The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.
Congress Returns, With Health Care #1 Priority
Congress returns to DC, some more committed to pass health care reform than ever. W. Post: "'I think, if anything, the mood has changed to be more favorable to health-care reform,' said Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), who won her Columbus-based seat in 2008 by less than 1 percent of the vote. 'Personally, I'm probably more confident than when recess began,' added Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.), another freshman. She held 18 town hall meetings in her northwestern Pennsylvania district, which stretches from Pittsburgh's suburbs to Erie, and found that three-quarters of her constituents support some form of health-care overhaul. 'If I had just been listening to the media, I don't think I would have been as confident,' she said."
The Treatment's Jonathan Cohn says prospect for reform unchanged in August: "Somehow, though, health reform is not dead. Despite all of the setbacks and all of the missed opportunities--despite this train wreck of a month--the situation remains remarkably similar to what it was before the recess. Significant health care legislation is likely to pass, particularly if Obama manages to give a good speech on Wednesday night. And while the possibilities for what that legislation might accomplish have certainly diminished, mostly for worse, it’s not clear how much they have diminished--and to what extent progressives may yet have the power to change that fact."
