Daily Democratic Wire 2-9-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Obama will hold the first of what he hopes will be monthly bipartisan meetings at the White House - he stated he would begin these monthly meetings during his State of The Union address. Republican and Democratic Leaders are expected to attend. You can be sure they will be discussing the ground rules for the February 25 Health Care Reform summit and also the President's proposed Jobs bill. CNN.com has more here.

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Time for GOP to put up or shut up on health care reform - the February 25 meeting between Republican and Democrats to forge a consensus has now been set by President Obama. It will be held at the Blair House and it will be televised. Republican Leaders are already signaling they want the existing Senate and House bills which have been passed;scrapped. While, Democratic Leaders are not willing to do so, especially in light of the fact they tried to negotiate with Republicans previously and they refused. The NY Times has more here.

Let's hope this summit brings about the needed reform in health care as 40+ million Americans remain without it. Being televised; Americans can judge who is providing the best plans for them and if compromise becomes a reality or just more rhetoric. The Republican strategy of being obstructionists and a party of "no", if continued during the summit, could backfire on them and hurt them in the mid term elections. Stay Tuned.

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Representative John Murtha (D-Pa.) has died at the age of 77 - he was the first elected member of Congress who was a Viet Nam war combat veteran. Of recent years, he gained attention when he spoke out against the Iraq war and called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. MSNBC.com has more here.

This seat, held by Murtha for the last four decades will now be filled by special election. Upon notification of the vacancy, Governor Ed Rendell has ten days to set the election date which must occur within 60 days of his announcement. The target date is May 18, the same day as the Pennsylvania primary. Politico.com has more here. You can count on Republicans to be going after this seat.

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Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) announced this morning he would release his blanket hold on President Obama's nominees - this had affect 70 appointees and would have required a time consuming cloture 60 vote, followed by the actual vote for each nominee. Shelby is upset the GAO negated a deal with Northrup Gruman to build Air Force refueling tankers in Mobile, Ala. The GAO acted after a complaint by Boeing on the contract award process. The contract has now been rebid. The announcement by Shelby today to release the holds is probably due to the amount of coverage his self serving and boneheaded move received in the media. TheHill.com has more here.

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Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin critical of President Obama and his use of a teleprompter - Is the palm of you hand better?



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