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Politics


Health Bill Faces Delay as Democrats Struggle With Deficit-Cutting Targets Congressional Democrats, racing to finish work on an overhaul of the U.S. health system, are facing delays as they strive to meet deficit-cutting targets.

Charged Political Donor in Chicago Also Contributed to Obama's Campaigns A restaurateur charged with writing $1.8 million in bad checks from a troubled Chicago bank run by the family of U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is also a political donor to President Barack Obama.

Kucinich to Switch Health-Care Bill Vote to `Yes' After Lobbying by Obama Representative Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, said he will support legislation overhauling the U.S. health-care system after opposing a version that cleared the House last year, giving a boost to President Barack Obama’s top priority.

Tax Break for New Hires Cleared by U.S. Congress in $18 Billion Jobs Bill The U.S. Congress gave final approval to an $18 billion jobs bill offering companies a tax break for hiring the unemployed in the lawmakers’ initial effort this year to boost the economy before November elections.

Christie Says Plan Not to Renew New Jersey Tax Increases `Non-Negotiable' New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said his plan not to renew a business-tax increase or an income- tax surcharge on residents earning $400,000 a year or more is “completely non-negotiable.”

Warner Is Unsure He'll Back `Proxy Access' for Shareholders in Dodd's Bill Senate Banking Committee member Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said he isn’t certain he’ll support Senator Christopher Dodd’s proposal to make it easier for shareholders to oust corporate board members.

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Columns

Columnist Photo
MARGARET CARLSON
If I were a member of Congress (I know: God forbid. No letters, please), I would be opposed to any health-care dollars going to subsidize the purchase of Viagra. It’s just not fair that Viagra immediately won insurance coverage while birth-control pills remained largely uncovered.

MORE MARGARET CARLSON 


Columnist Photo
AMITY SHLAES
Lack of balance is the charge being levied against the Texas State Board of Education after it inserted changes to new standards in social studies programs in public schools. The Associated Press said in an article that a “far-right faction” of the board had succeeded “in injecting conservative ideals” into the curriculum.

MORE AMITY SHLAES 




Political Capital

ALBERT R. HUNT
A veteran senator, in a private conversation last week, was despondent: “This place is dysfunctional, and it’s not going to get any better,” he said. It could have been a Democrat or a Republican from the North, South, Midwest or West.


Late last week, the best topic for this column seemed to be warfare inside the White House: dueling op-eds, blogs and articles debated whether Rahm Emanuel was the cause of Barack Obama’s winter of discontent, or was it that the president and his other top adviser, David Axelrod, had ignored the chief of staff’s sage counsel.


More Albert R. Hunt Al Hunt Columns

Podcasts Political Capital Podcasts


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