The New Republic

Polls show that Americans are confused about what health care reform means. And, if you listen to members of Congress on television, you get the impression that some of them aren’t certain, either. But figuring out what health care reform entails isn’t hard. All you have to do is look at Massachusetts. READ MORE >>

Via Think Progress, Joe Liebeman was on Fox News Sunday this weekend, making filibuster threats again. LIEBERMAN: A public option plan is unnecessary. It has been put forward, I’m convinced, by people who really want the government to take over all of health insurance. They’ve got a right to do that; I think that would be wrong. READ MORE >>

Well, that was anti-climactic. The Environment and Public Works Committee just voted 11-1 to approve a cap-and-trade bill and report it out to the Senate floor. Since Republicans were still boycotting the mark-up, creating a stalemate, EPW Democrats just decided to get around them by skipping the usual amendment process—instead, they'll offer their changes later, on the floor. READ MORE >>

Ben Smith catches up with Chris Christie, who (not surprisingly) predicts victory and (somewhat surprisingly*) repeats what sound like White House talking points: He said he looks forward to "working with President Obama" and that Obama "is going to have a governor of New Jersey who's going to stand up for New Jersey." "What this is all about is me and Jon Corzine. You want to read something into this, that's for you to write," he said. READ MORE >>

With the House set to vote on a full health care reform bill as early as this week, Republican leader John Boehner has announced that the GOP leadership will introduce a formal alternative of their own. The proper response, I suppose, is "Are you kidding?" READ MORE >>

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Could Evan Bayh be backing off his threat to join the Republican filibuster of the health care reform bill? In a statement emailed this afternoon to Adam Green, head of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Bayh press staffer Peter True wrote the following: Senator Bayh will support moving forward to a health care debate on the Senate floor, where he will work hard to address his concerns and craft affordable legislation that reduces the deficit and lowers health care costs for Indiana families and small businesses.  READ MORE >>

On my previous beat, I felt an obligation to talk down any good piece of polling data, so I figured I'd extend the tradition to my economics coverage... READ MORE >>

How Did Obama’s Unprecedented Grassroots Operation Fall Quiet So Quickly? by Lydia DePillis In Defense of Shrinkage: The Problem with Obama’s Plan to Fix Our Banking System by Noam Scheiber READ MORE >>

Washington Diarist: The Trouble With Common Ground by Leon Wieseltier Why Russia Won’t Cooperate On Iranian Sanctions by Seth Robinson Are Democrats Taking Money From the Poor to Help the Middle Class?! by Jonathan Cohn READ MORE >>