Friday's Starting Lineup
Good Friday morning. Forget how one feels about the health care bill, we're starting to feel pretty bad for the Senate staffers who haven't had a day off all month. Meanwhile, a certain prominent House Dem staffer wore jeans to work yesterday.
Here's Hotline OnCall's Starting Lineup, the people who matter today in politics:
CHINESE VICE FOREIGN MINISTER HE YAFEI: Immediately upon arriving in Copenhagen, Pres. Obama joined a multilateral meeting with heads of state from 18 countries, hearing from voices as diverse as the U.K., Russia, India, Brazil, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. But in what has to be a bad sign for any potential major agreement, the Chinese delegate was not President Hu Jintao or Premier Wen Jiabao, but the number 2 in the foreign office.
With all due respect to James Steinberg, imagine the diplomatic outrage that would ensue if he joined a group of heads of state at a major conference during which a major agreement was supposed to be reached. It would signal that the U.S. is less interested in, or committed to, a major agreement than other nations. With China already as one of the world's largest emitters, any hopes of a real deal rests on their aquiescence as well. He Yafei is not likely the person to signal a willingness to do so.
Obama said in a speech earlier this morning that the world's future "hangs in the balance," but a grand agreement may already be too far out of reach. Still, the conference has at least agreed upon a $100B annual fund to help poor nations cope with the consequences of climate change. And countries did convince China to agree to accept international verification of its reports of domestic economic activity and output.
There will be no rallying cry as in Kyoto, but the WH can at least say the U.S. is on board with the annual fund.
SEN. JIM DEMINT: If any GOP senator has raised his national profile this year, it is DeMint, the conservative SCan who has become the new face of the purist wing of the party. DeMint made news last week by endorsing TX Railroad Commis. Michael Williams (R) in the race to (eventually) replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), the latest in a string of conservatives DeMint has backed in competitive primaries.
DeMint has gone against his party in backing alternative candidates in CA and FL, and he's flirting with backing a more conservative candidate in IL as well. That hasn't endeared him to party leaders in DC, but he's clearly not interested in rising through the ranks of Senate leadership. DeMint is more interested, it appears, in making a national name for himself.
In his latest move, geared toward putting off a vote on health care legislation until the last possible minute, DeMint said yesterday he will use every procedural tool at his disposal for delay. If he succeeds, Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid will get his final vote on Christmas Eve. Once again, DeMint will endear himself to a growing national constituency, one that is looking for heroes. His national profile is only likely to grow.
CONFEREES: They are unnamed. They are unknown. But any health care bill that comes out of the Senate will be closely guarded by several members of the upper chamber as the battle shifts to a conference committee. The chambers will negotiate a compromise between a House and Senate bill, and the final product will then head back to both chambers for a final vote.
Those negotiations will prove yet another hurdle for the bill. If Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) loses his abortion-blocking amendment, Dems could lose several pro-life votes in the House and at least Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) in the Senate. If the Senate wins the public option debate and kicks it out of the bill, it will be liberals who contemplate voting no on final passage.
Most watchers agree that a final bill is likely, once the Senate passes their version, and that a bitter conference period will come next. But Dems aren't out of the woods yet, and conferees will play a big role in determining the votes they have to corral toward the end.