Daily Pulse on Health Care Politics
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 24th, 2009 4:37 am by HL
Daily Pulse on Health Care Politics
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) decision “to postpone a final vote on President Obama’s health care proposal until September sets up a one-month campaign sprint between supporters and opponents of the legislation that will span over Congress’ August recess,” the Washington Post reports.
The New York Times says Democratic leaders “fended off suggestions that health care legislation could lose momentum if there is no action until the fall. But the delay will give Republican opponents ample time to highlight what they say are the bill’s flaws, and will subject moderate lawmakers, many of whom are on the fence, to a barrage of questions, including whether the nation can afford the $1 trillion, 10-year price tag.”
In the Senate, Roll Call reports that Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said the decision to postpone a full Senate vote “makes it somewhat easier for the gang of six bipartisan negotiators on his committee to reach a deal.”
In the House, CQ Politics notes top Democrats “are holding out a small bit of hope that they can meet the deadline before their chamber’s scheduled recess at the end of next week. It seems unlikely to happen, however.”
Quote of the Day
“And for those out there who believe, that would like to have something optimistic to look at, we are plotting the demise on a week by week basis of where Bill Clinton was in 1993 and where Obama is today and his demise ratio is greater than Clinton’s was in 1993.”
— Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), quoted on Janet Parshall’s radio show, on President Obama’s health care reform efforts.
Think Progress notes Inhofe also predicted, “If he is unsuccessful — which I anticipate and will predict he is — on getting a vote prior to the August recess, then I would say there’s no way in the world they’re going to get this done this year.”
Palin’s Favorability Ratings Drop
As Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) “prepares for the next stage of her political career, a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of her, and there is broad public doubt about her leadership skills and understanding of complex issues,” according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
“Overall, the new poll found that 53% of Americans view Palin negatively and 40% see her in positive terms.”
“Perhaps more vexing for Palin’s national political aspirations, however, is that 57% of Americans say she does not understand complex issues, while 37% think she does, a nine-percentage-point drop from a poll conducted in September just before her debate with now-Vice President Biden. The biggest decline on the question came among Republicans, nearly four in 10 of whom now say she does not understand complex issues. That figure is 70% among Democrats and 58% among independents.”
