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First Edition: January 11, 2010

Today's headlines highlight Democrats' ongoing efforts to blend the House- and Senate-passed versions of health reform and Republican's continuing efforts to criticize the legislation.

11 Jan 2010

House Democrats tussling on taxes, exchanges in health bill negotiations

The Washington Post: "Worried House Democrats held a caucus-wide conference call Thursday to strategize about health-care reform before lawmakers return to Washington next week. ... With Senate Democrats barely able to muster the 60 votes necessary to pass their own bill and President Obama leaning toward the Senate's position on some key issues, House Democrats are increasingly concerned that they could be marginalized at the bargaining table."

9 Jan 2010

Primer: House vs. Senate health bill

"Most of the two bills' provisions are similar, and the cost estimates are in the range Democrats have sought. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the House bill would reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over the next 10 years, while the Senate would cut it $132 billion. Some difficult controversies remain.

9 Jan 2010

Democrats 'very close' to health bill agreement

Reuters: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "said on Wednesday congressional Democrats were close to agreement on merging their healthcare bills but still faced challenges in blending the two approaches.

7 Jan 2010

Public option, affordability issues central to health bill negotiations

Dow Jones Newswires/The Wall Street Journal reports that House Democrats who favor a government-run public insurance plan on Tuesday signaled "they are willing to agree to a final health overhaul bill without a government-run health insurance option if other parts of the bill would fulfill the same goals."

7 Jan 2010

Catholic Bishops mandate food, water for comatose patients with little hope of recovery

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has directed Catholic hospitals to give food, water and medicine to comatose patients even when there is little hope of recovery, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

5 Jan 2010

Family Research Council president comments on passage of the health care reform bill

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins made the following comments: "Today's Christmas Eve vote may signal the end of the debate in the Senate, but it's far from the end of the debate at large. Since Senator Reid's bad bill is substantially different from the House's bad bill, the lower chamber will have to vote on the plan again. The Senate bill's massive funding for elective abortions and the construction of abortion facilities are among the most radical differences.

28 Dec 2009

Senate bill fails the American people, says ACLJ

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, said today Senate passage of the health care bill “fails the American people” and urged pro-life members of the U.S. House to stand firm in protecting the sanctity of life as differences between the Senate and House health care bills are addressed.

24 Dec 2009

FRC Action launches campaign to protest Senate health care bill

As the Senate prepares for a Christmas Eve vote on Senator Reid's health care bill, Family Research Council Action (FRC Action) announced that it will immediately begin a last minute phone call campaign in six states -- Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The phone calls will ask voters to contact their Senators and tell them "don't trade the lives of children for political power."

24 Dec 2009

Lawmakers brace for conference as House Liberals vow not to give in on key issues

The Los Angeles Times reports that Democrats are looking ahead — and at each other — before beginning the "potentially difficult" process of reconciling the Senate and House versions of health care reform.

23 Dec 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

Sometimes there is a fine ethical line between legislative maneuvering and bribery. At other times, that line is crossed by a speeding, honking tractor-trailer, with outlines of shapely women on mud flaps bouncing as it rumbles past (Michael Gerson, 12/23).

23 Dec 2009

Bishops urge Congress and the Administration to fashion health care reform legislation

The current health care reform bill is "deficient" and should not move forward without "essential changes," the chairmen of three committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said December 22.

23 Dec 2009

Opinions: Community-based health care models; U.S. leadership in reproductive health care

"We don't need to start fresh to create patient-centered medical homes. We just need to look to community-based models of care that are effective but often go unrecognized," according to a Boston Globe opinion piece by Heidi Behforouz, the director of the Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment project, which is based on "a model that Partners in Health pioneered to fight HIV in rural Haiti and drug-resistant tuberculosis in Peru."

22 Dec 2009

Lawmakers hope to combine Senate, House health reform bills quickly

The Wall Street Journal reports that Democrats are hoping — and planning — on fast negotiations between the Senate and the House in January to come up with a merged health care reform bill.

22 Dec 2009

Difficult issues will remain even if Senate Democrats pass health bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made two major changes to the Senate's version of the health overhaul legislation - removing the proposed "public option" and restricting abortion coverage - that have helped ease tension enough to secure more votes for the bill, but left advocates with much to complain about.

22 Dec 2009

First Edition: December 22, 2009

The big news today follows two main themes -- the Senate's march toward Democrats' Christmas eve deadline for passing a health reform bill; and, the challenges that will be involved when the House and Senate versions of the overhaul are reconciled.

22 Dec 2009

Winners, losers examined in Senate health bill tax treatment, insurer regulations

The Associated Press reports on some winners and losers in the Senate health reform bill including cosmetic surgeons who helped defeat a proposed 5 percent tax on their services and a handful of states getting more federal aid to help them afford a proposed Medicaid expansion.

21 Dec 2009

Senate Democrats win overnight procedural vote; move one step closer to approving health bill by Christmas

The New York Times: "After a long day of acid, partisan debate, Senate Democrats held ranks early Monday in a dead-of-night procedural vote that proved they had locked in the decisive margin needed to pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's health care system."

21 Dec 2009

Reid's fight to get 60 votes dims Liberals' hopes of compromises in conference committee

Although the liberals and union leaders once hoped that a House-Senate conference committee could undo some of the compromises and move the health overhaul bill more to their liking, the "titanic struggle to lock in Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) as the 60th senator for the first key test vote early Monday morning has changed all that," Politico reports.

21 Dec 2009

First Edition: December 21, 2009

From today's headlines, the biggest overnight news is the Senate's vote to move its sweeping health reform bill one step closer to the finish line.

21 Dec 2009

Abortion News and Research

First Edition: January 11, 2010

House Democrats tussling on taxes, exchanges in health bill negotiations

Primer: House vs. Senate health bill

Democrats 'very close' to health bill agreement

Public option, affordability issues central to health bill negotiations

Catholic Bishops mandate food, water for comatose patients with little hope of recovery

Family Research Council president comments on passage of the health care reform bill

Senate bill fails the American people, says ACLJ

FRC Action launches campaign to protest Senate health care bill

Lawmakers brace for conference as House Liberals vow not to give in on key issues

Today's opinions and editorials

Bishops urge Congress and the Administration to fashion health care reform legislation

Opinions: Community-based health care models; U.S. leadership in reproductive health care

Lawmakers hope to combine Senate, House health reform bills quickly

Difficult issues will remain even if Senate Democrats pass health bill

First Edition: December 22, 2009

Winners, losers examined in Senate health bill tax treatment, insurer regulations

Senate Democrats win overnight procedural vote; move one step closer to approving health bill by Christmas

Reid's fight to get 60 votes dims Liberals' hopes of compromises in conference committee

First Edition: December 21, 2009

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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