Judiciary Committee To Vote On Sotomayor
The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote today on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, and is expected to easily advance her to the full Senate. At the rate things are going in both the committee and the overall Senate, most Republicans will probably vote against her, but she should win by a comfortable margin thanks to Democrats and a few GOP Senators.
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama will hold a 1:30 p.m. ET tele-town hall meeting on health care reform, hosted by the AARP. At 4 p.m. ET, he and Vice President Biden will meet with the chairs of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. At 4:15 p.m. ET, Obama and Biden will greet the expanded delegations of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
Biden’s Day Ahead
Vice President Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder will make a stimulus funding announcement for law enforcement agencies across the country, at 10:15 a.m. ET in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Then in the afternoon, Biden will join Obama at the White House for the meetings with the U.S. China Strategic and Economic Dialogue delegations listed above.
New CBO Study: Public Option Wouldn’t Dominate Health Care System
House Democrats are touting a new, more favorable estimate from the Congressional Budget Office — finding that a public health care option would not crowd out the private health insurance market. “We’ve heard that the reform would represent a government takeover of health care,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). “In point of fact, exactly the opposite is true.” The big challenge, of course, will be to prevent the public option from being scrapped by the Senate.
DeMint: “I’m Swinging” To Stop Obama’s Health Care Plan
The Washington Post profiles Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), spotlighting the lead role he has taken in opposing President Obama on health care reform. “I’m swinging on this issue,” said Obama. “If I can stop a government takeover, I will. . . . It’s not personal. It’s not political. It’s about stopping a bad policy.”
Coleman To Wait Until Spring To Decide On Gubernatorial Run
Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) will wait until Spring 2010 to decide whether he will run for Governor of Minnesota — a pretty late time to start waging a campaign, but not unfeasible given the wide-open Republican field and his own high name recognition. Earlier reports had been that Coleman would not run at all, but his spokesman said instead that Coleman “just wants some time to not be running for office.”
Voinovich On GOP’s Problems: “It’s The Southerners”
Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), who is retiring in 2010, has some tough words about the state of the GOP. “We got too many Jim DeMints (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburns (R-Ok.). It’s the southerners,” he told the Columbus Dispatch. “They get on TV and go ‘errrr, errrrr.’ People hear them and say, ‘These people, they’re southerners. The party’s being taken over by southerners. What the hell they got to do with Ohio?'”
