Our country’s Congress–especially the Senate–is incredibly broken. The disproportionate power of the minority in the Senate, the amount of money it takes to run for office, the overwhelming power of lobbyists, and just good, old-fashioned corruption have been slowly ruining our country. Good policy reform in this country has been made impossible because of how [...]

As if it wasn’t enough for the taxpayers (and the economy) to get reamed by Max Baucus on Medicare Part D and his Senate Finance Committee health care bill, the LA Times is reporting that Max Baucus nominated his girlfriend for the US Attorney job.

The Capps compromise in the House was supposed to be the compromise which would have kept health care reform “neutral” on the issue of abortion. Capps Compromise–The Capps proposal would have made sure that abortion was not part of the minimum benefit requirement package for health insurance plans. It would have guaranteed that in each [...]

Ezra Klein wrote that he is fairly pessimistic on the effectiveness of the new health insurance exchanges. He should be–but not for the reasons he outlined. (As I have noted, health insurance marketplaces do a poor job reducing cost and need very strong risk adjustment mechanism.) Klein states: In the House health-care reform plan, the exchanges [...]

Gerry McEntee is president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). He leads one of the largest unions in America and has been one of the most vocal advocates for progressive health care reform. He is one of the few establishment figures willing to openly challenge Obama for repeatedly breaking his [...]

The vote on the Senate Finance Committee health care bill is scheduled for Tuesday. The committee has 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans. The big vote to watch for is Republican senator Olympia Snowe. She is seen by many as the only possible Republican vote for any health care reform legislation. If Snowe does vote for [...]

The public option has gotten most of the attention as of late, but sacrificing it is only the tip of the iceberg for Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Snowe is not just on the wrong side of the issue on the public option, she is demanding several incredibly bad provisions ans policies be part of a [...]

It is the seemingly small details which will likely end up deciding the success or failure of health care reform. For example, the fate of the public option may rest on a seemingly unimportant, few-word definition in the health care reform bill. Any health care reform bill will provide some individuals with tax credits to [...]

The Senate Finance Committee late last night finished amending the chairman’s mark. The amended bill will be sent to the CBO for analysis. It is assumed that by Tuesday the CBO will have a preliminary score of the bill. If bill scores as not adding to the deficit, the committee should vote on the piece [...]

Yesterday, Reid changed his tune about the inclusion of the public option in a final Senate bill:

“We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president’s desk,” Reid said in a conference call with constituents, referring to some kind of government plan. 

I guess he remembers what the White House did to Chris Dodd when they didn’t want to own the backlash over the AIG bonuses.  Dodd’s poll numbers still haven’t recovered.  Being Majority Leader is great, but you’ve got to be in the Senate to get the job.