Updated health care reform projections

Updated projections

I am lowering from 50% to 35% my prediction for the success of comprehensive health care reform. I now think the most likely outcome is a much more limited bill becomes law.

Senate floor #004: The Senate’s unfinished to do list

Senate Republican Leader McConnell pointed out yesterday that the Senate has a lot of unfinished and important business to complete before the end of the year:

In addition to that, there are a number of things…

My foggy legislative crystal ball

I tried to update my projections for health care legislation but found I was making wild guesses. This is too much of an inside game for me to predict what will happen over the next ten days. My crystal ball is foggy.

How would the Reid bill affect the middle class?

There has been confused public discussion about the effects of the Reid bill on low- and middle-income taxpayers. Senator Grassley and his Finance Committee staff have worked with the Joint Tax Committee staff to disentangle the strands a…

Senate floor #003: Transparently??

Here is Leader Reid on the Senate floor yesterday:

We will do this work transparently, and we will do this work tirelessly. That may mean debating and voting late at night.

A good jobs day

Today’s employment report is good news:

• Only 11,000 net jobs were lost in November. Given the margin of error on this data, that’s basically equivalent to zero.
• The unemployment rate declined from 10.2% in October to 10.0% in November.

The President’s new economic proposal

Here is the President’s new economic proposal, which he is not calling a stimulus:

I. Accelerating near-term job growth

1. Small business

• “a tax incentive to encourage small businesses to…

Senate floor #008: The bill doesn’t raise taxes?!?

This is a jaw-dropping statement from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus on the Senate floor yesterday:

I have also heard it argued that health care reform will raise taxes. That, too, is false. In fact, health…

Senate floor #005: The kiddie table

Here’s a funny quote from Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl yesterday on whether the process so far has been bipartisan:

The majority leader said that Republicans have had a seat at the table. I am on one of the two major committees, the…

The President’s 2010 challenges: jobs, deficits, and taxes

I think health care will dominate the first month or two of the 2010 American domestic policy debate. But by the end of February we will either have a law or the bill will have died.