Party of No

Roy Blunt, Chairman of the House Republicans' Health Care Solutions Group, isn't planning on taking any solutions to this week’s planned health care summit.  In fact, he isn't even sure he's going; Blunt is apparently worried that talking about ways to expand access to affordable health care might be a "waste of time."

Tellingly, the White House has invited Republicans to post their health care plan on their website in advance of the summit.... but they've refused. 

CQ Politics' Political Wire:

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that nearly six in 10 Americans say the Republicans aren't doing enough to forge compromise with President Obama on important issues; more than four in 10 see Obama as doing too little to get GOP support.

In addition, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they want Congress to keep working to pass comprehensive health-care reform.

 From a new Public Policy Polling poll:

Our national poll this week found that only 19% of voters in the country are happy with the direction of the Republican Party, compared to 56% who are unhappy with it. Even among independents, who have voted overwhelmingly for [MA Senator-Elect] Scott Brown, [NJ Governor] Chris Christie, and [VA Governor] Bob McDonnell 58% say they don't like the direction the GOP is headed in.

The GOP's own voters are displeased with where the party's going- 38% say they are unhappy with the current direction to 35% who support it. In a trend that perhaps provides at least a ray of hope to Democrats the Republicans unhappy with their own party are disproportionately moderates. 54% of them are displeased to 25% content- the question is what Democrats can do to get those folks to actually jump ship.

The final three paragraphs of The Star's response to Gov. Nixon's State of the State address:

Overall, Nixon has proposed a damage-control budget that will get the state through another year without excess pain. That assumes the governor’s team has correctly calculated the prospects of a mild economic rebound and $300 million in added stimulus aid from Washington. For the sake of the state’s fiscal stability, we hope Nixon is right.

The governor’s upbeat assessment of Missouri’s possibilities was a refreshing contrast to Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder’s sour rebuttal on behalf of Republicans. Kinder’s response to tough times was to criticize Nixon and offer zero solutions.

Legislative leaders must adopt a more bipartisan tone if Missouri is indeed to achieve the possible.

House Floor Leader Steve Tilley and
Senate Majority Leader Kevin Engler

Because members of the House and Senate apparently don't have any other pressing matters to address, Republican leaders in both chambers have decided to focus their first few weeks "debating" federal health care and clean energy legislation.  From the News Leader:

State lawmakers say reforming their own ethics, creating jobs and balancing the state's cash-strapped budget are top priorities this year.

But they won't likely focus on those issues in the first weeks of the session, which began Wednesday.

Republican leaders in both chambers intend to bring up "several" non-binding resolutions reacting to federal climate change and health care legislation being debated in Congress, said Senate Majority Leader Kevin Engler, R-Farmington.

I didn't call them that – the American people did (a majority of American adults did anyway). 

Gallup recently asked 1,025 adults to identify political figures as "winners" and losers" for 2009. Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor were all big "winners." On the flip side, the Republicans in Congress, the White House party crashers, SC Governor Mark Sanford and SC Rep. Joe Wilson were all big "losers."

The biggest losers, in pretty chart form:

Speaking this morning on CBS’ “The Early Show,” Sen. Claire McCaskill called out Republican senators for their work to slow down and kill health care reform efforts.  The Senate GOP has steadfastly refused to produce a real plan for reducing health care costs and expanding access, but has produced a comprehensive plan for slowing down the health care debate.   Watch it:

Yesterday, the American Medical Association endorsed the thrust of the Senate Democrats' health care bill. Though they objected to a tax on "elective cosmetic medical procedures" and the creation of an Independent Medicare Advisory Board, they praised its health insurance regulation and new tax credits to help low- and moderate-income people buy coverage.

Meanwhile, Sen. Kit Bond says the bill is a "disaster" which needs an "exorcism" (because it's been drafted or is supported by the devil, I guess).

Who should we trust here on the general outline of the Senate bill?  The AMA?  Or the Senator who spends more time coming up with clever quotes than ideas? 

Americans United for Change has a last-minute ad up today slamming the GOP health bill, two days before the House is expected for vote on the Democratic proposal.  

There are a lot of pages in the health reform bill from Democratic leaders in the House. That means it's terrible.

From the Senate Democrats:

KC Star columnist Yael Abouhalkah weighs in on Kit Bond's boycott of committee markup of proposed cap and trade legislation:

In a pitiful display of "leadership," Republican[s] boycotted today's discussion of a climate bill in a U.S. Senate committee.

By failing to show up, the GOP senators showed they have no interest in trying to help the nation pass a responsible bill to control harmful emissions while not killing the U.S. economy.

Make no mistake: The GOP used a ruse by saying the economic analysis of the measure was not finished.

Please don't pay attention to all those stories and the mumbling in the GOP Caucus about my failure to follow through on my health care reform "guarantee."

This is one of the least enlightening and most frustrating speeches I've seen in a while:

Blaine Luetkemeyer apparently shares the concerns of some veterans he says are worried about losing their Medicare in the health care proposals before Congress.  "Please don't let them take my Medicare away," he recounts, then says "this is something that is extremely important to our seniors" and "they're the ones who are going to be impacted by it."