Blog - Congress Links

Here is today’s sampling of great articles and blog posts from around the web:

• The Congressional Black Caucus thinks the Senate’s jobs bill is insufficient. (The Washington Post)
• Steve Benen throws some cold water on the idea that the progress on the Senate jobs bill signifies a new beginning for bipartisanship in Congress. (The Washington Monthly)
• As of today, 23 senators have signed the public option letter, two more since yesterday: Sen. Debbie Stabenow [D, MN] and Sen. Daniel Inouye [D, HI]. But one prominent public option proponent, Sen. Jay Rockefeller [D, WV] is withholding his support over fears that the partisan nature of the idea could derail the rejuvenated health care reform process. (Talking Points Memo)
• White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says the public option wasn’t included in the Obama health care plan because “there isn’t enough political support in the majority to get this through.” (The Plum Line)
• The Kaiser Family Foundation has another helpful comparison of the House, Senate and White House health care plans. (The Kaiser Family Foundation)
• The Hill has an eye-opening example of the dysfunction in Congress. The Senate is currently sitting on 290 bills that have passed the House. (The Hill)
• George Packer laments the long lost days when the Senate actually worked. (The New Yorker)
• Conservatives have been fuming over Rep. Ron Paul’s [D, TX-14] surprise victory at the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll. Patrick Ruffini thinks Paul’s win is a good thing for the conservative movement in the long term. (The Next Right)
• Rachel Maddow has renamed the filibuster the “Tarantino” because it kills bills. Ezra Klein is holding a contest to rename the reconciliation process. (The Washington Post)
• Here’s a fun web app. that shows how often two senators from opposing parties have voted together and how many bills they are co-sponsoring together. (Strange Bedfellows).