The MAMA Grapevine

...But Where is the Way?

Sam — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:35:13 +0000

We're just at an extremely uncertain juncture with health care reform. Some observers are quite pessimistic. Others are hopeful. The fact of the matter would appear to be that everyone was completely blindsided by the loss of a filibuster-proof majority of Senators who favor anything like the current version of the bill. It could be that we're getting such wide-ranging reports of the bill's chances because no one really knows what will happen. Uncertainty rules the day.

The Will is There...

Sam — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:33:26 +0000

If Nancy Pelosi has anything to say about it, health care reform will become law.

State of the Union

Sam — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:34:25 +0000

In his State of the Union Address tonight, President Obama called on Congress to finish the job on health care reform, but he did not specifically tell the House to pass the Senate bill, which is the most obvious, and perhaps only, path apparent for health care reform at this time.

He may be hedging his bets. Or he may be laying the ground for the complicated strategy that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears to have initiated today, a dual-track strategy that would involve working on multiple bills at the same time.

It was a big speech at a critical political time for the President, but it remains to be seen if it has any effect on health care reform. We will see.

UPDATE: For a concise analysis of the overall speech, see Marc Shields and David Brooks on the News Hour.

Meanwhile...

Sam — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:27:41 +0000

While we're waiting to see what happens to Certified Professional Midwives on a Federal level, there are of course efforts to get CPMs recognized in many states where they aren't already, including Alabama and South Dakota.

Still Waiting

Sam — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:08:05 +0000

Last week, everyone was waiting to see if the House of Representatives is willing to pass the Senate version of the health care bill, which is probably that bill's only chance of becoming law. The chances didn't look good, but there was still a chance.

And now? The chances don't look good, but there is still a chance.

...And Dimmer

Sam — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:57:18 +0000

One way that a health care reform bill could become law even though it lacks the votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate: the House of Representatives could vote for the Senate version of the bill and send it to the President to sign.

But according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, there are not enough votes in the House to do that.

The Senate, for its part, appears quite through with doing any work on the thing for now.

Are Health Care Reform's Chances Dimming?

Sam — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:30:56 +0000

After an apparently earth-shattering loss of one Senate seat in a Massachusetts special election, Democratic Senators are signalling that they're done with health care reform as an issue and want to move on to job creation.

So, if there is going to be a health care reform bill, the House of Representatives may have to pass the Senate version of the bill. Is the House willing to do that? Apparently, no.

The Politics of the Thing, Part II

Sam — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:30:10 +0000

...and in fact, Scott Brown has won the Massachusetts Senate race. To put it mildly, this complicates the process of producing a health care reform bill. Will the House of Representatives now pass the Senate version of the bill and send it to the President? Will both houses work overtime to complete the process with the compromise bill before Brown can be seated? Will the whole thing fall apart? It's anybody's guess at this point.

The Politics of the Thing

Sam — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:36:33 +0000

Next Tuesday, Massachusetts elects a new Senator, and the polls indicate that it will be close. If Scott Brown wins, he won't be voting for the Senate version of the health care bill that the Senator currently in the seat, Paul Kirk, voted for. The other candidate, Martha Coakley, supports the current version of the bill. This is very much a Democrats versus Republicans situation, complicated as always by the ins and outs of Massachusetts politics. But the uncertainty has got the legislators responsible for the current version of the health care reform bill quite nervous.

And other compromises put together to get that bill in the first place remain shaky, or are already unraveling. It's likely to be a difficult weekend for legislators on Capitol Hill.

Celebrity News

Sam — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:57:10 +0000

Here's Erykah Badu singing "On and On."

And here's Erykah Badu and her partner twittering her home birth with a midwife. Pretty cool, no?