Word: bille
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...weeks ago, when Reid yanked a bipartisan jobs bill that was hammered out by Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Chuck Grassley, it looked like he was on course to do the same thing he did with health care reform: pull a bipartisan deal and replace it with a partisan bill. But that barely worked when the Democrats had 60 votes - so how could Reid hope to ram something through now, when he's one vote short of stopping a Republican filibuster? (See pictures of Republican memorabilia...
...While the next three days are sure to be dominated by even more posturing, the reform plan that Democrats appear to have settled on closely resembles the most bipartisan version developed throughout the past year: the Senate Finance Committee bill. It's been tweaked and stretched and has gotten somewhat more expensive but, in essence, this is the legislation that Democrats hope to pass. Though the notorious bipartisan Gang of Six disbanded before the final bill was written, the basic structure of the legislation was developed with Republican input. It even got a Republican vote when it was passed...
...Boehner was referring to budget reconciliation, a legislative maneuver that would allow the Senate to pass changes to its reform bill with only 50 votes. (Vice President Joe Biden could, in this case, cast a tie-breaking vote.) The White House has been very careful not to explicitly say it intends to pursue a reconciliation strategy, which Republicans insist is a radical, undemocratic move - this, even though the GOP used it during the Bush presidency to pass two rounds of tax cuts. But during a briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said of the approach, "The avenue...
...still not entirely clear that congressional Democrats can pass health reform on their own. House Democrats do not seem eager to do what's required for a reconciliation strategy - that is, pass the Senate bill as is, along with a package of changes as outlined by the Obama plan. Meanwhile, Senate majority leader Harry Reid has not demonstrated that he can wrangle the required 50 votes to get a reconciliation package through his chamber. Republicans have said they intend to make the process difficult by offering endless amendments, for example. (Adjustments to one controversial element of the Senate bill...
There are two sports in which the Canadians expect nothing less than gold: hockey and curling, and not necessarily in that order. So why is curling a Canadian obsession? "Because we have winter," says Bill Holder, a grain farmer from Kenaston, Sask., who has been curling for 40 years. Though the game began in 16th century Scotland, Holder explains how curling caught on in the prairies of western Canada; essentially, he says, there was nothing else to do. In Canada, the shiny bald dome of Kevin Martin, 43, the Canadian men's curling skip, might as well be this year...