The genie is out of the bottle.

And the challenge now facing Congressional Democratic leaders is how to put the genie back in the bottle.

In this case, the genie is abortion.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did the unthinkable two weeks ago. The powerful Speaker faced defeat on the health care reform bill. And despite being an unwavering abortion rights supporter, pro-life Democrats forced Pelosi to accede to their demands and allow the adoption of a wide-ranging anti-abortion amendment. Just to salvage the health care bill from parliamentary purgatory.

Pelosi’s maneuver stunned pro-choice advocacy groups. And it infuriated abortion rights voices in her caucus, most notably Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and her trusted Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY). They may not have liked Pelosi’s ploy. But they know down deep it was necessary to pass the health legislation.

So as the health bill moves to the Senate, the abortion genie is out of the bottle. That means Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) now carries two titles: Senate Majority Leader. And he’s also tasked with being the “Genie-Back-In-the-Bottle-Stuffer-In-Chief.”

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) drafted the House’s anti-abortion amendment. Stupak’s plan prohibits federally-backed health insurance programs from covering elective abortions and bans the use of federal subsidies to pay for abortions.

Reid didn’t allow the Stupak amendment to become part of his legislation. Instead, the Senate package allows government-run health plans to offer abortions so long as no taxpayer dollars are used to pay for them. The Senate measure also requires women who receive federal subsidies to purchase health coverage to pay for abortions with their own money.

“I think they handle (the abortion issue) much better over there,” said Louise Slaughter of Reid’s decision to leave the Stupak amendment out of the health bill.

“I’m pleased with the language that is in the Senate bill. And I think it is pretty clear that no federal funds will be spent on abortion,” said Pelosi. “The conversations continue and I am optimistic that we will find a common ground.”

But the abortion genie is out of the bottle. And Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) demonstrates why it’s so hard to tuck it back in.

Keep Reading ...

Key House Republicans are determined to keep suspected terrorists currently housed at Guantanamo Bay from coming to the United States for trial and incarceration.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) introduced Wednesday what's called a "discharge petition." It would force the House to consider a bill that would prevent President Obama from closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and require detainees to be tried in a military tribunal instead of at a civilian trial with a judge in the United States.

The issue intensified in recent days after the Obama Administration announced it would transfer al Qaida leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators to New York for a trial. Mohammad claims to be the mastermind behind September 11th.

"This is one of the most-dangerous decisions any president has made," said Rep. Pete King (R-NY), the leading Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee.

King represents a district on Long Island outside New York City. He says he lost 150 friends on 9-11.

"It will be like reopening old wounds," King added.

The discharge petition currently has the signatures of 170 House members. All co-signers are Republicans. At least 218 signatures are necessary to force the House to consider Hoekstra's legislation. But it's an outside shot as discharge petitions are rarely successful.

One of Mr. Obama's first acts in office was the announcement that he would shutter Gitmo and transfer the detainees elsewhere. Hoekstra accused President Obama of "holding out a pot of gold" to American communities in an effort to lure them into housing prisoners currently detained at Guantanamo Bay. Hoekstra lamented how the White House has shopped around the opportunity to lock up detainees to various communities around the United States.

"One day they're supposed to go to Colorado. Then one day, Standish, MI. Then South Carolina. Then Illinois," Hoekstra said, reading off a laundry list of various locales reported to be under consideration to take the prisoners.

Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday defended the decision to try the suspects in federal court while testifying before a Senate panel. Holder told senators that New York is the place "most likely to obtain justice for the American people."

"I'm not scared of what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say at trial and no one else needs to be afraid either," said Holder.

Some lawmakers like Pete King worried about bringing the suspected terrorists to the U.S. could create legal opportunities for the detainees.

"The minute they set foot on U.S. soil, they get Constitutional rights," King said. The Republican lawmakers also pointed out that the government was trying other suspects at Gitmo and wondered why all suspects weren't being tried there.

The afternoon grew late on November 5^th when House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) finally emerged from the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Hoyer surfaced for air after a grueling, three-hour long cloister on health care. The House Democratic leadership was barreling toward an historic, weekend vote on their marquee agenda item. But they didn’t yet have the votes to pass the bill. Hoyer’s steps were brisk as he glided out of Pelosi’s second-floor suite and down a spiral staircase to his office on the first floor.

An assemblage of reporters followed the leader and fired questions at the Maryland Democrat as he strode toward his office. What were they going to do about abortion? Did they have the votes? Would they wait to vote next week?

Hoyer didn’t have the answers to most of those questions. And when he reached the staircase landing, I asked him something he didn’t have an immediate answer to either.

“Mr. Leader,” I began, “Will the House hold a moment of silence to honor those killed today at Fort Hood?”

I figured Hoyer was the appropriate person to ask about this. After all, the Majority Leader controls the House floor schedule.

A quizzical look consumed Hoyer’s face. He stopped in his tracks and put his palm on my shoulder.

“The what?” he asked, nearly squinting at me.

“The shooting at Fort Hood,” I repeated.

Keep Reading ...

In the original Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker are in search of a freighter pilot to get off the planet. They travel to Mos Eisley spaceport. Kenobi knows that the best pilots carouse in the town’s cantinas and taverns.

But before they go into Mos Eisley, Kenobi counsels young Skywalker to watch his step.

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy,” Kenobi warns.

Perhaps it’s little wonder then that the American public doesn’t hold the same contempt for Capitol Hill as Kenobi has for Mos Eisley.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III threw the book at former Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) late Friday afternoon. A federal jury convicted Jefferson in August of accepting nearly $500,000 in bribes and attempting to extort more to help broker business deals in Africa. And at federal court in Alexandria, VA, Ellis handed Jefferson the longest sentence ever meted out to a current or former Member of Congress: 13 years behind bars.

“Public corruption is a cancer on the body politic,” Ellis lectured Jefferson from the bench as the former Congressman stood before him. “Public corruption is a cancer that needs to be surgically removed.”

Over the past few years, a host of federal judges have “surgically removed” other former lawmakers convicted of corruption. 

Keep Reading ...

It was well past 11:30 last Friday night when a cluster of reporters starved for information descended on Nadeam Elshami as he exited the Speaker’s Office in the U.S. Capitol.

As spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), journalists peppered Elshami with questions about if there was a deal on abortion.

“Go upstairs to the Rules Committee,” directed Elshami.

What? They announcing an agreement there? Some of the reporters didn’t even know the Rules panel was still meeting at this late hour.

“All I can tell you is go up to the Rules Committee,” implored Elshami.

And with that, most of the reporters abandoned their long stakeout in front of the Speaker’s Office. They hustled up to the third floor of the Capitol, some taking two stairs at a time, to reach the bandbox that doubles as the Rules Committee’s hearing room.

And in the front row of the hearing room sat Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), one of the biggest abortion foes in Congress.

The Rules Committee is the most-powerful panel no one outside the Beltway has ever heard of. It’s the gateway to the House floor. Almost every piece of legislation must first layover at the Rules Committee to receive a ‘rule.’ The ‘rule’ is the blueprint for how the House will handle a given issue on the floor. How much debate time is permitted. What amendments are in order. And the deck is always stacked in favor of the majority party.

But the full House can sideline a bill by not okaying a rule to govern debate. That means the measure never makes it to the House floor.

That was the conundrum on health care for the House Democratic leadership.

Keep Reading ...

Perhaps it’s fitting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) co-hosted a luncheon at the Capitol this week to honor Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Bartholomew leads the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church split from the Roman Catholic Church during The Great Schism of 1054. It’s one of the greatest divides in religious history.

House Democrats want to debate and pass their massive health care reform bill this weekend. And the rifts between House Democrats are so deep that this could be called The Great Schism of 2009.

Republicans spent most of Thursday excoriating the health care bill on the West Front of the Capitol. At least they were discussing health care policy. That’s because Democrats were talking about everything but health care in an effort to lug the behemoth legislation across the finish line. The off-stage discussions focused on the fissures that plague both political parties: abortion and immigration. And that’s to say nothing of a little-known issue involving something called “black liquor.”

Keep Reading ...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says the House is headed for a debate and vote on the 1,990-page health care reform by “either Friday or Saturday.”

Hoyer said that it was his intention to “have that bill on the floor later this week.” He also signaled that he would give Republicans a chance to offer their alternative health care reform bill as an amendment to the measure.

The House Democratic leadership team is now drilling down on what’s called a “manager’s amendment.” A manager’s amendment contains the final tweaks and alterations to legislation before it hits the House floor. Hoyer said he was “hopeful” the manager’s amendment would be ready by the end of the day. The release of the manager’s amendment would then trigger a clock that would count down to the earliest time Democrats could put the health care bill on the floor.

House Democrats have vowed to wait 72 hours between posting of manager’s amendment online and the launch of the health care debate.

“We’re still working on it,” Hoyer said of the manager’s amendment. “We’re making sure the i’s are dotted the t’s are crossed.”

One of the most nettlesome issues facing Democrats revolves around an abortion dispute. Some moderate, anti-abortion lawmakers want certain assurances that health care dollars, nor health care plans purchased with federal subsidies, could be used to pay for abortions. It’s currently against federal law to pay for most abortions with federal money.

House sources tell FOX that Democrats could allay fears about abortion during a procedural vote that serves as a gateway to move the health care bill to the House floor. Some anti-abortion Democrats have threatened to vote against that procedural maneuver. A nay vote could keep the health care bill off the floor unless the demands of the anti-abortion lawmakers are met.

Abortion remains one of the most-vexing questions for House Democrats as they try to pass a health care reform package later this week.

But there are mixed signals about whether the absence of a key lawmaker involved in the abortion talks could hamper efforts to forge a compromise on the issue.

FOX has learned that Elaine Olsen, the mother-in-law of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) passed away unexpectedly Sunday in Escanaba, MI. Stupak signaled last week that unless the abortion impasse was bridged, he had enough votes to blow up the bill. Stupak and other Democrats who oppose abortion are calling for a “vote against using public funds for abortions.

Stupak is not expected to be in Washington this week.

A senior House leadership aide who didn’t wish to be identified indicated that Stupak’s absence wouldn’t hurt talks on the abortion issue.

But another key Democrat involved in the abortion discussions saw it differently. When asked if Stupak’s unavailability could impact the issue, the lawmaker responded “Yeah. Big time.”

House Democrats are now huddled behind closed doors working out what’s called a “manager’s amendment” to the 1,990-page health care reform bill. The manager’s amendment is the final alterations that are made to legislation before it hits the House floor.

When asked by reporters whether it was essential to solve the abortion question before introducing the manager’s amendment, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) responded “not necessarily.”

Van Hollen serves as special assistant to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and is intimately involved in all health care conversations. Van Hollen told reporters that the leadership could move ahead with the manager’s amendment and “work (abortion) out later.”

But others differed with Van Hollen.

“Obviously (abortion) has to be worked out before they pass the bill,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA).

It’s illegal to use federal money to pay for abortions except in rare instances. Over the summer, Democratic leaders favored a provision that allowed people to use government money to purchase private health plans that could pay for abortions. But policyholders would have to use private money to pay for the actual procedure.

Still, Stupak and others argued that federal dollars shouldn’t be used at all to buy coverage that could potentially cover abortions.

Senior House sources indicate to FOX that the manager’s amendment is essentially complete and just needs to be written in parliamentary language. House leaders are pledging to post this final addendum to the health care bill online for three days before advancing the health care bill on the floor.

A throng of reporters accosted Pelosi outside her office Tuesday night, asking the speaker when she’d introduce the manager’s amendment.

“We’ll let you know when we’re ready to let you know,” Pelosi said cryptically.

House Democrats are aiming to bring their massive, 1,990-page health care reform bill to the floor later this week for a debate and vote. 

And House Republicans hope that Democrats will allow them to introduce and debate their own bill as well.

"We’re hopeful Speaker Pelosi will allow us a substitute," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).

A "substitute" is an alternative version of a bill. Typically, the minority party is allowed to offer a completely different rendition of a bill. A measure offered as a substitute strikes the text of the existing bill and replaces it with the newer version.

Boehner says the Congressional Budget Office is currently analyzing the price tag of the Republican alternative alternative. A senior House Republican aide tells FOX that the GOP will probably make its bill public when Democrats introduce what’s called a "manager’s amendment" to their underlying legislation. A manager’s amendment is the final step of tweaking a measure that’s headed toward debate. Democrats have assured Republicans that they will allow their manager’s amendment to be posted online for three days before bringing the health care reform bill to the floor. The Republican aide indicates that the GOP will probably do the same, regardless as to whether they have a final cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

Boehner was thin on details about the Republican bill. But his spokesman Kevin Smith said indicated that the Republican effort "will cover millions more Americans" than the Democrats’ plan.

Boehner also said that Republicans were orchestrating attacks on Democrats from swing districts who could be cajoled to vote for the health care reform legislation. He said this part of an effort to defeat the legislation.

"Our goal is to make this as difficult as possible for them to vote for it," Boehner said. "I would hope their constituents would make their point of view well known."

Boehner also claims that the Democratic bill could result in the creation of more than 100 bureaucracies and agencies. He noted that Democrats didn’t write a bill that would immediately ask the government to run the nation’s health care system. But he cautioned that

this legislation could allow that to happen in the future.

"All of the infrastructure is there," Boehner said. "The left wants to have single-payer, government-run health care."

A senior Democrat familiar with the health care bill who didn’t wish to be identified dismissed Boehner’s assertion. The Democrat said that the programs and projects mentioned in the health care package aren’t new and just "sensible ways to test new policies," before they are implemented.

"These offices run smoother and work better by serving as an advocate for consumers and reduce waste, fraud and abuse," the Democrat said.

I always thought I made out pretty well on Christmas morning. Over the years I scored box seats to Reds-Dodgers games when they were the hottest ticket in town, a motorized yard cart with the “Batman” insignia painted on the front (hence making it the “Batmobile”), Matchbox cars, a Tyco train set and various other diversions.

But somehow, Kris Kringle never quite brought me everything I wanted.

How could he possibly have forgotten? I told him right there as I sat on his lap at the mall. I even watched his elves take copious notes of my requests.

Years later, I’ve finally figured out what I needed as a seven-year-old to make my Christmas morning complete.

I needed a “manager’s amendment.”

In Congress, the manager’s amendment is a final package of alterations made to a bill, right before it hits the House floor. It’s a series of tweaks and additions, designed to prep the bill for debate. The manager’s amendment usually fixes problem areas. But it’s also crafted in such a way to court the support of lawmakers who are skeptical about the legislation. This is called the Goldilocks Effect. Making sure the bill isn’t too hot or too cold. But just right. 

Keep Reading ...