Grassley Calls it a Day on Health Reform

Chuck Grassley is listening to his angry mobs who he fed with lies and distortions about health care reform (read the wingnut interpretation of "Obamacare" that's being spread faster than wildfire here). How disingenuous of him. I'd say this is a pretty clear signal that the republicans are done with reform. The question is--are democrats bold enough to come up with a smart and comprehensive bill? If this was a republican cause, I bet they would. But I'm not sure about the democrats:

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a key Republican negotiator in the quest for bipartisan health-care reform, said Wednesday that the outpouring of anger at town hall meetings this month has fundamentally altered the nature of the debate and convinced him that lawmakers should consider drastically scaling back the scope of the effort.

After being besieged by protesters at meetings across his home state of Iowa, Grassley said he has concluded that the public has rejected the far-reaching proposals Democrats have put on the table, viewing them as overly expensive precursors to "a government takeover of health care."

Grassley said he remains hopeful that he and five other members of the Senate Finance Committee can draft a better, less costly plan capable of winning broad support from Democrats and Republicans. But as the group, known as the Gang of Six, prepared to continue talking via teleconference late Thursday, Grassley said the members may be forced to reassess the breadth of their efforts in light of public concerns. WaPo

Chuck Todd says Grassley is looking to get fired from healthcare talks, but he said Obama won't let him off that easy. Sen. Olympia Snowe agrees with Grassley. She says status quo is best:

"If there's anything we've learned during the course of this August recess," Snowe said in a telephone interview Wednesday, "it's that there are many people who are satisfied with their health insurance. And that's important. And we want to make sure it stays that way."

Dems are considering splitting the bill in two:

The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes.

The idea is the latest effort by Democrats to escape the morass caused by delays in Congress, as well as voter discontent crystallized in angry town-hall meetings. Polls suggest the overhaul plans are losing public support, giving Republicans less incentive to go along.

Democrats hope a split-the-bill plan would speed up a vote and help President Barack Obama meet his goal of getting a final measure by year's end. WSJ

Olympia Snowe on Meeting With Obama

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are two republicans I respect because when they criticize they do so without the name calling. They're also the only two that have shown willingness to work with the democrats on a consistent basis. Obama met with six folks on the senate finance committee. Here's what Snowe said:

We’re not talking about government-run health care – we’re talking about ensuring Americans have access to meaningful, high-quality, affordable health coverage – and we are moving heaven and earth to reach that objective. As I mentioned to the President today, unless every American receives better value for their health dollars, we cannot sustain our current health care system. And that’s why we will keep working within this bipartisan, collaborative process Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley have set the tone for -- and that we will continue over the coming weeks.” Read the whole thing at Politico

Grassley Cracks a Funny at Sotomayor Hearing

Grassley Suggests AIG Execs Should Kill Themselves

Where does the GOP dig up these folks? I'm sure there are some AIGers who are distraught over what has taken place and kidding about suicide is inappropriate and cruel. We have yet to hear from any of the AIG workers but I imagine they've got to be feeling the brunt of America's anger. Grassley's probably going to be apologizing for this tomorrow:

Politico: Sen. Charles Grassley is so angry over AIG bonuses that he says the executives should resign or kill themselves.

In a comment aired this afternoon on WMT, an Iowa radio station, Grassley (R-Iowa) said: “The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they’d follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things — resign, or go commit suicide.”

McCain's "Plan" Gets Voted Down in Senate

3.6 million jobs lost since the recession began.

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Meanwhile, progress has been made on the stimulus. Senators say they've cut $100 billion:

A bipartisan group of moderate senators reached a deal Friday to cut about $100 billion from the $937 billion stimulus package, a development that could win enough GOP support to get the 60 votes needed to pass the bill, the group's Democratic leader said.

"The hope is we'll pick up two more Republicans, and if we're able to do that then I think we'll have sufficient numbers to get a vote and pass the alternative," Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., told reporters as he walked into a meeting with other Democrats. MSNBC

Still, some republicans aren't missing what they perceive as an opportunity to take their swats at Obama. Today, Mitt Romney, as if he matters, says Obama's off to a rocky start. Seems to me Obama has done more in two weeks than Bush's two terms. I don't know how these guys think.

Mitt Romney says it’s “been a good year” since he dropped out of the GOP nomination fight, but, he says, “I wish I would have won the nomination, and won the presidency.”

In an interview with TIME magazine, Romney said the man who won the presidency, Barack Obama, “is off to a rocky start.” CNN

Earlier today, Newt Gingrich took a whack at Obama too.
John McCain has been a thorn. But his "plan," that mostly consisted of a year-long payroll tax cut, was voted down by the Senate. McCain seems to forget that he lost for a reason.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona attempted to replace the president's package with one that cost about half as much and included more tax cuts; his effort failed by a vote of 57-40. McCain said what was happening in the Senate is "not bipartisanship." NPR

McCain says there hasn't been bipartisanship but he started a lame petition to derail the stimulus. That was real productive.
But there are some fruitful republicans:

The newest loss of 600,000 jobs reported today should provide some impetus for passage of a stimulus, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, says -- suggesting that Congress is on track to get a bill to President Barack Obama by next week.

Grassley says the report from the Labor Department showing today that unemployment rose to 7.6 percent last month has put pressure on lawmakers to act quickly.

"A week from now, we're going to be gone," Grassley says on Bloomberg TV's Political Capital with Al Hunt, which airs tonight at 7:30 pm EST. By next week, Grassley says, "we ought to deliver a stimulus package" to Obama, Grassley said. "I just hope it's the right one." Swamp

Obama's new economic advisory board:

The White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by a former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, and modeled after the foreign intelligence board created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, includes advisers from business, labor and academia. NYT

Other members:

The group includes Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman of the General Electric Company, and James W. Owens, the chairman of Caterpillar Inc., which announced last week the layoff of 20,000 jobs. William H. Donaldson , a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, will also serve, along with Roger W. Ferguson Jr., the president of T.I.A.A.-CREF, and Martin S. Feldstein, a Harvard University professor, who was the chief economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan.

The group includes two labor officials: Richard L. Trumka of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and Anna Burger of the Service Employees International Union. The board, which will meet for two years, will be guided by Austan D. Goolsbee, an economic adviser to the president. NYT