All Life Is Problem Solving

The intensity of debate on health insurance reform is building towards a climax as public and blogosphere pressure increases rapidly on the President and both Houses of Congress. In particular, Harry Reid is facing intense pressure, reportedly from the Administration, Nevada Democrats spurred on by blogosphere-generated telephone campaigns, progressive interest groups, and both progressive and […]

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A few months ago, Kip Sullivan wrote a terrific piece in which he called out the leaders of the public option community for not informing the public that the public option provisions appearing in the HR 3200 and Senate HELP bills were vastly different from Jacob Hacker’s public option proposal that PO leadership had been […]

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In my last post, I railed against the 60 vote frame and outlined the “nuclear option” procedure which allows escape from that requirement for passing reform and also makes clear that the frame that 60 votes are necessary is at best a half-truth, and at worst a lie. Of course, I didn’t expect that post […]

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A number of diaries at Firedog Lake today, frame the coming phase of the legislative process in terms of the need for 60 votes to get cloture and pass the PO. For example here’s a quote from one of today’s diaries by David Dayen: “Left out of this story is the fact that any amendment […]

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He’ll deserve the credit, he’ll deserve the blame, and Harry Mason Reid, not Nikolai Ivanovitch Lubachevski, is his name. And don’t let him try to tell you any differently, because it’s just not so. Here’s the way things can play out now. Harry Reid, under cover of merging the Senate HELP and Finance Committee bills, […]

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When the Democrats, at the start of the present session, organized the Senate without changing the procedural rule allowing for the filibuster, and requiring a cloture vote of 60 members to end one, they took on responsibility for giving Republicans and blue dogs inordinate influence over the legislative process. The filibuster is a long-standing tradition […]

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The President has been hiding behind bipartisanship, Max Baucus, Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel, and various MSM types, whose framing of the health insurance reform issues has constantly emphasized all of the obstacles making it unlikely that a robust public option would ever make it through the Congress. During the campaign the President told us all […]

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Mike Lux thinks that the tide is turning on health insurance reform legislation and that “political common sense” is beginning to set in, and make an outcome with a robust public option much more likely. Mike says that Democrats are starting to look at the Senate Finance Committee bill and that it is making them […]

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It’s popular to appeal to the idea of free choice when defending one’s position on health insurance reform. President Obama says that he wants to give people the freedom to choose a public option or some other form of affordable insurance in addition to the insurance choices available now. The insurance companies talk about the […]

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Tomorrow evening is Congressman Jim Moran’s (D-VA) Town Hall at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA. This is the only Town Hall Jim has scheduled during the current recess. Governor (and Dr.) Howard Dean will be joining Jim to answer questions, and it promises to be a very interesting meeting. During the past few […]

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