The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll, taken Friday and Saturday nights, shows that 41% of likely voters favor the health care plan. Fifty-four percent (54%) are opposed. These figures have barely budged in recent months.

Another finding that has remained constant is that the intensity is stronger among those who oppose the plan. The latest findings include 26% who Strongly Favor the plan and 45% who Strongly Oppose it. Read more at www.rasmussenreports.com

The Real Arithmetic of Health Care Reform

ON Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that, if enacted, the latest health care reform legislation would, over the next 10 years, cost about $950 billion, but because it would raise some revenues and lower some costs, it would also lower federal deficits by $138 billion.

Could this really be true? How can the budget office give a green light to a bill that commits the federal government to spending nearly $1 trillion more over the next 10 years?

The answer, unfortunately, is that the budget office is required to take written legislation at face value and not second-guess the plausibility of what it is handed. So fantasy in, fantasy out.

In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion. Read more at www.nytimes.com

Idaho first to sign law against health care reform

Idaho is leading the charge in a states-rights push to defeat a proposal in Congress that would require people to buy health insurance, a key piece of reforms being pushed by President Barack Obama.

Republican Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter used a ceremony Wednesday afternoon to become the first governor to sign into law a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government over any such insurance mandates.

There’s similar legislation pending in 37 other states, a point Otter stressed when asked if the bill he signed can succeed, given constitutional law experts are already saying federal laws would supersede those of states in a U.S. District Court fight. Read more at news.yahoo.com

More Than 200 Attend the U.S. Army Women Foundation’s 2nd Annual Army Women in Transition Symposium

The U.S. Army Women’s Foundation today hosted its 2nd Annual Army Women in Transition Symposium and Hall of Fame Luncheon on Capitol Hill from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with more than 200 people attending the two events.

The Symposium included three panels, which analyzed current programs helping servicewomen transition from the frontlines to a civilian career, the corporate world, or the classroom: Read more at www.foxbusiness.com

‘Nobody Wants to Vote for the Senate bill’

The Democratic spin explaining why polls show the public opposed to their health care bill is that voters actually like the individual pieces of the bill but have been turned off by the messy process.

But it appears that Democrats are ignoring their own findings. Last week, President Obama backed away from his earlier demand that lawmakers’ special deals be stripped out of the bill. Then there’s Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who yesterday endorsed a parliamentary maneuver under which the House would “deem” the Senate’s health care bill approved without the House voting on it.

Ms. Pelosi actually told reporters: “Nobody wants to vote for the Senate bill.”Read more at online.wsj.com

House Budget Committee approves reconciliation bill

The House Budget Committee voted 21 to 16 to send the health care legislation to the House Rules Committee. That panel is expected to meet Thursday to draft new language for the reconciliation bill, compiling a package of fixes to the $875 billion measure that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve.

A key House committee voted Monday to advance President Obama’s plan to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, clearing the way for the House to vote on the measure later this week.

A key House committee voted Monday to advance President Obama’s plan to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, clearing the way for the House to vote on the measure later this week.

A key House committee voted Monday to advance President Obama’s plan to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, clearing the way for the House to vote on the measure later this week.Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com

Immigration provision has Hispanic Caucus threatening ‘no’ health vote

A group of Hispanic lawmakers on Thursday will tell President Barack Obama that they may not vote for healthcare reform unless changes are made to the bill’s immigration provisions.

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The Senate language would prohibit illegal immigrants’ buying healthcare coverage from the proposed health exchanges. The House-passed bill isn’t as restrictive, but it does — like the Senate bill — bar illegal immigrants from receiving federal subsidies to buy health insurance.

Hispanic Democrats say they haven’t moved from their stance that they will not vote for a healthcare bill containing the Senate’s prohibitions. Read more at thehill.com

Key senators balk at adding student loan overhaul to health-care legislation

Democratic leaders in Congress are weighing whether to add another of President Obama’s priorities to the package: a popular proposal to overhaul the federal student loan program.

But key senators are objecting to the move, arguing that political resistance in the Senate and the rapidly rising cost of the education measure could jeopardize efforts to push health-care reform to final passage.

Rather than saving $50 billion over the next decade, the student loan initiative is now projected to increase deficits by about $5 billion

Advocates of the loan program urged congressional budget leaders Tuesday simply to use the old estimate when putting the reconciliation package together.Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

Our view on honesty in government: House ethics enforcers leave Congress mired in the muck

Committee members find ways to excuse colleagues’ bad behavior

What does it take for a member of Congress to get in real trouble with the House ethics committee?

Quite a lot.

In fact, only one lawmaker — Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. — has merited even a wrist slap since Democrats were swept into the majority in 2007 on a wave of voter revulsion to scandals engulfing Republicans in Congress. Back then, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through more stringent rules, vowed stricter enforcement and famously promised to “drain the swamp.”

Well, she’s going to need a bigger pump. Read more at blogs.usatoday.com

New poll shows Democrats losing ground on national security

After closing the so-called “national security gap” in the 2006 and 2008 elections, congressional Democrats are losing ground on the issue, according to a new poll done by the Democratic firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. (The survey was done for Democracy Corps and Third Way.) Asked which party would do a better job on national security, 50 percent of likely voters chose Republicans while 33 percent opted for Democrats.

The reason for the slippage? “Historical doubts about the Democratic Party on national security show signs of reviving as many voters worry the president and his Administration are not dealing forcefully enough with terrorist suspects,” according to Greenberg.Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com