Top Items:
David M. Drucker / Roll Call:
Ruling Kills an Option for Moving Health Bill — The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress' original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday.
Discussion:
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Democrats.senate.gov:
Reid, In Letter To McConnell, Outlines The Path Forward On Health Reform — Washington, D.C. - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explaining the path forward on health insurance reform. In the letter, Senator Reid details the steps …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Politico, Washington Monthly, Open Congress, The Moderate Voice and The Page
The Note:
Dem Rep. Lynn Woolsey: House May Pass Senate Bill Without Recorded Vote — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: As House Democrats press for final passage of a health care bill, a legislative scenario has emerged whereby the House wouldn't have to take a formal roll call vote to endorse the Senate version of the legislation.
Bob Cusack / The Hill:
House Democrats' ‘no’ votes are piling up as healthcare reform moves forward — More than two dozen Democrats are expected to vote against the healthcare reform bill that will hit the House floor in the coming weeks. — At least 25 House Democrats will reject the healthcare reform legislation …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN THROWS A CURVEBALL.... House Dems have a fear: they can pass the Senate health care bill, only to see the Senate blow off the reconciliation budget fix agreed to by the leadership. In effect, the House is afraid the Senate will say, “We promise to approve the fix after you pass the bill …
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
House liberal leader says Obama's stumping not changing many healthcare votes
House liberal leader says Obama's stumping not changing many healthcare votes
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate parliamentarian raises bar for passing healthcare reform
Senate parliamentarian raises bar for passing healthcare reform
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
The Hill:
House GOP votes to ban all earmarks — House Republicans approved a conference-wide moratorium on earmarks on Thursday, one day after a House committee enacted a ban on for-profit earmarks. — The Republicans' moratorium is more extensive than the House Appropriations Committee's ban …
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Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Barney Frank confirms key detail in Massa saga — Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) confirmed a key detail that was allegedly reported to the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) regarding allegations of Eric Massa's improper behavior. — The Washington Post reported Thursday that Joe Racalto …
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Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Nancy Pelosi's office was told of concerns about Eric Massa
Nancy Pelosi's office was told of concerns about Eric Massa
Discussion:
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Laura Rozen / Laura Rozen's Blog:
What Biden told Netanyahu behind closed doors: “This is starting to get dangerous for us” — Publicly, Vice President Joe Biden tried to keep up a positive tone in his good will visit to Israel this week. But privately, the Israeli press reports, he had sharper words for Israeli decisions Biden …
Roll Call:
Senate Liberals Dissed on Health Bill — Senate Democratic leaders are concerned about the amount of mischief their own Members could create if or when a health care reconciliation bill comes up for debate. And sources said some supporters of creating a public insurance option are privately worried …
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Noah Shachtman / Wired:
How Andrew Breitbart Hacks the Media — Andrew Breitbart has been waiting 45 minutes for a filet mignon. He drums his fingers on the table in this plush Italian restaurant off Times Square, a place where the media types he regularly trashes used to flaunt their expense accounts — back when they still had them.
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New York Times:
Holder Failed to Disclose Brief on Detainee Policy — WASHINGTON — During his Senate confirmation hearings last year, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. failed to disclose that he had signed a brief urging the Supreme Court not to uphold President Bush's claim that he could imprison …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Main Justice, Emptywheel, The Washington Independent, Maggie's Notebook, ATTACKERMAN and Keep America Safe
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Mike Levine / Liveshots:
Holder Failed To Alert Senate To Old Brief
Holder Failed To Alert Senate To Old Brief
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Corner on National …, Weekly Standard, The Foundry, Gawker, Power Line, Michelle Malkin and National Review
Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
The Scandalous Scott Brown Lawsuit that No One Told You About — Did you know that Scott Brown—the new star Republican Senator—was accused of harassing a female campaign worker in 1998? We have the documents to prove it. Did the Democrats blow an opportunity to keep their 60th Senate seat?
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Raw Story, Maggie's Notebook, Taegan Goddard's … and The Political Carnival
Jonah Goldberg / The Corner on National Review Online:
Get Woody — By: Jonah Goldberg — As anyone who's read my book knows, I am a member in good standing of the Woodrow Wilson Haters Club. The exciting news is that almost everyone wants to be a member these days. Glenn Beck — partly influenced by my book — has been on a jihad against Wilson for a while now.
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Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:
Beck: Fox News executive told me ‘you are the key’ to surviving ‘a global economic holocaust.’ — Fox News host Glenn Beck has made a trademark of propagating outlandish conspiracy theories and far-right rhetoric, but his employers at Fox have long claimed that his views do not reflect the network's.
James C. McKinley Jr / New York Times:
Texas Hearing Considers Deeper Conservative Stamp on Textbooks — AUSTIN, Tex. — Even as a panel of educators laid out a vision Wednesday for national standards for public schools, the Texas school board was going in a different direction, holding hearings on changes to its social studies curriculum …
Eric Alterman / The Nation:
Money for Nothing — On February 23 the New York Times reported that ABC News had decided to reduce its staff by a whopping 300 to 400 people, or approximately a quarter of its workforce. Three days later, the paper ran a full-page ad featuring a Photoshopped crowd of the network's biggest and best-compensated celebrities.
Discussion:
The Wire
Mark Cannizzaro / New York Post:
Woods hires ex-Bush aide to prep for return in two weeks — MIAMI — Tiger Woods has summoned someone even more significant than swing coach Hank Haney to help facilitate his wildly anticipated comeback. — Two sources in the golf community have told The Post that Ari Fleischer …
Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:
Estimate of the Budgetary Effects of the Senate-Passed Health Bill — CBO has just released an estimate of the budgetary effects of the health bill, H.R. 3590, that passed the Senate on December 24. Today's estimate differs from the estimate for a slightly earlier version of the legislation …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, WalletPop Blog, The Hill, Associated Press, Politics Daily, Cato @ Liberty, AmSpecBlog and Washington Monthly
Matthew Continetti / Weekly Standard:
Paul Ryan: The Roadmap Warrior — The Wisconsin congressman on tax policy. — Paul Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future would drastically overhaul the American welfare state in a free-market direction. The Congressional Budget Office says it would solve the entitlements crisis through …
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
Lois Romano / Washington Post:
Hillary Rodham Clinton widens her circle at the State Department — Hillary Rodham Clinton ran a presidential campaign notoriously insular and unhappy, managing a group of egos and backstabbers whose dysfunction may have cost her the White House. Understandably, people wondered what kind …
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org, The Caucus, Laura Rozen's Blog, ATTACKERMAN, Taylor Marsh, Commentary and Shakesville
Jazz Shaw / The Moderate Voice:
What I Learned at the Tea Parties — Both the media and many high profile politicos still seem to be flailing around trying to find some way to label, quantify and pigeonhole the myriad tea party groups which are springing up all around the country. Even Karl Rove, during a stop to promote his new book …