WEDNESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Pakistan: “Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at vehicles and hit a militant hide-out in a tribal region of northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least nine insurgents, two officials said.”
* Expect a CBO score on health care reform tonight. Probably. We think.
* President Obama will appear at his fourth health care rally in two weeks on Friday, this time appearing at George Mason University in Virginia.
* Good: “The drive to pass health care legislation intersected with calls for President Obama’s proposed overhaul of the student loan system on the sun-soaked steps of the Capitol on Wednesday. House Democrats plan to tack a student loan package onto the health care bill in order to get the controversial overhaul through the chamber.”
* A Republican effort to freeze on earmarks for a year came to an abrupt halt yesterday, when the Senate voted 68 to 29 to defeat a one-year moratorium on earmarks. Fifteen Republicans opposed the idea.
* Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.) became the second House Republican to sign on as a co-sponsor of a measure to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
* Fox News and other opponents of health care reform have taken to making up surveys and falsely attributing them to the New England Journal of Medicine.
* The American Graduation Initiative lacks some necessary support.
* Rep. John Shadegg, a right-wing Republican from Arizona, was part of a bizarre interview on MSNBC this morning, in which Shadegg seemed to endorse a public option, and expressed surprising sympathy for single-payer.
* And speaking of odd interviews, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) undermined his own party’s talking points this, conceding on ABC this morning that the “deem and pass” approach being considered for health care reform is entirely legitimate. “The rules of the House allow for this type of deeming provision, it’s called a self-executing provision which means that once the bill, the rule for the next bill passes, the Senate bill is automatically is deemed as having passed,” Cantor explained.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
