Headlines from Think Progress 11/05/09

[Dani Cutler]

In a conference call last night that was arranged by the corporate front group Americans for Prosperity, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) called on protesters to “scare” members of Congress into killing health care reform. “Republican organizers are planning for activists to go into the House office buildings and the U.S. Capitol and confront members directly.”

Speaking on the House floor yesterday, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) read estimates of how many people will die in each congressional district if health care legislation is not passed. “Is it really asking too much of us that we keep people alive?” asked Grayson. “We know according to the Harvard study we will keep these people alive.”

After clearing “one of the final hurdles” late Tuesday, Democratic House leaders are pushing for a Saturday vote on their health care bill. House leaders “didn’t appear to have secured the 218 votes they need” due to concern about the funding of abortions, but leaders are moving to quickly swear in two newly-elected Democrats in an effort to pass the bill before next week’s holiday.

The Republican wins in New Jersey and Virginia helped inflate Fox News’ ratings Tuesday night, the New York Times reports. Fox, which was the only cable network to see significant ratings increase on election night, had its “biggest percentage gains” when the Republican governor-elects gave their victory speeches.

Senate Democrats are considering passing their climate bill out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee without amendments today due to a GOP boycott of the mark up process. The committee is due to convene at 9 a.m. today.

The Senate passed a bill to extend unemployment benefits by 20 weeks. Under the plan, the length of time that those out of work can receive benefits “will increase to 99 weeks, or nearly two years, the maximum length of time that a jobless worker can get benefits in some states.” The House is expected to pass the Senate version this week.

House Democratic leaders are struggling “to strike a deal that would restrict the use of federal money to pay for abortions under sweeping health care legislation headed for debate on the House floor this week.” But the compromise that has been proposed has thus far “satisfied neither supporters nor opponents of abortion rights.”

Vice President Biden is at the Center for American Progress today to host a panel of leading scholars on the unique challenges facing America’s middle class in the 21st century economy. View the live webcast here from 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Biden is chair of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families.

And finally: The New York Times has scary news: Fox News host Glenn Beck has written a thriller, due out this spring.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/05/thinkfast-november-5-2009/