Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It's been a bit of a hectic day in Strike-land, so forgive this abbreviated entry.
HEALTH CARE: I just read a very disturbing article on politico.com about how Olympia Snowe's (R-ME) vote in favor of the Finance Committee Health bill has done little to allay the concerns of centrist Democrats. It's a brutal reminder of how difficult this process will be even after all five committees of jurisdiction have reported bills. The thing that worries me the most is that Snowe has taught centrist Democrats that if they hold out support for the bill, they can win all kinds of concessions. That's the power of being a centrist lawmaker, and that's why it's so appealing to Senators who have no real principles and come from unfriendly states. If we start to make concessions to one or two Senators, than other Senators will hold out to get their own pet priorities (or reductions) into the bill. It's pure nihilism, but it's the dynamic I think we'll see in the coming weeks as Senator Reid attempts to bring a bill to the floor.
Also, Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY) announced today that the GOP wants 8 weeks to debate the bill on the Senate floor. This is absolute nonsense. No matter how many times Democrats will give in to silly delay tactics, Republicans will try and try to filibuster the bill to death. Over in the House, Majority Leader Hoyer (D-MD) now says that the House bill may not come up before Thanksgiving. This seems to indicate that House leaders are having more trouble than anticipating crafting a bill that can get 218 votes. I'm still confident that a good bill will pass, but today was a stark reminder of the challenges that remain.
Please read The Big Picture's post above, and excuse me for not updating you on what happened in Congress. I will give a full update later, but if you're really curious, the Senate agreed to shut off debate on the conference report for the Energy and Commerce Appropriations bill. Details forthcoming...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The Daily Strike-10/13/09-Finally, Finance
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It was a big day for health reform, so let's get right to it.
HEALTH CARE: Finally, after months of seemingly endless delay, the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of health reform by a vote of 14-9. The biggest prize for the Democrats was securing the vote of Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Snowe held her cards close to her chest, but decided to support the legislation at the end because she wanted to be a part of history. All Democrats on the committee supported the bill. All Republicans except for Snowe voted no. The bill will now be merged with the Senate HELP bill and will be sent to the Senate floor in two weeks at the earliest.
Overall, this is a very good day for health reform. For the first time ever, all committees of jurisdiction have now passed health reform bills, and they are about 80 percent identical. Even if Congress adopts the lowest common denominator of what's in these bills, it will be a vast improvement over what we have now. I got into an interesting discussion with The Big Picture about how Snowe's decision will impact the debate. On the one hand, if Snowe withheld her support, Democrats could give up on the Republicans, go it alone using the reconciliation process, and pass a strong, progressive bill. On the other hand, Snowe's vote keeps momentum on the side of progress. It also will help convince wavering Centrist Democrats that they have some bipartisan cover. I think that Snowe's positive vote is a huge net positive. So much of the politics behind health reform is how the effort is portrayed in the media, and what the "conventional wisdom" is among Washington elites. Because of Snowe's vote, the conventional wisdom now holds that health care reform is a foregone conclusion and it behooves reticent Democrats to get on the train.
Majority Leader Reid has his work cut out for him as he merges the two bills together. The Senate Finance bill did not have a public option, while the HELP bill did. The HELP bill also had an employer mandate, and more generous subsidies. Reid will have to balance having a good strong bill with the need to get 60 votes to break a Republican filibuster. Of course, whatever is not included in the merged bill will come up during the amendment process. Any amendment can be filibustered, meaning it would require 60 votes to pass. Therefore, Reid should include all of the most liberal provisions in the merged bill. I'd much rather have Republicans and conservative Democrats looking for 60 votes to strip these provisions out than liberal Democrats finding 60 votes to put these provisions in.
For his part, President Obama congratulated Senator Baucus (D-MT) for completed the bill. He reminded us that much work remains to be done. I think at this point, the President will be pretty closely involved with negotiations as bills come to the floor of the House and Senate.
Overall, I'm feeling good. Today's vote confirms one thing: this is not 1993. Health care reform will pass in some form this year, and our country will be better off for it.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President met today with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero at the White House. The two discussed Spain's commitment to the War in Afghanistan. Obama denied that he has changed his opinion from earlier in the year when he seemed eager to add more troops to secure the region. Obama claimed that the plan was always to reevaluate the situation after the Afghan elections in August. Washington is continuing to wait anxiously as Obama and his national security team reach some sort of decision on how to proceed.
THE SENATE: Besides the Finance vote, the story out of the Senate today is more stagnation. Senators voted on a cloture motion this afternoon that would have ended debate on the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill. On a pure party line vote, the motion failed 56-38. Senator Reid voted no for procedural reasons, so that he can bring up the motion again at a time of his choosing. The reason the Democrats couldn't cut off debate was that they were missing three of their own members. With Senator Reid's vote, that would have gotten them the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate. I have no idea why Republicans, even the "moderate" ones have decided to filibuster this bill.
The Senate will either have to start working on another appropriations bill or try to round up votes to finish this one. They also have a couple of House-passed appropriations conference reports waiting at their doorstep. And they haven't even touched House-passed bills dealing with Climate Change, Food Safety and Education, with just several weeks left in this year's session. Ladies and Gentleman, the United States Senate.
THE HOUSE: The House had a quiet day today, only voting on a few suspension bills. They'll tackle more appropriations conference reports tomorrow. Still no word on when we might see a health care bill come to the House floor. House Speaker Pelosi has promised to get CBO to provide a cost estimate and give members 72 hours notice prior to a vote. That means we may be looking at an early November vote.
That's it for today, see you tomorrow!
HEALTH CARE: Finally, after months of seemingly endless delay, the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of health reform by a vote of 14-9. The biggest prize for the Democrats was securing the vote of Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Snowe held her cards close to her chest, but decided to support the legislation at the end because she wanted to be a part of history. All Democrats on the committee supported the bill. All Republicans except for Snowe voted no. The bill will now be merged with the Senate HELP bill and will be sent to the Senate floor in two weeks at the earliest.
Overall, this is a very good day for health reform. For the first time ever, all committees of jurisdiction have now passed health reform bills, and they are about 80 percent identical. Even if Congress adopts the lowest common denominator of what's in these bills, it will be a vast improvement over what we have now. I got into an interesting discussion with The Big Picture about how Snowe's decision will impact the debate. On the one hand, if Snowe withheld her support, Democrats could give up on the Republicans, go it alone using the reconciliation process, and pass a strong, progressive bill. On the other hand, Snowe's vote keeps momentum on the side of progress. It also will help convince wavering Centrist Democrats that they have some bipartisan cover. I think that Snowe's positive vote is a huge net positive. So much of the politics behind health reform is how the effort is portrayed in the media, and what the "conventional wisdom" is among Washington elites. Because of Snowe's vote, the conventional wisdom now holds that health care reform is a foregone conclusion and it behooves reticent Democrats to get on the train.
Majority Leader Reid has his work cut out for him as he merges the two bills together. The Senate Finance bill did not have a public option, while the HELP bill did. The HELP bill also had an employer mandate, and more generous subsidies. Reid will have to balance having a good strong bill with the need to get 60 votes to break a Republican filibuster. Of course, whatever is not included in the merged bill will come up during the amendment process. Any amendment can be filibustered, meaning it would require 60 votes to pass. Therefore, Reid should include all of the most liberal provisions in the merged bill. I'd much rather have Republicans and conservative Democrats looking for 60 votes to strip these provisions out than liberal Democrats finding 60 votes to put these provisions in.
For his part, President Obama congratulated Senator Baucus (D-MT) for completed the bill. He reminded us that much work remains to be done. I think at this point, the President will be pretty closely involved with negotiations as bills come to the floor of the House and Senate.
Overall, I'm feeling good. Today's vote confirms one thing: this is not 1993. Health care reform will pass in some form this year, and our country will be better off for it.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President met today with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero at the White House. The two discussed Spain's commitment to the War in Afghanistan. Obama denied that he has changed his opinion from earlier in the year when he seemed eager to add more troops to secure the region. Obama claimed that the plan was always to reevaluate the situation after the Afghan elections in August. Washington is continuing to wait anxiously as Obama and his national security team reach some sort of decision on how to proceed.
THE SENATE: Besides the Finance vote, the story out of the Senate today is more stagnation. Senators voted on a cloture motion this afternoon that would have ended debate on the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill. On a pure party line vote, the motion failed 56-38. Senator Reid voted no for procedural reasons, so that he can bring up the motion again at a time of his choosing. The reason the Democrats couldn't cut off debate was that they were missing three of their own members. With Senator Reid's vote, that would have gotten them the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate. I have no idea why Republicans, even the "moderate" ones have decided to filibuster this bill.
The Senate will either have to start working on another appropriations bill or try to round up votes to finish this one. They also have a couple of House-passed appropriations conference reports waiting at their doorstep. And they haven't even touched House-passed bills dealing with Climate Change, Food Safety and Education, with just several weeks left in this year's session. Ladies and Gentleman, the United States Senate.
THE HOUSE: The House had a quiet day today, only voting on a few suspension bills. They'll tackle more appropriations conference reports tomorrow. Still no word on when we might see a health care bill come to the House floor. House Speaker Pelosi has promised to get CBO to provide a cost estimate and give members 72 hours notice prior to a vote. That means we may be looking at an early November vote.
That's it for today, see you tomorrow!
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Daily Strike-10/12/09-Columbus Day
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Because today was a holiday, there was very little political news out there, certainly not much more than what we posted this morning. Because of that, we'll be doing something a bit different tonight. On November 3rd, there will be some key off-year elections taking place across the country. I though I'd give you a rundown in case the rest of the political world begins to encapsulate us.
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: In the Garden State, incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine is running for reelection against Republican former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie. Corzine has suffered very low approval ratings most of the year. He has born the brunt of New Jersey's bad economy, and it certainly doesn't help that he has a background in finance (he made a fortune at Goldman Sachs). Christie had led the race by double digits most of the year, and Democrats had pretty much written off Corzine for dead. Recently though, Corzine has surged in the polls and turned the race into a dead heat. The reason for this apparent surge seems to be a slew of negative advertising, attacking Christie for his relationship with Karl Rove, and attacking him implicitly for, yes, being fat. I would put Corzine's chances for winning this race at about 45%.
VIRIGINA GOVERNOR: Virginia is the only state that doesn't allow the incumbent to run for reelection, meaning once again, Virginia has a wide open Governor's race. Running for the Republicans is Attorney General Bob McDonnell. The Democrats have turned to State Senator Creigh Deeds. McDonnell, as you have probably heard, has taken intense heat for a thesis he wrote 20 years ago at Regents University where he said, among other things, that women in the workplace has been bad for society. Deeds, who has trailed in the polls for most of the year, has tried to gain traction among women voters by attacking McDonnell's thesis. The attacks don't seem to be all that effective at this point. McDonnell is probably benefiting from some Democrat-fatigue. The Old Dominion voted for Obama last year, but it is still a relatively conservative-minded state. Deeds hasn't helped himself much by running a lackluster campaign. I'd say Deeds' chances are about 35%.
NY 23: It's not just the statehouse races we'll be watching on November 3rd. Two Congressional seats are up for grabs in special elections. One of them is in New York's 23rd district, which became vacant when Republican John McHugh was confirmed as President Obama's Secretary of the Army. Republicans have nominated a moderate named Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, a woman who supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage. She also accepted the endorsement of the liberal Working Families Party. Outraged conservatives, led by the Club for Growth group, have decided to support Doug Hoffman, a local accountant who is running on the Conservative Party ticket. Democrats have nominated an unknown local businessman named Bill Owens. The district voted narrowly for President Obama last year, but it has conservative underpinnings. Democrats seem to think that Hoffman and Scozzafava will split the Republican vote and hand the election to Owens. I don't think that scenario is out of the question. Scozzafava is well-known in the district though, and has built up a strong political base. Owens' inspiration should be nearby Congressman Scott Murphy of New York's 20th district, an unknown businessman who was elected to replace Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in an even more conservative district. Polling indicates that Scozzafava has a narrow lead in a three way race. I'd say that Democrat Bill Owens has a 40% chance of winning, Scozzafava a 50% and Hoffman 10%.
CA 10: Finally, there's an election in California's 10th Congressional District to replace Ellen Tauscher, who was sworn in as the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control. This district is located in the East Bay Area suburbs. It used to trend Republican, but in recent elections it has become reliably Democratic, thanks to an influx of Hispanic voters and other demographic trends. The Democrats have nominated Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, who will face off against Republican David Harmer, a local businessman. Garamendi should have a good chance of winning as a well-known candidate in a Democratic district. A poll done by Harmer's campaign showed the Republican within 4 points of Garamendi, but I wouldn't put too much stock in that. I would like to see some independent polling. This one is the Democrats' to lose. I think Garamendi has a 75% chance of winning.
So that's the lay of the land. Political prognosticators will try and use the results of these elections to gauge the national mood. I don't think that would be entirely appropriate. A lot of these elections depend solely on local issues. Still, we may get a decent idea if the conventional wisdom that the Republicans have emerged from the electoral doldrums has any truth to it. Democrats should consider it a good night if they win one of the Gubernatorial races and both Congressional races. Republicans can claim victory if they take both statehouses and the New York Congressional Seat.
That's it for tonight, see you tomorrow!
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: In the Garden State, incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine is running for reelection against Republican former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie. Corzine has suffered very low approval ratings most of the year. He has born the brunt of New Jersey's bad economy, and it certainly doesn't help that he has a background in finance (he made a fortune at Goldman Sachs). Christie had led the race by double digits most of the year, and Democrats had pretty much written off Corzine for dead. Recently though, Corzine has surged in the polls and turned the race into a dead heat. The reason for this apparent surge seems to be a slew of negative advertising, attacking Christie for his relationship with Karl Rove, and attacking him implicitly for, yes, being fat. I would put Corzine's chances for winning this race at about 45%.
VIRIGINA GOVERNOR: Virginia is the only state that doesn't allow the incumbent to run for reelection, meaning once again, Virginia has a wide open Governor's race. Running for the Republicans is Attorney General Bob McDonnell. The Democrats have turned to State Senator Creigh Deeds. McDonnell, as you have probably heard, has taken intense heat for a thesis he wrote 20 years ago at Regents University where he said, among other things, that women in the workplace has been bad for society. Deeds, who has trailed in the polls for most of the year, has tried to gain traction among women voters by attacking McDonnell's thesis. The attacks don't seem to be all that effective at this point. McDonnell is probably benefiting from some Democrat-fatigue. The Old Dominion voted for Obama last year, but it is still a relatively conservative-minded state. Deeds hasn't helped himself much by running a lackluster campaign. I'd say Deeds' chances are about 35%.
NY 23: It's not just the statehouse races we'll be watching on November 3rd. Two Congressional seats are up for grabs in special elections. One of them is in New York's 23rd district, which became vacant when Republican John McHugh was confirmed as President Obama's Secretary of the Army. Republicans have nominated a moderate named Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, a woman who supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage. She also accepted the endorsement of the liberal Working Families Party. Outraged conservatives, led by the Club for Growth group, have decided to support Doug Hoffman, a local accountant who is running on the Conservative Party ticket. Democrats have nominated an unknown local businessman named Bill Owens. The district voted narrowly for President Obama last year, but it has conservative underpinnings. Democrats seem to think that Hoffman and Scozzafava will split the Republican vote and hand the election to Owens. I don't think that scenario is out of the question. Scozzafava is well-known in the district though, and has built up a strong political base. Owens' inspiration should be nearby Congressman Scott Murphy of New York's 20th district, an unknown businessman who was elected to replace Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in an even more conservative district. Polling indicates that Scozzafava has a narrow lead in a three way race. I'd say that Democrat Bill Owens has a 40% chance of winning, Scozzafava a 50% and Hoffman 10%.
CA 10: Finally, there's an election in California's 10th Congressional District to replace Ellen Tauscher, who was sworn in as the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control. This district is located in the East Bay Area suburbs. It used to trend Republican, but in recent elections it has become reliably Democratic, thanks to an influx of Hispanic voters and other demographic trends. The Democrats have nominated Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, who will face off against Republican David Harmer, a local businessman. Garamendi should have a good chance of winning as a well-known candidate in a Democratic district. A poll done by Harmer's campaign showed the Republican within 4 points of Garamendi, but I wouldn't put too much stock in that. I would like to see some independent polling. This one is the Democrats' to lose. I think Garamendi has a 75% chance of winning.
So that's the lay of the land. Political prognosticators will try and use the results of these elections to gauge the national mood. I don't think that would be entirely appropriate. A lot of these elections depend solely on local issues. Still, we may get a decent idea if the conventional wisdom that the Republicans have emerged from the electoral doldrums has any truth to it. Democrats should consider it a good night if they win one of the Gubernatorial races and both Congressional races. Republicans can claim victory if they take both statehouses and the New York Congressional Seat.
That's it for tonight, see you tomorrow!
The Weekly Strike-10/12-10/18
Happy Monday morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike, where we preview the week in politics. We should get at least some movement on health care this week (finally). Let's get to it!
HEALTH CARE: Today, the insurance industry has ended the cease fire on health reform. For much of the past year, President Obama and Senator Baucus (D-MT) have tried to neutralize the insurance companies, who were so key in killing the Clinton plan in 1993. They had succeeded until this point. The insurance industry had not run any ads in opposition to health reform. Today, that changed. The industry has released a "report" claiming that the Baucus bill will raise insurance premiums. I think this is the biggest gift the White House could have gotten, frankly. The insurance industry is about the best villain one could possibly have during a fight over health reform. Both the White House and the Senate Finance Committee have already blasted the report, saying that the numbers are false.
A few thoughts on this:
1. We should have never trusted the insurance industry. This bill threatens their interests, pure and simple. If it didn't, it wouldn't be a bill worth passing.
2. This underscores the importance of a public option. Without a public option, insurance companies could indeed raise premiums at will, and with the individual mandate, would have millions more customers to rip off. In other words, premiums will rise most if there isn't public competition with the insurance companies.
3. Democrats need to come out hard against this report. This report gives us an opportunity to re-frame the debate as "Democrats and the People" vs. "Republicans and the Insurance Industry." Make it happen.
Tomorrow, the Senate Finance committee will likely vote to approve their version of the bill. The committee has 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans. It is pretty much certain that 11 Democrats will vote for the bill, and 9 Republicans will vote against it. Democrats Rockefeller (WV) and Wyden (OR) have legitimate concerns that the bill does not go far enough to bring down costs and increase competition. I think they're right, but I also think they should vote for this bill to keep the ball rolling. Senator Snowe (R-ME) is a complete mystery. I still say it's about 50-50 whether she supports this bill. After tomorrows vote, Senate leaders will begin melding the Finance and HELP bills with an eye on bringing the bill to the floor next week. I think it is more likely we'll see a bill on the floor at the end of the month. The House is still working to merge its bills, with next week as a potential (but unlikely) target for floor debate.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The White House has a busy week apart from the continuing health care push. Today, the President takes the day off to celebrate Indigenous People's Day (that's right, the Strike supports political correctness). Tomorrow, the President holds a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero at the White House, and then hosts a concert featuring Latino Music. On Wednesday, the President holds a meeting with his national security team on Afghanistan. I'm glad the President is taking his due time in making a decision on whether to send additional troops to the region. I hope he continues to be deliberative despite the pleas of neo-conservative hawks.
Thursday, the President travels to New Orleans for the first time as President. He will hold two town meetings there, presumably on Katrina and Health Care. The President has so far done little during his Presidency to address the rebuilding of New Orleans. This is a good chance to start that process. Friday, the President hold a forum on community service in Texas with Former President George H.W. Bush. That should be awkward and fun.
THE HOUSE: The House is still in a bit of a holding pattern this week as it waits for health care legislation to emerge from negotiations. The House will consider suspension bills tomorrow and Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, the House will vote on an extension of the Bay Area Water Recycling Program, a relatively non-controversial bill that has been held up by a couple procedural hurdles. I expect the bill to pass easily (it got a majority a couple of weeks ago, but not with enough votes to pass it under suspension of the rules). Next comes another appropriations bill conference report, this time on the Department of Homeland Security funding bill. It's also possible we'll see the conference report on the Department of Interior funding bill. The House has approved 4 of these conference reports, while the Senate has thus far only voted on two of them. The Senate, of course, still needs to finish their own versions of 5 appropriation bills.
THE SENATE: The Senate will try to finish the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill tomorrow. A cloture vote is scheduled in the afternoon. I assume they will then move on to one of the other unfinished appropriations bills. We'll keep you posted as we get more information.
Thanks for reading, and leave some comments! See you tonight!
HEALTH CARE: Today, the insurance industry has ended the cease fire on health reform. For much of the past year, President Obama and Senator Baucus (D-MT) have tried to neutralize the insurance companies, who were so key in killing the Clinton plan in 1993. They had succeeded until this point. The insurance industry had not run any ads in opposition to health reform. Today, that changed. The industry has released a "report" claiming that the Baucus bill will raise insurance premiums. I think this is the biggest gift the White House could have gotten, frankly. The insurance industry is about the best villain one could possibly have during a fight over health reform. Both the White House and the Senate Finance Committee have already blasted the report, saying that the numbers are false.
A few thoughts on this:
1. We should have never trusted the insurance industry. This bill threatens their interests, pure and simple. If it didn't, it wouldn't be a bill worth passing.
2. This underscores the importance of a public option. Without a public option, insurance companies could indeed raise premiums at will, and with the individual mandate, would have millions more customers to rip off. In other words, premiums will rise most if there isn't public competition with the insurance companies.
3. Democrats need to come out hard against this report. This report gives us an opportunity to re-frame the debate as "Democrats and the People" vs. "Republicans and the Insurance Industry." Make it happen.
Tomorrow, the Senate Finance committee will likely vote to approve their version of the bill. The committee has 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans. It is pretty much certain that 11 Democrats will vote for the bill, and 9 Republicans will vote against it. Democrats Rockefeller (WV) and Wyden (OR) have legitimate concerns that the bill does not go far enough to bring down costs and increase competition. I think they're right, but I also think they should vote for this bill to keep the ball rolling. Senator Snowe (R-ME) is a complete mystery. I still say it's about 50-50 whether she supports this bill. After tomorrows vote, Senate leaders will begin melding the Finance and HELP bills with an eye on bringing the bill to the floor next week. I think it is more likely we'll see a bill on the floor at the end of the month. The House is still working to merge its bills, with next week as a potential (but unlikely) target for floor debate.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The White House has a busy week apart from the continuing health care push. Today, the President takes the day off to celebrate Indigenous People's Day (that's right, the Strike supports political correctness). Tomorrow, the President holds a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero at the White House, and then hosts a concert featuring Latino Music. On Wednesday, the President holds a meeting with his national security team on Afghanistan. I'm glad the President is taking his due time in making a decision on whether to send additional troops to the region. I hope he continues to be deliberative despite the pleas of neo-conservative hawks.
Thursday, the President travels to New Orleans for the first time as President. He will hold two town meetings there, presumably on Katrina and Health Care. The President has so far done little during his Presidency to address the rebuilding of New Orleans. This is a good chance to start that process. Friday, the President hold a forum on community service in Texas with Former President George H.W. Bush. That should be awkward and fun.
THE HOUSE: The House is still in a bit of a holding pattern this week as it waits for health care legislation to emerge from negotiations. The House will consider suspension bills tomorrow and Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, the House will vote on an extension of the Bay Area Water Recycling Program, a relatively non-controversial bill that has been held up by a couple procedural hurdles. I expect the bill to pass easily (it got a majority a couple of weeks ago, but not with enough votes to pass it under suspension of the rules). Next comes another appropriations bill conference report, this time on the Department of Homeland Security funding bill. It's also possible we'll see the conference report on the Department of Interior funding bill. The House has approved 4 of these conference reports, while the Senate has thus far only voted on two of them. The Senate, of course, still needs to finish their own versions of 5 appropriation bills.
THE SENATE: The Senate will try to finish the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill tomorrow. A cloture vote is scheduled in the afternoon. I assume they will then move on to one of the other unfinished appropriations bills. We'll keep you posted as we get more information.
Thanks for reading, and leave some comments! See you tonight!
Friday, October 9, 2009
The Daily Strike-10/9/09-Nobel Freakout
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Maybe one day I will wake up and be told that I've won the Nobel Prize.
NOBEL PRIZE: Today, it was announced that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for, " his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." I'm a big fan of the President. But I just can't figure this one out. If Obama can achieve some of the things he's proposed, like a widespread reduction in nuclear arms, a Mideast peace deal or aggressive action to address climate change, then the award should be his. But he hasn't done any of that yet. I don't mean to minimize the impact of his election on the world's collective psyche. I think many people around the world, including myself, considered his election to be one of the proudest moment's in our country's history. Nor do I feel, like a lot of conservatives and Saturday Night Live, that the President has done nothing.
I just feel like the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize should be reserved for concrete actions.
The good news? The prize has made conservatives seethe in anger! Rush Limbaugh said that this was a "great embarrassment." Michael Steele, chair of the Republican National Committee, questioned what Obama had done to deserve the prize, and criticized his record on domestic policies. (The DNC had a field day with those remarks). Seeing right-wingers this angry makes the award completely worth it to me. Keep them coming!
As for how this prize effects his political standing at home, I don't think the President will feel too much of an impact. I hope he follows through on his word to use the prize as a "call to action."
Not much else happened today, so I'm gonna go watch some baseball and hang out with Lady Strike's clan. See you Monday morning!
NOBEL PRIZE: Today, it was announced that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for, " his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." I'm a big fan of the President. But I just can't figure this one out. If Obama can achieve some of the things he's proposed, like a widespread reduction in nuclear arms, a Mideast peace deal or aggressive action to address climate change, then the award should be his. But he hasn't done any of that yet. I don't mean to minimize the impact of his election on the world's collective psyche. I think many people around the world, including myself, considered his election to be one of the proudest moment's in our country's history. Nor do I feel, like a lot of conservatives and Saturday Night Live, that the President has done nothing.
I just feel like the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize should be reserved for concrete actions.
The good news? The prize has made conservatives seethe in anger! Rush Limbaugh said that this was a "great embarrassment." Michael Steele, chair of the Republican National Committee, questioned what Obama had done to deserve the prize, and criticized his record on domestic policies. (The DNC had a field day with those remarks). Seeing right-wingers this angry makes the award completely worth it to me. Keep them coming!
As for how this prize effects his political standing at home, I don't think the President will feel too much of an impact. I hope he follows through on his word to use the prize as a "call to action."
Not much else happened today, so I'm gonna go watch some baseball and hang out with Lady Strike's clan. See you Monday morning!
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