Healthcare reform legislation will probably face a final vote in the middle of November, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested Monday.
Grassley, who as ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee has been a lead negotiator of a bipartisan health package, predicted completed legislation slightly passed the October deadline President Obama and congressional Democrats have preferred.
"If we get a bill on the senate floor by the third or fourth week of September, it's probably going to take two weeks," Grassley told Radio Iowa. "Probably take a month to negotiate the difference between the house and senate provisions, so I would suggest the middle of November."
Democrats in Congress and the White House have said they expect Obama to be able to sign a bill by October, but with lawmakers adjourning for recess without passing preliminary bills, that deadline may prove difficult.
Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee which reported a marked-up version of the House health reform bill on Friday, predicted a final bill before Thanksgiving recess for lawmakers.
"It's an ideal time for that because it's kind of natural break...the Friday just before Thanksgiving break," Braley told Radio Iowa.
The $2 billion extension to the "cash for clunkers" program should be taken out of the money set for the stimulus program, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) urged Monday.
Corker, who's made a mark in the Senate for his work on the automotive bailouts, said that the Senate should take the money to extend the program out of the $787 billion stimulus passed earlier this year.
"If this is something we can take from the $787 billion stimulus plan -- some of which won't be spent for three or for years -- and use it today in a way that it's paid for, I would support it," he said during an interview on CNBC.
The House extension of cash for clunkers last week takes the $2 billion out of the $25 billion in loans to the auto industry through the Department of Energy approved by Congress last year.
The Senate is expected to act on the appropriation this week. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned this weekend the program would have to be suspended next week if the Senate failed to act before adjourning for the August recess.
But the bill may not have smooth sailing ahead.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he'd oppose the extension, and Corker said he'd vote against it as well "if it's just adding another $2 billion to our debt."
President Obama may not be a doctor, but he's trying to play one on TV, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) jabbed Monday at the president's healthcare plans in a new web ad.
The top GOP member of the House revived a classic 1980s television commercial for Vicks cough syrup in which Peter Bergman, who played a physician on the soap opera "The Young and the Restless," pitched the medicine with the line, "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV."
The video splices Bergman's line with some lines from Obama talking about treatments in the context of healthcare reform.
The spot marks what may be considered the first salvo in a so-called "Battle for August," in which Republicans and Democrats, along with the Obama administration, will fight out the details of healthcare reform in their home states in districts before returning to Washington in September. The House and Senate will both have to then pass preliminary reform bills in the fall.
"Like the old joke goes, President Obama isn't a doctor, but he plays one on TV -- giving Americans a discomforting glimpse of life under ObamaCare, with government leaders and bureaucrats dispensing medical opinions that are better left to doctors, medical professionals, and patients," Boehner said in a statement.
"This is a lighthearted video, but it underscores a serious point that Congressional Democrats are going to hear throughout August as they travel outside of Washington: Americans want lower health care costs -- not a trillion-dollar government takeover of health care that increases costs and lets Washington bureaucrats make decisions that should be made by doctors and patients," the Ohio Republican added.
Update, 11:16 a.m.: DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan responds:
John Boehner isn't an insurance company executive, but he sure plays one in the U.S. House of Representatives. That's the only explanation for admittedly working to 'kill' health insurance reform while premiums for the average American family are rising three times faster than their wages, while small businesses are choosing between offering coverage and creating jobs, and when controlling runaway health care costs is necessary to get the economy fully back on track. John Boehner and the Republicans that would follow him may not officially be insurance agents, but in working to 'kill' reform they are proving that they are certainly agents of the status quo.
The "cash for clunkers" program will have to be suspended next week unless the Senate acts to authorize a $2 billion extension for the program, Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood said Sunday.
"If we don't get the $2 billion from the Senate...we would have to suspend the program next week," LaHood said during an appearance on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program.
LaHood said he expected the additional money for the rebate program would fund trade-ins of old autos for more fuel efficient vehicles through Labor Day.
"We believe the $2 billion we're very hopeful the Senate will pass this week...will take us through the time that Congress gets back after Labor Day," the former Illinois Republican congressman asserted.
Extended funding for the program passed the House this week by a strong, bipartisan margin, but may face more obstacles in the Senate. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has signaled he may filibuster the bill, and a key Rust Belt Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) has already said she's disinclined to support the bill.
Furthermore, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), two of the authors of the initial "cash for clunkers" legislation, asked LaHood for more data on the cost and extent of the environmental impact of the program before the Senate reauthorizes the program.
"If the Senate does not pass the additional $2 billion, the program will get suspended," LaHood cautioned, while also asserting that the environmental standards contained in the first program should be left alone.
The Transportation secretary said that additional purchases using the vouchers will be continued throughout the week until the Senate acts.
If the Senate doesn't act in time, LaHood said the Obama administration would evaluate other options to extend the program.
"I think the conclusion is that the TARP money cannot be used for this," he said, adding that the administration has been evaluating redirecting other federal spending to support the program.
LaHood also defended the effectiveness of the program as one of the most stimulative bits of government spending embarked upon by the White House and Congress.
"It is probably the one real stimulus part that has worked very, very well," he said.
The Obama administration is practicing "trickle down" economic policies, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) argued this weekend.
McCain took the unusual step of using rhetoric often employed to deride Republican policies to hit the Democratic administration's economic management.
"You know, I hate to use the word but it seems to me that the philosophy of Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke is trickle down, you know?" McCain said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. "Save Wall Street, save these financial institutions and then maybe they
New taxes on Americans in order to bridge the massive budget deficit are among the range of options being considered by the Obama administration, Treasury Secretary TIm Geithner signaled Sunday.
Geithner said that the Obama administration is committed to bringing down the deficit once the economy has begun to recover, and that it is looking at a variety of ways to achieve that.
"Well, we're going to have to look at we're going to have to do what's necessary," he said during an interview on ABC's "This Week."
"We're not at the point yet where we're going to make a judgment about what it's going to take," the Treasury secretary added when asked if new taxes were "on the table."
"I think what the country needs to do is understand we're going to have to do what it takes, we're going to do what's necessary," he added.
New taxes on high earners are contained in the House healthcare reform bill, in order to finance that bill's initiatives. Income tax cuts established early in the Bush administration, meanwhile, are set to expire in 2011.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen tamped down talk that the U.S. may increase troop levels in Afghanistan in a tweet Saturday.
Mullen played down an upcoming report from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of the international security force in Afghanistan, which may request more forces for the country.
Mullen dismissed the speculation over the content of McChrystal's report on his Twitter account on Saturday.
Speculation about Gen. McChrystal asking for more troops is just that: speculation. Work isn't done yet, need to let him finish it.
Reports have swirled, though, that McChrysal will do just that -- especially after troops in Afghanistan incurred their worst fatality toll in years.
The report would also put President Obama in a difficult political position, perhaps forcing him to choose between any recommendation McChrystal might make and political weariness over escalating the military situation in Afghanistan, which is approaching its 8th anniversary this fall.
Two senators wrote Transportion Secretary Ray LaHood asking for an evaluation of the the "cash for clunkers" program before the Senate takes up a vote to extend the program's funding this week.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), two principal authors of the initial bill, asked LaHood for key statistics on the number of cars purchased under the program, and the extent of the environmental impact expected to be gained by the program.
"We believe that Congress needs this information immediately in order to evaluate the program's effectiveness in attaining its two goals of stimulating automobile sales and reducing oil consumption," the senators wrote. "Without strong data on the effectiveness of the program, it will be more difficult for Congress to evaluate and improve the current program."
The extension of the program may face a bit more of an uphill climb in the Senate compared to the House, which easily passed the fast-tracked bill. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for instance, pledged to filibuster an extension.
Some lawmakers' insistence on investigating the past actions of the CIA "threatens to distract" the intelligence agency from its mission, CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote this weekend.
"I've become increasingly concerned that the focus on the past, especially in Congress, threatens to distract the CIA from its crucial core missions: intelligence collection, analysis and covert action," Panetta wrote in an op-ed to be published Sunday in the Washington Post.
The op-ed marks yet another salvo in the back-and-forth between Congress and the CIA director over the agency's national security initiatives during the Bush administration.
The most recent had come after the CIA revealed the Bush administration had withheld briefings about some programs targeting terrorist leaders.
Panetta complained that his agency "continues to pay a price for enduring disputes over policies that no longer exist" and that conflicts with lawmakers "fuel a climate of suspicion and partisanship on Capitol Hill that our intelligence officers -- and our country -- would be better off without."
"Judgments were made. Some of them were wrong," Panetta wrote. "But that should not taint those public servants who did their duty pursuant to the legal guidance provided. The last election made clear that the public wanted to move in a new direction."
President Obama praised members of the final House committee yet to act on healthcare reform legislation Saturday, thanking the Energy and Commerce committee's liberal and centrist members for voting to report their bill to the full House.
"I'm pleased that the third and final House committee working on health reform legislation has successfully passed a bill that would provide quality, affordable health insurance for all Americans," Obama said in a statement Saturday.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted late Friday night to move forward with the bill in a close 31-28 vote. That vote came after two weeks of delays as House Democratic leaders sought to ameliorate the concerns of centrist, Blue Dog Democrats.
The president lavished praise on those centrists -- as well as the more liberal members of the committee, who were promised a floor vote on a single-payer healthcare system to calm their frustration over concessions made in the bill to win over Blue Dogs.
"As in other Committees, this bill was strengthened by a debate that allowed all voices to be heard, including those of Progressives, Blue Dog Democrats, and members of both the Democratic and Republican Caucuses," Obama said.
The president also foreshadowed what's expected to be an intense debate over his plans to revamp the American healthcare system, played out in lawmakers' home districts and states.
"Over the next few weeks, we must build upon the historic consensus that has been forged, and do the hard work necessary to seize this unprecedented opportunity for the future of our economy and the health of our families," he said.
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