Now if only they can do this with the health care bill. The Democrats have a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, but you wouldn’t know it by the way that Indiana Judge David Hamilton’s nomination to a federal appeals court has languished. Eight months after he was first nominated (and four months after he cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee), a filibuster blocking a vote on Hamilton was finally broken today. We look forward to how the Democrats handle the health care bill. source
If the Fort Hood shooting didn’t happen, this probably would’ve been the day’s big story. A bunch of right-leaners met up at the Capitol today to stir up some )#&@ with Congress, in an effort to break the health care bill. Mark Levin is kind of a leader of the movement. Here’s a video of him speaking today. At the link is a transcript of the other person involved, Michelle Bachmann, talking on Glenn Beck. Enjoy!source
The Senate couldn’t push through a Medicare payment bill. An attempt to prevent the 21% reduction of doctors’ Medicare fees couldn’t get through the Senate tonight, with both Republicans and centrist Democrats suggesting the $250 billion price tag was too much. They needed 60 votes to get the bill, supported by the American Medical Association, onto the Senate floor. They got 47. This may be a harbinger of things to come. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is suggesting that much. Have we called him a toolbag lately? source
The Finance Committee’s bill will be combined with a bill passed in July by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. source
After that, the Congressional Budget Office and Senate Democrats will do vetting of the combined bill to make sure it passes muster. source
Finally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promises, the bill will be voted on by the full Senate by the end of the month. Then the House gets it. source
The White House seems to want to fight the attacks against it for having too many ‘czars’ on a political level rather than a substantive level. I don’t think that’s the right approach.
Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold • At a hearing yesterday regarding the Obama administration’s use of czars to handle specific issues facing the presidency. Their use has been a touchy subject for some, especially if your name is Glenn Beck. “If there are good answers to the questions that have been raised,” Feingold says regarding the White House’s blog post on the subject, “why not give them instead of attacking the motives or good faith of those who have raised questions?” Also raised were constitutional and oversight issues – should the Senate be taking a look at these czars? • source
A couple Senate Finance Committee Dems plan to push for it today. Obama has seemingly given up on the public option, but other Democrats haven’t, and today, they plan to push for its presence in the Baucus plan by forcing a vote. Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Chuck Schumer may not have the votes to get it passed, so it could be a mere symbolic gesture, but you have to start throwing the kitchen sink at some point. source