Top Items:
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Stupak aims to sink ‘unacceptable’ abortion compromise — An aide to Rep. Bart Stupak (D. Mich.) coordinated opposition to the Senate health bill's abortion compromise this morning with the Republican Senate leadership according to a chain of frantic emails obtained this morning by POLITICO.
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Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
Sen. Ben Nelson to announce support for health-care bill — Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), the final Democratic holdout on health care, was prepared to announce to his caucus Saturday morning that he would support the Senate reform bill, clearing the way for final passage by Christmas.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Hit & Run, The Fix, Little Green Footballs, The New Republic, The Moderate Voice, Michelle Malkin, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, The Politico, SEIU, The Field on the Narcosphere, NewsReal Blog, Flopping Aces, Taylor Marsh, Crooks and Liars, The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Other McCain, Donklephant, Suburban Guerrilla, The Lonely Conservative, The Confluence, NO QUARTER, Scared Monkeys, Riehl World View, DownWithTyranny!, Townhall.com, Pajamas Media, Liberal Values, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Corner on National …, Gateway Pundit, PoliPundit.com and Prescriptions
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
National Organization for Women opposes Senate health bill — A leading women's group called on senators on Saturday to defeat its healthcare reform bill. — The leader of the National Organization for Women (NOW) excoriated the language in the health bill curtailing federal support …
Chris Frates / The Politico:
Ben Nelson's Medicaid deal — Sen. Mary Landrieu got the “Louisiana Purchase.” Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up most his state's future Medicaid tab — forever. — As part of the deal to win Nelson's support, the federal government will pay for Nebraska's new Medicaid recipients.
Discussion:
The Hill, NO QUARTER, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Betsy's Page, NewsBusters.org and The Other McCain
New York Times:
Democrats Clinch a Deal on Health Bill — WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats said on Saturday that they had clinched an agreement on a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's health care system, and that they were on track to approve the legislation by Christmas over fierce Republican opposition.
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Senate healthcare bill steepens payroll tax for high-earners in 2013 — The Senate's final healthcare bill steepens the payroll tax rates high-income Americans will face. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) released a manager's amendment to the healthcare bill finalizing …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
CBO: Senate health bill costs $871 billion — The Senate's healthcare bill would cost $871 billion and cover 31 million more people, according to the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the bill. — The CBO said that the final legislation, unveiled Saturday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …
Igor / Wonk Room:
Nelson's Nebraska To Receive Extra Medicaid Funds Under Senate Bill — This morning's managers amendment to the merged Senate health bill goes a long way towards satisfying the demands of Democratic hold-out and all-important 60th vote Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).
Ezra Klein:
The Congressional Budget Office scores the amended Senate bill — Another day, another Congressional Budget Office report (pdf) saying that health-care reform will cover more than 30 million people while substantially cutting the federal deficit. — There are a couple of changes worth noting here.
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Kathryn Jean Lopez / The Corner on National …:
Opposed — By: Kathryn Jean Lopez — The National Right to Life Committee just released this: — National Right to Life Committee statement on new Reid abortion language — WASHINGTON (December 19, 2009, 2:00 PM EST): The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right …
Discussion:
MyDD
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:Breaking: Nelson will vote for cloture
Discussion:
GayPatriot, Support Your Local Gunfighter, Wonk Room, Scared Monkeys and Jules Crittenden
Kevin Bogardus / The Hill: Coburn: Nelson agreement with leaders ‘threw unborn babies under the bus’
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:CBO: Health bill spends $871B, reduces deficit by $132B
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
Ezra Klein:
The abortion compromise — The basic compromise is that states can impose the Stupak rules on their own exchanges, but the rules will not be imposed by the federal legislation. I've been assured that at least one plan in each state will cover abortion, but I'm still trying to get clarification …
Discussion:
Feministe
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Joe Conason / Salon:
“It's unfair” — Howard Dean on why he doesn't support the Senate bill, which he calls “hocus pocus” reform — Howard Dean proved long ago that he marches to the beat of his own conscience. Neither personal attacks nor appeals to party — nor mockery voiced by Washington's media establishment …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
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William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
A Pyrrhic Victory? — Special editorial, December 19, 2009. — When a fellow conservative tried to cheer me up this morning by assuring me that the Senate Democrats' victory on health care was going to be a Pyrrhic one, I realized I didn't remember much about Pyrrhus. — I went of course to Wikipedia.
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:
Manager's Amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have released an analysis of the budgetary effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Senate Amendment 2786 in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3590 …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
A Good Bill — I don't want to endlessly rehash the intramural argument about whether this bill is worth passing or not, since at the end of the day I'm looking forward to working with all the netroots activists of the world on more and better legislation in the future.
Discussion:
Paul Krugman
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Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Did Obama give Wen Jiabao another wow bow? — Body language can often say much more than spoken words. Especially in global diplomacy where form is so important and so closely studied. — Remember the first — and last — time President Obama was in Asia and all the kerfuffle …
Discussion:
Althouse
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