It looks like Kent Conrad (D-ND), who chairs the Senate Budget Committee through which any reconciliation bill must pass, scored a nice, little, special deal for his home state as part of the student loan reform portion of the reconciliation package. From the summary of the bill: Section 2213. Agreements with State-Owned Banks. This section [...]

One of the Democratic leadership’s talking points for the reconciliation bill is that it increases affordability tax credits for people on the exchange. What they aren’t saying is that the increase in subsidies in the Senate bill is only temporary. From the CBO: An important component of the longer-term analysis is that, beginning in 2019, [...]

Natasha Chart gives a heartfelt personal account of being 21 and on the receiving end of reproductive coercion. “Progressive” men have decreed that women are being “purists” to oppose a health care bill that would deal the worst blow to reproductive rights in 35 years, but as Natasha says, they’re not the ones who will [...]

Ben Smith writes that if the health care bill passes with “unified, if grumbly, support on the left, it would seem to vindicate the White House’s fundamental approach, which was to take the left for granted as much as possible and focus on courting marginal members of the Senate.”

He’s absolutely right. As I told Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal the other day (which he didn’t print), “f#%king r$%ards” worked.

In what is likely to be one of the last acts of health care reform kabuki theater, the role of the football will be played by President Obama’s proposed National Insurance Rate Authority. As always, the role of the Lucy shall be played by the Senate. The role of the football has previously been played [...]

The greatest problem with the Senate health care bill is not that it does “too little” to help people. The problem is that the bill does too many terrible things to help all the bad actors. The Senate bill further entrenches the private health insurance system. It continues the terrible pattern of privatizing our social [...]

Why have we not yet seen a reconciliation bill with a final CBO score? It needs to be made public today if they want to have it online for 72 hours before a planned Saturday vote. The answer seems to be that they are having trouble putting together a reconciliation bill that the CBO will [...]

Last July, in response to a campaign we launched the month before, 65 members of Congress pledged to vote against any bill that does not have a public option. At the suggestion of Rep. Donna Edwards, online supporters raised $430,000 to thank them. Dennis Kucinich was one of those members of Congress. July was also [...]

The brand name prescription drug lobby PhRMA has been holding back on further support for health care reform until they are sure the final reconciliation package is still to the liking of the drug industry. The announcement that PhRMA plans to drop $6 million in a final round of pro-reform ads is a good indication [...]

Dennis Kucinich has called a press conference for tomorrow.  Howard Fineman is reporting that Kucinich will vote “yes” on health care. Kucinich told Obama that he wants a full ERISA waver and a public option in exchange for his vote.  And if he actually gets an ERISA waver, it will be the biggest victory of [...]