Alabama slammer: Dems fret
December 22, 2009
The outlook for the 2010 elections grows dimmer for Democrats.
History Made, Mayor-Elect Focuses on Local Issues
December 22, 2009
Newton, Mass., is the first municipality in the country to elect a black president, governor and, with Setti Warren’s victory last month, mayor.
GOP cuts deal on vote to raise debt
December 22, 2009
Senate vote will proceed Thursday, but Republicans insist on a 60-vote supermajority for passage.
Skin Deep: You’re Going to Pay for That Tan
December 22, 2009
The 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services is designed to offset some of the expense of providing health insurance for millions more Americans.
Schumer goes hunting, bags Nelson
December 22, 2009
Six weeks after hunting pheasants with Nelson, Schumer wins the Nebraska Dem’s support for health care.
Exclusive Interview: Obama discusses his first year in office
December 22, 2009
SCOTT WILSON: Thank you very much for this to talk about your legislative years. I spoke with some presidential scholars yesterday — Robert Dallek, David Kennedy and some other people I think you know well — and got a range of opinions, putting your achievements into context. I heard health car…
Republicans embrace Griffith
December 22, 2009
GOP leaders line up to praise party switcher.
VA screws vets with delayed GI bill payments
December 22, 2009
Universities and colleges are still waiting for tuition payments for thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who attended school last fall under the new GI Bill, leaving the veterans panicked that they’ll be unable to return to class in January.
Veterans Affairs Department officials promise to get them back into the classroom. The VA says the number of veterans with claims unprocessed is now fewer than 5,000 — down from tens of thousands — and the goal is to have them all processed by the end of the year.
Obama: No vacation until Senate passes health care bill
December 22, 2009
President Barack Obama won’t leave Washington for his Hawaii vacation until the Senate finishes work on the health care overhaul, even if that means staying in town for Christmas Eve.
“My attitude is that if they’re making these sacrifices to provide health care to all Americans then the least I can do is to be around and provide them any encouragement and last-minute help where necessary,” Obama said Tuesday.
The Senate is on track to pass its version of the health care bill on Christmas Eve. The president and his family are expected to spend the holidays in Obama’s native Hawaii, but the White House has not provided details of their final plans.
Obama, Democrats confident of health care success
December 22, 2009
The White House and Democrats are confidently predicting Senate passage of President Barack Obama’s health overhaul by Christmas after the bill cleared its second 60-vote test.
“The finish line is in sight,” Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Tuesday at a press conference with other Senate leaders and cheering supporters. “We’re not the first to attempt such reforms but we will be the first to succeed.”
At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs said: “Health care reform is not a matter of if. Health care reform is now a matter of when.”