If you think Democrats are incapable of coordination, let me forward you my email inbox for today. In it, you will find no less than 18 Democratic members of Congress sending the exact same message – in list-building petitions and recaps of multiple press conferences and advisories of additional press conferences and guidance for reporters [...]

In an opening bid that’s more of a mood setter than an actual policy expected to be signed into law by the President, the new Republican leadership is likely to pass a repeal of the Affordable Care Act as one of their first bills in Congress. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), the incoming chair of the [...]

Jessica Arons writes for RH Reality Check that the Obama Administration has applied what amounts to the Stupak amendment to the interim high-risk insurance pools created in the Affordable Care Act, banning abortion services coverage in them. This week, a commotion [1] arose over the question of whether Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans, also known as [...]

I’ve been telling you about the critical concessions in the last days of the FinReg conference committee. Let’s step back a second. This bill won’t end too big to fail. It won’t protect the country to enough of a degree in the event of the next crisis. But it could do some positive things that [...]

Bart Stupak will not seek re-election to Congress, Marc Ambinder reports. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) plans to announce his retirement today, Democrats briefed on his decision said. Stupak, the leader of a pro-life faction within his party, had received death threats and was under intense political pressure after he agreed to support the Democratic health [...]

I don’t think it’s even worth responding to the likes of the NRCC or Eric Cantor or Mike Pence about violence and hatred in the GOP base. They fanned these flames and have been doing so for some time. Right-wing violence and intimidation is nothing new in American life. The leaders of the conservative movement [...]

Bart Stupak doesn’t deserve the threatening messages as a cause of his vote. Young, poor women don’t deserve the loss of access to reproductive services caused by Stupak’s hijacking of the health care debate. I doubt Stupak has much attentiveness to the fact that those women and the doctors who serve them face the same [...]

Bishop Bart Stupak had run himself into a corner on the health care bill. He wanted his abortion language to be adopted but ran out of options to do so, and also faced major pressure from choice groups and a primary challenger at home. His vote was needed but he had pressure on both sides. [...]

While I have no reason to disagree with the widely held belief that Democrats now have the votes to pass the health care bill, I want to raise a brief point of order. The group on the dais with Bishop Stupak moments ago were: Kaptur, Carney, Driehaus, Dahlkemper, Rahall, and Mollohan. If there was anyone [...]

All indications are that a deal has been reached, which would be consequential for passing the health care bill. “Eight or nine” Democrats, including Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), will announce the deal at a 4 p.m. press conference, according to an anti-abortion Democrat. “We’ve changed [our votes],” said Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio). Driehaus said he’s [...]

UPDATE: Looks like there’s a deal. That would wrap this up. Stay tuned. Bart Stupak has scheduled his third press conference in less than a day, presumably to announce the state of play on health care and the abortion language. The first two press events were cancelled, so that’s always a possibility here. Stupak just [...]