Health Care Watch: Obama goes all reconciliation on us

By GottaLaff

Did I hear right? Pinch me, quick:

Democratic officials tell the New York Times that President Obama's health care proposal "was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority."

The bill will be posted online Monday in advance of the president's bipartisan health care summit on Thursday.

Said a Democratic aide: "It will be a reconciliation bill. If Republicans don't come with any substantial offers, this is what we would do."

Let's just hope the bill is one we can support.

Now about that public option...

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Video- President Obama announces the budget

Video- President Obama signs VA Budget Reform Bill

Death and Taxes

Pretty damn cool. h/t The Full Ginsburg.

"Death and Taxes" is a large representational graph and poster of the federal budget. It contains over 500 programs and departments and almost every program that receives over 200 million dollars annually. The data is straight from the president's 2010 budget request and will be debated, amended, and approved by Congress to begin the fiscal year. All of the item circles are proportional in size to their spending totals and the percentage change from 2009 is included to spot trends and disproportion.

Both House and Senate Pass Budget Plan

BUT, Republicans Threaten To Use Super-Secret-Mega-Top-Ultra-Awesome-Forever Political Tactic.

Quote of the Day

Isn't today the day they were supposed to debut their "budget-ish"?

"It was not a budget in the sense that it had numbers. It was more budget-ish."

-- From the Urban Dictionary.

Paul Ryan Refuses To Give Deficit Projection Under His Plan

They really are totally clueless. Via Think Progress.

ADDED- Video replace with more recent version.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via. More interesting thoughts on "moderates v liberals" here.

OFA TV ad backs Obama budget

Pulling out all the stops. Let's hope it works.

Americans United for Change runs ad pro Obama budget

Ben seems to feel it targets Democrats, but it seems to me it's a very good ad that just bolsters the argument for the budget. If centrist Dems want to fight a stronger economy, then they have to live with the consequences.

Americans United for Change, the labor-backed group working to pass Obama's budget, has this new ad targeting moderate Democrats, Jonathan Martin reports.

"The goal is to push Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and members of a new group of centrist Democrats to get behind a spending blueprint that many of them have already criticized," he writes.

Norah O'Donnell Hits Gregg On Budget Reconciliation: 'Are You Flip-Flopping Around?'

Got to give credit where it's due, Norah nailed Gregg on this one. Via Think Progress.

President Obama speaks on his budget bill- A New Foundation for Growth

Perfect timing for Bayh to get all obstructionist.

President Obama's Comments on the Budget 3/17/09

As always, huge thanks to FireDogLake for getting these vids up so fast.

Obama takes US closer to total ban on cluster bombs

Wonderful news. With all the blathering about the markets as if they're insecure adolescents (Must keep the markets upbeat, reassure them at all costs!), it's startling to see that beneath all the hoopla, the real work is getting done.

The United States has stepped closer to a total ban on the use and export of cluster bombs with the signing by Barack Obama of a new permanent law that would make it almost impossible for the US to sell the controversial weapons.

The decision was hailed by opponents of the weapons as a "major turnaround in US policy" that overrode Pentagon calls to permit their continued export.

The new legislation, tacked on to a huge budget bill, was passed earlier this week by Congress and now sets such stringent rules for the bombs' use, including a ban on sales where they might be suspected of being used where civilians are present, that it seems unlikely the US could export them again.

Senate clears omnibus bill

Shove it and move along.

A $409.6 billion omnibus appropriations bill cleared Congress Tuesday even as the White House pursued new steps to try to pare back the level of parochial spending projects attached to the budget each year.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign the measure into law quickly to avoid any disruption of government operations. But Democrats anticipate that he may use the signing to outline new earmark reforms and answer Republican critics led by his old rival Sen. John McCain** (R-Ariz.)

**You lost, you lost, you lost big time.

Senators may punish Feingold, Bayh for opposing spending bill

Get 'em. I got a virtual non response from Bayh's office the other day. Might not be a bad idea to be as tough on the R's too.

Senate Democrats are debating whether Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) should be punished for opposing a $410 billion omnibus.

Some Senate Democrats, including members of the Appropriations Committee, are angry that Feingold and Bayh have panned the massive spending bill after legislative priorities important to both lawmakers were included in the package.

One Democratic senator familiar with the discussions said his colleagues are irked that they “bent over backwards” to include provisions important to Feingold and Bayh, only to have both lawmakers slam the omnibus.

The question of whether the two senators, both of whom are up for reelection in 2010, deserve to be punished is important because it could determine future policy within the Democratic Conference.

President Obama Announces Government Contracting Reform

Didn't John McCain lose the election? He's freaking all over my teevee machine these days. Via FDL.

John McCain is mad at President Obama

Hard to imagine eh? Once a dickish old man...

The rollercoaster-like relationship between President Obama and John McCain has taken a dive in recent weeks, culminated by the Arizona Republican’s scathing Monday speech on the Senate floor.

McCain’s diatribe on the Obama administration’s decision to look the other way as lawmakers secured thousands of earmarks in the pending $410 billion omnibus budget measure contrasts with the pleasantries the presidential candidates exchanged soon after the election.

The anti-earmark legislator didn’t mince words on Monday, delivering a harsher speech than the prepared text that was posted on his Senate website.

Mocking the White House for failing to speak out against earmarks such as a $1.7 million fund for pig odor research in Iowa, McCain said, “So much for the promise of change, Mr. President. So much for the promise of change.”