AFL-CIO: Not Ready For Explicit Primary Threats

Just hopped off the conference call with Richard Trumka from the AFL-CIO.

This morning, the AFL-CIO leadership voted in overwhelming favor (higher than 90%) of "active support" for the current health care proposals in the face of slight changes to the excise tax agreement.

What that term "active support" entails is unclear. Earlier today Greg Sargent's blog, the Plum Line, reported that a source inside the AFL-CIO told him they were ready to directly threaten primary challenges.

The AFL-CIO source sends over the list of House Dems who are being targeted:

Dennis Cardoza, Jim Costa, Daniel Lipinski, Stephen Lynch, Michael Michaud, James Oberstar, Steve Dreihaus, Charlie Wilson Marcy Kaptur, John Boccieri, Zack Space, Tom Perriello, Jason Altmire, Christopher Carney, Paul Kanjorski, Tim Holden, Jerry Costello, Alan Mollohan, Nick Rahall, Kathy Dahlkepmer.

The source says that the threat of a primary or third-party challenge will be implicit, particularly since the AFL-CIO is already supporting Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter’s primary challenge to Blanche Lincoln.

Count on any threats regarding an election to be taken seriously when they come from Trumka. However, when asked about that on the conference call, Trumka stated that they are not prepared to make threats.

Whether or not the term primary comes up, we cannot say, but undecided House members should be expecting calls from labor during the final push. One can imagine that this sentiment, which Trumka expressed on the call, will come up: "We would have preferred it 60 years ago."

As for his meeting with the President last night, he refused to disclose any details, but said the President has his full permission to do so if any reporters happen to ask.

Health Care Stalled - Excise Tax Is Back?

This morning could bring a change in whip counts. On Wednesday, President Obama met with Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO to discuss the return of the excise tax debate after the Congressional Budget Office returned less favorable results than expected. Reports are that the AFL-CIO will hold a meeting today, and what they say to the public afterward is of incredible importance.

The Unions passionately staked out a position against the excise tax when it was first debated months ago and progressives have increasingly complained that Democratic leadership makes concession after concession without favor returned from conservative colleagues. With credible whip counts predicting a narrow victory for the future prospects for health care reform, the AFL-CIO could likely pull enough votes to end this. The AFL-CIO has certainly played a part in a lot of elections, and will likely play a part in several more. By no means are they married to the Democrats. If they called on the legislators they helped elect to oppose this bill, you can bet that candidate wants AFL-CIO help in the next campaign. That obviously gives them one big bargaining chip.

The question is, does the President have a carrot he could give them that is significant enough for them to endorse the bill with an increased excise tax and would the President be willing to use that carrot? Ultimately, the AFL-CIO needs to answer to their members. Their members will not be happy with a tax on their health care plans.

[UPDATE] Grandstanding at the Rules Committee

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with C-Span, they confirmed our research. Congressman Dreier was incorrect when he claimed that C-Span covered the House Rules Committee meetings when Medicare Part D was "rammed down our throats" at 3:00am. We have reached out to Congressman Dreier's office for a response and await their reply.

Today, I sat in on the Rules Committee hearing. It was a rather arcane meeting today to authorize suspension bills to be brought to the House floor over the next couple days and the weekend. Currently, House rules prohibit suspension bills from being brought to the floor between Thursday and Sunday without the rules committee specifically allowing it. (Why? I am still trying to figure that out.)

While authorizing suspension is what they were supposedly there to negotiate, barely a word was spoken about it beyond reading the language of the resolution. Republicans, all of whom voted against authorizing suspension, never made the case against it. Instead, we spent the hour or so listening to arguments about how much c-span coverage there would be and whether or not Congressman Dreier ran a more, or less, transparent rules committee. In other words, we spent a while listening to Dreier complain that this meeting was not being aired on C-Span.

A big moment of disagreement came when Congressman McGovern thanked the Chairwoman (Congresswoman Slaughter) for running a more transparent rules committee than Dreier. McGovern made the claim that the Republicans, led by then Chairman Dreier, rammed Medicare Part D through the rules committee without cameras. This claim was outright refuted by Dreier.

Luckily, we do not have to take their word for it (whoever you would choose to believe). C-Span just recently finished uploading almost all of their 23 year archive to their website. We found only six programs from the rules committee of the 108th Congress. Of those six, exactly zero were on health care in general, let alone Medicare Part D specifically. Since it is now after regular business hours, we will have to wait until tomorrow for verification from C-Span, but it appears that Congressman Dreier was mistaken. And frankly, to find only six rule committee programs available during the reign of Chairman Dreier is in itself a statement on how transparently he ran things.

In all fairness, McGovern may have overstated how transparently the rules committee is run by Chairwoman Slaughter. C-Span has four rules committee programs in their online archives for the 111th Congress, about on track to reaching, you guessed it, six. A fairly conservative number if we are talking transparency.

Final Breitbartocalypse Report: Interview with Institutional Left

Here it is, our last report on the disaster that is the Breitbartocalypse. We've got more from our in-the-field reporter, as well as an exclusive interview with the Policy Director of the Institutional Left™:



Don't forget to check out our report from this morning.



And our report from last night.



The Breitbartoclypse touched down on the east coast at around 12:00am this morning. At this point, we've lost all contact with our in the field reporter and our secured location can no longer broadcast. Twitter remains one of the only tools of communications for individuals to get word out from inside the disaster zone. It appears that the last of the liberal media has crumbled. We've had all sorts of crazy rumors flying across the news desk today, which me made sure to report immediately and without the slightest verification.

We are now some 17 hours into a new reality, a conservative uptopia. The offices of the Institutional Left™ have been occupied by the Family and they are preparing their first initiative: the Texasification of all US School Books.

The BREITBARTOCALYPSE is Here!!!

We've got our first report since the arrival of the Breitbartocalypse:



We have secured a location just outside the expected disaster zone to broadcast out of for as long as possible. We'll have reporters in the field, and experts in the studio bringing you the most extensive coverage and best analysis as the destruction happens.

The country first learned of the impending Breitbartocalypse only weeks ago, when Andrew Breitbart, conservative talking head, warned us that the Institutional Left™ was on the brink of disaster.



Check Sum of Change tonight at 6:00pm for our first report as the chaos ensues!!!

BREITBARTOCALYPSE: On the Brink

It's almost here...




Are you prepared for a post-breitbartocalyptic world?

We have secured a location just outside the expected disaster zone to broadcast out of for as long as possible. We'll have reporters in the field, and experts in the studio bringing you the most extensive coverage and best analysis as the destruction happens.

The country first learned of the impending Breitbartocalypse only weeks ago, when Andrew Breitbart, conservative talking head, warned us that the Institutional Left™ was on the brink of disaster.



Check Sum of Change tomorrow morning at 6:00am for our first report as the chaos ensues!!!

DFA's Last Ditch Push for the Public Option

I spent today on Capitol Hill, tagging along with a group of Democracy for America volunteers from around the area. They came to speak on behalf of DFA members from all across the country and urge key legislators to sign on to the Polis-Pingree letter. That letter, which you can read in full here, calls on leadership to include a public option through reconciliation. You can also view the full list of legislators who support this path forward.

The group I stuck with visited some 15 offices today. At most offices, we found the Legislative Assistants that would normally take health care meetings to be unavailable. The few Legislative Assistants we did speak with came across very supportive yet tired. I got the sense that they are ready to get this fight done.

It is impossible to say what, if any, effect this last minute action had. No new members signed on to the Polis-Pingree letter. They did, however, get verbal confirmations from several folks, including Representatives Charles Rangel, Robert Andrews, and Henry Waxman.

This is an all-hands-on-deck week, with most people predicting legislation to be signed into law by the end of the weekend.