Printer Friendly Version
From NBC's Chuck Todd
Pres. Obama just had a meeting with some key Congressional Democrats regarding his push for health care. The participants included: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, House Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel and House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer. According to sources familiar with the conversation, there were two key topics brought up. 1) getting a bill passed in BOTH houses of Congress before the August recess; 2) how to pay for it.
Mr. Obama and the House Democrats in the room made it clear to the two Democratic senators that needed to the Senate to go public with their promise to not break for the August recess until a bill passes the Senate. There is a worry among some House Democrats that they will lose some moderate support if the Senate decides to go home for August without a vote. So they want to hear a public pledge. Key Senate sources tell us that public pledge is coming, possibly as early as tomorrow.
As for the conversation on funding, the president publicly reiterated his pledge that he will NOT raise taxes on households making $250,000 or less; that was something the White House believed Congressional Democrats needed to hear. Also, sources tell us the both Senate and House Democrats were reminded that the president is not a fan of taxing health care benefits and he they should be doing everything they can to avoid passing a plan that includes it.
Bottom line: the White House has "cleared the decks" and focusing almost exclusively on health care for the next three weeks or however long it takes to get separate bills through the House and Senate before the August recess.
From NBC's Chuck Todd
When Pres. Obama travels from Michigan to St. Louis tomorrow, he'll have a hall-of-fame baseball player traveling with him -- Willie Mays. The president is making two stops tomorrow. The first one is in Warren, Michigan, (a suburb of Detroit) where he'll talk about the economy, in general, and job training and worker education specifically. The second stop is St. Louis, Missouri, site of the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Mays is flying to Detroit to meet up with the president and join him on Air Force 1 for the flight to St. Louis. The president is throwing out the ceremonial first pitch; it's only the third "first pitch" Obama has ever thrown out, believe it or not and his first one as president.
He did not throw out a SINGLE opening day pitch this year, first sitting president since Ronald Reagan not to throw out a first pitch at an opening day anywhere. The All-Star game is not a bad place to debut your first pitch tossin' as president. BTW, I believe (and I need to triple check this, but it's baseball, so I'll toss this out there now), the last president to throw out a first pitch at an All-Star game was actually a VICE PRESIDENT, at the time. In 1986, then-VP George H.W. Bush threw out the first pitch at the 1986 All-Star game in Houston. And if memory serves, he bounced it to home plate because he had never tossed a baseball while wearing a bullet-proof vest.
*** UPDATE *** After triple-checking, Bush 41's opening pitch was at the Astros-Mets playoff game in '86, not the All Star Game.
From NBC's Luke Russert
In a news day dominated by coverage of the Sotomayor hearings, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House Democratic health-care bill would be out Tuesday. "We have plans to introduce legislation tomorrow," she said. "It won't be the finished product. It is a mark, to be marked up by committee to go to the next step."
House Democratic leaders, including Pelosi, held a press conference today to highlight the stresses on everyday Americans of not having health care on everyday Americans. The speaker started off the briefing by emphatically saying that government cannot afford to do nothing -- claiming that would increase the cost of coverage for an average family by "$1,800 a year."
Pelosi also shot back at GOP critics who paint the Democratic approach as an unwelcome government intervention into the private relationship between a doctor and a patient. "We hear some of our opponents of reforming health care say that this is putting government between you and your doctor. That is what they say but they are just wrong. What we are doing is removing the health insurance companies from in-between patients and their doctors."
Also at the press conference, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer argued that health-care reform is a moral issue. "Reforming health care is an economic imperative, a budget imperative and a moral imperative."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Al Franken, the most junior member of the United States Senate and, in turn, the Senate Judiciary Committee, eventually got to speak today during the hearing for Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor. (By the way, don't miss that he spoke right after Arlen Specter, who would have been sitting next to Chairman Pat Leahy had he remained a Republican.)
As expected, Franken was, again, boring -- and humble. But he did give a hint at how he might fight for a liberal agenda. He quoted Justice Souter in a way that seems to make the case for an empathetic justice. And he said that he, too, is "wary of judicial activism" -- from the other side of the aisle.
He cited the Supreme Court's move on voting rights and Justice Thomas, in particular, of where it has veered toward conservative activism.
He got a couple of chuckles from the masses when he mentioned that he'd only been on the job five days. But, he said, because of that, the oath is fresh in his mind, and he takes it very seriously.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Here's one we missed Friday evening, but came across perusing Newt Gingrich's Twitter feed this afternoon...
As we, at First Read, have also argued, Gingrich said he thinks Sarah Palin still has a legitimate shot at the 2012 nomination.
He was asked on audio on his Web site, "If you decided to run for president in 2012, would you be open to having Sarah Palin as your running mate?"
Gingrich replied: "Well, I think it's important to remember that Gov. Palin may well be the nominee. There are lots and lots of Republicans who like her. And she's now going to be able to campaign full time for the next-- almost three and a quarter years. And so, who knows what's going to happen. I think it's a long way off, but I think she has a very major role to play in the party. And I wouldn't rule her out for either the first or second slot."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Twitter has been, perhaps tellingly, quiet today on Sonia Sotomayor from the GOP side of the Tweet.
Most looking for a fight kept the focus on debt and the stimulus. (By the way, "the U.S. budget deficit broke past $1 trillion in June," the Wall Street Journal reports.)
Republican Sen.
Orrin Hatch didn't Twitter off a comment from today's proceedings. He, instead, is fielding your questions for tomorrow's questioning:
R-UT Orrin Hatch: Email me your question for Judge Sotomayor at
askjudgesotomayor@hatchforsenate.com.
about 2 hours agoReply Retweet
R-UT Orrin Hatch: New blog: Ask Judge Sotomayor
http://is.gd/1xn09 On
his blog, he has three comments with questions on it.
So, tomorrow, will we hear some version of: "Judge Sotomayor, this question comes from Twitter?"
*** UPDATE *** At about 3:45 pm ET, Sen. Arlen Specter, who once upon a more politically secure time, was the ranking Republican member on this judiciary committee, Tweeted the following: "I think it was wrong for America to wait until 1967 to have an African American justice, Thurgood Marshall, on the court and to wait until 1981 to have the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor. As as a diverse nation, diversity is very, very important."
And check out Arlen Specter's Twitter profile screen background. It is absolutely wallpapered with tiled pictures of a road sign that reads, "Putting America to work. Project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."
Who's a Democrat? Priceless.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Sonia Sotomayor's statement was mostly biographical and relatively short. But she said her judicial philosophy is "fidelity to law. The task of a judge is not to make the law -- it is to apply the law."
It's an interesting turn of phrase, considering that Republicans have seized Sotomayor's 2005 comments at Duke law, in which she said that circuit courts are where policy is made.
Video: NBC's Tracie Potts reports on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings.
Expect them to dig in on that point tomorrow in questioning to start 9:30 am ET. Judiciary Ranking member
Jeff Sessions (R-AL) already previewed that he would take his shots.
Here are the key graphs:
In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law -- it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress’s intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand.
The process of judging is enhanced when the arguments and concerns of the parties to the litigation are understood and acknowledged. That is why I generally structure my opinions by setting out what the law requires and then by explaining why a contrary position, sympathetic or not, is accepted or rejected. That is how I seek to strengthen both the rule of law and faith in the impartiality of our justice system. My personal and professional experiences help me listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case.
*** UPDATE *** In fact, Mitch McConnell's office just blasted out those 2005 Sotomayor comments with this headline: "CONFIRMATION CONVERSION: 'FIDELITY TO THE LAW'" Subheadline: "Previously Said 'Court Of Appeals Is Where Policy Is Made'"
From NBC's Mark Murray
In the conveniently timed intermission during the Sotomayor hearings, President Obama announced Regina Benjamin to be his pick for surgeon general.
But the president also used the announcement as a kind pep talk on health-care reform, as congressional watchers and the press have begun to doubt whether Congress can meet his goal to pass reform bills before it goes on its August recess.
"We are going to get this done," Obama said. "Inaction is not a option."
He added, "Don't bet against us. We are going to make this happen."
And mentioning a sports/exercise metaphor he's used before, Obama said that Washington's muscles for enacting change have atrophied. So: "We are whipping folks back into shape."
Earlier today, we noted that the day's two main storylines -- Sotomayor and CIA/Cheney -- would make it difficult for Obama to get his message out on the economy and health care. Well, he used a surgeon general announcement to try to break through.
*** UPDATE *** According to NBC's Athena Jones, Obama also said his campaign pledge that Americans making $250,000 a year or less WOULD NOT pay more in taxes was a promise that would be kept as reform moved forward. "During the campaign, I promised health-care reform that would control costs, expand coverage, and ensure choice. And I promised that Americans making $250,000 a year or less would not pay more in taxes. These are promises that we're keeping as reform moves forward."
From NBC's Mark Murray
For the most part, the first two hours of opening statements during the Sotomayor confirmation hearing have been pretty uneventful.
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have touted her record, accomplishments and judicial restraint, while the Republicans on the panel have raised concerns about Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment and President Obama's "empathy" standard.
Video: Sen. Lindsey Graham has told Sotomayor that she would be confirmed "unless you have a complete meltdown."
But in some of the most striking comments so far, South Carolina Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R) said that presidential elections have consequences, and he might be open to voting for her. He also said,
as mentioned below, that Sotomayor's confirmation is a likely slam dunk.
Graham lamented the politics involved in judicial nominations, and cited (as other Republicans have) the unsuccessful judicial nomination of conservative Miguel Estrada.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
raised some objection to
Sonia Sotomayor's record. He said there have been, however, some exceedingly harsh things said about her and that he doesn't believe she's a racist. But her "wise Latina" comment bothered him, he said.
He added, unless she has a meltdown, she's going to be confirmed.
There was a laugh from the crowd.
He did not indicate how he would vote.
