President Obama announced today his intention to open up 167 million acres of ocean off the Eastern Seaboard to offshore drilling leases, though actual drilling would most likely not take place for several more years. Areas off the coast of Alaska and the entire Pacific coast would remain off-limits to drilling, and new oil rigs […]
A series of major American companies disclosed the substantial hits they anticipate they’ll take in the wake of the passage of health care reform last week. John Deere estimates it will take a $150 million hit this year, and Caterpillar believes it will cost an additional $100 million in expenses. AT&T expects additional expenses of […]
Hugo Chavez has tightened control over the Venezuelan media with the arrest of Guillermo Zuloaga in an airport today. Zuloaga is the owner of Globovision, the only remaining anti-Chavez channel operating since RCTV was booted from Venezuelan airwaves in 2007. The crime of Zuloaga? He made remarks “offensive to the President” when he said that Chavez was suppressing […]
In the media afterglow of the historic signing of the health care reform bill, the immediate advantages of the legislation’s passage are rightfully being highlighted in news reports and analyses. Children cannot now be denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and insurers cannot drop their clients because they get sick. No matter how you felt […]
By a final House vote tally of 219-212, Democrats succeeded in pushing through the Senate’s health care bill. The key switch came just this morning as Bart Stupak caved and announced his support for the legislation in return for … a promise of an Executive Order from President Obama. In return, the Susan B. Anthony […]
With the release of the CBO’s preliminary report, the stage is set for the House to move on its health care reform bill by Sunday. The failure of a Republican resolution to block the Slaughter Strategy means that the “deem and pass” method of enacting legislation remains strongly on the table. And some early “yes” […]
Much has been made about how insurance premiums will be positive affected by the health care bill being shepherded through the House at this hour. But the Associated Press writes a fact-check article that finds that, despite promises made by the President to the contrary, premiums will continue to increase under the new bill: Premiums are likely to […]
When he said he was going to call a press conference today, Dennis Kucinich wasn’t leaving too many people on the edge of their seats as to which way he was going to flip regarding his vote on health care. As many expected, he goes from “no” to “yes”: “In the past week it’s become […]
Nancy Pelosi and House leadership have yet to release the language of the bill they plan to vote on this week that will reshape one-sixth of the American economy. Part of the delay is the lack of a CBO score that would demonstrate acceptable cost savings, both through the original bill itself and the reconciliation […]
Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich plans to announce his vote for or against the health care reform package in a press conference set for 10 am tomorrow. The package in question is being cobbled together from the Senate bill and a reconciliation fix drafted by Nancy Pelosi that may be enacted through a so-called “Slaughter Solution” […]
President Obama appears to be backing down from his previous repudiation of special deals for legislators’ states or districts in exchange for voting for health care, deals like the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase. See, it’s only the state-specific deals the White House doesn’t like. David Axelrod will explain everything: Taking a new position, Axelrod said […]
The saga of health care reform got a little bit pricklier today when the Senate Parliamentarian told Republican lawmakers that reconciliation can only be used on a health care reform bill already signed into law by the President. This means that House Democrats can’t wait for the Senate to pass a reconciliation “fix” that would […]
Hidden in the Friday news dump is this rosy little story regarding our fiscal future – the Congressional Budget Office announced is projecting that Obama’s proposed budget will add $9.7 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years, which is $1.5 trillion more than the White House’s estimate of $8.5 trillion of debt put on […]
In his health care reform press conference yesterday, President Obama said he “didn’t know how the politics would play” on his call for reconciliation if Republicans didn’t play ball. It makes you wonder how anything plays in Peoria (as it were) with his recent appointment to the Court of Appeals. His nominee, Scott M. Matheson, […]
ABC’s Jake Tapper is reporting that President Obama will give his blessing for Senate Democrats to use reconciliation to force a vote on health care reform if Republicans do not play along. In his remarks tomorrow, the President will continue to demonize the private insurance industry and make his oft-repeated case that the Democratic version […]
Wellsy's World 
March 31, 2010
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