» Sign up to receive the Daily Dose by email every weekday
Keith Hennessey
A Republican on Capitol Hill points out that we're going through a health care press coverage time warp. In each of the following four headline pairs, one is from this morning. The other is from last year. See if you can guess which is which. Politico: President Obama takes reform on the road AP: Obama takes health care pitch to people--again
Eric Massa: Democrats ousted me over health care
Tim Grieve - Politico
Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) says the House ethics committee is investigating him for inappropriate comments he made to a male staffer on New Year's Eve -- and that he's the victim of a power play by Democratic leaders who want him out of Congress because he's a "no" vote on health care reform. "Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill," Massa, who on Friday announced his intention to resign, said during a long monologue on radio station WKPQ. "And this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me, and it will pass. You connect the dots."
Massa Will Resign Monday as Planned
Tory Newmyer - Roll Call
Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) will follow through with his resignation, scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. Monday, his chief of staff confirmed. Massa suggested to a New York radio station on Sunday that he could rescind his resignation after asserting that an ethics investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed an aide may have been orchestrated by Democratic leaders to get him out of office before the health care vote.
Former congressman Massa says Democrats set him up over health care
Paul Kane - Washington Post
Conservative activists rallied Monday to the side of a liberal New York Democrat who had resigned from the House, after he charged that his party's leaders had conspired to oust him over his opposition to President Obama's health-care legislation. Eric Massa's resignation Monday came after an ethics investigation into his conduct, and allegations of sexual harassment of staffers, became public. And his remarks on a Sunday radio show were only the latest in a series of explanations of why he was leaving the House.
Massa Implicates Emanuel, Dem Leaders
Reid Wilson - Hotline On Call
Embattled Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) lashed out in an emotional radio appearance Sunday, accusing Dem leaders of what he suggested was an orchestrated campaign to force his resignation. "There's a reason that this has all happened, frankly one that I had not realized," Massa said on WKPQ radio on Sunday. "Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill, and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me and it'll pass."
Massa: Rahm Emanuel "Would Sell His Own Mother" For Votes
Real Clear Politics
"Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil's spawn, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) said. "He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive." Rep. Massa describes a confrontation with Emanuel in a shower: "I am showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me."
Eric Massa to Rip Democrats on Glenn Beck's Fox News Show
David Weigel - The Washington Independent
Rep. Eric Massa's (D-N.Y.) scorching attack on Democrats -- while a lot of attention is going to a silly story about Rahm Emanuel, he accuses his party of trying to "shove the [health care] bill down our throats" -- will be amplified tomorrow with a full-hour interview on Glenn Beck's Fox News show. In roughly 12 hours, Massa has changed his narrative from "congressman resigning in disgrace" to angry, Howard Beale-esque truth-teller who'd simply had enough and will take his party to the woodshed. Left unsettled: the incredibly important issue of whether he'll resign today, as he said he would, or he'll try to bring down the health care bill by staying in Congress.
Massa Says Health Care Stand Contributed to His Resignation
David Herszenhorn - New York Times' Prescriptions
Representative Eric Massa, Democrat of New York, who is resigning from Congress amid allegations that he sexually harassed a staff member, now says he believes that House Democratic leaders wanted to force him out of office because he voted against the Democrats' health care legislation. Mr. Massa, a freshman who represents Elmira, Corning and the suburbs of Rochester, has said that he is resigning effective 5 p.m. on Monday.
Massa blames resignation on health care debate
Ben Dobbin - Associated Press
New York Rep. Eric Massa is now blaming his resignation last week on a conspiracy by House Democratic leaders to force him out before a crucial vote on health care, his third explanation for leaving office after he earlier cited health issues and an ethics investigation. One of 39 Democrats who voted against an earlier House version of the health care bill in November, Massa said in his weekly radio address Sunday that Democratic leaders will "stop at nothing" to advance the health care overhaul.
Obama Confuses Decades, Inflates Estimated Health Care Savings by $868B
Major Garrett - Fox News
Obama boasted Monday that Democrats' health care proposals would cut deficits by $1 trillion "over the next decade," a flub that inflated the actual estimate by $868 billion President Obama, making his final push for health care reform, pitched his proposal Monday to a crowd in Pennsylvania with a deficit-reduction figure that the White House later admitted missed the mark.
Stupak: Health bill abortion fight can be resolved
John Flesher - Associated Press
Prospects are good for resolving a dispute over abortion that has led some House Democrats to threaten to withhold support of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, a key Michigan Democrat said Monday. Rep. Bart Stupak said he expects to resume talks with House leaders this week in a quest for wording that would impose no new limits on abortion rights but also would not allow use of federal money for the procedure.
House liberal want to tie on Senate health bill to vote on fixes
Michael O'Brien - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
House liberals want to tie a series of fixes to the Senate healthcare bill to a vote for the actual bill, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) suggested Monday. Weiner, an informal leader of a bloc of House Democrats who have demanded changes to the Senate bill in exchange for the House passing it, said many Democrats want to tie the votes together out of a fear that the Senate may renege on passing a separate measure making changes to its original bill.
Obama: Time to debate health care over
CNN Politics
President Obama on Monday tore into private health insurers for recent rate hikes, taking a more aggressive rhetorical turn as he pushes for final congressional passage of his top domestic priority. Obama repeated his assertion that the plan under consideration includes the best Democratic and Republican ideas. The time for debate has ended, he argued. Congress "owes the American people a final up or down vote on health care. It's time to make a decision," he told an enthusiastic crowd at Arcadia University near Philadelphia. "Stand with me and fight with me. ... Let's seize reform. It's within our grasp."
Alabama Dem lawmaker will break from campaign trail to oppose health reform
Jeffrey Young - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who opposed the House version of the healthcare reform bill last year, will make sure to take a break from his campaign for governor to travel to Washington to vote against the final version of the bill. Davis has consistently critical of the Democratic healthcare bills and has been clear that he would not support the latest iteration of the measure but his vow to turn up for the vote is notable. Lawmakers seeking higher office are prone to missing roll call votes as they hit the campaign trail but Davis's office told The Hill that he intends to make the trek north from Alabama to cast his vote against the legislation -- and his party's leadership.
Is Health Care Turnaround A Bad Bet
Mark Blumenthal - National Journal
Last week, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh said Democrats are betting that perceptions of the health care reform bill will improve once it is enacted. "That is the bet," Bayh told Charlie Rose, "that some of the misconceptions out there will be proven to be false between now and the election." That's likely a "bad bet," as University of Michigan political scientist Brendan Nyhan wrote on Wednesday.
Obama Bears Down on Insurers in Health Push
Peter Loftus and Henry J. Pulizzi - Wall Street Journal
President Barack Obama took his health-care push on the road Monday, putting denunciations of insurance companies at the center of his stump speech. "How much higher do premiums have to rise until we do something about it?" Mr. Obama said in his speech at Arcadia University here. The White House is seeking passage of a health overhaul that stalled after Democrats lost a U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts in January. The administration wants the House to pass a Senate-approved measure by March 18, but it is unclear if the bill has enough support among Democrats.
Unless Abortion Funding Is Removed, There's No Way Health Care Will Pass
Penny Young Nance - Fox News
The president's health care bill would effectively force Americans to subsidize abortions, something they fundamentally and overwhelmingly reject. How exactly would creating the largest expansion of federally-funded abortion in this country since "Roe v. Wade" lower health care costs for all Americans and give them better access to health care?
| Latest Polling |
|
Rasmussen Reports March 8, 2010 53% of U.S. voters continue to oppose the health care plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats. |