Top Items:
Chicago Breaking Business:
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 …
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David Dayen / Firedoglake:
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.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Riehl World View, Washington Post, Repository, Open Left, TPMDC, Daily Kos and msnbc.com
The Note:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Shoots Down Rep. Bart Stupak's ‘Fix’ — ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked about Bart Stupak's suggestion that there could be another bill to address abortion funding and she said, “I haven't heard any of that.”
Discussion:
ABCNEWS
The Hill:
Anti-abortion Democrats working on a vote deal with Senate on bill — At least six anti-abortion Democrats are open to supporting the healthcare bill if they can get a guarantee from the Senate that it will move separate legislation containing the House abortion language, one of those Democratic holdouts said Friday.
ama-assn.org:
AMA Supports House Passage of Health System Reform — Will work with Congress and the administration to make critical changes that cannot be addressed through the reconciliation process — For immediate release: — Washington, D.C. - After careful review and consideration …
Fox News:
Ohio Democrat Flips to ‘Yes’ on Health Care
Ohio Democrat Flips to ‘Yes’ on Health Care
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Prescriptions, Hot Air, msnbc.com, Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Political Carnival
Jay Fitzgerald / Boston Herald:
Stephen Lynch strong ‘no’ on health bill despite talk with President Obama
Stephen Lynch strong ‘no’ on health bill despite talk with President Obama
Discussion:
Salon, TPMDC, Matthew Yglesias, Indecision Forever, TPM LiveWire, Guardian and FiveThirtyEight
Bruce Bartlett / Forbes:
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 …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Left Coast Rebel, Outside The Beltway, DISSENTING JUSTICE and The Political Carnival
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
CONFUSION-BASED RAGE, CONT'D.... Former Bush speechwriter David Frum enlisted some interns this week to survey Tea Party activists protesting in D.C. earlier this week. The goal was to get a sense of the activists' understanding of taxes — ostensibly, the “movement's” raison d'etre — and factual knowledge.
Yossi Verter / Haaretz:
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.
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John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Read the Bill: Senate Plan Would Pay for Abortions at Community Health Centers — If there are any wavering pro-life Democrats in this late hour who need to be persuaded about how awful the Senate health care bill is, they should read two memos that make it clear how the Senate bill …
Discussion:
The New Republic, AmSpecBlog, The Corner on National …, PostPartisan, Riehl World View, Weasel Zippers, The Foundry and nrlc.org
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
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 …
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Sarah Binder / The New Republic:
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?
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Aaron Blake / The Hill:
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 …
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Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Boccieri decision at 10:40 — Freshman Rep. John Boccieri …
Boccieri decision at 10:40 — Freshman Rep. John Boccieri …
Discussion:
The Page
Wall Street Journal:
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 …
Discussion:
Salon, Maggie's Notebook, TPM LiveWire, Mediaite, Townhall.com, Wonkette and The Corner on National …
Jamison Foser / Media Matters for America:
Conservative blogger accuses Hannity of deceptive fundraising practices — I'm hesitant to take anything Debbie Schlussel says seriously, given her track record. That rather large disclaimer aside, Schlussel has posted what is, on its face, a potentially damaging investigation of Sean Hannity and the Freedom Alliance charity.
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New York Times:
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.
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
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.
Wall Street Journal:
Deal Near on Gitmo, Detainee Trials — The White House is nearing a deal with a bipartisan group of senators to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and pave the way for more detainees to be tried before military commissions, a move that would reverse a signature Obama administration security policy.
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Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:
The Sell-Out on Gitmo Is Nigh — By: Andy McCarthy
The Sell-Out on Gitmo Is Nigh — By: Andy McCarthy
Discussion:
Hot Air
Jeffrey H. Anderson / Weekly Standard:
CBO: Obamacare Would Cost Over $2 Trillion — The CBO's most recent analysis is out, and it's not likely to convince wavering House Democrats to jump to the Obamacare side of the fence. Even the Democrats are granting that the latest version of their proposed health care overhaul would cost $69 billion more than the previous version.
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Capitol Confidential / Big Government:
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 …
Discussion:
Townhall.com
Les Blumenthal / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
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 …