First Edition: December 2, 2009

Dec 2 2009

Today's headlines detail the Senate's effort to confront contentious amendments and partisan strife on day two of that chamber's health reform debate.

Recession-Driven Cuts Threaten Effort To Expand Adult Day Care Kaiser Health News, in a story produced in collaboration with The Washington Post, reports on adult day care. It "may soon become harder to find and afford. The almost 4,000 state-licensed centers around the country rely heavily on funding from state legislatures and charities, which have been hit hard by the recession. Advocates for adult day-care programs are pushing to include them in federal health-care overhaul legislation while also lobbying state legislatures and suing state regulators to keep centers from shutting their doors" (Kaiser Health News).

Senators Express Hope For Health Reform Bill Senators prepared to cast their first votes Wednesday on health-care reform, but even as partisan divisions hardened and contentious amendments stacked up, Democrats increasingly expressed optimism that they would succeed in passing a bill before Christmas (The Washington Post).

Tempers Flare As Senate Debates Health Care A Republican senator asserted Tuesday during a rancorous floor debate that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will shorten the lives of America's seniors by cutting Medicare (The Associated Press).

Senate Healthcare Debate Day 2: Partisan Warfare By Amendment Tuesday was a big day on Capitol Hill, with the full US Senate set to start voting on historic healthcare reform legislation. At this early stage, the votes are to approve or strike down proposed legislative amendments. In coming days senators will have to grind through lots of these, as members of both parties line up to try and shape the final product (The Christian Science Monitor).

Upcoming Senate Healthcare Votes Floor debate opened this week on the proposed healthcare overhaul. Here's a look at the votes Senate Democrats would have to win before a bill goes to President Obama (Los Angeles Times).

Health Bill Would Impact Food, Drug Industries The health insurance system isn't the only thing getting revamped should Congress pass a health bill; both the Senate and the House bills include provisions that might mean big changes for the food, drug and medical devices industries (NPR).

Senators Pitch To Women And Elderly On Health Bill In a day of desultory debate on sweeping health care legislation, senators appealed to two potent political constituencies on Tuesday, with Democrats seeking additional medical benefits for women and Republicans vowing to preserve and protect Medicare for older Americans (The New York Times).

Health-Bill Amendments Court Women, Seniors Democrats appealed to women and Republicans made a pitch to seniors Tuesday in amendments to the Senate health bill that showed how each party is trying to frame the health-care debate (The Wall Street Journal).

American Indians Stand To Gain In Health Overhaul The meeting last month was a watershed: the leaders of 564 American Indian tribes were invited to Washington to talk with cabinet members and President Obama, who called it "the largest and most widely attended gathering of tribal leaders in our history." Topping the list of their needs was better health care (The New York Times).

New Public Option Plan To Be Unveiled A new measure on the public option will be unveiled next week, which Senate Democratic leaders hope will break the logjam on healthcare reform (The Hill).

Daschle Draws Health Care Fire Tom Daschle's history as an adviser to some of the health care industry's most influential companies is raising the ire of public interest groups and GOP officials, who have questioned his increasingly prominent role in discussions on health reform among senior White House aides and senators (Politico).

Not HHS Secretary, But In Health Care Fight Anyway Look who's at the health care negotiating table — Tom Daschle. The former Senate Democratic leader's nomination as health and human services secretary was derailed over a back taxes flap earlier this year. But that's not stopping Daschle, a close ally of President Barack Obama, from playing a significant role in Capitol Hill health care talks — much as he'd be doing if he'd actually gotten the job (The Associated Press).

U.S. Health-Threat Response To Be Reviewed Citing the balky swine flu vaccination campaign and other shortcomings in the nation's medical defenses, a top Obama administration official has announced a major review of the government's efforts to develop new protections against pandemics, bioterrorism and other health threats (The Washington Post).