Daily Democratic Wire 3-24-2010

George Wenschhof



Yesterday, in a bill signing ceremony at the White House, President Obama signed into law the Health Care Reform bill.

Today, President Obama will sign the executive order which makes clear the "Hyde amendment" which restricts use of federal funds for abortion, also applies to the health care reform bill. He has invited about a dozen pro-life Democrats from the House, including Representative Bart Stupak (Mich.), to attend.

Tomorrow, Obama is off to Iowa City, Iowa where he gave his first speech on the need for health care reform in May, 2007. Reports are over 16,500 have requested tickets online so far and the field House only holds 3,000.

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Gallup poll shows Americans favored passage of health care reform - in their daily tracking poll conducted a day after the House vote, 49% felt it was a good thing and 40% felt it was a bad thing. Voting was primarily along political party lines with Independents slightly in favor 46% - 45%. Gaullup.com has more here.

This shows the American voter is not buying the myths and outright lies put forward by many Republicans in regard to health care reform. Look to see the margin for those who approve to increase as the components of the bill are implemented and for the Republican Party strategy of "No" to backfire on them in the upcoming mid term elections.

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Senate vote on House amendments to Health Care bill nears - after seven of the 20 hours of debate were used yesterday, senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yielded the remaining Democratic time. First Read has more here. That leaves about eights hours of debate and there is some speculation Republicans might also yield the remainder of their time for debate. this would allow the voting to begin in the senate. After, more than a year of debate, there is not likely to be new discussion at this point anyway. So, yielding the time for debate makes sense.

The latest Republican tactic to slow approval of the amendments is to offer new amendments which would be likely to pass and then require the bill to go back to the House for passage - and Republicans say Democrats use tricky legislative maneuvers.

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President Obama meets with Israel Prime Minister - for nearly two hours yesterday the two met. Interestingly, there was no press conference, no photos or press release following the meeting. Politico.com has more here. Relations between the U.S. and Israel have been strained after Israel announced during a visit by Vice President Biden, the approval of 1600 building units on the disputed West Bank.

Middle East Envoy George Mitchell had spent the past year setting up "proximity" peace talks between Palestine and Israel. The start of these talks were to be announced by Vice President Biden during his trip to Israel. Biden did not issue the announcement and Palestine has since dropped out of the planned talks.

Netanyahu's visit to the U.S. has continued with a stubborn insistence on Israel's right to build settlements in disputed land they captured in the 6 day 1967 war. Interestingly, at an AIPAC conference yesterday the differences were highlighted with secretary of state Hillary Clinton speaking on how continued building of settlements undermined the peace process and Netanyahu boldly stating Israel will continue to build.

Netanyahu also moved to changed the subject somwhat when he called for more severe sanctions against Iran, who to date, has refused to be forthcoming in regard to their nuclear development. AIPAC and pro-Israel political action committees are very powerful and this is an important foreign policy issue in the U.S. so stay tuned...

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Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) donates 1 million to Ellsworth campaign - TheHill.com has more here. Wow! is likely a record contribution. Bayh is sitting on 13 million in campaign funds from a reelection campaign he decided to end. The lucky one million recipient is Indiana Representative Brad Ellsworth (D) who is running for what will be an open seat. The one million will go to the Indiana Democratic Party who will spend it on efforts to elect Ellsworth. I wonder where the other 12 million will go....

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Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" Guests 3-8-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

You can now count on the economy being a major focus of the "Talking Heads" on Sunday morning. The recession is now teetering on the edge of a depression as unemployed has now reached a 25 year high at 8.1%. The Dow has lost over 50% in the last 18 months and there are no indications it will stabilize anytime soon.

The 787 billion Stimulus bill, the remaining portion of the 700 billion TARP bill, the newly announced 75 billion mortgage relief plan, and the stalled 410 billion Omnibus bill in Congress will all receive attention this morning. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner is especially on the hot seat as he fumbled the roll out of the revised bail out plan and now the top two aides he was about to nominate have announced they are withdrawing from consideration.

On the foreign policy front, expect discussion on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip to the Middle East and Europe. While in the Middle East, Clinton pledged financial aid to Palestinians in war torn Gaza, reaffirmed the U.S. support of Israel, and renewed commitment to a two state solution. While in Geneva, Clinton laid the groundwork for a future NATO conference on Afghanistan and "Re-Set" U.S. relations with Russia. A very busy week.

Sure to be mentioned will be the leaked news the President will be reversing former President George W. Bush limits on stem cell research. On Monday morning President Obama will sign an executive order reversing a ban on federal funds for stem cell research.

Some discussion may also occur surrounding the announcement by Sanjay Gupta to withdraw from consideration for the position of U.S. Surgeon General. Early buzz is former DNC chair Howard Dean is now under serious consideration for the position. We recently reported Dean had returned to Democracy for America, the organization he founded after his failed presidential bid in 2004.

As always, it promises to be an informative morning so plan to have your coffee and tea prepared and settle in for some good political discussion. Remember to check your local listings for time and channel. Below is a list of the "Talking Heads" shows and their scheduled guests.

NBC "Meet The Press" - Host David Gregory will have Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The roundtable will include Newt Gingrich, Mort Zuckerman, Liaquat Ahamed and Erin Burnett.

ABC "This Week" - George Stephanopoulos will have Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Evan Bayh (D-IN). Also appearing will be US Chamber of Commerce Director Thomas Donohue.

CBS "Face The Nation" - Bob Schieffer will interview Peter Orszag, the White House Director of Office and Budget Management and Representative John Boehner (R-Oh). Also appearing will be Kathleen Parker and Michael Fletcher.

Fox News Sunday - Chris Wallace will have Senator John McCain (R-Az.) and Governor Tim Kaine (D-Va.). Kaine is also the newly elected chair of the Democratic National Committee.

CNN "State of The Union" - John King will also have White House Budget Director Peter Orszag. Also appearing will be Minority Whip representative Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

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Democratic Chatter 3-6-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, President Barack Obama will be in Columbus, Ohio - He will speak at a police graduating ceremony where recruits will be able to keep their jobs due to the Stimulus bill. The Washington Post has more here.

At the conclusion of the Health Care Summit yesterday at the White House, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) spoke of the time is now. Kennedy has long been a supporter of health care reform. ThePage.time.com has a video of his remarks here.

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Sanjay Gupta withdraws from consideration for U.S. Surgeon General - He informed the President he will be staying on as CNN commentator and as a practicing neurosurgeon. He is a very good communicator for those who have watched his reporting on CNN and would have excelled in this area as Surgeon General. The stated reason he gave was a standard line of being able to stay closer to family, etc. Politico.com has more and a video here.

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Two candidates for high level Treasury department positions withdraw from consideration - This can not help Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner whose roll out on how the remaining TARP funds would be spent was less than spectacular. Annette Nazareth was under consideration for deputy Treasury Secretary and Caroline Atkinson for International Affairs undersecretary. Both had been vetted but had not yet been nominated. Reuters.com has more here

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Yesterday, the Dow dropped again - the Dow dropped 281.40 to close at 6544.44. To put all of this into perspective, the Dow high was reached on October 9, 2007 and was 14,164.53. So, in less than 18 months, the losses have exceeded 50%. This shows the seriousness of the current global economic crisis. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Unemployment hits 8.1% - further illustrating the tough times Americans are experiencing, the Labor Department released figures today that unemployment has risen to the highest level in 25 years. 4.4 million jobs have been lost since December 2007. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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410 Billion spending bill stopped in Senate - the house had voted earlier on this bill to not only continue, but also increase the funding of government agencies through the end of this fiscal year which is September 30, 2009. Democratic Senators Russ Feingold (Wisc.) and Evan Bayh (IN) both were against the bill and wanted time to review the many amendments. In what has now become a routine practice, the house will have to submit a continuing resolution bill to the Senate and have them agree prior to midnight tonight in order to keep funding government agencies. TheHill.com has more here.

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