recession, but apparently 45 Senators didn't think so, and thus, the amendment failed. Senators objected to the amendment because it was not paid for. If they had any brains, they would know that summer employment for students will pay off in the long-run. Every Republican opposed the amendment, as did Democrats McCaskill (MO), Nelson (NE), Warner (VA) and Webb (VA).
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
HEALTH CARE: All eyes are on whether House Democrats can muster 216 votes to pass the Senate health care bill and a separate package of fixes through reconciliation. There weren't too many developments today. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD) threw a bit of cold water on the White House's imposed March 18th deadline for finishing the bill. Hoyer said that he would try to meet that deadline, but he wasn't certain it could happen.
On the procedural front, it looks like Democrats have a couple of neat ideas up their sleeve. The House is looking into adopting a "self-executing" rule that would govern debate on the health bill. Basically, the rule would include a provision that says that if the House passes the reconciliation bill, it also passes the Senate version of the bill. This way, vulnerable House members would not have to vote directly for the Senate bill, with its controversial provisions. Democrats also might attach an unrelated bill that would reform the student loan industry to the package of health care fixes. The rules stipulate that Congress can only pass one reconciliation bill per year. The student aid bill passed the House back in September, but the bill's fate became doomed in the Senate, where many Senators are beholden to creditors based in their home states. By attaching the loan bill to the health care fixes, it could pass with 50 votes in the United States Senate. Republicans might make a fuss, but Democrats would be smart to realize that people care more about tangible accomplishments (and the student loan bill is a huge one) than legislative wrangling.
One other thing I wanted to mention: many websites are doing "whip counts" to see where House members stand on the health care bill. I'm not quite sure I trust these counts. As Ezra Klein has pointed out, and it's a very important point, members express objections and threaten to vote against bills in order to exact maximum concessions from their leadership. This doesn't necessarily mean they oppose the bill. It does, unfortunately, make the bill much more unpopular when potential supporters attack it all the time.
THE SENATE: The Senate today voted to move forward on a bill that extends various expiring tax provisions, and includes an extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits through the end of the year. The Senate is poised to pass the bill tomorrow afternoon and send it over to the House. This bill is extremely important to make sure that those stung by the recession have money to spend. It will not only save them from suffering, but it will also have a multiplier effect when they become consumers.
A vote to cut off debate on the bill passed 66-34. Every Democrats except for Ben Nelson (NE) voted to move the bill forward, as did Republicans Brown (MA), Chambliss (GA), Cochran (MS), Collins (ME), Isakson (GA), Murkowski (AK), Snowe (ME), and Voinovich (OH). I guess Scott Brown is once again breaking from the conservative activists who helped elect him.
The Senate voted on a few amendments to the bill as well. The first amendment, offered by Senator Coburn (R-OK) would require Congress to post all spending online that violates PAYGO budgeting rules. The amendment was agreed to by a unanimous vote of 100-0.
The next amendment, offered by Senator Murray (D-WA) would have expanded funding for summer employment programs. This seems like a no-brainer during a recession, but apparently 45 Senators didn't think so, and thus, the amendment failed. Senators objected to the amendment because it was not paid for. If they had any brains, they would know that summer employment for students will pay off in the long-run. Every Republican opposed the amendment, as did Democrats McCaskill (MO), Nelson (NE), Warner (VA) and Webb (VA).
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
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