Daily Democratic Wire 2-27-2010

George Wenschhof

President Barack Obama will announce next week his plans to move forward on health care reform - according to White House Press Secretary Roberts Gibbs. There are few options available at this point in regard to moving forward to finalize the passed health care bills in Congress. TheHill.com has more here.

The president could make one last ditch effort at bipartisan cooperation and offer that incorporates some areas he feels there is agreement on such as medical malpractice reform and health insurance companies being able to do business across state lines. However, any such proposal would have to come with a deadline for agreement as the approval of the passed health care bills has been stalled for too long by Republicans.

The other and more obvious method is to say the House will be taking up voting on the passed Senate version of the Health Care Reform bill. Following passage by the House, the House would be sending amendments to the Senate via the "budget reconciliation" process. Again, effort would be made to include in these amendments some of the aforementioned areas where there is bipartisan agreement.

Expect a new timetable for the bill to be on the president's desk for approval to be established and for it to be by the end of April.

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White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to Resign - a friend of the President and First Lady who is also from Chicago will be replaced by Julian Smoot who is currently the Chief of Staff for U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Politico.com has more here.

The social secretary is actually a very busy position and has the responsibility of planning all White House events which seemingly occur every day.

Unfortunately for Ms. Rogers who did a overall good job at opening up the White House, her claim to fame will go down as the one who planned the state dinner attended by party crashers Tareq and Michele Salalvi.

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Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) tells Justice Department to find missing emails - from the lawyers who provided justification to the George W. Bush administration for the use of harsh interrogation techniques. Lawyers John Yoo and his boss Jay Bybee recently had the Justice Department issue a ruling in their favor saying they could not find evidence the two former Justice department employees has acted improperly. However, missing email were referenced and could alter that finding if they are found. MSNBNC.com has more here.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-calf.) will appear on two of the Sunday morning "talking Heads" shows - she will appear on ABC "This Week' and CNN "State of The Union". Expect her to discuss how close they are to a bill for health care reform and to defend the use of "budget reconciliation' in the Senate to get an up or down vote.

Senator John McCain will be on NBC "Meet the Press" and look to see him trash the use of "budget reconciliation" in the Senate to pass health care reform. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will appear on CBS "Face The Nation".

For a complete rundown of the Sunday morning "Talking Heads" and their guests click here.

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