Top Items:
The Politico:
GOP plots Senate health roadblock — Democrats might like to think that health care reform is all but a done deal if it clears the House, but the Senate is where Republicans have been plotting for months to sentence it to a painful procedural death. — Republican aides have been mining …
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Ezra Klein:
CBO: Health-care reform bill cuts deficit by $1.3 trillion over 20 years, covers 95% — Washington has spent the past week or so waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to release its preliminary estimate of the Senate bill with the reconciliation fixes.
Discussion:
Hotline On Call, Mediaite, The Plum Line, PERRspectives, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Newsweek Blogs, Cato Institute and Daily Kos
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
CBO numbers — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) just released the first set of Congressional Budget Office numbers to reporters this morning. — The bill would cost $940 billion, and reduce the deficit by $130 billion over the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Breaking: CBO releases the actual report; Update: Almost all $940 billion incurred in just six years; Update: Preliminary — It's much as advertised. Thanks to its spending provisions mainly starting in 2014, the reconciliation bill combined with the Senate version has a total cost of $940 billion …
Discussion:
Fox News, AmSpecBlog, The Corner on National …, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The New Editor, Gateway Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and IMAO
Ezra Klein:
Democrats get the bill, and the score, they needed — The question people generally ask about the final health-care reform vote is, “Won't it be politically difficult for many House Democrats to vote yes?” But with the release of the CBO report (pdf), I'd flip that question a bit …
Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Obama's pitch: Fate of presidency on the line — President Barack Obama had exhausted most of his health care reform arguments with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a White House meeting last Thursday when he made a more personal pitch that resonated with many skeptics in the room.
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama's Approval Rating Lowest Yet, Congress' Declines — Slightly more disapprove than approve of Obama — PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama's job approval is the worst of his presidency to date, with 46% of Americans approving and 48% disapproving of the job he is doing as president …
Daily News Journal:
(2 of 3) — “Drawing from Republican and Democratic ideas, the bill before the House now has the potential to bring about major, commonsense remedies to our system that most all Tennesseans agree are necessary. Under the bill's reforms, Tennesseans with preexisting conditions like heart disease …
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
BREAKING: Health Care Reform's Finished Draft
BREAKING: Health Care Reform's Finished Draft
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Erin McPike / Hotline On Call:
Rules Panel Dem To Vote Against Bill — A key House Dem has begun informing party leaders he plans to vote against health care legislation both on the House floor and in the rules committee, on which he sits. — Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY), a sophomore Dem who had a tougher …
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Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Lynch mobbed — Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) is a firm “no” on health care reform — in large measure because he opposes the idea of any kind of excise tax on Cadillac plans, even one that's delayed for years and years. — That's put Lynch a former ironworkers union official in Boston …
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
New Health Care Whip Count: 192 Yes, 208 No (205-210 with Leaners) — We're getting to an end game here, and so the counts will come fast and furious at this point. I think that it's good to look at the count right when the CBO numbers have been released as a good baseline for the future.
Michelle Malkin:
The House vote on the Slaughter Solution: Update: Constitution-butchers prevail, 222-203; Roll call vote added; Calling out Dems Altmire, Lynch; Barone's analysis added — Photoshop credit: Big Fur Hat at iowntheworld.com and Applecross Media — You'll recall that House Republicans unveiled …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Maggie's Notebook, Hot Air, QandO, Ace of Spades HQ, The Other McCain and Sense of Events
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Jim Geraghty / National Review Online:
Punish These Fools. — By: Jim Geraghty — At first glance, here are some of the vulnerable House Democrats who just voted that the health care bill does not require a separate vote, and that demonpass/deem-and-pass is just dandy: — Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania. — John Barrow, Georgia.
Emily Pierce / Roll Call:
Conrad Predicts Senate Changes to Reconciliation Bill
Conrad Predicts Senate Changes to Reconciliation Bill
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
The Hill:
Stupak: Health fight has been ‘living hell’ — Leading a revolt against President Barack Obama's healthcare legislation over abortion has been a “living hell” for Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). — The telephone lines in his Washington and district offices have been “jammed” …
Discussion:
Boston Globe, DownWithTyranny!, The New Republic, Top of the Ticket, Politics Daily, Weekly Standard, Moonbattery, Newsweek Blogs, Maggie's Notebook, Hullabaloo, Left Coast Rebel, Townhall.com, The Politico, Another Black Conservative, AMERICAblog News, QandO, Pundit & Pundette, TBogg and Washington Monthly
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Jonathan Tilove / New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Health care overhaul to get fresh look from Rep. Anh ‘Joseph’ …
Health care overhaul to get fresh look from Rep. Anh ‘Joseph’ …
Jodi Jacobson / RHRealityCheck.org:
Bart Stupak: I Don't Listen To Nuns
Bart Stupak: I Don't Listen To Nuns
Discussion:
The Speakers Lobby, Taylor Marsh, Think Progress, Democratic Strategist, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and Hullabaloo
Advocate:
Choi Arrested at White House Gates — In an act of civil disobedience, Lt. Dan Choi and Jim Pietrangelo have been arrested at the White House gates on Thursday while protesting the military's “don't ask, don't tell” policy. — Following a Human Rights Campaign rally for DADT repeal …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Joe. My. God., The Bilerico Project, The Daily Dish and Pam's House Blend
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Andy Towle / Towleroad News #gay:
Video, Photos, Report: Lt. Dan Choi and Cpt. …
Video, Photos, Report: Lt. Dan Choi and Cpt. …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog Gay, Political Punch, Mediaite, AMERICAblog News, Ben Smith's Blog, Pam's House Blend, Good As You, The Stranger …, Wonkette and Shakesville
Michiko Kakutani / New York Times:
Texts Without Context — In his deliberately provocative — and deeply nihilistic — new book, “Reality Hunger,” the onetime novelist David Shields asserts that fiction “has never seemed less central to the culture's sense of itself.” He says he's “bored by out-and-out fabrication …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Mashed Up — Michico Kakutani has a somewhat curious piece …
Mashed Up — Michico Kakutani has a somewhat curious piece …
Discussion:
Eschaton
Las Vegas Now:
I-Team: DOJ Serves Subpoenas in Senator Ensign Investigation — LAS VEGAS — Nevada Senator John Ensign is in the crosshairs of a Department of Justice criminal investigation. — The criminal probe stems from a romantic affair Ensign had with the wife of his key staffer and close friend …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, TPMMuckraker, Washington Monthly, Main Justice, The Hill, Raw Story and CNN
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Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
‘Holder-in-Chief’ Coburn issues far-fetched threat against Democrats who switch votes in favor of health reform. — During a GOP press conference today, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) issued a far-fetched threat against those Democrats who are considering switching their votes to support health reform.
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Has Rahm's assumption about progressives been vindicated? — President Barack Obama, Paul Krugman, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga — Politico's Ben Smith yesterday suggested that one important aspect of Rahm Emanuel's health care strategy …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Pollster.com All Content, Ben Smith's Blog, FiveThirtyEight, Open Left and TalkLeft
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Kos / Daily Kos:
FL-Sen: Crist is broken — Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 3/15-17. Likely voters. MoE 4% (5% for primary samples). (11/16-18/2009 results) — GOP Senate Primary — Charlie Crist (R) 30 (47) — Marco Rubio (R) 58 (37) — Other polling has shown Rubio blowing past Crist, so that's not so much news.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Canceling the trip — The cancellation of President Obama's trip to Asia marks the full reversal of the strategy his presidency began with: Flooding the zone with policy, keeping the President out of the weeds. — The decision to cancel his trip may look like a sign of urgency but it's also …