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Road Map: Democrats Continue Hunt for Votes on Health Care

Nov. 3, 12 a.m.

Would you buy something sight unseen?
Neither will many Senate Democrats, which is putting Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his leadership team in the awkward position of looking for votes on a major health care reform bill that doesn’t quite exist.

Road Map: Health, Climate Bills Yield Many Parallels

Oct. 27, 12 a.m.

When Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) kicks off the three-day markup of her climate change bill today, the opening statements, debate on amendments and even the final vote aren’t expect to break through the din of the health care debate.

Road Map: A Lot of Work Remains for Lawmakers in 2009

Oct. 20, 12 a.m.

Congressional Democrats are going to have to step up the pace a bit if they hope to do all those things they promised before the end of the year.

Road Map: GOP Continues Attack On Health Bill’s Cost

Oct. 13, 12 a.m.

That leg the Democrats are standing on? It belongs to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), whose health care reform bill has finally given President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress something to crow about.

Road Map: Democrats Continue to Await Snowe’s Next Move

Oct. 6, 12 a.m.

Regardless of whether Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is a “yea” or “nay” when the vote on a health care reform bill is called in the Finance Committee this week, her decision will certainly be fodder for countless headlines.

Road Map: Reid, Obama Weigh Fate of Public Option

Sept. 29, 12 a.m.

Is the public insurance option alive or dead? It kind of depends on whom you talk to these days. Some Senators say they can’t vote for any bill without it. Just as many say they can’t vote for anything with it.

Road Map: Congress Prepares to Battle Over Troops Again

Sept. 22, 12 a.m.

The stark warning revealed Monday from the top commander in Afghanistan that the country risks “failure” without a surge of troops reignited a debate that has divided Democrats and emboldened Republicans.

Road Map: Finance Negotiators Refuse to Leave Table

Sept. 15, 12 a.m.

If you’ve ever been strung along by a boyfriend — waiting for him to pop the question — you probably have a good sense of what it’s like waiting for a bipartisan group of six Senate Finance Committee negotiators to come to a resolution in their seemingly never-ending health care reform talks.

Road Map: Beyond Health Care, Fall Agenda Is Crowded

Sept. 8, 12 a.m.

Time flies when you’re getting screamed at by constituents and organized protesters over your party’s plans for health care reform.

Road Map: Democratic Infighting Complicates Agenda

Aug. 4, 12 a.m.

Washington loves a good fight, and Democrats have been giving the media plenty of fodder lately as moderates and liberals battle over the various bills the party has been waiting for decades to enact.

Road Map: Passing Appropriations This Year Gets Trickier

July 28, 12 a.m.

What’s another missed deadline among friends?
Congressional Democrats have already given themselves a little more time to fight it out on health care. So it probably won’t surprise anyone when they blow past the Oct. 1 cutoff date for funding the federal government, having sent only a handful of spending bills to the president’s desk.

Road Map: Climate Change Will Be Senate’s Next Battle Royal

July 21, 12 a.m.

Climate change is the ticking political time bomb on the Senate’s agenda this fall, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has the timer set to go off in late September.

Road Map: Leaders Eyeing One More Week in August

July 14, 12 a.m.

Don’t inflate those beach balls just yet, and if you’ve got plans for Christmas, you might want to cancel those, too.

Road Map: Senate Democrats Bank On Obama in August

July 7, 12 a.m.

Despite a much ballyhooed plan to have a health care bill sealed and delivered by August, Senate Democrats may only need to do just enough to hand the ball to President Barack Obama in time for him to run with it during the monthlong break.

Road Map: Public Likes a Public Plan; Senate Not So Sure

June 23, 12 a.m.

With Members heading home for the recess to talk up their efforts on health care reform, a poll showing more than 70 percent of Americans back a government-run health insurance plan has given Democrats a powerful weapon to take with them.
Too bad Senate Democrats won’t be able to use it.

Road Map: Next Two Weeks Will Be the Prelude to a Big July

June 16, 12 a.m.

The casual observer of C-SPAN could be forgiven for thinking that in the next two weeks the House and Senate will solve the riddle of health care reform, pass sweeping new energy legislation, approve a multibillion-dollar war spending bill, confirm a new Supreme Court nominee and completely overhaul the immigration system.

Road Map: Supplemental Spending Bill Faces Major Hurdles

June 9, 12 a.m.

It may take some Cirque du Soleil-type acrobatics, but House and Senate Democratic leaders hope to have a more than $90 billion supplemental war spending bill completed by the end of the week.

Road Map: GOP Laying Out the Opposition to Sotomayor

June 2, 12 a.m.

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor today begins the time-honored practice of visiting with each Senator prior to the start of confirmation hearings, with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) first in line.

Road Map: Torture Controversy Silencing Everything Else

May 19, 12 a.m.

So much for looking forward.
Instead of talking up their grand plans for changing the direction of the country and moving past the partisan bitterness, Congressional Democrats can’t seem to get out of this debate over the harsh interrogations of terror suspects during President George W. Bush’s first term.

Road Map: Guantánamo Closure Puts Democrats in a Box

May 12, 12 a.m.

Are Senate Democrats walking into a Republican trap?
It certainly seems that way, considering they’ve decided to include funding for the closure of the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in the chamber’s version of a nearly $97 billion supplemental war spending bill.

Road Map: Dodd Eager for Credit Card Victory

May 5, 12 a.m.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) could use some good press.
The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs chairman and embattled 2010 incumbent has pinned his re-election hopes on championing consumer protections, taking on the wildly unpopular credit card industry, and hitching his star to popular President Barack Obama, who has been pushing a crackdown on abusive credit card practices.

Road Map: Torture Is Democrats' Unwanted Distraction

April 28, 12 a.m.

The constant drip, drip of information about alleged torture under the direction of the George W. Bush administration may slowly drive Democrats crazy.

Road Map: Democrats Wary of Obama’s Torture Stance

April 21, 12 a.m.

Even though President Barack Obama is inclined to turn the other cheek on Bush-era torture memos, Congressional Democrats are saying, “Not so fast.”

Road Map: Conference Will Host the Real Budget Drama

March 31, 12 a.m.

To reconcile or not to reconcile, that is the question.
Just because fast-track budget rules are not in the Senate’s $3.5 trillion spending blueprint, that doesn’t mean the fiscal 2010 budget battle in both chambers this week won’t be dominated by a will-they-or-won’t-they debate over including reconciliation instructions to protect health care and education reforms from a filibuster.

Road Map: Senate Downshifts in Response to AIG Bonus Flap

March 24, 12 a.m.

Shooting from the hip has rarely worked out well for Congress, but it looks like the Senate may actually be placing a trigger lock on Capitol Hill’s effort to recover millions in taxpayer-funded bonuses at American International Group.