Obama Extends Health Care Visitation Rights To Gay Couples
President Obama has ordered the Department of Health And Human Services to draft rules requiring that hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding grant all patients the ability to designate people who can visit with them and consult on medical decisions — a move aimed at guaranteeing health care visitation rights to same-sex couples. In his statement, Obama said: “all too often, people are made to suffer or even to pass away alone, denied the comfort of companionship in their final moments while a loved one is left worrying and pacing down the hall.”
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama and Vice President Biden will receive the presidential daily briefing at 9:30 a.m. ET. Obama will deliver remarks at 10:15 a.m. ET, at the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors. Obama will meet at 11 a.m. ET with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama and Biden will have lunch at 12:45 p.m. ET. Obama and Biden will meet at 1:30 p.m. ET with the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
Obama: Anti-Tax Activists Should Say ‘Thank You’ To Me
Speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser last night in Miami, President Obama countered the Tea Party activists who protested yesterday for Tax Day, saying that he has in fact cut taxes: “You would think they’d be saying thank you.”
Liberal Appeals Court Pick To Face Senate Judiciary Committee
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a confirmation hearing today for Goodwin Liu, a University of California-Berkeley professor who has been nominated for an appeals court judgeship. Liu’s image as a liberal nominee has turned this nomination into a preview of the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation. Said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL): “Senators who say they want judges who are bound to the Constitution will have those statements put to the test. I hope this nomination is not a window into what kind of criteria the president plans to use for the Supreme Court.”
Citizens United Foes Seek McCain Stand-In
CQ reports that Democratic campaign-finance reform advocates are seeking a Republican to support efforts to roll back the Citizens United case — with Sen. John McCain (R-Az) not getting involved in the current push, perhaps due to his primary challenge from former Rep. J.D. Hayworth. “Perhaps he’s planning on voting for it, but because of political considerations or other things he just doesn’t want to be out front,” said Democratic campaign finance lawyer Marc Elias. “At the end of the day, it may very well be that he doesn’t want to be a proponent of it, but that’s different than saying he wouldn’t vote for it. … It may just be that he’s saving for the last minute that decision.”
Republican Candidates Outraising Democrats
The Hill reports that top-tier Republican Senate candidates outraised their Democratic counterparts in the first quarter of 2010: “The top 10 GOP Senate candidates outraised the top 10 Democratic candidates $20 million to $16 million, even though Democrats had six incumbents on that list and Republicans had two.”
Hoyer Will Bring D.C. Representation Bill To Floor Next Week
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) will bring a bill to the floor next week, to provide the District of Columbia with full voting rights in the House. “Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) and DC voting rights supporters have strongly expressed to me that now is the time to end the injustice denying Americans living in our nation’s capital full voting representation in Congress,” Hoyer said in a statement.
