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   Read the story and see the video discussion by the authors about why creeping consolidation is crushing American livelihoods.
 A forensic tool renowned for exonerating the innocent may actually be putting them in prison.
 If you liked Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf, youll love our latest ally, Yemens Ali Abdullah Saleh.
 Crises can force even the most dysfunctional governments to changeand Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou aims to prove it.
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July 22, 2009
BABY STEPS.... The House Energy and Commerce Committee was scheduled to consider health care reform yesterday, but the committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), pushed off the vote. Dems have a 36-23 edge in the committee, but Waxman has seven Blue Dogs, and their opposition to reform would give the GOP enough votes to prevail. So, instead of a vote, committee Democrats went to the White House for a chat. By all accounts, it went relatively well.
Rep. Mike Ross (D) of Arkansas, the Blue Dogs' point man on health care, called the MedPAC agreement a "significant breakthrough" and evidence that policymakers are "making progress." He added, however, "[W]e've got a long way to go." Dems on the Energy and Commerce Committee will continue talking today, but probably won't resume formal work on the bill until tomorrow, making the pre-recess deadline that much more of a challenge, though Speaker Pelosi told her caucus yesterday the chamber is still on track. She added that "this is the biggest thing we will do in our lives." Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the chamber, suggested action on the House floor is likely July 29, a week from today. As for the Senate Finance Committee, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said the panel had made "significant progress" on a bipartisan proposal, No word, though, on if/when we'll actually see a Finance bill. —Steve Benen 11:20 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (5)Comments
As long as these two remaining committees are continuing to work, things are moving ahead. I think DeMint's Waterloo comment (as well as Kristol's "kill it") may have sharpened the focus. I don't think the Senator Baucus and the Blue Dogs want to go down in history as having destroyed the chances of health care reform. Posted by: Amy on July 22, 2009 at 11:26 AM | PERMALINKAnother one of those "bipartisan" proposals that won't get a single GOP vote, Max? Posted by: Steve LaBonne on July 22, 2009 at 11:31 AM | PERMALINKAmy's right. This Waterloo business was SO stupid by the GOP. It reminds Baucus which side he's supposed to be on, which is (nominally) ours. If you draw a line in the sand, he'll step up. Posted by: Chocolate Thunder on July 22, 2009 at 11:33 AM | PERMALINKContrary to what has been coming out of their (Blue Dogs) mouths lately, this proposal is very wise. It is important to give an outside panel or agency the power to control the purse strings, and is a very important cost-containment measure. All one needs to do is look at agribusiness subsidies and the F-22 debacle to see why it is important. Posted by: OhNoNotAgain on July 22, 2009 at 1:15 PM | PERMALINKAll one needs to do is look at agribusiness subsidies and the F-22 debacle to see why it is important. No, that just shows a couple dramatic instances of Congress failing at managing public programs well when powerful lobbies were at work. It doesn't show that outside agencies, which have less public accountability, do any better; the entire well-known phenomenon of "regulatory capture" would seem to argue against placing too much faith in such setups. Posted by: cmdicely on July 22, 2009 at 1:31 PM | PERMALINKPost a comment
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