The Dalles, Oregon WHEN DEMOCRAT JEFF MERKLEY WAS THE UNDERDOG challenging Republican incumbent Gordon Smith in 2008, he promised that if elected he would hold one town hall meeting a year in every county in Oregon. Because they usually begin with a 3,000-mile flight from Washington, D.C., congressional town hall meetings in Oregon are a […]

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Health Care Reform Holiday—Congressional Republicans have run out the clock on health care reform and are now turning to faux grassroots groups to ramp up pressure on members who have not signed on to the House bill that was voted out of committee in July or the Senate bill still in the works. South Carolina […]

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DEMOCRATS SCORED A MAJOR VICTORY in June as the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the first piece of legislation aimed at curbing planet-warming greenhouse-gas emissions. It was a narrow victory, eked out against overwhelming opposition from Republicans. The Republican caucus, save the eight who broke ranks on the bill, seem to […]

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Medical Mandate “The president has told visitors that he would rather have 70 votes in the Senate for a bill that gives him 85 percent of what he wants rather than a 100 percent satisfactory bill that passes 52 to 48.” —David Broder, Washington Post, June 11, 2009 IS PRESIDENT OBAMA GOING to engage on health […]

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Guns and Butter—Amount spent on U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since the invasion of the latter in October 2001: $947 billion, including Obama’s $106 billion supplemental appropriation. Cap the Senate Finance Committee imposed on health-care reform expenditures for the next ten years: $1 trillion. Maxed Out—The Center for Responsive Politics has analyzed Senate Finance […]

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