Ray LaHood: Why Republicans should support health care reform

By GottaLaff

Look who's going to be the next one to get attacked by his own party.

None other than Ray LaHood, former Republican congressman from Illinois, secretary of transportation in the Obama administration:

If I were still a member of Congress, I would proudly vote for the bill that President Barack Obama is championing and I would urge my colleagues to do the same, not because I don't believe in fiscal discipline, but because I do.

We do not need to look that far down the road to see the pain that failure to pass health care reform will cause. Americans of every background, class, race and political persuasion are suffering.

What?!

How?

Why?

When?

Why I....

Traitor!

The bill that will be voted on will reduce the deficit by about $1 trillion over the next two decades, and will reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. It will slow the rate of growth in health care costs and put America back on the path toward fiscal sustainability.

Wackydoodle!

The bill will give families and small business owners greater control over their own health care.

Terrorist!

While the ultimate vote on health care may not be bipartisan, the ultimate bill certainly is.

Socialist!

I also feel compelled to remind my former colleagues that contrary to what many people have been saying, the bill explicitly prevents federal dollars from being used to fund abortion.

Double-dealing, two-timing turncoat!

Go ahead, Michele Bachmann, I dare you.

H/t: VNDNBRG

Republican Rep. Ray LaHood considered for Cabinet post

By GottaLaff

We'll have to wait and see:

Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) is in discussions with the Obama administration to take a Cabinet-level post — most likely secretary of the Department of Transportation, according to knowledgeable GOP sources.

When reached on his cell phone, LaHood said only that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), President-elect Obama’s incoming chief of staff, had contacted him last night. [...]But one GOP source said that LaHood was engaged in talks with Emanuel about the Transportation secretary position, and the Obama transition team would like to make an announcement about it on Friday.

LaHood, a centrist Republican from Peoria, Ill., who serves on the Appropriations Committee, was first elected in 1994. He announced plans to retire last year.

Here's his voting record.

Secretary updates

By GottaLaff

Transportation Secretary possibilities:

The Washington Post's Al Kamen reports that Steve Heminger, executive director of the commission that oversees transportation planning in the San Francisco area, is the favorite for Transportation secretary. Former FAA chief Jane Garvey, former Deputy Secretary of Transportation Mortimer L. Downey and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk are other candidates.

And Chu on this one:

Fans of clean energy and skeptics of "clean" coal and nuclear energy (like us) might take comfort in this Wall Street Journal blog post about expected Energy secretary nominee Stephen Chu. "Coal is my worst enemy" the Journal reports Chu said "repeatedly" in a speech earlier this year in which he raised doubts about the feasibility of "storing billions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions underground" as a way to stop coal from furthering global warming. On nuclear, Chu said, “The waste and proliferation issues still haven’t been completely solved.”