For all the trouble it caused Democratic leaders over the health care reform bill, the House Democratic Blue Dog Coalition was surprisingly silent when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally dropped the 2,000-page, $1.05 trillion legislation.
The 51 Blue Dog members sent a letter late Thursday to Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf, asking for him to say whether the bill would reduce the long-term costs of health care to the federal government. But the normally noisy group was hard to find after Pelosi's bill hit.
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President Obama touted upbeat economic news as proof his stimulus spending was working, but Republicans cited the jobless recovery as a reason to shift priorities.
"The steps we've taken have made a difference," Obama said at the White House. "But I also know we have a long way to go."
The economy grew by 3.5 percent in the third quarter of the year, according to the Commerce Department. The positive growth ended four consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is expected to reveal Thursday the final House version of sweeping health-care legislation that would create a government-run insurance plan.
The bill emerges after a deal between moderate and liberal Democrats to create a government insurance benefit open to all Americans, as liberals want, but to be more generous in paying doctors and hospitals than liberals had intended.
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A day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he will put forward a health care bill that includes a government-run insurance plan, Sen. Joe Lieberman threw up a roadblock, promising to stop the legislation with the help of what could be 10 or more Democrats.
Lieberman told reporters on that he is opposed to the creation of a public option and will not back any bill that includes such a provision, even if it is created via a "trigger" or an "opt in" strategy.
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As official White House statements go, the latest on Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's plan to tack a government-run insurance plan onto the Senate's health care reform bill was uncommonly enigmatic.
"As [President Obama] said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
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As promised, Barack Obama is bringing change to America. He's making it more Republican.
It's not that more people are actually becoming Republicans or calling themselves Republicans -- the number of voters who formally identify with the party is at its lowest point in years. But we appear to be in the early stages of a shift in which political independents, people who not too long ago were sick of Republicans, are now leaning toward GOP positions on some key issues.
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The Senate will vote on a sweeping health care reform bill that includes a government-run insurance option, but in a nod to significant opposition among lawmakers in the Democratic party, states will have until 2014 to "opt out" of the public plan.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., gave few details about the proposal, which he has been crafting for two weeks behind closed doors with a handful of top Democrats and White House officials.
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Has President Obama dillied and dallied too long in making his decision on whether to send additional forces to Afghanistan? Republicans led by former Vice President Cheney increasingly assert as much.
In fairness to GOP friends, some of the criticism may be politically useful by keeping up the pressure on any administration officials who may wish to hem and haw indefinitely. But such a charge cannot yet be leveled at Obama himself.
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A bleaker-than-expected report on new jobless claims has the White House defending its economic policies, even as persistent deficit worries threaten President Obama's larger policy agenda.
And there could be more trouble ahead for Obama as the holiday season approaches and scrutiny of his efforts on the economy intensify. A big concern for economists is how the unemployment rate will hurt consumer spending -- a major part of the economy.
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