Daily Democratic Wire 3-22-2010

George Wenschhof



Last night, President Obama addressed the nation after the historic vote by the House passing health care reform.

Yesterday, the heavy lifting was done in the House with the final passage of the Senate bill on health care reform. President Obama will now sign the bill into lawn and the intrigue will surround the approval of the the amendments sent to the Senate from the House.

The NY Times has a good read today about how this battle for health care reform could shape the differences between Republicans and Democrats for years to come. You can read it here.

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Tens of Thousands attend rally in D.C. for Immigration Reform - overshadowed by the passage of health care reform, immigration reform may well be the next epic battle in Congress. Estimates were as high as 150,000 for the number attending the rally on the National Mall.

President Obama spoke to the crowd via video and promised he would do everything in his power to pass a bipartisan bill on immigration reform this year.

Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) recently met with the president to discuss their bipartisan bill on immigration reform.

Look to see this issue of immigration gain more momentum in this mid term election year. The question will be will the Republican strategy remain as the "Party of No" after displaying this unity of "No" in regard to the American Economic Recovery Act "Stimulus Bill" and on Health Care Reform. Voters want more from their Representatives, than simply saying no.

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Democrats lead in fund raising - at the end of February, the three main Democratic and Republican fund raising committees reported their cash on hand totals:

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee - 19.82 million, National Republican Congressional Committee - 6.06 million.

The Democratic Senate Committee - 14.3 million, National Republican Senate Committee - 12.86 million.

The Democratic National Committee - 10.71 million, Republican National Committee - 9.46 million.

Campaign fund raising reform, anyone?

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Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in D.C. today - after the mishap last week of Israel announcing 1600 new building permits on the West Bank while Vice President Biden was visiting Israel to announce the beginning of "proximity" peace talks between Israel and Palestine brokered by Middle East Envoy George Mitchell.

Netanyahu needs to make peace with the U.S., their strongest ally. He will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this afternoon and have dinner with Vice President Biden tonight. He will also speak to the American Israel Public Relations Committee.

Netanyahu has been saying their needs to be stronger sanctions against Iran until they end or make more transparent their nuclear program. Ms. Clinton responded with the U.S. wants "biting" sanctions on Iran. AP has more here.

The U.S. continues to do more than their part to help broker peace in the Middle East. Now, it is time for Israel to do the same. An announcement from Netanyahu that construction of new settlements would be frozen by Israel is what is needed to restart the Israel-Palestine peace talks.

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