Politics Today: Obama Turns Back to Health Care
Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in Politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:
**President Obama tackles health care as Congress inches forward on legislation...
**Sotomayor readies for day 3 of hearing; explains "wise Latina" comment...
**Hillary Clinton to deliver major foreign policy speech...
**GOP's Steele addresses NAACP...
Following his speech, the president sits down with CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jon Lapook as part of a series of network interviews on health care.
Meantime, Mr. Obama's political organization, "Organizing for America" (which is run by the Democratic National Committee) is up with a new TV ad airing in Washington, D.C. and eight states, urging Senators to back health care reform.
The 30-second ad "features five Americans who have been affected by America's broken health care system, and are now calling for reform," reads a press release.
The ad ends with "It's time for health care reform. Call your Senators: (202) 224-3121" on the screen.
The ads will run in Arkansas, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska and Ohio.
5150235As for Congress, "Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled a 1,000-page-plus health care-overhaul bill Tuesday that would levy a surtax on the wealthy in a bid to pay for the program without adding to the national debt," reports McClatchy Newspapers' William Douglas.
"The bill, which House committees will debate this week, would create a government program to compete with private insurance companies and would mandate coverage for all. House Democratic leaders wouldn't put a precise price tag on their plan nor say how they were going to pay for all of it.
"One way that the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee proposed: a surtax on wealthy Americans, individuals who earn $280,000 and up and couples who make $350,000 or more. The surtax would start at 1 percent, rise to 1.5 percent on those with incomes of more than $500,000 and increase to 5.4 percent on incomes of more than $1 million."
Wall Street Journal's Janet Adamy and Laura Meckler, "Small Business Faces Big Bite"
"President Obama hailed the House bill, which he described as a product of 'unprecedented cooperation' by three House committees," write the New York Times' Robert Pear and David M. Herszenhorn.
"Speaking from Warren, Mich., Mr. Obama said, 'Don't be fooled by folks trying to scare you by saying we can't change the health care system. We have no choice but to fix the health care system because right now it's broken for too many Americans.'"
"The proposal, among the most liberal of several competing blueprints for revamping the system, drew swift criticism from Republicans and more than 30 business groups, many of which have supported some form of change," adds the Los Angeles Times' Noam N. Levey.
"Foreshadowing legislative battles ahead, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who has been working on a more moderate version, said, 'I don't think it's going to go anywhere in the Senate.' But Obama and several liberal groups praised the House proposal...."
"Under pressure from the White House to complete weeks of talks aimed at crafting a bipartisan bill, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) conducted a final round of meetings yesterday in hopes of producing legislation by week's end. [Senate Budget Chairman Kent] Conrad [D-N.D.] cautioned that combining a finance package with a separate measure written by the Senate health committee could take far longer than the three weeks remaining before the Senate begins its August recess," write the Washington Post's Lori Montgomery and Ceci Connolly.
"But senior Democrats in Congress and the White House said they are growing less concerned about passing a bill before the break, and argued that Senate Finance Committee approval would send a strong signal that health-care reform can be achieved this year."
5013473Bloomberg News' Edwin Chen, "Obama May Rely on Partisan Vote for Health-Care Bill, Aides Say": "Ultimately, this is not about a process, it's about results,' David Axelrod, Obama's senior political strategist, said during an interview yesterday in his White House office. 'If we're going to get this thing done, obviously time is a- wasting.' Both Axelrod and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said taking a partisan route to enacting major health-care legislation isn't the president's preferred choice. Yet in separate interviews, each man left that option open.
"'We'd like to do it with the votes of members of both parties,' Axelrod said. 'But the worst result would be to not get health-care reform done.'"
Politico's Patrick O'Connor, Carrie Budoff Brown and Chris Frates, "Democrats have a long road ahead for health care reform"
New York Times' Abby Goodnough, "Massachusetts Takes a Step Back From Health Care for All"
"The appellate court judge backed away from her 'wise Latina' speeches and the suggestion that ethnic identity might sway her decisions," write the Los Angeles Times' David G. Savage and James Oliphant.
"'Our life experiences do permit us to see some facts and understand them more easily than others,' she said. But the 'law is what commands the result,' she noted."
"Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are using Sotomayor's confirmation hearing to raise doubts about her fairness, while Democrats are portraying the 55-year-old New Yorker as a model jurist," adds the Associated Press' Mark Sherman.
"Under questioning Tuesday, Sotomayor tried to take away one line of Republican attack when she distanced herself from the man who nominated her, President Barack Obama. Asked whether she shared Obama's view — stated when he was a senator — that in some cases, the key determinant is 'what is in the judge's heart,' Sotomayor said she does not…. Time and again, she put her record on display to answer charges of bias."
CBSNews.com's Declan McCullagh, "Sotomayor Pressed On Gun Rights, Second Amendment"
CBS News, "Greenfield on Day Two of Sotomayor Hearings"
NY Times' Adam Liptak, "Hearings Are Window Into Judge's Acumen"
Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid, "Supreme Strategy: Stick to the Script"
Washington Post's Ann Gearhart, "Warming the Room With a Confident Touch"
"This will give her a chance to, um, reset her image following a month on the sidelines after breaking her elbow and then some embarrassment this week over a comment she made in May: 'The Iranians are building a huge embassy in Managua. And you can only imagine what that's for.' Turns out, as this paper reported Monday, that no one in Nicaragua has been able to find any super-embassy, and they've been looking hard. 'We don't have an Iranian mega-embassy,' a Nicaraguan official told The Post. 'We have an ambassador in a rented house with his wife.'"
"Though they deny any rivalries within the administration's foreign policy team and reject suggestions she has been forced into a backseat role, Clinton aides say she is eager to get back to what had been a busy pace of travel and events," adds the Associated Press' Matthew Lee.
"They note that she has had frequent and regular meetings at the White House with the president, pointing to private sessions with both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office scheduled for just an hour after her speech on Wednesday. But they acknowledge that she has chafed under the limitations imposed by her injury, which notably caused her to miss important multilateral conferences in Europe in late June and to be unable to accompany Obama to Russia last week."
"Steele, the first African-American chair of the GOP, was introduced by a woman who told the assembled delegates she wanted to say a few words 'before you start cheering for' Steele. At that, the delegates at the Hilton hotel in New York City broke out in laughter.
When Steele did step onstage, however, he garnered polite applause – and quickly quipped that he understands 'that I'm here to protect the tax-exempt status of the NAACP.' He then reached out to a constituency that often seems all but lost to Republicans in the age of Obama.
'The Republican Party, which has shared an inextricable link to the African-American community, has a way forward' in the 'struggle for economic and educational opportunity,' Steele said. ...
After the speech, Steele, a longtime member of the NAACP, told CBSNews.com he felt welcome at the conference. Standing on the first floor of the Hilton, he asked those who are skeptical to give his party 'a chance.'"
"In a room at Nick's Taste of Texas in Covina packed with members of the Chinese-American media, Judy Chu claimed victory late Tuesday night. 'What a victory,' said Chu, who is on the state Board of Equalization. 'It's incredible to be standing here tonight.' She said she will fly to Washington, D.C., today and will be sworn in Thursday.
"Judy Chu won 61.7 percent of the votes, Betty Chu won 33.1 percent, and Libertarian Christopher Agrella was in a distant third place with 5.2 percent. Election officials believe a record-low number of voters showed up for the special election, which was held to replace former Rep. Hilda Solis, who left the seat to become labor secretary."
CQ Politics' Rachel Kapochunas, "Democrat Chu Brings Diverse Career to Congress"
Note: In the photo above, Judy Chu is at left, Betty Chu on the right.
OBAMA AT THE ALL-STAR GAME
Associated Press' Ben Walker, "President Obama goes low with All-Star first pitch"
CIA
Associated Press' Pamela Hess, "House lays groundwork for CIA probe"
FOREIGN POLICY
Wall Street Journal's Peter Spiegel, "Obama Puts Arms Control at Core of New Strategy"
GOV. SARAH PALIN
Politico's Jonathan Martin, "Sarah Palin campaigning for Democrats? Unlikely"
GOV. MARK SANFORD
The State's John O'Connor, "Media jostled for access to Sanford"
Greenville News' Tim Smith, "Sanford missed jobs meetings, e-mails show"
SEN. JOHN ENSIGN
Las Vegas Sun's Lisa Mascaro, "In D.C., some worry Ensign saga is not over"
Politico's Victoria Mcgrane and Manu Raju, "Legal hurdles could still loom in John Ensign scandal"
FUTURE RACES
Politico's Josh Kraushaar, "10 campaign cash stories to watch"
2009 NJ Governor: Philadelphia Inquirer's Cynthia Burton, "Christie reaches for the urban vote"
2009 NJ Governor: Politico's Glenn Thrush, "New Jersey Dems fear economic backlash"
2009 NJ Governor: Wall Street Journal's John Fund, "Corzine Plays a Weak Hand, Weakly"
2009 VA Governor: Winchester Star's Drew Houff, "McDonnell takes financial lead in campaign"
2010 CA Governor: San Francisco Chronicle's Joe Garofoli, "Whitman pours cash into campaign early"
2010 NM Governor: Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics, "'A game changer': DA Martinez is running for governor"
2010 TX Governor: Dallas Morning News' Christy Hoppe, "Perry shrugs off Hutchison's fundraising lead in Texas governor contest"
2010 FL Senate: Pensacola News Journal, "Armey endorses Rubio"
2010 MO Senate: Associated Press, "Blunt, Carnahan raise $1 million in Missouri senate bid"
2010 NV Senate: Las Vegas Review-Journal's Molly Ball, "Reid's huge war chest may deter foes"
2010 PA Senate: Philadelphia Inquirer's Tom Fitzgerald, "Specter raises $1.73 million in second quarter"
2010 PA Senate: KDKA-TV's Jon Delano, "U.S. Rep. Sestak Drums Up Support Around Pa."
ETC.
New Yorker's John Colapinto, "Enter Laughing – Senator Franken's long journey"