Congress
From NBC's Ken Strickland
At a news conference this morning, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) pre-emptively gave the his answer to the question everyone's been asking over the past few weeks: does Majority Leader Harry Reid have the 60 votes needed to bring the healthcare bill to the floor.
"We're not assuming a thing," Durbin said, "we're working hard to bring all Democrats together for the 60 votes necessary to proceed to this historic debate."
But it's possible Durbin and Reid are playing coy and already know they how the vote will go down Saturday night.
In a gaggle with reporters following the news conference (off-camera), Durbin was asked if he knew how Blanche Lincoln will vote on Saturday. Lincoln has been by far the most tight-lipped of the three Democratic holdouts about how she might vote.
"She's told Senator Reid," Durbin said, but wouldn't answer the obvious follow-up question. "You'll have to ask Senator Reid."
It begs the questions if fellow centrist Democrats Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu have also informed Reid.
Per the Washington Post, the Congressional Budget Office said the public option “opt out” in Reid’s bill “would have relatively little impact on the current system, would charge ‘somewhat higher’ premiums than its private competitors and would draw only about 4 million subscribers. The decision to permit states to opt out of the public plan is partly to blame for the Reid proposal's lack of reach, as it would leave about a third of the people in the country without access to the program, according to the CBO's calculation. But even the national plan approved by the House this month would attract only about 6 million people, the nonpartisan group has said, primarily because it would lack the tools to keep costs and premiums down.”
The New York Times looks at the abortion issue in the Senate bill. "Under the House bill, federal money could not be used 'to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion,' except in case of rape or incest or if the life of a pregnant woman was in danger. Thus, a plan that received federal subsidies for low- and moderate-income people could not offer abortion coverage. Under the Senate bill, insurers would not be required or forbidden to cover abortion. But, the measure says, in every part of the country, the government would have to ensure that there is at least one plan that covers abortion and at least one that does not."
More: "The secretary of health and human services would decide whether a proposed new government insurance plan would cover abortion. In general, if insurers cover abortion, they could not use federal money to pay for the procedure. They could use only subscriber premiums and would have to keep the money separate from subsidies received from the federal government."
The New York Times covers yesterday’s congressional hearing looking at the Fort Hood shootings. “A Senate committee on Thursday opened the first public hearings into the Fort Hood shootings, with several legislators asserting that the incident in which 13 people were killed was a terrorist attack by a homegrown extremist who may have slipped past law enforcement and military authorities. Hours later at a Pentagon news conference, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced that former Army Secretary Togo West and a former chief of naval operations, Vernon Clark, would lead a broad Pentagon review of the circumstances surrounding the shootings in which 13 people were killed and 43 were injured.”
From NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell and Domenico Montanaro
In the Reid healthcare bill, there is a new 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgery.
Today, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, who is a physician and staunchly opposed to this legislation, suggested on the Senate floor that a woman would be taxed if she had breast reconstruction surgery following cancer.
"In this bill is a 5% tax on cosmetic surgery,” Coburn said. “Just yesterday -- the day before yesterday, U.S. preventive task forces, services, recommended because it's not cost effective that women under 50 not get mammograms unless they have risk factors. Well, you tell that to the thousands of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer lat last -- last year under 50 with a mammogram. You tell them it's not cost effective. Also in this bill is a 5% tax on the breast reconstruction surgery after they had a mastectomy. They're going to tax having your breast rebuilt after your breast is taken off because it is elective plastic surgery. It is elective cosmetic surgery. We're going to have a tax on it because we've taxed elective cosmetic surgery. We're in trouble as a nation because we've taken our eye off the ball."
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From NBC's Ken Strickland
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today said the crucial vote to bring the legislation to the floor will happen "sometime" Saturday. But he was uncertain he had to 60 votes required to start debate.
"We'll find out when the votes are taken," he said during a Q & A with reporters at a rally with supporters.
Assuming Reid can get the bill to the floor, he will face other 60 vote thresholds, including one for final passage. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) made it clear he will filibuster the final passage of a bill that contained any form of a public option.
Responding to a question about his thin margin for error, Reid said he's had recent conversation with Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both from Maine.
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The Boston Globe on the Senate bill: “Senate majority leader Harry Reid unveiled his long-awaited version of a sweeping health care bill last night, setting the stage for a tense Senate showdown pitting Republicans against a fragile and fractured Democratic majority.” The first big vote could come as early as Saturday. Democrats are hoping they have the 60 votes necessary to advance the bill to debate. “The handful of moderate senators who will decide the question seemed likely to support opening the debate.”
The AP: “After months of maneuvering, the Senate stands at the brink of a historic battle over health care with President Barack Obama and his allies on one side and Republicans, outnumbered but unflinching, on the other.” Delay, delay, delay? Mitch McConnell’s response: “Now it's America's turn, and this will not be a short debate.”
The DNC says it’s “calling out” McConnell. “McConnell seems willing to use every trick in the book to delay a fair debate and vote on reform. Each day reform is postponed is another day for him to attack it with another distortion. It's a desperate gambit to confuse the American people, derail the effort in Congress, and block reform. Mitch McConnell, we're calling you out.”
“Among the major provisions in the 2,074-page bill is a public health insurance plan that would let states opt out. Lawmakers insisted the bill won't pay for abortion or help illegal immigrants,” the New York Daily News notes. The measure does not have the even more restrictive anti-abortion language the House bill features, which would affect private policies and has created a potential roadblock to passage. Sources said Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch will offer an amendment to make the language the same.”
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From NBC's Ken Strickland
The Congressional Budget Office numbers on the Senate health bill are just in:
- Cost: $849 billion
- 94 percent of Americans are covered
- Reduces the uninsured Americans by $31 million
- Reduces the deficit by $127 billion over the first 10 years
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Sen. Ben Nelson sure sounds like he's leaning "yes" on a cloture vote with this statement below. He released the following after his meeting with Majority Leader Harry Reid this afternoon, and he sure goes out of his way to explain what a vote in favor or cloture would mean.
And these might be the key phrases in here: "In reality, the meaning of the motion to proceed is very simple: It’s a motion to commence debate and an opportunity to make changes. Let me say it again: it is a motion to start debate on a bill and to try to improve it."
Statement in full after the jump:
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From NBC's Amna Nawaz
Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) confirmed in a press conference today, that their Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee investigation into the shootings at Fort Hood will continue, beginning with a hearing tomorrow.
Lieberman said he supports the military and Justice Department investigations into the shootings, and looks forward to the result of John Brennan's report on intelligence sharing to President Obama, but "that does not mean the rest of us can just sit back and watch."
The Fort Hood shooting, he said, he believes was a terrorist attack, "the most destructive terrorist attack on America since 9/11."
He said Congress has a constitutional responsibility to oversee the operations of the Executive Branch, and that the committee's investigation would focus on answering two questions:
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From NBC's Ken Strickland
In what appears to be the administration making a a last-minute push to curry votes for health care, Vice President Joe Biden is up there lobbying as is former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar, a former centrist U.S. Senator has also been spotted in the hallways, but he says he's just up there to see friends and that he's not really lobbying for health care.
But it's worth noting that Salazar is still friends with many of the key moderate senators whose votes will be crucial in defeating a potential Republican filibuster. Salazar said he was going to see his old friend Arkansas
Sen. Mark Pryor (D), for one.
He certainly picked an odd day to go to the Hill just to hang out, especially since Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is hoping for a vote as early as Friday.
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Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) today becomes the longest-serving member of Congress -- ever. There will be a resolution recognizing that today. “Setting records is old news to the white-maned Democratic lawmaker. Since June 12, 2006, Byrd has been the longest-serving senator and later that year he was elected to an unprecedented ninth term. His colleagues have elected him to more leadership positions than any senator in history. He has cast more than 18,000 votes and, despite fragile health that has kept him from the Senate floor during much of this year, has a nearly 98 percent attendance record over the course of his career. Which, by Byrd's count, has spanned 20,774 days. On Tuesday, Byrd's service tied the record set by Carl Hayden, D-Ariz., who served in the House, then the Senate, from 1912 to 1969.”
“Republicans senators plan to grill Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday about his pledge not to allow the release of dangerous detainees into the United States,” The Hill writes. “Holder’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee marks the first time senators have had a chance to question Holder publicly since the Department of Justice announced its decision to try five terrorist suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, in U.S. courts.”
Another Hill piece: “Clear differences have emerged among the Democratic chairmen of the six Senate committees with jurisdiction over climate change legislation. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Commerce Committee, who both represent states with significant coal industries, would like to proceed cautiously.” Rockefeller “said climate legislation should not reach the floor before July of next year, putting the controversial bill on the schedule only months before Election Day.” Interest-group proponents of the legislation told First Read yesterday they had been thinking legislation would be taken up in early spring. But clearly it’s the next big fight after health care and chalk it up to another 2010 issue on top of bailouts, the stimulus, health care, and Afghanistan.
“A government watchdog group accused Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) of violating House rules, asserting Tuesday that the lawmaker improperly used official resources to organize a recent ‘tea party’ event at the Capitol to oppose health care legislation,” Roll Call writes.
“Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) confirmed Senate Democratic leaders’ fears that he will insist that the massive health care reform bill be read aloud on the Senate floor.”
Video:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for the passage of health care legislation, but is a health bill by year's end 'wishful thinking'?
