Publius' Newsstand

• House Dems Try to Pass Obamacare Without a Vote

  Having determined that they lack the votes in the House to pass the Senate bills as-is, House Democrats are attempting one of the most breathtakingly unconstitutional power grabs ever witnessed - a maneuver to deem the Senate bill ALREADY PASSED by the House by rule, despite the fact that it clearly has not. Apparently, some Democrats can’t seem to tell the difference between a rule of debate [the filibuster]and just declaring by rule that the House has passed a bill that they have not, when the Constitution itself expressly states that “in all [] Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays[.]” What Slaughter and Pelosi here are attempting here is a blatant violation of the principles of bicameralism and presentment.

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• Another new poll shows Rubio with staggering 46...

  This is turning into a Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoon, complete with frying pans and falling pianos.

  A new Insider Advantage/Florida Times-Union poll in Florida finds Marco Rubio (R) leading Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) by 34 points among likely voters in August's primary, 60% to 26%.

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• Kyl says GOP has the votes to stop some health ...

  Kyl suggested that the GOP would have enough votes to sustain points of order they might raise against a bill sought under budget reconciliation rules to make changes to the original health bill to win over the votes of House Democrats. "It is a very risky proposition for those Democrats in the House who are nervous about their reelection, and are banking on the Senate banking them out," he said. "It's probably not going to happen." "So things that these House members think are important to put in the bill, to fix what was wrong with the Senate bill -- like a lot of those backroom deals, for example -- not all of those things can be fixed," the Arizona Republican added.

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• One vote at a time: Dem Rep Donnelly switches f...

  President Barack Obama wants Congress to vote yes or no on a comprehensive reform measure from the Senate. Donnelly likes a lot about the bill, but its language on abortion is a "fatal flaw." For him, it is a deal breaker. "I would not vote for it," he said. He figures there will be a vote within a month or so. The abortion language is unpopular with "a significant" number of congressmen. It has the potential to kill the bill, he said.

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• AP source: No-fly list nearly doubles since att...

  To paraphrase VP Biden: Almost exploding an airplane in mid-air has a way of focusing national-security folks: "The official says that in the two months since a Nigerian man tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane, the government's list of suspected terrorists banned from flying grew from about 3,400 to 6,000." I want to know, with absolute clarity, what DHS knew and when they knew it. This issue is not closed merely because they say "we could have done a better job, and will in the future."

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• Insurance companies going on the offense - it's...

  USA Today reports, "It's not quite election season, but President Obama is on the stump, pushing his health care bill. Now, millions of dollars in political ads aimed at swaying Congress are hitting the airwaves." On Wednesday, "hundreds of business groups today launch a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in an effort to stop health care legislation and fire back at White House efforts to win support for a plan Obama says would expand insurance coverage to 31 million people." At the same time, "the health insurance industry as soon as today will begin airing ads of its own on cable TV networks. Those ads, by America's Health Insurance Plans, aim to blunt White House criticism of insurance companies for raising rates."

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• Important HC ruling coming from House & Senate ...

  The New York Times reports the White House and Democratic Congressional leaders "said Tuesday that they were bracing for a key procedural ruling that could complicate their effort to approve major health care legislation, by requiring President Obama to sign the bill into law before Congress could revise it through an expedited budget process." An "official determination on the matter could come within days from the House and Senate parliamentarians, and could present yet another hurdle for Mr. Obama and Democratic leaders as they try to lock in support from skittish lawmakers in the House." Sen. Kent Conrad said "the reconciliation instructions in last year's budget resolution seemed to require that Mr. Obama sign the Senate bill into law before it could be changed." If signing the law must come first, then health care is DOA.

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• Supreme Court Takes ‘Informational Privacy’ Cas...

  In plain language: How much of a proctology exam can the feds give you if you want to work for them? Could be an important decision.

  The U.S. Supreme Court is agreeing to decide how much personal information the federal bureaucracy may acquire on its workers. . . . The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down intrusive background checks last year on nearly three dozen National Aeronautics and Space Administration contractors as being too invasive — calling them an unconstitutional, “broad inquisition.” The checks sought information from any source surrounding their sex lives, finances and even drug use. The contractors being investigated were not privy to classified information.

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• Hatch: There are all kinds of ways we could shu...

  Fightin' words.

  Undeterred, Hatch says that Senate Republicans are already prepping to fight Democratic efforts to suppress GOP amendments. “Our conference is in the process of discussing that strategy right now,” he says. “No option will be overlooked. There is a distinct possibility that the Democrats’ very partisan exercise could shut down the Senate. Let’s face it — if they’re going to play this kind of game then we will make sure they have one heck of a rough time from this day forward. There are all kinds of ways we could shut down the Senate, and I know them all.”

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• Games: Census hiring blitz of 750,000 to cut jo...

  So they mask the real Obama-induced unemployment numbers by artificially creating jobs. At least they are telling us up front so we can asterisk the statistic. Let's hear the spin after the 6 week census is over and we have a spike of 750,000 newly unemployed people. Of course, that will then be the emergency du jour and Barry and the boys can then unionize them all and have them go count chickens at the Department of Agriculture. Sounds like Cash for Clunkers all over again.

  The U.S. Census Bureau expects to add up to 750,000 workers to its payroll by May, a hiring binge that could knock the unemployment rate down by as much as a half-point. . . . Hires for the 2010 census are temporary and part-time; the average employee works 19 hours/week for six weeks.

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