Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/6382
Dem says health care on life support WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care appeal failed to break the congres- sional gridlock Thursday, dimming hopes for millions of uninsured Americans. Democrats stared down a political nightmare — get- ting clobbered for voting last year for ambitious, politically risky bills, yet having nothing to show for it in November. The grim reality opened a divide between the rank and file and congressional leaders, who insisted health care would get done, even though last week's special election in Massachusetts denied Democrats the 60- vote majority they need to deliver in the Senate. Many Democrats saw a problem with no clear solution. ''It's very possible that health care is just a stale- mate and you can't solve it this year,'' said Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. If Obama and Democ- rats fail to pass any legisla- tion this election year, Washington would still face the problem of millions of uninsured, rising medical costs and a dwindling Medicare trust fund forecast to run out of money in 2017. Obama's health care overhaul is ''on life sup- port,'' said Sen. Mary Lan- drieu, D-La., ''but it still has a pulse.'' Bernanke wins 2nd term WASHINGTON (AP) — Embattled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke won confirmation for a second term Thursday, but only by the closest vote ever for the crucial post and after withering criticism from lawmakers for bailing out Wall Street while other Americans suffered in recession. The Senate confirmed Bernanke for a new four- year term by a 70-30 vote, a seemingly solid majority but 14 votes worse than the closest previous vote for a Fed chairman. The battle over Bernanke's confirmation has been a test of central bank independence, a cru- cial element if the Fed is to carry out unpopular but eco- nomically essential policies. Its decisions on interest rates can have immense consequences, from the success or failure of the largest companies to the typical home-buyer's ability to get an affordable loan to the price of cereal at the gro- cery or gas at the corner sta- tion. Created by Congress in 1913 after a series of bank panics, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, supposedly outside politics, but its chairman is typically assailed by lawmakers and others when the economy falls and jobless ranks lengthen. ''Bernanke fiddled while our markets burned,'' huffed Richard Shelby, of Alabama, the top Republi- can on the Senate Banking Committee, during Thurs- day's debate. ''Ben Bernanke's Federal Reserve played a key role in setting the stage for the financial crisis.'' Obama urges Democrats to fight on for health care WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama voiced determination Thursday to change the tone of Washington politics and urged Republicans to get ''off the sidelines'' and help fix health care and other problems. Stopping on his way out of a town hall meet- ing in Tampa, Fla., Obama hammered again on his State of the Union message — insisting that voters and politicians needed to ''start thinking of each other as Ameri- cans first.'' Obama and Vice Presi- dent Joe Biden were in Florida to announce $8 bil- lion in federal grants for high-speed rail projects nationwide — part of his push to combine spending on infrastructure with job creation. Obama also used his first State of the Union speech Wednesday to push nervous Democrats to forge ahead on health care, despite vot- ers' worries and opposition from newly strengthened Republicans. On Thursday, he turned emphatically toward Republicans and implored cooperation. Phone caper meant to embarrass senator NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Four conservative activists accused of trying to tamper with a senator's phones were just trying to record embarrassing undercover video of her staff ignoring phone calls from constituents angry that she supported health care reform, one of their attorneys said Thurday. The four, including activist James O'Keefe, known for posing as a pimp and using a hidden camera to target the com- munity-organizing group ACORN, were arrested Monday after targeting Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in a New Orleans federal building. Attorney J. Garrison Jordan denied they were trying to disable or wire- tap the phones in Lan- drieu's office. ''You're dealing with kids,'' he said. ''I don't think they thought it through that far.'' Instead, Jordan said, they hoped to get embar- rassing video footage of Landrieu's staff handling constituent calls. Her office received com- plaints last month that callers opposed to her health care stance could- n't get through. Senate approves borrowing increase WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted Thurs- day to allow the govern- ment to go a whopping $1.9 trillion deeper in debt, offer- ing a vivid election-year reminder that the govern- ment has to borrow 40 cents of every dollar it spends. The measure would put the government on track for a national debt of $14.3 tril- lion — more than $45,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States. And the debt is increasingly held by foreign nations such as China. The budget for the cur- rent year is about $3.5 tril- lion and the deficit will probably match last year's $1.4 trillion. The govern- ment would have to borrow to cover that $1.4 trillion. The measure passed 60- 39 under ground rules insisted upon by Republi- cans that required 60 votes to pass it. Democrats and allied independents control 60 seats — for now — and were only able to win the vote because Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts has yet to be seated. While Thursday's vote went smoothly, it came after weeks of difficult negotia- tions between the White House and both House and Senate Democrats. Brown won't be lockstep Republican BOSTON (AP) — Scott Brown says he has already told Senate Republican leaders they won't always be able to count on his vote. The man who staged an upset in last week's Massa- chusetts Senate special elec- tion, in part by pledging to be the 41st GOP vote against President Barack Obama's health care over- haul, told The Associated Press in an interview Thurs- day that he staked his claim in early conversations with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip Jon Kyl. ''I already told them, you know, 'I got here with the help of a close group of friends and very little help from anyone down there, so there'll be issues when I'll be with you and there are issues when I won't be with you,''' Brown said Thurs- day during the half-hour interview. ''So, I just need to look at each vote and then make a proper analysis and then decide.'' Asked how McConnell and Kyl responded, Brown said, ''They understood. They said, 'You can proba- bly do whatever you want, Scott. And, so, just let us know where your head's at, and we'll talk it through, and just keep us posted.''' The senator-elect did not elaborate on possible break- ing points, though the Washington newcomer dis- missed any suggestion he will relent once he starts working in the highly parti- san capital. ''That's not pressure; pressure is what I'm going through right now,'' said Brown. He cited his efforts to complete a transition in 2 1/2 weeks, compared with the normal 2 1/2 months for regularly elected senators, while preparing to surren- der his responsibilities as a state senator, become a Beltway commuter and resume his triathlon train- ing. J.D. Salinger dies at age 91 NEW YORK (AP) — J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugi- tive from fame whose ''The Catcher in the Rye'' shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91. Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son, actor Matt Salinger, said in a statement from Salinger's longtime literary representative, Harold Ober Associates, Inc. He had lived for decades in self- imposed isolation in a small, remote house in Cor- nish, N.H. ''The Catcher in the Rye,'' with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made ''Catcher'' a featured selection, advised that for ''anyone who has ever brought up a son'' the novel will be ''a source of wonder and delight — and concern.'' Enraged by all the ''phonies'' who make ''me so depressed I go crazy,'' Holden soon became American literature's most famous anti-hero since Huckleberry Finn. The novel's sales are astonishing — more than 60 million copies worldwide — and its impact incalculable. Decades after publication, the book remains a defining expression of that most American of dreams: to never grow up. Salinger was writing for adults, but teenagers from all over identified with the novel's themes of alien- ation, innocence and fanta- sy, not to mention the luck of having the last word. ''Catcher'' presents the world as an ever-so-unfair struggle between the good- ness of young people and the corruption of elders, a message that only intensi- fied with the oncoming gen- eration gap. Scientists hope to solve Mona Lisa mystery ROME (AP) — The leg- end of Leonardo da Vinci is shrouded in mystery: How did he die? Are the remains buried in a French chateau really those of the Renais- sance master? Was the ''Mona Lisa'' a self-portrait in disguise? A group of Italian scien- tists believes the key to solv- ing those puzzles lies with the remains — and they say they are seeking permission from French authorities to dig up the body to conduct carbon and DNA testing. If the skull is intact, the scientists can go to the heart of a question that has fasci- nated scholars and the pub- lic for centuries: the identi- ty of the ''Mona Lisa.'' Recreating a virtual and then physical reconstruc- tion of Leonardo's face, they can compare it with the smiling face in the painting, experts involved in the project told The Associated Press. ''We don't know what we'll find if the tomb is opened, we could even just find grains and dust,'' says Giorgio Gruppioni, an anthropologist who is par- ticipating in the project. ''But if the remains are well kept, they are a biological archive that registers events in a person's life, and some- times in their death.'' 8A – Daily News – Friday, January 29, 2010 649 Main Street Downtown Red Bluff GAYLE'S 1/2 off Jan 25 th - Jan. 30 th Winter Sleepwear & Robes 100 Belle Mill Road 527-6789 Fran's Hallmark Fran is retiring See store for details www.integrityhvac.com Visit our website @ 5213 Industrial Way, Anderson, CA State Lic. 750325 Solar Lic. 931200 Comfort you can trust! Redding 242-9100 Anderson 365-9100 Red Bluff 528-9100 Red Bluff Garden Center 766 Antelope Blvd. (next to the fairgrounds) 527-0886 Don't forget your Dormant Spray 2498 South Main St • Red Bluff 528-8656 www.tehamafamilyfitness.com Winter Speed Training 2010 All athletes welcome! 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