Blog - January 2010

President Obama has repeatedly promised to televise health care negotiations on C-SPAN so that the public can watch along. Now, C-CPAN's CEO, Brian Lamb, is asking Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress to help Obama keep his promise.

Rather than go through the delay and procedural hurdles that could result from taking the health care bill to a conference committee, the Democrats have decided to reach a deal on the bill informally and then "ping-pong" it quickly through the House and the Senate.

Promoting social policy with the tax code is nothing new. The federal government gives tax deductions for first-time homebuyers, renewable energy, charitable giving and much more. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter [R, MI-11] has a novel idea for a new tax deduction. He wants to let pet owners deduct their pet care expenses to help them care for their pets in the economic crisis.