Democrats

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats are looking at swelling deficits further, at least temporarily, on a jobs-producing bill in response to double-digit unemployment and a sense within their ranks that the party needs to do more to put people back to work.

But many of the ideas on the table so far are extensions of last February's $787 billion economic stimulus package -- such as unemployment benefits and subsidies to help the jobless pay for health insurance. They maintain the social safety net for the 15.7 million Americans out of work but they don't directly create new jobs.

Aware that the February stimulus bill has not prevented unemployment from reaching 10.2 percent and of public opinion polls showing the free spending measure is losing popularity with voters, Democrats are wary of putting a stimulus label on their new package...

The sudden spasm of intense debate over abortion on Capitol Hill this week threatens not only to stall the passage of health care legislation, but also to shatter the delicate cease-fire that has governed the abortion issue during the Obama era.

After months of dodging high-profile confrontations over abortion, Democrats — including President Barack Obama — find themselves faced with a stark set of alternatives: Support a bill that imposes limits on access to abortion or demand one that might, however indirectly, fund the procedure with taxpayer money.

It's the kind of decision point the White House and Democratic leaders have consistently attempted to avoid. By playing down divisions over abortion and emphasizing shared goals — such as reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in the United States — members of the president's party have sought to blur the lines of one of the country's most furious and enduring debates...

After years of trailing far behind Democrats, Republicans have now surpassed Democrats as the public's choice in the 2010 congressional elections. In response to the latest so-called "generic ballot" question from the Gallup organization -- "If elections for Congress were being held today, which party's candidate would you vote for in your congressional district?" -- the new results are 48 percent for Republicans versus 44 percent for Democrats among registered voters, and 46 percent for Republicans versus 44 percent for Democrats among adults nationwide.

It's an extraordinary turnaround for the GOP. Last July, Democrats held a six-point lead. Last December, Democrats held a 15-point lead. At one point in 2007, Democrats held a 23-point lead, and for all of that year, 2007, Democrats held a double-digit lead.

The new Republican lead is the result of a dramatic move of independents toward the Republican party...

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats are hardening their stances on both sides of the abortion issue in a battle that may threaten plans to overhaul the U.S. health-care system.

More than 40 party lawmakers vowed to vote against a final bill if it contains language the House agreed to on Nov. 7 adding restrictions on the procedure as part of broader health legislation. The issue may also disrupt work in the Senate, which has yet to unveil a bill.

Abortion “is going to be a major issue,” Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, told reporters yesterday. “I hope we can find a way around it”...

Washington (AP) - Democrats just don't get the election message from voters and are pushing a liberal, big government agenda at their party's peril, Republican officials said Sunday as they predicted a political price after the majority's victory on health care.

Voters are "tired of the borrowing, the spending, the bailouts, the takeovers," said Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the No. 3 House GOP leader, pointing to GOP victories in gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey last week.

The Democratic-controlled House narrowly approved a health care bill Saturday night, with 39 Democrats voting against it and a single Republican voting in its favor...

Within minutes of Saturday’s historic House vote on health care reform, Republicans pronounced the political death of Rep. Thomas Perriello (D-Va.), pointing to the vulnerable freshman congressman’s vote in favor of the bill.

And in the aftermath of the politically charged vote, Perriello wasn’t the only Democratic congressman whose fortunes were being reassessed. The GOP, which voted nearly in lock step against the measure, began crowing about the demise of various other vulnerable members and seized on the moment as a milestone in the path back to a House majority.

Other than Perriello — who was the target of 12 consecutive postvote GOP e-mails accusing him of breaking his promises — a handful of members immediately stood out for casting especially tough votes...

A spokesman for National Right to Life says the latest attempt by House Democrats to obscure federal abortion funding in their healthcare bill is a "political fig leaf made out of cellophane."

As OneNewsNow reported last week, page 110 of the House healthcare bill (H.R. 3692) authorizes a new federal health insurance program or "public option" to pay for all elective abortions.

Blue Dog Congressman Brad Ellsworth (D-Indiana), an avowed pro-lifer, is sponsoring an amendment he claims would make sure no federal funds in the bill are used to provide abortions.

However, pro-life groups across the country say Ellsworth's proposal is a sham. Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Obama administration are desperately trying to undercut Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) and other pro-lifers who want to pass an amendment barring abortion funding...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has conjured up plenty of old ghosts since launching the health care fight back in July, invoking Democrats who laid the foundation for this year’s push — like Franklin Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.

In a way, those titans came up short. Pelosi owes her current place on the cusp of a historic health care vote Saturday to far more anonymous contemporaries, like New Jersey Rep. Robert Andrews and California Rep. Xavier Becerra, whom Pelosi sent out to get the votes.

The fate of the bill itself rests on the shoulders of a new generation of Democrats whose young careers will be defined, in part, by the votes they cast Saturday — votes sure to be used against many of them in 2010...

Election Day losses in Virginia and New Jersey have congressional Democrats focused like never before on jobs — their own.

While the White House and party leaders are urging calm, Democratic incumbents from red states and Republican-leaning districts are anything but; Tuesday's statehouse defeats have left them acutely aware that their votes on health care reform and other major Obama initiatives could be career-enders in 2010 or beyond.

“I should be nervous,” said Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Huntsville, Ala...

(CNSNews.com) - The House Republican Conference has compiled a list of all the new boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs created in the House health care bill.

The Republican conference describes H.R. 3962 as “Speaker Pelosi’s government takeover of health care.”

The list of 111 new bureaucracies is reprinted here...