Daily Democratic Wire 3-5-2010

George Wenschhof

President Barack Obama will visit a small business in Arlington, Virginia this morning - he will discuss clean energy and job creation. The new jobless report has unemployment remaining at 9.7% which is better than expected after the horrific snowstorms across the country during the past month. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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Separate legislation may be solution to gain Stupak support for health care reform - Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) has opposed the current Senate version as he claims it provides for abortion payments and has threatened he has as many as 12 more democrats who will vote against the bill. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) believes passing another piece of legislation should satisfy Stupak. TheHill.com has more here.

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Representative William Delahunt (D-Mass.) becomes 17th House Democrat to announce retirement - he indicated he had informed the late Senator Ted Kennedy he wanted to retire prior to the last election but was talked out of it by Kennedy who said new president elect Obama was going to need him. Interestingly, his district was won by Scott Brown in the recent senate election. The Boston Globe has more here.

Chris Cillizza, in his Washington post Blog "The Fix" speculates on the Democrats who may run for his seat. You can read it here.

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Meanwhile, Representative Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) delays resignation from House - he will stay until the health care reform vote and cast his "no" vote. There are 3 vacancies in the House and with 432 members, Democrats will need 217 votes. The House Health Care Reform version passed last November with a 220-215 vote. The NY Times "The Caucus" Blog has more here.

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Representative Sander Levin (D-Mich.) takes helm of House Ways and Means Committee - yesterday, it was reported that Pete Stark (D-Calf.) the next in line in seniority to Charles Rangel (D-NY), had been named. Stark took himself out of the running after colleagues suggested he do so. Politico.com has more here.

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Senate deliberation continues on finance reform - you would think after a near collapse of the U.S. economy, a 700 billion bail out bill, government need to take ownership in auto maker companies and high unemployment that this bill would have received the most attention from Congress and quick passage.

But, that has not been the case as obstructionist Republicans in the senate have objected to the creation of a Consumer Finance Protection Agency. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chair of the senate banking committee and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) have been working on a compromise which would place the consumer finance protection agency inside the Federal Reserve. A bizarre compromise as the federal reserve deals with monetary policy only.

In case you have not seen this yet, below is a hilarious video produced by Ron Howard with past and present SNL actors portraying past and present Presidents who support the creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Agency.

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

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