Senate U S

Senior House Democrats on Friday introduced their plan for reshaping the nation's healthcare system, calling for a new government insurance option, a new mandate on employers to provide coverage and a new guarantee of subsidized healthcare for the poor. The draft -- the fullest presentation so far of congressional liberals' vision for overhauling medical care -- offered few indications of how such a plan would be financed. The price tag is expected to top $1 trillion.

Though the confirmation of U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice was completed Tuesday, the debate continues. It is a debate that has so divided and captivated the public that officials predict that its results will influence the future of our political process and behavior in the workplace for years to come. The following is a sampling of how some leaders in Orange County viewed Tuesday's Senate action.

The most cherished American credo is that anyone can grow up and run for high office. Carly Fiorina's candidacy for the U.S. Senate, which she formally announced Wednesday, will put this notion to the test. Specifically: Can someone who has spent the last few years running from her checkered record as a big-business CEO, shown so little interest in politics that she consistently failed to vote and has at best a tenuous grasp of such major issues as healthcare reform prevail in a statewide California election?

At the first Senate hearing in more than a decade to review the nation's toxic chemicals law, the Bush administration on Wednesday agreed with chemical industry representatives that the 30-year-old statute was strong enough to protect public health. James B.

President Obama's choice to head the Labor Department is trying to overcome resistance to her nomination from Republican senators, who contend she dodged important questions during her confirmation hearing. Rep. Hilda L. Solis, a Democrat from El Monte, is one of several prominent Cabinet nominees still awaiting confirmation more than a week after the president took office. Eric H. Holder Jr., tapped to be attorney general, is likely to be confirmed by the Senate on Monday.

Sounding themes that helped her win an uphill victory in 1992, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer officially began her reelection campaign Tuesday by vowing to "keep the California spirit alive for generations to come."

They like us. They really like us. Just don't expect them to help us invent the future. A string of U.S. senators delivered so many lofty odes to the American newspaper at a "Future of Journalism" hearing this week, it almost made me blush. When a Republican senator suggests you're something like a bulwark of democracy, you've got to smile. But that doesn't mean newspapers command a winning majority around here.

A bill allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with prescription drug makers to get lower prices for senior citizens stalled in the Senate on Wednesday, but the setback is unlikely to be the last word on the issue. Allowing such negotiations won majority support, but the 55-42 vote was well short of the 60 needed to end debate and act on the legislation. Opponents, mostly Republicans, had warned that the bill would be the first step on a slippery slope toward government price controls.

Returning from their summer recess, congressional lawmakers are facing a climatic showdown to the yearlong struggle over healthcare. At issue are scores of competing provisions scattered through half a dozen bills. And no final decisions have been made on any of them. In the House, Democratic leaders are synthesizing the proposals of three committees, but floor debate has not begun. In the Senate, a bill close to the expected House blueprint has been approved by the health committee formerly headed by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.

In a political victory for the Obama administration -- and a surprising defeat for some lawmakers in both parties -- the Senate voted Tuesday to halt further production of the Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The 58-40 vote on an amendment to the $680-billion defense authorization bill called for stripping out the $1.75 billion set aside for construction of seven more of the jets. The F-22, which has not been used in Iraq or Afghanistan, has come under particular scrutiny for its price tag.

The most cherished American credo is that anyone can grow up and run for high office. Carly Fiorina's candidacy for the U.S. Senate, which she formally announced Wednesday, will put this notion to the test. Specifically: Can someone who has spent the last few years running from her checkered record as a big-business CEO, shown so little interest in politics that she consistently failed to vote and has at best a tenuous grasp of such major issues as healthcare reform prevail in a statewide California election?

Maneuvering to improve prospects for sweeping healthcare legislation, Senate Democrats hope first to win quick approval for a bill that grants doctors a $247-billion increase in Medicare fees over a decade but raises federal deficits in the process, officials said Wednesday. By creating a two-bill approach, Democrats can contend that the more comprehensive healthcare measure meets President Obama's conditions -- that it will neither add to deficits nor exceed $900 billion in costs over 10 years.

Despite months of outward ambivalence about creating a government health insurance plan, the Obama White House has launched a behind-the-scenes campaign to get divided Senate Democrats to take up some version of the idea for a final vote in the coming weeks. President Obama has cited a preference for the so-called public option. But faced with intense criticism over the summer, he strategically expressed openness to health cooperatives and other ways to offer consumers potentially more affordable alternatives to private health plans.

President Obama wades into an intramural fight among Democrats today by attending a high-dollar fundraising dinner for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), demonstrating an unusual measure of personal commitment in a primary battle whose outcome is far from clear. As leader of his party, Obama had the option of following a more neutral course and staying out of the primary race between Specter and Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.). But the White House has opted to double down on its support for Specter, a longtime Republican who switched parties in the spring partly to avoid an anticipated defeat in the GOP primary next year.

Returning from their summer recess, congressional lawmakers are facing a climatic showdown to the yearlong struggle over healthcare. At issue are scores of competing provisions scattered through half a dozen bills. And no final decisions have been made on any of them. In the House, Democratic leaders are synthesizing the proposals of three committees, but floor debate has not begun. In the Senate, a bill close to the expected House blueprint has been approved by the health committee formerly headed by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Monday that he would work to change state law so that he could appoint a temporary replacement for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy before a special election next year. Appointing an interim senator would ensure that Massachusetts is fully represented, Patrick said at a news conference at the statehouse in Boston. He said he would seek the individual's personal assurance that he or she wouldn't run in the special election to serve out the veteran Democrat's term, which runs through 2012.

The late cultural critic Neil Postman used to pose a simple question to gauge whether a new technology was worth the investment: "What is the problem," he would ask, "to which this is the solution?" That question occurred to me last week as I contemplated the looming U.S. Senate candidacy of Carly Fiorina. The Republican, who was ousted as chairwoman and chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2005, took a first step in that direction last week by filing tax papers for a political fundraising committee.

In a political victory for the Obama administration -- and a surprising defeat for some lawmakers in both parties -- the Senate voted Tuesday to halt further production of the Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The 58-40 vote on an amendment to the $680-billion defense authorization bill called for stripping out the $1.75 billion set aside for construction of seven more of the jets. The F-22, which has not been used in Iraq or Afghanistan, has come under particular scrutiny for its price tag.

The Senate Health Committee, approving major healthcare legislation for the first time in 15 years, put forward a sweeping plan Wednesday to provide nearly every American with insurance regardless of income or medical condition and to create a government program to compete directly with private insurers. The bill also would place new requirements on many employers to provide coverage.

Senior House Democrats on Friday introduced their plan for reshaping the nation's healthcare system, calling for a new government insurance option, a new mandate on employers to provide coverage and a new guarantee of subsidized healthcare for the poor. The draft -- the fullest presentation so far of congressional liberals' vision for overhauling medical care -- offered few indications of how such a plan would be financed. The price tag is expected to top $1 trillion.