Politics

Congress Links

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

Here’s today’s look at some articles and blog posts of note that you might have missed:

• Jonathan Chait calls out the political press for completely missing a key point about the health care debate: the Democrats want to use reconciliation to pass some relatively minor changes to the Senate health care bill, not the entire bill. (The New Republic)
• Earlier today, I linked to a brief overview of the reconciliation process written by Ezra Klein. But if you want a much more comprehensive look at the process, you should read an older piece he wrote about the subject. (The American Prospect)
• An AP story about the historic use of the filibuster by the GOP garnered a lot of attention earlier today but it turns out that the author got the numbers wrong. But even with the numbers dialed down, they still show that Republicans are filibustering twice as much as Democrats in any previous Congress. (AmericaBlog)
• Remember the supposed revival of the public option? It’s apparently still chugging along. According to an unofficial whip count by Talking Point Memo at least 30 Senate Democrats support the idea of passing a public option through reconciliation. One of the newest bandwagoners is number two Senate Democrat Dick Durbin [D, IL]. (Talking Points Memo)
• Over in the other chamber, Campaign Diaries has a great rundown of where the vote court current stands in the House for passing the Senate health care bill. (Campaign Diaries)
• Conservative activists are pushing GOP lawmakers to vow to repeal the Democratic health care plan if it becomes law. Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey explains just how realistic this idea is. (Ed Morrissey)

Full post as published by Open Congress on March 01, 2010 (boomark / email).