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Cantor: Health-Care Summit Is On   [Daniel Foster] House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R., Va.) told Fox News that, their objections notwithstanding, Republicans will definitely be attending the health-care summit the president will host at Blair House later this month:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF8E7kmIVs4&feature=player_embedded (h/t Plum Line)02/09 03:04 PMShare

Top congressional Republicans, emerging from a 90-minute meeting with President Obama that side-stepped health care reform, said they may boycott Feb. 25 talks on health care reform. "It's going to be very difficult to have bipartisan conversations with regard to a 2,700 page health care bill that the Democrat majority in the House and the Democrat majority in the Senate can’t pass," House Minority Leader John Boehner said. "Why are we going to talk about a bill that can’t pass? It really is time to scrap the bill and start over." For now, Boehner said House Republicans are only willing...

Although our current projection continues to show that the Democrats will retain control of the U.S. Senate (52-48), we have now downgraded their chances in the following three states: Connecticut (D-Dodd, retiring) Washington (D-Murray) Wisconsin (D-Feingold) Each race has moved from DEM HOLD to LEAN DEM HOLD.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday he’s prepared to cut deals with Republicans in order to create jobs and improve the nation’s health care system, but he said he’s seen few signs so far that the GOP is willing to support any of his policy initiatives. “I’m willing to move off of some of the preferences of my party in order to meet them halfway, but there’s got to be some give from their side as well,” Obama said during a surprise visit to the White House briefing room following a meeting with congressional leaders from both parties. However, the...

Obama: GOP and Dems Together Can Spur Job Growth CHARLES BABINGTON WASHINGTON – Appealing for bipartisanship in a town where it's hard to find, President Barack Obama sat down with Democrats and Republicans Tuesday to spur cooperation on job creation, deficit reduction and health care overhaul. He promised to do his part — but warned he would take Republicans to task if they don't do the same. "The people who sent us here expect a seriousness of purpose that transcends petty politics," Obama said afterward, making a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room. He started his remarks to...

Top military brass caving in after Obama declares support. Radical social agenda would bring terrible consequences. But Congress must change law before it happens. The change would be a crown jewel of the homosexual movement. By repealing this law, homosexuality would be officially recognized as normal. But more than that, it would be affirmed and even celebrated as it is in public schools, government and many corporations. There are few places in life where one individual holds such absolute power over another as in the military. Or where young men are forced to live in extremely close quarters day and...

Employing a broad-based lobbying effort, the soft drink industry has smothered a plan to tax sugared beverages — a plan advocates said would have reduced obesity and helped finance health care reform. Only months ago, public health advocates thought the tax would be a natural for congressional Democrats looking for revenues to fund expanded health insurance coverage. The soaring costs of treating ailments related to excess weight — including diabetes and heart disease — added urgency to the issue. But the White House staff reviewing funding options never embraced the idea even after President Barack Obama expressed interest last summer....

An email sent from an Service Employees International Union (SEIU) lobbyist to Democratic members of the U.S. Senate shows that the SEIU had advance knowledge of when key votes on Craig Becker were to be held. Becker is one of Barack Obama’s nominees for the National Labor Relations Board. The email was released by Jeri Thompson, co-host of the Fred Thompson Show. She will be discussing it in detail on her show, which begins at 12PM. Thompson described the email as “marching orders to the Senate HELP Committee, telling them what their schedule was going to be.” According to the...

As the Senate this week considers a "jobs bill" to reduce unemployment, lawmakers will have to decide whether to continue an unprecedented change in how the country treats people who are out of work, which was quietly approved last year. Through a series of laws, including the $787 billion economic stimulus, people in states with high rates of unemployment are eligible to get jobless benefits for up to 99 weeks, an all-time high. But Congress did this in a piecemeal fashion, and it must pass legislation to keep benefits going for an estimated 1 million people who would otherwise become...

If you’re the President of the United States or one of his political appointees and you’re ideologically opposed to new oil and natural gas development offshore, what do you do when the public registers its overwhelming support for new drilling in public opinion polls?You dance, delay, and deceive. You speak melodious words about seeking the wisdom of the public in making these decisions and then ignore evidence of the public will when you get it, or worse, you hide it.First came the dance. In August 2008, after soaring gas prices and a dramatic shift in public opinion caused President Bush,...

Once upon a time former Governor, Presidential candidate, and Chairman of the Democrat National Committee Howard Dean called the GOP the “White Party.” CNN commentator Lou Dobbs took Dean to task for his language. So was Dr. Dean, and those among the Left who share his understanding of history, accurate? Is the GOP the party of white people? Let’s test the good doctor’s diagnosis. Fifteen questions follow. The correct answers are provided at the end. No peeking! Question #1. During whose administration did the signature of an African-American first appear on U.S. currency? During that of a Republican or a...

Still looming on the legislative horizon is something deceptively called the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, H.R. 800), the provisions of which will make it easier for union organizers to impose union representation on a group of workers by circumventing the current secret ballot method of deciding for or against union representation with an odious mechanism called “card check.” Secret ballot voting has been a feature in US elections for more than two centuries, and that includes union elections. However, if the EFCA were to become law, the federal government will have tilted the playing field toward labor unions by...

As the record federal budget deficit draws increasing scrutiny from Washington to Wall Street to Main Street, deficit hawks may take aim at entitlement programs including Social Security. And, the nearly 80 million Baby Boomers phasing into retirement will set in motion a dynamic that—if not addressed by Congress—could result in the next generation getting fewer benefits. However, despite fears that Boomers will trigger a collapse of Social Security, experts say the system can and will survive for decades and generations to come. Congress made significant fixes to Social Security during the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s, and there...

Democrats in Congress are holding White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel accountable for his part in the collapse of healthcare reform. The emerging consensus among critics in both chambers is that Emanuel’s lack of Senate experience slowed President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority. The share of the blame comes as cracks are beginning to show in Emanuel’s once-impregnable political armor. Last week he had to apologize after a report surfaced that he called liberal groups “retarded” in a private meeting. While Emanuel has quelled that controversy by meeting with advocates for people with disabilities, on Capitol Hill he’s under...

When Republicans take President Obama up on his invitation to hash out their differences over health care this month, they will carry with them a fairly well-developed set of ideas intended to make health insurance more widely available and affordable, by emphasizing tax incentives and state innovations, with no new federal mandates and only a modest expansion of the federal safety net. It is not clear that Republicans and the White House are willing to negotiate seriously with each other, and Mr. Obama has rejected Republican demands that he start from scratch in developing health care legislation. But Congressional Republicans...

Just wondering.

WASHINGTON—Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey urged the Federal Reserve last July to approve an acquisition to save a struggling bank in his state. He didn't mention that the bank's chairman and vice chairman were big contributors to his political campaign. If the acquisition had been approved, it would have prevented the two executives from losing what was left of their investments in the bank. In his letter to the Fed July 21, Mr. Menendez said there was a strong likelihood that First BankAmericano, of Elizabeth, N.J., would fail in three days, which would "send yet another negative message to...

“...I don't believe malpractice reform is a silver bullet, but I've talked to enough doctors to know that defensive medicine may be contributing to unnecessary costs. So I'm proposing that we move forward on a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine. I know that the Bush administration considered authorizing demonstration projects in individual states to test these ideas. I think it's a good idea, and I'm directing my Secretary of Health and Human Services to move forward on this initiative today.” President Obama to Joint Session of Congress on...

TRENTON -- Conservative activists affiliated with the national Tea Party movement are hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). The group, called the Committee to Recall Senator Robert Menendez, is going to court after its petition to recall the senator was denied by former Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells last month. The Tea Partiers, part of a Sussex County group supporting limited government and opposed to Menendez’s stance on healthcare reform, are contesting the decision in a state appeals court. Dan Silberstein, a lawyer for the group, said the legal battle is over which constitution — the U.S....

If future generations of Americans are going to have a bright future, we're going to have to get a handle on spending. Either we get these deficits under control and start paying off our debt or we're not going to remain a great nation. Moreover, given that Social Security went into the red last year and that program, combined with Medicare, represents a 100 trillion dollar unfunded liability that’s going to be coming due over the next few decades, this is an issue that’s not going away for the foreseeable future. So, with that in mind, fiscal conservatives in DC...

On Wednesday, Sen. Jim DeMint ’s Senate Conservatives Fund will be a major contributor to a “money bomb” fundraiser for the GOP Senate campaign of former Florida Speaker Marco Rubio with a goal of raising $200,000 in 24 hours. The South Carolina Republican had already gathered $115,000 in pledged donations for Rubio as of Monday and it probably would be unwise to bet against him reaching his goal. After raising just over $300,000 during the 2008 cycle, DeMint reported over $1.3 million in receipts for the Senate Conservative Fund in 2009. What those reports don’t show is that the political...

The Car Allowance Rebate System certainly helped carmakers sell more cars this summer than they would have in this troubled economy. But six months later, there's evidence that some "Cash for Clunkers" buyers have a higher repossession and late payment rate than the average consumer. According to CNW Research, the repo rate among high-risk CARS buyers is more than twice that of the same category of consumers that didn't utilize the program. Of subprime buyers who used the government-funded program, nearly 5 percent have had their newly purchased vehicles repossessed. The same group of buyers who didn't use the program...

A nice catch by Philip Klein that completely eluded me earlier. With 218 votes needed to pass Reid’s bill, the number of Democrats who voted for the House’s ObamaCare bill last year now stands at … 217. Back in November, the House passed its health care bill by a narrow 220 to 215 margin, with 39 Democrats voting against it. Since then, the one Republican who voted for it — Joseph Cao — has indicated that he would not support the bill a second time around given the weaker language on abortion in the Senate version. In addition, Florida Rep....

GOP leaders: Don't use current health bills for summit starting point By Molly K. Hooper - 02/08/10 07:03 PM ET House Republican leaders said Monday the healthcare summit should not use House and Senate bills as a starting point. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Republicans are right to be reluctant in embracing a summit if the president is unwilling to start the talks from scratch. “If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate,” the pair...

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert ended a recent column on our economic woes with these words: "It's time for serious people to step forward and help lead on these critically important issues. Time is short." I could not agree more. There's no shortage of problems: global climate change, reliance on foreign oil, a Supreme Court out of control, democracy on life-support, a historic gap between the rich and the rest of us, over 17 million people have lost their jobs and can't find work. The economic impact is not the only concern. Think about the increase in drug, alcohol...

GOP says they will agree to meet with Obama over the Health Care bill if he agrees to start over from scratch......good for them. No more of the typical Dem way. Meaning the backroom deals, the buying off of politicians, no more Obama telling the country what we need. Instead, you listen to us and WE tell you what we need. In the end, this ain't gonna happen. If Obama gives in to the Republicans & the American people then he will lose his base even more. This bill is only about votes. It's no longer about fixing real problems...

announced Monday evening that he will support a Republican-led filibuster over President Barack Obama's nominee to serve on the National Labor Relations Board. The move is likely to infuriate labor groups who have fought hard for Craig Becker's nomination to serve on the five-member NLRB - and will likely give Republicans enough support to sustain a filibuster Tuesday. “Mr. Becker’s previous statements strongly indicate that he would take an aggressive personal agenda to the NLRB, and that he would pursue a personal agenda there, rather than that of the administration,” Nelson said in a statement. “This is of great concern,...

This is Not about Murtha and his passing .. (Well maybe in a way it is)! This is just a rant and observation of mine. As a former Combat Ranger, having seen two tours in Nam .. I feel that I have a right to say this.Something I am seeing almost everywhere that I go and Most Especially on Lefty, Liberal sites is this: "You shouldn't be "bad mouthing a decorated veteran".The crap that is thrown around by the lefties .. REALLY, REALLY is something to behold! It's the Lefty, Liberals who are always holding their Anti-war rally's and bad...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 02/08/2010 Pelosi Statement on the Passing of Congressman John Murtha Washington, D.C – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the passing of Congressman John Murtha, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense: “Today, with the passing of Jack Murtha, America lost a great patriot. He served our country on the battlefield winning two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star. He served his country in his community winning the hearts of his constituents and served in the Congress winning the respect of his colleagues. “On Saturday, he...

House GOP Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) and Whip Eric Cantor (R., Va.) just sent White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel a letter regarding the upcoming health-care summit: Mr. Emanuel: We welcome President Obama’s announcement of forthcoming bipartisan health care talks. In fact, you may remember that last May, Republicans asked President Obama to hold bipartisan discussions on health care in an attempt to find common ground on health care, but he declined and instead chose to work with only Democrats. Since then, the President has given dozens of speeches on health care reform, operating under the premise that...

Three House Democrats are now pushing legislation that would stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating carbon emissions—a decision the agency announced in December — without express permission from the Congress.

That didn’t take long… Antiwar democrat John Murtha passed away just a few hours ago and already democratic politicians were using his death to push their radical agenda. Democrats are already casting Murtha as a martyr in their push to nationalize the nation’s health care industry.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says he was saddened to hear of the death of Rep. John Murtha and called his fellow Democrat a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years. Obama on Monday called Murtha a devoted husband and a loving father who had a "tough-as-nails" reputation. The president says Murtha's passion for service was born during his military career and carried over to his congressional service.

Could this turn into something more than political theater? President Barack Obama's televised dialogue with Republican lawmakers on health care, promised for later this month, has the makings of an entertaining exchange. But the differences between the basic Democratic and GOP ideas are stark — and the two sides have increasingly hardened their positions in this election year. Yet, in a story with more twists than a soap opera, Obama's invitation to congressional leaders of both parties to attend a Feb. 25 meeting can't be dismissed as a mere diversion. Although many Americans have doubts about the Democrats' sweeping plans...

Recieved this e-mail from the Russell Campaign.... February 8, 2010   RUSSELL ASKS FOR PRAYERS FOR MURTHA FAMILYAnnounces a Moratorium on Campaign Media Efforts(JOHNSTOWN, PA) – Responding to the sudden and unfortunate announcement of the death of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA-12th), GOP challenger William Russell has asked all citizens, Republicans, Democrats and Independents to come together and pray for Joyce and the Murtha family as they deal with the tragic loss of husband, father and grandfather. “While Mr. Murtha and I were political combatants in every sense, our family and campaign team asks you to keep the Murtha family in...

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Nevada's budget is so far out of balance that by one account the state could lay off every worker paid from the general fund and still be $300 million in the red. The economic downturn has hit so hard that prisons may be closed, entire colleges shuttered and thousands left without jobs. Against the backdrop of an imploding economy and an $881 million shortage, Gov. Jim Gibbons will try in an emergency "State of the State" address Monday to explain the depth of the state's financial crisis and how fixing the gaping hole in the...

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) uses John Murtha's death to push health care.

O.K., I know it's not Murtha's seat; that was just for clarification. That said: Those who filed to run for Murtha’s seat in PA’s 12th District before his death are: Dems: Former Naval Officer Ryan Bucchianeri and Attorney Ron Mackell Republicans: Activist Dave Battaglia, Businessman Tim Burns and Army Vet & ’08 nominee William T. “Bill” Russell

The death of longtime Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha (D) this afternoon will set off a special election in his very competitive western Pennsylvania 12th district. According to state law, the governor has ten days once the vacancy is officially declared to decide on the date for the special election, which can come no sooner than 60 days following that proclamation. That likely means the special election will be held on May 18, which is the date already set for federal primaries around the state. (Special elections costs the state huge sums of money and it's likely that Gov. Ed Rendell...

The late Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha passed away today at age 77. Mr. Murtha was caught up in a number of controversial issues over the past few years, some of which were caught on video (all below) like ABSCAM, calling U.S. Marines "murderers, and accusing his own district for being "racist", and news report about a tax payer funded Pennsylvania Airport with his name. The first video below is of Mr. Murtha making a deal with a fictitious Arab sheik whom Murtha thought was bribing him

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Rep. John Murtha, the tall, gruff-mannered former Marine who became the de facto voice of veterans on Capitol Hill and later an outspoken and influential critic of the Iraq War, died Monday.

We’ve always known that America’s reign as the world’s greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic. What we’re getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce. Instead of fraying under the strain of imperial overstretch, we’re paralyzed by procedure. Instead of re-enacting the decline and fall of Rome, we’re re-enacting the dissolution of 18th-century Poland. A brief history lesson: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Polish legislature, the Sejm, operated on the unanimity principle: any member could nullify legislation by shouting “I...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy has come out swinging against the man who now sits in the Senate seat his father held for 47 years. Telling a blog for the Hill newspaper that Senator Scott Brown was "in the tank for the Republicans," the Rhode Island Democrat called Brown's candidacy a "joke." The putdown is a familiar one for the Kennedy family. Forty-eight years ago, a thirty-year-old Ted Kennedy heard the same taunt from his primary opponent, Massachusetts Attorney General Edward McCormack: "If his name was Edward Moore, with his qualifications -- with your qualifications, Teddy -- if it was Edward Moore,...

Here is video of MSNBC announcing the death of 19-term Democrat Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha today. The report says he died from gallbladder surgery complications at the age of 77. . . . (VIDEO)

GOP Cool To Obama's Call For Health Talks Republicans urge scrapping of current bill; president plans bipartisan forum Polls show that many Americans feel President Obama and his congressional allies have not sought enough GOP input on the stalled health care reform legislation. WASHINGTON - Republicans gave a chilly reception Monday to President Barack Obama's invitation to discuss health care in a bipartisan, televised setting later this month, part of the White House effort to revive the stalled legislation. The House and Senate GOP leaders said Obama and his fellow Democrats must shelve their long-debated health care bill, which was...

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., has passed away at the age of 77 from complications from gall bladder surgery in late January. Renowned even on Capitol Hill for his ability to bring pork back to his district, Murtha faced numerous brushes with ethical issues over the decades. * Murtha’s district now is a possible pickup for the House GOP. Murtha won re-election with 58% of the vote in 2008. But John McCain narrowly carried the district

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - U.S. Rep. John Murtha, an influential critic of the Iraq War whose congressional career was shadowed by questions about his ethics, died Monday. He was 77. The Pennsylvania Democrat had been suffering complications from gallbladder surgery. He died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., spokesman Matthew Mazonkey said. In 1974 Murtha, then an officer in the Marine Reserves, became the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress. One of Congress' most hawkish Democrats, he wielded considerable clout for two decades as the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending. Murtha voted...

[This article dated 01/27/2010 is posted in light of the 02/25/10 meeting called by Obama.] Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Wednesday that President Barack Obama's administration is "trying to divide" Senate Republicans by selectively calling a few of them to lobby them on legislative issues. DeMint, a one-time friend of Obama's when the president was a senator, said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been seeking out GOP senators to press them on healthcare reform and other topics. "Right now their whole strategy just seems like they want to divide us," DeMint said. "The president has had his...

Breaking...

Republicans gave a chilly reception Monday to President Barack Obama's invitation to discuss health care in a bipartisan, televised setting later this month, part of the White House effort to revive the stalled legislation. The House and Senate GOP leaders said Obama and his fellow Democrats must shelve their long-debated health care bill, which was on the verge of becoming law until Republican Scott Brown won a special Senate election in Massachusetts last month. The White House says Obama has no plans to do so but is willing to hear Republicans' ideas. Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the top Republican...