Top Items:
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.
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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.
The Hill:
CBO: Health package costs $940 billion; Hoyer says vote will come on Sunday — Democrats are lauding a CBO report that found their healthcare package will cut the deficit by $130 billion. — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer hailed the figures from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office during …
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 …
The Politico:
CBO releases health bill estimates — The Democratic health care bill would cost $940 billion over 10 years and cut the federal deficit over the next two decades — figures that should help ease the worries of fiscal hawks who have been reluctant about supporting the sweeping measure.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Hill, Riehl World View and Real Clear Politics
Fox News:
Fate of Health Care Bill Rests on Looming Budget Office Estimate — The fate of the Democrats' health care reform effort hinges on a report expected Wednesday morning from the congressional budget scorekeepers — an estimate of what a follow-up bill could cost that already is running into trouble.
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Confederate Yankee, Townhall.com, Gateway Pundit, MedCity News, IMAO, And So it Goes in Shreveport and Ezra Klein
The Hill:
No CBO score released Wednesday; Saturday healthcare vote unlikely — House Democratic leaders on Wednesday night said the long-awaited Congressional Budget Office score of the reconciliation bill will not come out until Thursday, forcing an acknowledgement that a Saturday healthcare vote is likely off the table.
ABCNEWS:
Health Care Bill to Cost $940B, Reduce Deficit by $100B in First 10 Years
Health Care Bill to Cost $940B, Reduce Deficit by $100B in First 10 Years
Discussion:
Washington Times, Hot Air, Associated Press, The Washington Independent and Hotline On Call
Matthew Continetti / Weekly Standard:
Preliminary CBO Numbers Are In (BUMPED & UPDATED, 11:30 a.m.)
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Waxman: CBO numbers ‘go a long way’ toward winning undecided votes
Fox News:
President Barack Obama Talks to Bret Baier About Health Care Reform Bill — This is a rush transcript of “Special Report With Bret Baier” from March 17, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. — BRET BAIER, “SPECIAL REPORT” HOST: Welcome to Washington.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Power Line, National Review, Althouse, YID With LID, Weekly Standard, Scared Monkeys, QandO, Jules Crittenden, Another Black Conservative, Michelle Malkin, Left Coast Rebel, Political Byline, Fausta's Blog, IMAO, Swampland, Hot Air, Washington Wire, Gateway Pundit, Prescriptions, Doug Ross, Real Clear Politics, NO QUARTER, Riehl World View, Sister Toldjah and Liberal Values
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Seth Leibsohn / The Corner on National Review Online:
Bret Baier — By: Seth Leibsohn — Bret Baier just concluded the single best interview of President Obama in a year, by any reporter. He was resilient in the face of the president's obvious attempts to run down the clock by stonewalling; Bret continually hammered a series of questions …
Dave / Breitbart.tv:
PUZZLING STATEMENT: OBAMA SAYS ‘LOUISIANA PURCHASE’ …
PUZZLING STATEMENT: OBAMA SAYS ‘LOUISIANA PURCHASE’ …
Discussion:
National Review
Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Obama Says “Louisiana Purchase” …
Obama Says “Louisiana Purchase” …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Media Matters for America, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media and Moonbattery
The Hill:
Stupak: Health fight has been ‘a 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” …
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Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:
Don't Be Morose! Get Even! — David Brooks says he's out on the ledge, morose, and about to have a “Howard Beale” moment. Just last week he was telling us that Obama was a misunderstood moderate. Now he confesses that Obama is aiding and abetting unlawfulness of the worst kind. He explains:
Discussion:
Pundit & Pundette
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The Note:
New Dawns: Glimmers of Sunlight on Democratic Horizons — You tell us where the madness lies. — Just as a non-vote loomed on a non-bill with no price tag attached, Democrats get to start telling a different story over these next frenzied 72 hours. (CBO willing, that is …
RELATED:
Gil Hoffman / Jerusalem Post:
Goldberg: Obama wants Livni in coalition — Reporter close to US president says Washington trying to get Kadima into gov't. — US President Barack Obama's administration's recent pressure on Israel is designed to force Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to add Kadima to his coalition instead …
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Pew Research Center:
Gloomy Americans Bash Congress, Are Divided on Obama — Health Care Reform - Can't Live With It, or Without It — As the day of reckoning for health care reform approaches, Americans have little to cheer about. Nearly everyone (92%) gives the national economy a negative rating.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
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Mark Silva / The Swamp:
‘Gloomy’ America: Congress, Obama
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Steve Levy Plans Switch to G.O.P., Stirring Governor's Race — ALBANY — A governor's race that seemed all but settled is about to be upended again, by a popular Democrat from Long Island who is set to announce that he is switching parties. The move is certain to excite Republican leaders pessimistic …
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.
Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
Ailes to the DC Staff: No More Shooting Inside the Tent — Fox News founder and chairman Roger Ailes dropped in to the Washington Bureau this afternoon for an impromptu talk to the troops ahead of tonight's RTCA dinner. — Sources inside the packed newsroom tell TVNewser Ailes started …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog
Elizabeth Benjamin / The Daily Politics:
The Return Of Betsy McCaughey? (Updated) — Just when you thought things couldn't possibly get any weirder in NYS politics... A reader who lives in Manhattan reports he received a poll call last night that appeared to be testing the viability of former LG Betsy McCaughey as a statewide candidate …
Mark Jenkins / Central Florida News 13:
Homeowner Kills Attempted Robber In Driveway Shootout — OCOEE — An Orange County man is recovering after a shootout in front of his home. — It happened around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 1800 block of Pomegranate Court. — Police said the homeowner, Dave Henry, had just returned home …
Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:
Access, Access, Access — First, a question: When in American history did life expectancy improve the most? — Was it the late 1800s, when anesthesia made surgery easier and far more common? Was it the 1930s, when antibacterial medicines became available? Or recent decades, when CAT scans and heart bypasses proliferated?
Janet I. Tu / Seattle Times:
Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16 — Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement.