Caterpillar: Health care bill would cost it $100M  —  A worker at Caterpillar's plant in Mossville, Ill. (José Moré/Chicago Tribune)  —  Dow Jones Newswires |  Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives …

Dems: Memo On Medicare Changes Isn't Ours — It's A GOP ‘Hoax’  —  Democrats today are accusing Republicans of circulating a fraudulent memo that claims to be sent to “Democratic health and communications staff” and which suggests the majority party leadership wants to make big changes to Medicare next year after health care passes.

The Misinformed Tea Party Movement  —  For an antitax group, they don't know much about taxes.  —  On March 16 the Tea Party crowd showed up for yet another demonstration on Capitol Hill in Washington.  Curious about the factual knowledge these people have regarding the issues they are protesting …

The Heat is On: Congressman's Office Says Constituent Calls Are ‘Harassment’  —  Yesterday, I decided to call Rep. John Garamendi's (CA-10) office in Washington, D.C. He's my representative and I wanted to voice my opposition to the Senate Health Care Bill.  I spoke with a female staffer …

Lynch: Why Obama Didn't Convince Me on Health Care  —  Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass), who switched from “yes” to “no” on the health reform bill, is insisting that his vote will not kill the legislation, noting that the House Democrats have the votes to pass the measure this weekend without his support.

New Health Care Whip Count: 193 Yes, 208 No (with Leaners: 203-211); Update 2x: 195 Yes  —  Update: John Boccieri has just confirmed that he will vote for this bill-that brings the Yes column to 194.  —  Update 2: Dina Titus gets us to 195 “yes.”  —  Here's the last one.

A Viewer's Guide to This Weekend  —  Sarah Binder is a professor of political science at George Washington University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.  She is the author of several books on Congress, including Stalemate (Brookings 2003) and Politics or Principle?

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — March 2010  —  The March Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds the public still divided on health reform legislation, with 46 percent of Americans backing the reform proposals on Capitol Hill, 42 percent opposing them and 12 percent saying they aren't sure.

State of the health care debate: Talk radio attacks an 11-year old  —  WASHINGTON — Conservative talk show hosts and columnists have ridiculed an 11-year-old Washington state boy's account of his mother's death as a “sob story” exploited by the White House and congressional Democrats like a …

Now for the Slaughter  —  On the road to Demon Pass, our leader encounters a Baier.  —  Excuse me, but it is embarrassing—really, embarrassing to our country—that the president of the United States has again put off a state visit to Australia and Indonesia because he's having trouble passing …

SEIU To Yank Support For Arcuri, Will Search For Challenger  —  It appears SEIU is dead serious about this business about yanking support for House Dems who vote No on the health bill.  —  The SEIU bluntly informed Dem Rep Michael Arcuri of New York yesterday that it's pulling support …

Reid Promises Separate Public Option Vote In Next Few Months  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Hoping to assuage progressive Democrats who remain disappointed with the content of the health care reform bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) committed on Friday to holding a separate vote on a public option in the coming months.

Haaretz Poll: Most Israelis see Obama as fair and friendly  —  U.S. President Barack Obama's popularity may be declining in American public opinion, but a sweeping majority of Israelis think his treatment of this country is friendly and fair, according to a Haaretz-Dialog poll conducted this week.

After a Bitter Campaign, Forging an Alliance  —  WASHINGTON — On a snowy Thursday shortly before her weekly meeting with President Obama last month, Hillary Rodham Clinton got a distressing phone call: her husband, Bill Clinton, was in a hospital with chest pains and needed an urgent heart procedure.

Fact Sheet: The Truth About the Health Care Bill  —  click for a PDF of our health care reform fact sheet  —  I'll be on the new CNN show with Jon King that premieres at noon ET, available for live stream here — jh  —  The Firedoglake health care team has been covering the debate in congress since it began last year.

Boccieri is a ‘yes’  —  An almost somber Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio) said Friday that he will switch his vote to ‘yes’ on the health care bill.  —  Boccieri is in the swing district of swing districts in the swing state of swing states.  His vote was a big get for the Democratic leadership …

Discrediting the legislative process itself  —  So far in the health-care debate, Republicans have attacked the legitimacy of private negotiations, parochial dealmaking, the budget reconciliation process, self-executing rules, the Congressional Budget Office's analyses, and even the constitutionality of the legislation.

Twilight of the interest groups  —  Think back to 1994 for a second.  The insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the American Medical Association, the hospital industry and the major business groups ferociously opposed Bill Clinton's health-care reform proposal.