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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: legislation

legislation stories: 83 news summaries

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OPINION


 GOP Traffic-Jam Ploy 
 Is Snarling Senate 

Stalling tactics are making Democrats turn on each other

Nov 19, 09 9:43 AM CST
(Newser) - Senate Democrats are starting to turn on each other like angry drivers stuck in rush-hour traffic thanks to Republican obstructionism, writes EJ Dionne. Republican senators are eating every word they once said against filibusterism and are stalling even legislation that they support in a Machiavellian effort to keep the Democrats... More »

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Congress • Senate • Senate Democrats • Senate Republicans • legislation • filibuster • health care reform

 Reid 'Optimistic' 
 About 60 Votes 

Majority leader thinks he's got the support to send bill to the floor

Nov 18, 09 10:00 AM CST
(Newser) - Harry Reid is “cautiously optimistic” about the success of his frantic attempts to unite the 60 votes of his caucus behind the Senate health care reform bill. “I think we’re together,” he says. But the majority leader was positively voluble about the bill itself, notes the... More »

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Congress • Joe Biden • Harry Reid • Democratic caucus • legislation • vice president • Mary Landrieu • health care reform • Ben Nelson • concession • Senate majority leader • Blanche Lincoln

KATHA POLLITT

Stupak Is the Last Straw—No More Caving!

Women should not 'take one for the team' on abortion coverage

Nov 16, 09 11:12 AM CST
(Newser) - Painting the Stupak-Pitts amendment as a necessary evil—a concession women should make for the “greater good” of health care reform—is ridiculous, Katha Pollitt writes. Women have been consistently sidelined by the “theocrats and male chauvinists” throwing their weight around in the Democratic Party. “Why don't... More »

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Congress • women • legislation • health care reform • pro-choice activists • Obama administration • abortion debate • Stupak-Pitts • Katha Pollitt

best plan is no plan



 Goldman to Insurers: 
 Health Reform Will Hurt 

Who knew Wall Street and teabaggers could agree?

Nov 13, 09 9:48 AM CST
(Newser) - Here's a reason for Goldman Sachs to be even more popular with the public: The investment bank has issued research on private health insurers advising that fighting off reform would best for their bottom line. Goldman takes as the “base” case passage of the bill that exited the Senate... More »

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Congress • stock market • Wall Street • Goldman Sachs • profits • legislation • health care reform • market research

 Abortion Activists Mobilize 
 Against Stupak-Pitts 

Aim is to kill bill in Senate, or back in House, at any cost

Nov 12, 09 9:30 AM CST
(Newser) - Abortion rights activists are organizing a massive grassroots effort and targeting lawmakers to ensure the hated Stupak-Pitts Amendment never reaches the president’s desk. The coalition of groups is first meeting with senators and organizing a phone drive and petition to keep the House language out of the Senate's bill.... More »

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Congress • abortion rights • Planned Parenthood • legislation • health care reform • NARAL • National Organization of Women • Stupak-Pitts

Senate Dems Say Obama Plans Don't Fix Spending

Say legislation isn't aggressive enough on fee-for-service model

Nov 10, 09 1:05 PM CST
(Newser) - Some Democrats in the Senate are worried that reform legislation under consideration doesn't do enough to rein in out-of-control health care spending. President Obama has promised $2 trillion in savings over the next 10 years, but critics say the proposed changes aren't nearly aggressive enough on the current pay-per-visit system... More »

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Congress • Senate • medical costs • legislation • Rahm Emanuel • health care reform • Obama administration • doctors • health insurance industry

Pelosi Won't Put Final Health Care Bill Online

Speaker leaves door open for last-minute amendments

Nov 6, 09 9:49 AM CST
(Newser) - The Weekly Standard is beating up on Nancy Pelosi for backing out of her promise, made to a Standard reporter in September, to put the final House health care bill online 72 hours before it’s voted on. With the vote expected tomorrow, It seems Pelosi and the... More »

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Nancy Pelosi • House of Representatives • legislation • Weekly Standard • health care reform • amendment

 Beck Rates 
 Health Reform 
 as 9/11 Attack 


9/12ers are girding for this year's national catastrophe

Nov 3, 09 8:09 AM CST
(Newser) - Glenn Beck's found a new way to frame his opposition to heath care reform, and this one's a doozy: It's a terrorist attack. A decade ago “I could have shouted every single day about Osama bin Laden,” the Fox News commentator said, “and nobody would have... More »

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Congress • terrorism • September 11 • legislation • Glenn Beck • health care reform • 9/11 attacks • 9/12 Project • Sam Stein • 9/12ers

HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT?

Dems Chip Away at Agenda, One Bill at a Time

GOP keeps its eye on the prize, lets smaller bills sail through

Nov 2, 09 7:10 AM CST
(Newser) - Health care reform may not be sailing through Congress, but a wave of smaller bills that Democrats have been eying for years have done so under President Obama—in most cases without much fanfare or objection. Republicans, focused on bigger fish, are giving a pass to legislation they once forcefully... More »

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Barack Obama • legislation • bills • congressional Democrats • President Obama • hate crimes

 Calif. Holds Hearings on 
 Legalizing Pot 

Hopes high as 3 measures head for ballot next year

Oct 28, 09 3:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - The push to legalize—and, especially appealing at the moment, tax—marijuana is picking up momentum in California, with legislators holding hearings today on what would be the first such law in the nation. Organizers are currently collecting signatures to put three separate pot legalization initiatives on the ballot next... More »

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California • law • Arnold Schwarzenegger • medical marijuana • legislation • marijuana • marijuana legalization • pot

SATIRE DEPT.

 Keep Anti-Gays 
 in Closet: Colbert 

Anti-gay marriage petitioners in Washington value their privacy

Oct 27, 09 10:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - Stephen Colbert had a fine time last night espousing the rights of that “persecuted minority”—anti-gay-marriage activists. You see, the group that gathered signatures for a referendum against Washington state’s recently signed domestic partnership legislation is refusing to disclose the names of the signers, the Huffington... More »

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gay marriage • legislation • homosexuality • Washington state • civil union • Stephen Colbert • The Colbert Report • referendum

so much for baucus bill

 Public Option Now 
 Has Legs in Senate 

Hostile insurance industry pushes Dems to consider grab-bag of proposals

Oct 20, 09 8:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - The public option, left for dead by the Max Baucus bill that passed the Finance Committee just weeks ago, has a new lease on life in the Senate. Credit goes to a CBO report underwhelmed by that bill's efforts to encourage competition, and a big power play by the insurance... More »

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Congress • Senate • legislation • Olympia Snowe • Congressional Budget Office • Senate Finance Committee • health care reform • Evan Bayh • public option • health insurance industry

 GOP Plans 
 Stall Tactics for 
 Health Bill Fight 

Opponents hope long debate will force voters to 'understand this thing'

Oct 19, 09 1:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - Lacking the votes for a filibuster and increasingly resigned to the fact that Democrats will stand united, GOP senators have a novel strategy to stall the health care reform bill: They’re going to stall it however they can. The Democratic plan “is inconsistent with the American people,”... More »

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Congress • GOP • Senate Republicans • legislation • filibuster • health care reform • John Thune • Obama administration • floor debate • Richard Burr

HEALTH REFORM



 Six Senate 
 Swing Votes 

From Dems who swing right to left-leaning GOPers, debate promises suspense

Oct 14, 09 12:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - As health care reform bills merge and change on the Senate floor, the pool of legislators to watch has grown. The Wall Street Journal takes a look:
  • Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: Her vote for the Finance Committee bill was clutch, but "doesn't forecast what my vote will be
... More »

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Congress • Senate • legislation • Olympia Snowe • Senate Finance Committee • Susan Collins • Mary Landrieu • health care reform • Ben Nelson • Roland Burris • public option • Blanche Lincoln

Fido, Fetch
My Tax Break!

Longshot GOP bill wants to make pet expenses deductible
to boost economy

Oct 13, 09 1:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - A bill with appealing benefits for pet owners and advocates alike is crawling through Congress, though it’ll probably be put down without ceremony. The HAPPY Act proposes pet expenses be tax deductible up to $3,500 a year, as a way to stimulate the economy and, of course, encourage... More »

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pets • Congress • legislation • tax breaks • tax credit • companion • cats • dogs • Thaddeus McCotter • Robert Davi

 Snowe to Vote for Health Bill 

She provides crucial Republican support for Obama's overhaul

Oct 13, 09 12:26 PM CDT
(AP) - Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party on President Obama's top legislative priority. The Maine senator kept virtually all of Washington guessing how she would vote until she announced it late in the Senate Finance Committee debate today. "... More »

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Congress • legislation • Maine • Olympia Snowe • Republican Party • Senate Finance Committee • vote • health care reform • Max Baucus • Obama administration • bipartisan

ANALYSIS

Yea or Nay, How Health Bill Hinges on Snowe's Vote

Either way, Maine Republican will likely preserve leverage going to the floor

Oct 13, 09 10:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - The day is finally here: Olympia Snowe will have to vote one way or another on the Senate Finance Committee’s health reform bill. The Maine Republican has been coy—“It’s all about what I’m comfortable doing at the end of the day”—but that doesn’... More »

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Congress • legislation • Olympia Snowe • Senate Finance Committee • vote • health care reform • reconciliation • Max Baucus • Obama administration

 Schwarzenegger 
 Latest in GOP 
 to Back Reform 

Calls for health bill this year in opposition to congressional GOP's wish for do-over

Oct 6, 09 2:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Arnold Schwarzenegger today became the highest-ranking elected Republican to back President Obama's push for health care reform. California's governor urged lawmakers "on both sides of the political aisle at the national level to move forward." He spoke after New York City's Mike Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent, also endorsed reform.... More »

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Bush administration • Congress • Tommy Thompson • Arnold Schwarzenegger • Bill Frist • Mitch McConnell • legislation • Richard Gephardt • health care reform • Max Baucus • Obama administration

House Dems Fear Senate,
WH Steamroll on Health Care

Moderates don't want to spend risky votes on legless progressive bill

Oct 6, 09 11:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - House Democrats on both ends of the spectrum are feeling sorry for themselves as they struggle to shape a final health care reform bill. The bill is widely expected—based in no small part on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proclamations—to include a public option, a tax on wealthy Americans,... More »

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Nancy Pelosi • Congress • Senate • House of Representatives • legislation • health care reform • Blue Dog Democrats • public option • progressives

(Newser) - Reasoned debate is all well and good, but the more than 300 amendments offered to the health care reform bill by finance committee Republicans are “dangerously close to a parody,” Dana Milbank writes. Or maybe they’re already there. Take Orrin Hatch’s request for “transition relief... More »

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Congress • Senate • GOP • Jon Kyl • legislation • Republican Party • Senate Finance Committee • Charles Grassley • health care reform • Jay Rockefeller • amendment

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