The US Department of Transportation has furloughed 2,000 workers, unemployment benefits ended last night, doctors are facing a pay cut and rural satellite tv viewers will be facing dark screens.

What's the common thread? Senator Jim Bunning (Kentucky), who is holding up a $10 billion bill because of his objection to it not being paid for.

Today, from 10am EST to 4pm, the White House will be hosting a bipartisan meeting on health care reform and it will be televised live. Come on in if have a minute and comment on the fireworks!

President Obama this morning unveiled his take on health care reform this morning (download 11 page PDF), in preparation for Thursday's showdown, er, televised health care summit with Republicans.

Key points:
The proposed bill is $950 billion, up from the Senate's $871 billion plan.

Nebraska's special Medicaid deal is gone.

New federal authority over insurance rate increases.

Delay's the tax on high end insurance plans until 2018, instead of 2013.

Closes the Medicare donut hole.

Confused? Here's a nice chart comparing Obama's bills against the House and Senate bill.

If Republicans continue filibustering, the White House has made clear that's it's open to passing health care reform via reconciliation, but alas, no public option is included in the President's plan, despite the renewed interest by some Senators for the plan.

Who wants a jobs bill? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, that's who! But he's been bad and the Republicans won't let him have it, even though they agree with it. What's the issue? Well, the Senate actually.

Valentine's Day is coming up! Not sure what kind of card to get your GOP sweetie? No problem, there's a website for that.

Financial Times has an interesting article on growing frustration within D.C. with President Obama's persistent reliance on an inner circle of four people: David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs, Rahm Emanuel, and Valerie Jarrett. One equally interesting reaction.    Continues...

With health care reform stalled due to the pesky problem of the Democrats losing their slim majority in the Senate and the House balking at passing the Senate plan with no changes, President Obama is trying a different tactic. He has invited Republican and Democratic leaders to take part in a televised gathering to discuss health care reform, to occur on February 25th.

The US Armed Services Committee is holding hearings on repealing Don't Ak, Don't Tell for the military. Live stream here.

On the first Monday of February in most years, the Executive Branch announces its requested federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Murray Hill Incorporated is Running for Congress.

Live on CNN. NYT coverage. Washington Post's Ezra Klein: "the most compelling political television I've seen...maybe ever."

about his role in a foreign war. Streaming live all day.

Not surprisingly, Tony's not giving an inch.

Since Brandon hasn't started a SOTU thread, and tehanu suggested one, here goes!

Voter's in Massachusetts head to the polls today to determine who will fill the Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy, choosing either Democrat Martha Coakley or Republican Scott Brown.

The race was originally seen as cakewalk for the Democrats, but Brown's campaign and supporters turned the race into a dead heat and now an seeming victory for Brown, as Nate Silver of 538 is puts Brown at 3:1 and other polls also point to Brown winning.

If Brown wins, that puts 41 Republicans in the Senate, enough to sustain a filibuster, which puts Democrat plans for health care reform in jeopardy. Backup plans are already being considered, including asking the House to back the Senate plan with no changes.

Got something to add? Add it below the fold!

In a move that's only surprising for how long it took, its been announced that former Vice President nominee Sarah Palin will be a contributor to Fox News. What's interesting is her role will be on the network, that she'll be acontributer and not someone with a regular show. Like her Facebook page, she gains a large distribution platform, while having to answer to no one or at most very few people, which she'll then use to secure an even larger media platform (Sarah Palin? There's an App for that).

Will she run for President in 2012? Highly doubtful, in my opinion, as it opens her up to something she hates, not being in control and being challenged. The position she's in now grants her an enormous amount of power and say in choosing not only who Republican candidates will be, but also the actual Republican platform and talking points to some extent, while still not having to answer to anyone and appear in any interview she doesn't want to appear in.

However, if she does decide to run, as a Fox News contributor (you seriously don't think she'll give up the gig if she's running, right?) she would have her own 24/7 media outlet at virtually zero financial cost to herself. Either way, going forward, she has options and all of them promise to benefit her enormously.

The final vote was 20-14 during a lame duck session. Current governor Jon Corzine (D), whose term ends later this month, had promised to sign the bill into law if it passed. The New Jersey Assembly did not take up the issue, citing a lack of momentum and instead looking to follow the Senate's lead. Since incoming governor Chris Christie (R) has promised to veto any such bill, this likely means another legislative effort won't take place in the near future.    Continues...

With the US House and Senate having based separate bills on health care reform, it's time to merge the two bills into one, in order to present a single bill that both chambers can pass and send to the President. However, since Republicans seems intent on slowing down the process anyway they can, Democrats, who hold the majority, have decided to do negotiations informally, in a process called "ping pong" where formal procedures are skipped and officials work out agreements outside the chambers and away from the spotlight.

You knew it was coming, didn't you? After a Nigerian man tried and failed to blow up an airliner landing in Detroit, Repubicans are calling for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to resign and Congresscritter Pete Hoekstra (R, MI-2) is castigating the administration in a fundraising letter . Cue the Democrats complaining about the administration's nominnee for the head of the Transportation Security Administration being on hold due to South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, (which Harry Reid is supposedly going to force a vote on now) and GOP votes against TSA funding.

The President, so far, has stayed above the political aspects, simply stating the system had failed and ordered reviews into the terrorist watch list and airport screenings procedures.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (SC) says he could back legislation that doesn't include a public option, further signaling that the final health care bill from both houses will resemble the Senate version.

Newt Gingrich and the Tea Party are pushing for Republicans in the 2010 and 2012 elections to run on a platform of repealing any health care bill that passes.

Congress is currently not in session, the House returns on January 11th, Senate on the 18th. Though loose negotiations are said to be taking place between the chambers, nothing official will happen until the chambers gavel back into session.

With the death of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and government attacks of his memorial services, violent protest has returned to Iran. On onse side is the hardline religious government, on the other, the Green Movement, which gained notice for its protests of the 2009 Iranian election.

With the return of open defiance in Iran, there's specualation on whether the current Iranian regime will survive.

Merry Christmas!

Let's take a look back at the growth of Santa Claus as an icon of Christmas, courtesy of political cartoonist Thomas Nast.

It's Christmas Eve and the US Senate is voting on its health care reform bill at 7am. It's important to realize that this is not the final vote. Once the Senate passes its version, the legislation will need to be reconiled with the version voted on by the House of Representatives and then approved again by both chambers, before being sent to the President, who's been making the rounds to champion the Senate bill.

While all eyes are focused on the 7am Senate vote to pass its health care bill tomorrow, that's not the only work the chamber will be doing. It'll also pass legislation that raises the US debt ceiling by $290 billion dollars, which is enough to keep the government running 'till about mid February.

Naturally, doing this will get political, as the current minority party, the Republicans, seek to blame Democrats in general and Obama specifically for the high level of debt

"I believe our nation is at a crossroads and I can no longer align myself with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy, and drives us further and further into debt."
Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith is switching from the Democrats to the Republicans. Griffith was a freshman Congressman from the heavily conservative 5th district, so it's not a big stretch to see him switching.

Two votes down, one to go.
Then it all starts all over again.