Somervell County Salon (Free subscription) | 11/21/2009
From the Waco Trib -Understand that every Republican except Michael Burgess of Lewsville voted No. So Chet Edwards voted with the Republicans. Dr. Thomas Valigura, a Waco anesthesiologi.......
Government Bytes (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
Thank you to the 183 Republicans and Democrats who voted against H.R. 3961, the so-called “Doc Fix” legislation. As many of you know, we had grave concerns with this legislation. Our concerns did not necessarily stem from the underlying policy, but rather the partisan political tactic being played. H.R. 3961 was an underhanded attempt to deceive taxpayers and artificially deflate the cost...
DownWithTyranny! (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
July 30, 1965, LBJ signs Medicare bill, Truman looks on, Republicans start plotting how to kill the program Yesterday the House voted 243-183 , only one Republican, Michael Burgess (R-TX) joining the Democrats, to pass John Dingell's Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 3961). The bill will "revise the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment system for determining the annual...
The Waco Tribune-Herald - News (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to add more than $200 billion to the deficit to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts to doctors, a move Republicans denounced as a political payoff.
The Waco Tribune-Herald - News (Free subscription) | 11/14/2009
Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, and Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, a Louisiana Republican who spent his undergraduate years at Baylor University, sit on different sides of the political aisle, sharing little beyond their Waco connection.
PrairiePundit (Free subscription) | 11/14/2009
Rasmussen Reports: Governor Rick Perry is back out front of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison with an 11-point lead in the 2010 Republican Primary gubernatorial race in Texas. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Texas GOP Primary voters finds Perry with 46% of the vote while Hutchison earns 35%. Four percent (4%) support Debra Medina, a tea-party activist who joined the GOP race a few months ago,...
Rhymes with Right (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
Could be, according to some numbers crunched by Red State's Moe Lane regarding the House seats seen as competitive next year. TX-17 Chet Edwards R+20 ID-1 Walter Minnick R+18 AL-2 Bobby Bright R+16 MO-4 Ike Skelton R+14 IN-3 Mark Souder...
Red State (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
Looking at the Cook Political Report’s latest competitive race chart is in itself informative - the short version is that of the top 108 competitive races, the following ratios apply: Dem GOP Likely D 45 0 Leans D 23 1 Toss-up D 12 0 Toss-up R 0 3 Leans R 1 8 Likely R 0 15 Total 81 27 …but there’s some interesting things that can be seen with a little sorting. Below is a chart of...
Swing State Project (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
You may remember that in the wake of the 2008 elections, I tried out a new quantitative project, developing an index for predicting vulnerability for House members based on a mix of PVI and previous House election performance. (It turned out to be pretty useful, in that 2006 numbers were pretty predictive of who actually got knocked off in 2008.) I included, of course, what the index would predict...
The Eagle Local News (Free subscription) | 11/10/2009
As U.S. Rep Chet Edwards mulled his vote on a comprehensive health care reform bill last week, the pressure on him was mounting from both sides of the issue. Opponents who voiced their opposition to the bill at various town hall meetings and protests ...
The Rehearsal Studio (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
I was wondering whether or not news behind this weekend's vote on health care reform in the House of Representatives would lead to an early Chutzpah of the Week award. The good news is that I was right: It was pretty easy for find grounds for the award. The bad news, as one might guess from what actually came out of the House, is that this is an award for the negative connotation of chutzpah . Even...
The Nation Blogs (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
The New York Times has an excellent graphic up today profiling the 39 Democrats who voted against healthcare reform in the House of Representatives on Saturday night. The Times notes that 31 of these Democrats represent districts won by John McCain, as if that's a sufficient excuse. But take a closer look at the numbers. Paradoxically, those Democrats voting against healthcare reform represent constituents...
jobsanger (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
House Democrats passed their version of health care reform on Saturday night. It was not the bill I wanted since I favor a government-run single-payer system, but it is not a terrible bill. It does accomplish some health care reforms that were badly needed such as doing away with "pre-existing conditions", allowing a person who changes his/her job to take their insurance with them, and stopping...
Marc Ambinder (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
First, some bonuses: = the 39 Democrats who voted against the House bill -- John Adler (NJ) Jason Altmire (PA) Brian Baird (WA) John Barrow (GA) John Boccieri (OH) Dan Boren (OK) Rick Boucher (TX) Allen Boyd (FL) Bobby Bright (AL) Ben Chandler (KY) Travis Childers, Artur Davis (AL)**, Lincoln Davis (TN) Chet Edwards (TX) Bart Gordon (TN) Parker Griffith (AL), Herseth Sandlin (SD) Tim Holden (PA) Larry...
The Liberal Curmudgeon (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
The Republican tally for House votes in favor of health care reform: one. That one affirmative voter is Representative Anh "Joseph" Cao (left) of Louisiana. Explaining his vote, Cao said : “I read the versions of the House bill. I listened to the countless stories of Orleans and Jefferson Parish citizens whose health care costs are exploding — if they are able to obtain health...
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