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Anna Fifield and Edward Luce - Financial Times
Democrats do not have a firm grip on the votes needed to pass sweeping healthcare reform legislation in the House of Representatives, one House leader admitted on Sunday. But the White House insisted that its reform efforts were "in the final chapter".
Ten people who could decide health care reform
Patrick O'Connor and Carrie Budoff Brown - Politico
At this point, a yearlong health reform effort will live or die in Congress by a few votes that go one way or the other, all in the next few weeks. President Barack Obama knows this as well as anyone, which is why on Thursday he invited a mix of House Democrats -- some of the most liberal, and some of the most conservative -- to the White House, where he told them to do whatever they can to rally support among their fellow members. And since it appears that the president won't attract a single Republican vote, wavering Democrats should brace themselves for plenty of attention -- from the voters, their leaders and Obama himself, who, a spokesman said, wants a House vote by March 18.
Neglected by 'lazy' nurses, man, 22, dying of thirst rang the police to beg for water
Emily Andrews - Daily Mail
A man of 22 died in agony of dehydration after three days in a leading teaching hospital. Kane Gorny was so desperate for a drink that he rang police to beg for their help. They arrived on the ward only to be told by doctors that everything was under control. The next day his mother Rita Cronin found him delirious and he died within hours. She said nurses had failed to give him vital drugs which controlled fluid levels in his body. 'He was totally dependent on the nurses to help him and they totally betrayed him.'
Dems' splintering threatens health bill
Jennifer Haberkorn - Washington Times
"The House did a better job of that when we passed our bill," Mr. Kind said. Rep. John Adler, New Jersey Democrat, said on "Fox News Sunday" that "I'm not sure we've gone far enough in terms of fixing the underlying system to make it affordable for businesses and for taxpayers." House members also have taken serious issue with the Senate's tax on high-cost insurance plans over concern that it would hurt unions, a group loyal to Democrats. The House's plan instead would increase taxes for Americans with the highest incomes.
Healthcare overhaul comes down to Pelosi and Obama
Janet Hook and Noam N. Levey - LA Times
Reporting from Washington - The fate of healthcare legislation turns on the endgame skills of two Democrats who bring vastly different assets to the task: President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Obama's signature ability to inspire fellow Democrats and Pelosi's well-honed ability to read their parochial needs will be tested as they tackle the job of finding the last stubborn votes for the healthcare bill. The final push is giving Obama a chance to redeem himself among Democrats who have complained that he has been too detached from the nitty-gritty of crafting the healthcare bill. In recent weeks, he has taken control of the debate, giving his party a second chance after a string of setbacks.
McConnell: 2010 races a 'referendum on health care'
Josh Gerstein - Politico
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) predicts health care reform will be the central issue in every election contest this fall if Democrats manage to pass the overhaul plan supported by President Barack Obama. "Every election this fall will be a referendum on this bill," McConnell said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." McConnell also said he sees no potential upside for the Democrats, at least in the short term. "The benefits don't kick in for four years," the Senate leader said. "Just looking at the politics of it there's nothing but pain here for the next four years. Why in the world would they conclude that would be popular?"
Va. health bill could foil Obama proposal
Michael Kranish - Boston Globe
Here in the former capital of the Old Confederacy, where resistance to the supremacy of federal law has a long and tortuous history, a new battle is being waged over a question that could undercut a key part of President Obama's health care proposal: whether Washington can require that most Americans have health insurance. The Virginia Legislature this week is poised to become the first state to pass legislation that says citizens cannot be required to have medical insurance.
Obama Looks to Rally Public in 'Uphill Battle' on Health Bill
Kristin Jensen - Bloomberg/ Business Week
President Barack Obama this week kicks off a final push to salvage a health-care overhaul plan that faces opposition from the public and resistance from members of his own Democratic Party. While Obama has brought the effort back from the brink of failure, he still faces hurdles. Republicans are united in opposition, and Democratic lawmakers unhappy with the legislation won't be reassured by polls showing that a majority of Americans oppose it.
Obama to appeal for public support on health care
Julie Pace - Associated Press
With the fate of his signature legislative initiative far from certain, President Barack Obama is taking his last-ditch push for health care reform on the road.In a speech Monday in Philadelphia, Obama will try to persuade the public to back his plan to remake the nation's health care system, while also urging uneasy lawmakers to cast a "final vote" for a massive reform bill in an election year. Obama's pitch in Philadelphia, along with a stop in St. Louis Wednesday, comes as the president begins an all-out effort to pass his health care proposals. Though his plan has received only modest public support, Obama has implored lawmakers to show political courage and not let a historic opportunity slip away.
Health Care & House Democrats: What Now?
Julie Kirtz - Fox News
There is a huge spotlight on about a dozen House Democrats who voted "no" on health care reform in November. As congress launches into the final legislative phase on health care reform this week, President Obama needs a number of them to switch to "yes". Two of these key House Democrats appeared on Fox News Sunday. They sound as if they are prepare to vote no again, even if it means a defeat for the president's health care agenda. "My constituents put me in Washington to cast tough votes on their behalf," said Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa. "I'm not afraid to take the vote."
Obama Urges Action on Health Care
Jeff Zeleny - New York Times
President Obama pressed Congress on Saturday to "finish its work" on health care, dismissing criticism from Republicans as he sought to build a case that the legislation would be friendly to families and small businesses. As the administration works to win over skeptical Democrats in Washington, Mr. Obama is taking his health care message to Philadelphia and St. Louis this week, the latest steps in a forceful campaign designed to demystify the complicated health care measure.
A furious health care push but what about jobs?
Ben Feller - Associated Press
President Barack Obama's furious, final push to get a health care bill passed threatens to shove aside the message he promised would top his list this year: creating jobs. Even as the White House juggles several enormous issues at once, the public takes its cues about the president's chief concern from how he spends his time, energy and capital. As Obama himself put it on Wednesday, from now until Congress takes a final vote on a health care overhaul, "I will do everything in my power to make the case for reform."
Reconciling With the Past
Thomas E. Mann, Norman J. Ornstein, Reffaela Wakeman, and Fogelson-Libliner - New York Times
WITH President Obama and Congressional Democrats intent on one last push for health care reform, the main Republican talking point is outrage over the likely use of the reconciliation process to pass a separate House-Senate compromise. The Republicans' best hopes of killing health reform rest on the use of a filibuster in the Senate. But bills considered under reconciliation cannot be filibustered and therefore can pass the Senate by a simple majority vote.
President Obama: Time for 'final vote'
Carol E. Lee - Politico
President Obama renewed his call on Congress to "schedule a final vote" on health care reform Saturday, and continued to target insurance companies. In his weekly radio and internet address, Obama mentioned meeting Thursday with insurance company executives, where he read a letter to them from an Ohio woman whose rates were sharply raised. The executives, he said "couldn't give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums - by as much as 60 percent in states like Illinois."
What's the deadline for health reform?
Ben Pershing - Washington Post's 44
"If you don't set a deadline in this town, nothing happens," President Obama said last July, and John Dickerson later noted that Obama "has a professor's fondness for deadlines and a writer's lack of respect for them." So it makes sense that the White House appeared to set a deadline for completion of health care Thursday and then revise it the same day. Early in the day, Robert Gibbs said Obama wanted to get "something done" before his March 18 departure for Indonesia and Australia.
President hits the road to make push for health care
NECN
President Obama will be in Philadelphia on Monday and St. Louis later this week pitching his plan for health care reform. The President's deadline for an "up or down vote" is just days away and it's not clear whether he's got enough Democrat votes for passage. The plan for passing the health care bill is complicated. First the House would have to pass the Senate bill. Then the House would pass a second bill making certain changes.
Former Pa. senators look at earlier efforts for health care
Richard Wolf - USA Today
Nineteen years ago, Pennsylvania launched the last major effort to change the nation's health care system by electing a little-known Democrat named Harris Wofford to the U.S. Senate with the message: "If you're sick, you should have the right to a doctor." Three years later, that effort ended in a debacle -- for Wofford, President Clinton and the health care plan they espoused. On Monday, as President Obama comes to Philadelphia for the first stop in his latest cross-country crusade on health care, Wofford hopes Democrats in Congress recall the example he set in 1991, not 1994.
There She Goes Again: Maddow Descends Into Deceit to Malign Orrin Hatch as Liar
Jack Coleman - NewsBusters
If there's one thing Rachel Maddow hates, it's hypocrisy. That and dishonesty, oh, don't get her started. Especially when they emanate from the GOP side of the aisle, at least as perceived by her. But when coming from Maddow, well, let's just say her blind spot is broad of breadth. On her MSNBC show Tuesday, for example, Maddow repeatedly called Sen. Orrin Hatch a liar in response to a Hatch op-ed that day in the Washington Post criticizing Democrats for their expected use of budget reconciliation to pass health legislation.
The health care campaign begins (again)
Chris Cillizza - Washington Post's The Fix
With President Obama's March 18 deadline to pass health care reform through Congress rapidly approaching, the American Future Fund, a conservative outside group, is spending $900,000 on television ads in 18 Democratic-held districts calling on members to scrap the current plan. The ads decry the "massive spending" and "backroom deals" including the now infamous "Cornhusker Kickback" in the legislation and quote President Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comments during the campaign. "Tell Congress to start over and get health care right," says the ad's narrator.
| Latest Polling |
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Rasmussen Reports March 8, 2010 53% of U.S. voters continue to oppose the health care plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats. |