Daily Democratic Wire 3-23-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, a little after 11:00 AM, President Obama will sign the health care bill into law - he will follow with some remarks to the press around noon. On Thursday, he will be in Iowa City, Iowa, the city where he first spoke of his plan for health care reform in may 2007. You can read more here.

This afternoon, President Obama will meet with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. U.S. brokered peace talks between Israel and Palestine broke down a week ago. Israel announced during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden the approval of 1600 more building permits in the disputed West Bank, leading Palestine to withdraw from the planned peace talks. Netanyahu is in the U.S. to repair the strained relations. CNN.com has more here.

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House Amendments to Health Care bill to hit Senate today - after the President signs the health care bill into law this morning, the Senate will begin a 20 hour debate on amendments offered by the House. Dependent on the outcome of what will be many Republican procedural objections, the Senate vote on the amendments could take place by Sunday. TPM.com has more here.

The first Republican objection related to an excise tax on "cadillac" insurance plans and delaying it until 2018 which they claimed impacted Social Security and would then have made it impossible to vote on.

Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin ruled in favor of the Democrats so the amendments can proceed to debate in the Senate.

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Unacceptable Republican conduct in Congress fuels hateful comments by Demonstrators - the latest idiotic statement was made by Representative Randy Neugebauer (R-Tex.) who shouted "baby killer" from the floor when Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) arrived at the podium to speak during House debate on health care reform. This follows the lack of decorum rules exhibited by Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) when he shouted "You lie" as President Obama was addressing a joint session of Congress. TheHill.com has more here.

Over the weekend, angry "tea party" demonstrators yelled racial comments and even spit on an African-American lawmaker as Democratic members of the House walked across the Hill. This behavior is simply unacceptable.

Representative James Clyburn (D-SC) is right when he says the House should demand an apology from Neugebauer as his actions offended the entire body of the House and not just one member. He is right and the apology should include remarks condoning the behavior by the "tea party" activists over the weekend in Washington.

It is doubtful if Republicans continue to cast these hateful comments and exhibit the trait of losing badly, it will help their chances in the mid term elections this year.

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Financial reform bill passes Senate banking Committee - the vote was 13-10 on the bill offered by Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chair of the Banking Committee. While the bill does not include the creation of a separate consumer finance protection agency proposed by President Obama, it does create a committee that falls under the Federal Reserve. Additional oversight is offered in the bill, but it stops short of limiting the size of banks, which is needed to avoid the "too big to fail" problem the U.S. just experienced a year ago. NBC FirstRead.com has more here.

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