Ezra Klein has the scoop (apparently), and the AP is picking up on it.
It's a numbers crunch on votes, and on the money to be spent, and the deficit reduced, and it looks like supporters of the bill have another piece of good news to keep the momentum going into the vote (whenever it occurs). The CBO's numbers look good.
Some momentum from Minnesota was added yesterday when Representative Jim Oberstar announced that he is a solid "yes" on voting for the bill. This announcement prompted "Catholics United" to start airing TV ads thanking Rep. Oberstar for his support of the the bill. The ads are part of a "broader national campaign to underscore Catholic support for health care reform," according to a statement released by the Catholic group.
According to a Democratic source, CBO has finished its work and will release the official preliminary score later today. But here are the basic numbers: The bill will cost $940 billion over the first 10 years and reduce the deficit by $130 billion during that period. In the second 10 years -- so, 2020 to 2029 -- it will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion. The legislation will cover 32 million Americans, or 95 percent of the legal population.
To put this in context, that's more deficit reduction than either the House or Senate bill, and more coverage than the Senate bill.
How they got these numbers, and whether there are important qualifiers, will be easier to say once CBO releases its analysis. But the bottom line is that this is the exact sort of score that Democrats wanted, and is in fact considerably better than some had come to expect they would receive. Coverage is better than the Senate bill, which will reassure liberals, and deficit reduction is better than either bill, which will reassure conservatives.
With the unveiling of the health reform reconciliation compromise set for noon ET, Democrats are beginning to leak results of the long-awaited Congressional Budget Office score of the provisions. They're pretty good.
The deficit over the first ten years drops by $130 billion compared to the baseline. Importantly, especially for wavering Democrats like Brian Baird, it reduces the debt by $1.2 trillion in the second ten years. Apparently, the CBO says that the bill would reduce Medicare expenditures by about 1.4% per year, extending the solvency of the program by nine years. Thirty-two million Americans will be covered -- about 95% of all those eligible. The cost over decade one: $940 billion. The release today will help Speaker Nancy Pelosi fulfill her promise of providing 72 hours to review the bill before the vote, which is on tap for Sunday.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has spoken out about Republican abuse of the filibuster to obstruct absolutely anything the Democrats want. This time he's criticizing Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) for repeatedly blocking the basic work of the Senate for purely partisan reasons.
The Kentucky Republican battled Democrats on the Senate floor Tuesday to block two nominations to relatively backbench positions -- because he is opposed to a tobacco-related law passed by the Canadian Parliament (that's right, the Canadian Parliament). The use of such delaying tactics is not unprecedented in Senate history, but holding up such minor business stretches the purpose of the Senate's open debate rules to the breaking point.
"This is a perversion of the filibuster and a perversion of the role of the Senate. It used to be that the filibuster was reserved for matters of great principle," said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) from the well of the Senate. "Some of my colleagues seem more interested in using every procedural method possible to keep the Senate from doing anything than they are in creating jobs or helping Americans struggling in a difficult economy."
(Huffington Post)
"I made Sen. Leahy late for a Judiciary Committee meeting," Franni Franken began. Franni is Sen. Al Franken's wife. "At Christmas during the healthcare debates and Snowmageddon, I brought in my pumpkin bread and freshly baked bread. Everybody really liked it."
Al said 'wait 'til you have her pie' so I recently brought a few in," she continued. "They were all so focused on eating they forgot about the time and they were all late for the Judiciary Committee meeting."
"I'm curious, I can't wait to see it," Franni replied. "I've heard that they've done other comics of politicians, a lot of them. I will say that they never consulted me. I hope they portray him as the hero that I see him as."
Of course, we had to talk about healthcare reform. Franni has always been confident that we'd pass something. I've never shared her faith we'd get anything, I'm way too cynical. While we both agree that we're not going to get a perfect bill, she had this to say:
"I think that once we get healthcare reform passed, everybody will see how great it is."
We agree that once we get something passed, no Republican would dare oppose it like only a few (like Bachmann) would call for repealing Social Security and Medicare.
"I'm just hoping they get it done by recess," she said. "It's the end of March covering Passover and Easter. It'll be nice to have a week off and then a week back in Minnesota."
"Let me tell you, I had a very nice seat at the State of the Union address," Franni Franken began. Franni is Sen. Al Franken's wife. "As I was walking to it I saw a young man sitting in the aisle on the steps. Because I visit Walter Reed (Army Medical Center), I have met many, many wounded warriors and I could tell that he had a prosthesis (prosthetic leg). By the way, they make them so well these days that's it's pretty hard to tell, but I could because of all the wounded warriors I've met."
"So I said, obviously you're sitting somewhere in this section and I think you'd probably fit better, be more comfortable, in my seat. Here you go, have my ticket," she continued. "So we exchanged tickets.
Franni was very, very happy that President Obama had made jobs creation one of his top priorities.
"Al promised that creating jobs would be his first, second and third priority," she said. "He's introduced his cash for jobs bill which is modeled on a very successful Minnesota program."
The polls have been closed about a hour hour now and we're waiting to see results. I'll be staying on top of the latest numbers as the evening goes along.
Parry wins As of 9:40 PM, I am calling this race for Mike Parry, the Republican. Best wishes in St. Paul. Jason Engbrecht couldn't pry this seat out of Republican grasp.
SD26 Special Election
Votes
100% reported
Jason Engbrecht (DFL)
4192
36.6%
Mike Parry (R)
4943
43.1%
Roy Srp (I)
2334
20.3%
Is there anyone out there from the area or who was down there that would like to comment on the GOTV effort for Jason?
8:53PM - Jason is trailing 32 to 45 with 23% reporting. C'mon, Jason!
9:00PM - Jason is pulling closer. Only trailing 40 to 43%.
9:05PM - Roy Srp pulled a load of votes from Waseca. He was Mayor there. Surprise. Jason trailing by 8% now. Dang.
9:10PM - Dang, double dang. Parry leading by nearly 500 with only 1/3 of votes left to count. 44-35%.
9:15PM - I will note that there is a lot of Waseca Steele County left to count, that's Owatonna. If Parry is as disliked there as it seems AND Engbrecht can pull some votes out, he's got a chance. [wipes sweat from brow...]
9:21PM - Parry's lead grows to 600. 44-34% with 74% reporting. Ruh Roh.
9:30PM - Engbrecht didn't have many precincts in Faribault where he's from (only 13 of 47 precincts are in Rice County). He's got to do REALLY well in Owatonna and environs cuz he didn't even win his home turf.
9:36PM - Roy Srp won Waseca County. 46% to Parry's 31%. Engbrecht had only 22% there. Sigh.
9:39PM - Only 5 precincts left to count in Owatonna/Steele County. Jason just can't do it mathematically now.
9:45PM - Jason did win his home turf in Faribault, but by 46 votes. Not a big enough margin. Parry continues to do well in Steele County, Owatonna area with only 4 precincts not reporting.
If the people in the Owatonna area need any more reason to vote for Jason Engbrecht in the SD26 special senate election, this could be it. Republican Mike Parry is not just a Twitter tweet deleter, there are allegations that he also deleted emails concerning Owatonna city business which may incriminate him in some unethical behavior. Just in case you don't know, Parry served one term on the Owatonna Waseca City Council. Bluestem Prairie has the scoop:
Did Mike Parry's treatment of a former Waseca City employee trigger fears of a lawsuit? Did those fears prompt a large severance package-and was the episode yet another reason voters ended Parry's career on the city council after one term?
Did Parry's deletion of emails in which city business was conducted skirt state laws?
Tonight, I'll look more at the circumstances surrounding the $51,000 severance package. News coverage about Leiferman's departure began on August 25, 2008, with the Waseca County news article City in separation talks with community development director:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 8, 2006
Contact: Senator Levin's Office
Phone: 202.224.6221
SENATOR MARK DAYTON RETIREMENT TRIBUTE
Mr. President, as Senator Mark Dayton prepares to leave this body, I'd like to share with my colleagues a few thoughts about his service. In September, I had the pleasure of speaking on Senator Dayton's behalf at a dinner paying tribute to the retiring senators, and I ask that my remarks from that event be placed into the Congressional Record.
"On the night six years ago when Minnesota voters chose him as their 33rd Senator, Mark Dayton told the cheering crowd: 'No matter what your political party or personal philosophy, no matter who you voted for today or even whether you voted at all, I'll work for you. When, next January, I become Senator Dayton, please -- call me Mark. Because I'm your public servant. I'll work for you.'
"For the past six years, Mark has kept that pledge, because those words were not the rhetoric of a campaign; they were a reflection of Mark's deeply-held beliefs. Mark Dayton treats everyone - from the wealthiest to the least fortunate - with the same sense of fairness and compassion, and he carries himself with a humility to which we can all aspire. Mark's lack of guile has characterized his service here, where political calculating is an accepted reality.
"When Mark came to the Senate, he brought with him a broad range of experience. In the private sector he had worked as a public school teacher in a challenging New York City school; as a counselor to runaway youth; as a chief financial officer for a non-profit group; and as head of an investment group. In public life, he had served as a Senate aide to Walter Mondale; as head of Minnesota's Department of Energy and Economic Development; and as State Auditor, among many other capacities.
"That path of service to Minnesota led to his own election to the Senate. Mark and I serve together on both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. As the ranking member on both committees, I have witnessed in Mark a Senator who is passionately dedicated to public service. Mark reads the long reports, he attends the dry meetings, he masters the difficult material, and he asks the tough questions with a disarming directness and quizzical curiosity.
"On the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Mark has been a strong voice in our hearings examining abusive tax shelters and offshore tax havens. Mark has been a leader on prescription drug issues, and he even donates his Senate salary to help seniors buy prescription drugs they could not otherwise afford. And Mark has been a great battler on issues common to our two states, including fighting on behalf of our steel and mining industries and to strengthen our Northern Border.
"As part of our work on the Armed Services Committee, Mark traveled with Chairman Warner and me and six other Senators to Iraq, where we saw firsthand Mark's deep dedication to the men and women of our armed forces. After allegations surfaced that our troops in Iraq had been given contaminated water by a contractor, it was Mark's insistence that led to an ongoing investigation into the contractor's actions. And Mark has been a true champion for our National Guard and Reserve forces, working forcefully to ease their difficult transition back to civilian life when their tours of duty finally end.
"As Mark writes the next chapter in his own life, he can return home to the people of his beloved Minnesota knowing that he has served them honorably and well. Some of them will probably insist on calling him 'Senator.' But, for most, this idealist with a good heart never stopped simply being 'Mark.'"
We shall miss Mark Dayton and wish him well as he leaves us.
"I saw the best hockey game," Franni Franken began. Franni is Sen. Al Franken's wife. "It was the annual charity game between the Secret Service and the FBI. The rink (the Washington Capitals practice rink) was packed and boy was it a lot of fun."
The Secret Service won in a shoot out. Apparently, the SS has won 10 of the last 11.
"How do you root against one of the sides?" I asked. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"
"I was kinda rooting for the FBI because they were the underdogs, but there were some Secret Service families right next to me," she explained. "There was a woman playing for the Secret Service, too. She could dish it out as much as she could take it. What a game."
"So aside from healthcare reform, what's been going on?" I asked.
"We got 22 inches of snow at Christmas just as we were reaching the final stages of healthcare reform in the Senate," she replied. It hit on December 19th and 20th. "I drove Al all around in our Ford Escape hybrid with all wheel drive. We had late night votes and early morning votes."
"Some Senators slept in their offices," she continued. "A few walked." These were obviously not Senators from southern states. "Others were picked up in huge SUVs that could get through the snow."
The problem with the DC area is they occasionally get dumped on, but only have a few snow plows. I mean that literally not figuratively. While it's not going to bother someone like Franni who grew up in Maine and lived in NY and MN, DC denizens can't handle any snow. They raid the stores for toilet paper, bread and milk then hunker down for sometimes weeks until it's safe again.
And 22 inches is a LOT of snow.
"But it's manageable," replied Franni. "Sometimes inconvenient, but we got by. Like, for example, there was no garbage pickup. That was really inconvenient. And stinky."
"Here's another example," she continued. "I have everything for the Escape. Scrapers, deicers, you name it. But I hadn't gotten a shovel, yet."
"So you know what I did? I shoveled the walk with a cookie sheet. It worked beautifully."
The news that Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) will retire at the end of the current cycle rather than seek reelection is being shouted from the rooftops in Washington D.C.'s pundit class -- but does it have any real effects on Minnesota?
Well, maybe. Minnesota shares not only a border, but a small metropolitan area (Fargo-Moorhead) with North Dakota. Political ads that air in one town also appear in the other, so a competitive race on one side of the border could affect turnout on the other -- as could effective field work by any of the four state parties involved.
On policy matters, the move means that Al Franken, who is currently at the bottom of the Indian Affairs Committee seniority heap, will move up. After Dorgan, Hawaii's Daniel Inouye is next in line, but he already chairs two other committees. Next is North Dakota's other Senator, Kent Conrad, but Conrad also chairs the influential Budget committee. Next? Hawaii's other Senator, Daniel Akaka, who also chairs the Veteran's Affairs Committee. Only when you reach South Dakota's Tim Johnson do you find a Democrat who's not already chairing another committee.
So unless something drastic happens in the U.S. Senate (which is not likely to happen in the 2010 cycle), Franken will find himself at least one rung further up the ladder on this committee.
The same goes for Amy Klobuchar and the Commerce Committee, where several senior Democrats stand between Dorgan's current seniority and where Minnesota's senior senator now sits.
However, in an institution where seniority is next to godliness (paging Joe Lieberman), this could be seen as a decent thing for Minnesota as long as the Democratic caucus maintains a strong majority.
Jason Engbrecht http://www.jason4senate.org/ is now the officially endorsed DFL Candidate to run in the Special Election on January 26th to replace Senator Dick Day.
The Independence Party will endorse their candidate Wednesday, December 30th.
At the same time the SD 26 DFLers were endorsing their candidate, the SD 26 Republicans, according to a source close to the situation, met and endorsed Mike Parry as their candidate (on the third ballot).
The filing period for the Special election ends today (December 29th).
"I still have a lot of hope that Sen. Reid will get healthcare reform passed," Franni Franken told me. Franni is Sen. Al Franken's wife and was his campaign's secret weapon. I had mentioned that I am pretty worried about healthcare reform. "Al has a lot of faith that Sen. Reid will get it done. So do I."
"I'm not naive, but I haven't given in to cynicism," she continued. Franni reminded me of the aid her family received after her father died suddenly when she was young and how government aid helped get her entire family through college. "I still firmly believe that government can do great things."
I saw Franni explaining how to make Aunti Carla's pumpkin cornbread on TPT's Almanac (recipe here) and asked about her comment that she and Al would read the healthcare reform bill during the Thanksgiving break.
"Al read it all and I read parts," she replied. "I was particularly interested in eligibility issues relating to mental health issues."
And how was Thanksgiving?
"Oh, it was great," Franni answered. "Dinner took four and a half hours. We had a whole lot of courses and talked and talked. And Al has to have his eating time, homework time and football time. So, it was a great day."
In an article posted on Monday night at Politics in Minnesota, Sarah Janecek was fact-checking a comment from AFSCME Executive Director Eliot Seide.
The article gives analysis of the AFSCME endorsement of Mark Dayton's Gubernatorial Campaign on Saturday. She wanted to fact-check the sentiment shared here:
[Eliot Seide]
mentioned that it's been "almost 40 years" since the DFL Party has endorsed a candidate who has won the general election.
Let's take a look at the most troubling pieces of the "facts" connected to the analysis:
Let's go in order (in the article's reverse order)
In 1998, Jesse Ventura beat DFL-endorsed Skip Humphrey.
Skip Humphrey won the DFL primary, however, Michael Freeman was the DFL endorsed candidate going in to the primary.
In 1986, we elected DFL incumbent Perpich to another term -- but he was not the endorsed candidate. Then-St. Paul Mayor George Latimer was, and Perpich beat Latimer in the DFL primary.
From the Star Tribune June 14, 1986 (full article at the bottom of this post).
Perpich won a 72 percent endorsement vote from the convention's 1,250 delegates - well above the 60 percent needed, but below the 81 percent DFLers gave their last gubernatorial candidate, Warren Spannaus, in 1982
That year, Perpich knocked Spannaus out of the race in the DFL primary - something St. Paul Mayor George Latimer is attempting to do to Perpich this year.
The most fact troubling paragraph:
Which brings us to 1978. Perpich was the endorsed DFL candidate, but he lost to GOPer Al Quie. It was a blowout year for the GOP. In 1976, when U.S. Sen Hubert Humprey{Jacob here, Spell check?} died, he was temporarily replaced by his wife, Muriel Humphrey.
Anderson appointed himself to the U.S. Senate, and Perpich became governor. That collusion cost Perpich the election, and it cost Anderson his U.S. Senate seat (he lost to GOPer Rudy Boschwitz).
In 1976, Walter Mondale was elected Vice President of the United States. Governor Wendell Anderson resigned as Governor in late December 1976 to vacate Mondale's Senate seat, which happened, on December 30, 1976.
In January 1978, Senator Hubert Humphrey passed away and his widow Muriel was appointed to his Senate seat to fill out the term (which would end later that year).
Hubert Humphrey died in 1978, not 1976.
When the fact-checking is flawed, the whole conclusion of the article becomes flawed:
Eliot's right on the facts.
It's now been over 24 hours since the "article" was posted, and 23 hours since I posted a comment to point out the flawed facts. The article still has not been edited nor has my comment been posted. It's not that I care that much about my comment being seen, it's about the facts being correct.
Full June 1986 article, (thanks for the heads up Mr. D) and October 2009 PiM article after the "fold."
Sen. Al Franken's (D-MN) anti-rape amendment to the Defense bill may be in danger. The admendment would end contracts with defense contractors who force employees into binding arbitration and deny employees the right to file sexual assault charges. This amendment passed 68-30. The only Senators opposing it were Republicans from the south.
The danger comes from an unlikely source, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI). Rumors abound that Inoye is getting lobbied hard and heavy by defense industry lobbyists. Inouye chairs the Appropriations Committee and has the power, as Chair, to do things like this.
Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.
Inouye's office, sources say, has been lobbied by defense contractors adamant that the language of the Franken amendment would leave them overly exposed to lawsuits and at constant risk of having contracts dry up. The Senate is considering taking out a provision known as the Title VII claim, which (if removed) would allow victims of assault or rape to bring suit against the individual perpetrator but not the contractor who employed him or her.
"The defense contractors have been storming his office," said a source with knowledge of the situation. "Inouye either will get the amendment taken out altogether, or water it down significantly. If they water it down, they will take out the Title VII claims. This means that in discrimination cases, they will still force you into a secret forced arbitration on KBR's (or other contractors') own terms -- with your chances of prevailing practically zero. The House seems to be very supportive of the original Franken amendment and all in line, but their hands are tied since it originated in the Senate. And since Inouye runs the show on this bill, he can easily take it out to get Republicans and the defense contractors off his back, which looks increasingly likely."
(Huffington Post)
I spoke with Lori Hamamoto, Sen. Inouye's Press Secretary. She said that Inouye voted for the amendment and continues to support it. Lori has no idea where these rumors originated and reassured me that Sen. Inouye would not be weakening or removing Franken's amendment.
UPDATED
My cross-post at Daily Kos got rec listed. ****ing A!!! That's never happened to me before. Wow.
Today Organizing for America, the political arm of President Obama, set a goal of making 100,000 calls to Congress for the President's Plan for Healthcare Reform. That includes a public health insurance option. Well it's only 3:54 CT right now and already 171,215 have called their members of Congress.
This is unprecedented. More than any "tea party" or protests or ads this is what members of Congress will look at when they are thinking about how to vote on a public option and how to vote on healthcare reform. If you haven't yet, call both of your Senators as well as your representative. If they are already strongly behind healthcare reform and a public option thank them for it (for example, when you call Franken). If they still need a little nudging tell your personal story about why healthcare is important to you and urge them to back real healthcare reform that includes a strong public option.
That will give you the numbers for our representatives in Congress and will let you report how the calls went so calls can be tracked.
And let us know in the comments if you've made a call. Anyone called one of our "moderates" like Rep. Peterson to see where he is standing now? Let us know.
Amy Klobuchar is going to have a big role in the debate over the jobs / climate / national security bill that Congress is working on right now. As a member of three committees with jurisdiction over this legislation (Environment and Public Works, Agriculture and Commerce, Science and Transportation) as well as one of the crafters of the Senate legislation she is uniquely poised to stand up for strong legislation that does three main things: prevents catastrophic climate change, creates good jobs and reduces imports of oil.
She'll definitely vote yes on this legislation, but she wants some concessions. On the Renewable Electricity Standard that's good news but we need to push pressure on her to make sure she doesn't give away too much to the coal industry as well as other polluters. Keep reading for more about her position on this important issue.
"Let me tell you, I had a very nice seat at the State of the Union address," Franni Franken began. Franni is Sen. Al Franken's wife. "As I was walking to it I saw a young man sitting in the aisle on the steps. Because I visit Walter Reed (Army Medical Center), I have met many, many wounded warriors and I could tell that he had a prosthesis (prosthetic leg). By the way, they make them so well these days that's it's pretty hard to tell, but I could because of all the wounded warriors I've met."
