The U.S. Senate's version of health care reform is moving toward passage, and a final vote could come in the next few days.
President Barack Obama said the nation is "on the cusp of making health care reform a reality." Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said the Senate bill [...]
Majority Leader Harry "Pinky" Reid (D-Caesar's Palace, 70%) finally snared Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE, 75%), getting the 60 votes needed to close debate on ObamaCare and (obviously) pass it. We haven't lost entirely yet, though it's now very likely that this dreadful government seizure will become law. Still, there' [...]
So, the Democrats say they have 60 votes in the Senate to close debate. Okay. Maybe. That is if no other Senator gets the idea to extort further concessions, payments and pork--as both Landrieu and Nelson have. Also watch for principled (and unmovable) conservative Democrat Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia.
Oh, [...]
My Buzz column for Monday’s newspaper:
The swelling ranks of independent voters have grown to 20 percent of the state’s 17 million voters. But they remain marginalized as the two major parties pick their nominees with little input from those voters.
The California Independent Voter Project is working to adjust [...]
The Orange County-based effort to recall Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, may sue elections officials with the hope of getting their invalidated recall on the ballot.
The group has been comparing rejected petition signatures against voter registration lists and has found some that they believe should have been counted, according to Corona [...]
It's good to vote but it's even better to vote for winners. This week's selection from the Watchers Councils worthy field of essays replicates my own choices. At this rate I may take a shot at SuperLotto soon.
In the Council Category we have The Razor's excellent [...]
President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
The California Senate passed the “Race to the Top” bill by a vote of 21-7 Thursday. The bill now goes back to [...]
While Ben Nelson may well have saved Christmas for most Americans, Harry Reid is bound and determined to take it away from his Senate colleagues, threatening around-the-clock votes through Christamas if the GOP continues to act in the spirit of Obama’s campaign promises. You know, they don’t want [...]
State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, bucked his own party leadership in voting against the confirmation of California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey. In fact, Florez turned out to be a lone wolf on the vote. Peevey was confirmed for another five-year term on 30-1 vote.
My problem with Peevey is [...]
Whitman dominates with 32 percent support among Republican voters, leading former South Bay Rep. Tom Campbell by 20 points and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner by 24 points, according to the Public Policy Institute [...]
The senior Senator from the great state of Nebraska, Ben Nelson, “won’t vote to advance the Senate healthcare bill unless it is changed“:
Nelson said more stringent restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion must be included in the billl if it is to win his vote.
“If it’s [...]
I really like Obama and I'm glad that I voted for him and that he won. If I'm unhappy with some of his policies and aspects of his leadership (and I am), he remains far preferable to the alternative.
As with most of us, his strengths [...]
Dear Senate: here is something the public will love and only takes 51 votes: Just give everyone Medicare buy-in. You can do that using "reconciliation" so the Republicans can't filibuster it. The public will LOVE it.
' [...]There are 321 days left until California voters go to the polls and choose their next governor. That's a long time, but not so long that political junkies won't read tonight's new poll and wonder this: might the all-but-official Democratic heavyweight candidate end up losing?
It's not that crazy a question, [...]
It seems there was a pretty contentious decision over who should take over as City Manager in Santa Rosa. According to the Press Democrat, "A deeply divided Santa Rosa City Council Tuesday chose former Advanced Planning Director Wayne Goldberg to be interim city manager, edging out the city's second-in-command, Deputy [...]
Each week, members of The Watchers Council nominate two posts from the prevous week in the sphere. One nomination is from something the member has written and the other from someone the member has read. Following the nomination, the Council votes to determine the best. (No, [...]
The pharmaceutical industry’s political donations paid-off big time yesterday, according to the great data-crunchers at Berkeley-based MAPLight.org.
The U.S. Senate voted 51-48 yesterday on an health-care reform bill amendment – offered by U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-ND – which would’ve relaxed restrictions on drug imports from Canada [...]
“We’d like some of that ‘change we can believe in’ that’s actually the real thing” writes Thom Hartman.
Voters are waking up, and they don’t like what they’re waking up to as Obama fails to deliver on his promise of change.
[...]The runoff election for the Assembly set vacated by “Open Mike” Duvall is Jan. 12, but mail ballots began delivery Tuesday. Click here to find our new voters guide for the election, update with questions on gay marriage, the proposed water bond, and the proposed open primary, as well [...]
GOP delay tactics slow Dems on health care votes
At least one of those “delay tactics” sounds a lot like an Obama campaign promise:
GOP Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma had sought approval to require that any amendment considered by the Senate must be offered 72 hours in advance and [...]
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT, 85% Dem) insists he can never vote for a version of ObamaCare that includes any kind of a public option or government-run health insurance.
And now Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL, unrated) swears that he can never vote for an ObamaCare bill that does not include a public [...]
California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein both supported the only really bipartisan amendment in the entire Senate health legislation, one by Sen. Byron Dorgon, D-N.D., to allow drug...
