Daily Democratic Wire 8-14-2009

George Wenschhof

Today, President Barack Obama will travel to Bozeman, Montana for a town hall meeting on health care reform - joined by his wife Michelle and daughters, the president will also visit Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona before arriving home in D.C. on Monday. Obama is planning to go trout fishing with a White House aide and the family plans to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon during the trip. You can read more here.

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Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (R) false statements on "end of life" provisions in the health care bill clearly show Republicans as the party of "No" - The Obama administration has been working toward a bipartisan agreement with Senator Grassley and the senate finance Committee. Grassley's recent statements at a town hall meeting show the Republicans have no interest in a bipartisan agreement. Instead, they plan to spread fear and use untruths to derail meaningful health care reform. Do not discount the use of reconciliation as a means to pass reform in the Senate. Joan Walsh of Salon.com has a good read here.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Cape Verde today at the end of her 11 day trip to Africa - She will meet with Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves. The U.S. is competing with China to be a major trade partner with African nations and this trip was partly aimed at establishing relationships. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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Talks continue on U.S. Middle East peace plan - recently, Yousef Riska, an adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh indicated they would support the proposed plan if it includes Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. TheHill.com has more here.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calf.) warns companies about resuming bonus payments - seems some companies who received funds from the bailout bill passed at the end of the George W. Bush administration are resuming the payment of large bonuses to executives. Reuters.com has more here.

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