Marisa’s Musings: Health Care, Jobs Bill, Flooding

The White House gets another 'yes' towards health care reform, President Obama gets ready to sign the jobs bill and residents in the midwest are preparing for spring floods…I'm Marisa Bramwell and here's the latest from the ABC News Desk:

HEALTH CARE REFORM – QUEST FOR YES: One of the ‘no’s’ became a ‘yes’ today in the White House administration’s fight for health care reform; Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) decided to change his vote in favor of health care legislation. “’This bill may not be everything you want,’ the president told the congressman, according to White House sources, ‘but if you believe in making life better for the 31 million Americans who will be covered under this bill, this is the only chance to do this,’” Jake Tapper reported on WORLD NEWS.  “The president is hunting for votes wherever he can find them –giving an interview to his least favorite network Fox News – targeting constituents of the conservative democratic congressmen he is wooing,” Tapper tells us.  “The White House has also made it clear that those members who vote for health care legislation and become more vulnerable as a result are in a higher priority to receive presidential visits and fundraisers than those who vote no,” Tapper reports.
Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed legislation enabling his state to sue the federal government if it forces residents to purchase health insurance.  It’s the first state to do so, and similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.

JOBS BILL:  The Senate approved an $18 billion jobs bill that would give companies tax credits for hiring new workers.  The bill also provides funding for highway and transportation projects, and could create an estimated 250,000 jobs in the next six months.  President Obama will sign the bill on Thursday at 11:20am ET.

EDUCATION REPORT:  In America, girls continue to advance in schools while boys’ progress declines – that’s according to a new report released Wednesday on the status of education in the U.S. Ron Claiborne reports: “The findings by the Center for Educational Policy show a consistent pattern: in every state in the country, at every one of the four grade levels studied…girls did better in reading than boys…even in math – a subject in which boys traditionally did better than girls – girls have caught up and are now roughly even with boys nationwide.” Claiborne also says “boys aren’t just dropping behind in reading…boys drop out of school at a higher rate than girls, they go to college at a lower rate and they finish college at a lower rate.”  How have girls been able to catch up to the boys?  “Experts say a key difference: the women’s movement.  Girls study harder because of the career opportunities and expectations that did not exist for them years ago,” Claiborne reports. 

NORTHEAST STORMS, STILL IN THE DARK:  The storms passed days ago but thousands of residents in the Northeast are still in the dark thanks to a slower-than-expected response from utility companies. Sharyn Alfonsi reports: “Four days after the monster storm slammed the East Coast…trees still litter roads, power is still out…patience is wearing thin….At the height of the storm 500 thousand people without power.  Tonight, thousands in New Jersey, Connecticut and New York are still in the dark.  The Governor of Connecticut so frustrated he’s now calling for an investigation to find out why its’ taking so long to get the lights on.”  About 23,000 are without power in Connecticut, 9,200 are still without power in New Jersey and 26,000 in New York.

MIDWEST FLOODING:  Minnesota activated its emergency operations center Wednesday in response to spring flooding around the state.  More than 300 National Guard soldiers were dispatched to the Red River Valley and 272 to the Fargo-Moorhead area to patrol and monitor the dikes along the Red River, which is expected to crest on Sunday.  Volunteers there have filled 1 million sandbags so far to help protect against the flooding.

FOOD COMPANIES CUT SALT, SUGAR:  Kraft Foods announced Wednesday it would cut the salt in its products by an average of 10 percent over the next two years, affecting more than 1,000 products and eliminating 10 million pounds of salt a year.  Kraft’s decision is just the latest as an increasing number of food companies choose to offer consumers healthier options. “After studies showed that the average teenage boy consumes 72-pounds of sugar a year by drinking tow sodas a day, Pepsi just vowed to pull their most sugary drinks from all schools around the world.  And now the pressure is on Coke to do the same…While Congress debated – but eventually dropped – a plan to tax soda, experts say this corporate health kick seems driven less by government intervention…more by customer demand,” Bill Weir reported on WORLD NEWS. 

US-ISRAEL RELATIONS:  In an interview with Fox News Wednesday evening, President Obama said the relationship between the U.S. and Israel was not in crisis.  Obama said Israel’s plans for a new settlement in east Jerusalem wouldn’t help the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, but that the U.S. remains a committed ally.
 
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN:  The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, has indicated that the recent arrest of the Afghan Taliban’s number 2 leader could be a potential game changer.  And Luis Martinez tells us the U.S. is now taking part in his interrogation:   “A US Official confirms that the US has ‘direct access’ to Mullah Baradar, the Taliban’s operations chief nabbed in Pakistan last month. The official says the access is ‘definitely more than minimal’ and that information is flowing from the direct access.”  Furthermore, CIA Director Leon Panetta is quoted today as saying that we’re beginning to see results from those relentless attacks against al-Qaeda in the Pakistan tribal region.  Panetta tells the Washington Post:  "Those operations are seriously disrupting al-Qaeda." According to Panetta:  "It's pretty clear from all the intelligence we are getting that they are having a very difficult time putting together any kind of command and control, that they are scrambling. And that we really do have them on the run."   One of those drone strikes has apparently killed Hussein al-Yemeni, an important al Qaeda planner based in the tribal areas of Pakistan.  To all of this, our Martha Raddatz adds:  “I can confirm from a CIA official that a recently intercepted message from an AQ lieutenant in Pakistan had him pleading  for help from Bin Laden (this wasn’t a conversation WITH bin laden) to come to the aid of AQ and provide some leadership. The drone strikes on top Taliban and AQ leaders like the one against Al Yemeni have increased in recent months…since the suicide bomber blew himself up at a CIA base in Afghanistan…and as we reported after the capture of Taliban operations chief Baradar…the missile strikes have disrupted operations considerably.” And what about enemy number 1 – Osama bin Laden.  You’ll recall Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress he doubted bin Laden would be captured alive.  Today, General McChrystal told reporters that his mandate is to capture bin Laden alive and “bring him to justice.”  (thanks to Ed Bailey for this entry)

AMERICANS IN PAKISTAN:  Five young American Muslims from the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia appeared in a Pakistan court today. They are charged with planning terrorist attacks in Pakistan and conspiring to wage war against nations allied with the country.  They all pleaded guilty to the five charges against them, the most severe of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The men, all in their late teens or early 20s, were charged by an anti-terrorism court inside a prison in Sargodha, the city in Punjab province where they were arrested in December. Pakistani police say the men used the social networking site Facebook and video-sharing site YouTube while they were in the U.S. to try to connect with extremist groups in Pakistan. Their trial is to begin on March 31. (thanks to Ed Bailey for this entry)

CHRISTMAS BOMBER HEARING:  Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – aka the Christmas Day “underwear” bomber – is cooperating with authorities, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday.  During a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee, Mueller said Abdulmutallab was cooperating with authorities, mainly because his family had urged him to.  Mueller also announced Wednesday that a High-value Detainee Interrogation Group would be used in domestic terrorism cases.  Jason Ryan reports: “The creation of the  High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group was announced last August but was still being established within the FBI at the time of the Christmas day bombing. The group was initially set-up and viewed to interrogate terrorism suspects overseas… ‘I think one of the benefits of the HIG program, the  High-Value Interrogation Group program, is that you want to pull together persons with a variety of capabilities.  You want a strong interrogator.  You want a strong subject-matter expert.  You want a person who is knowledgeable of the individual.  You may need language experts.’”     
Mueller continued: “So I do believe we have the expertise.  I do believe that we had the expertise on the ground that day, to do a very good job, and that the HIG will only augment what we have been doing, for any number of years.”      

FEDERAL RESERVE OVERSIGHT:  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke disputed a recent proposal that would limit the Federal Reserve’s jurisdiction, arguing that his agency should maintain oversight of the nation’s banks Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee.  Matt Jaffe reports: “Bernanke argued that reducing the Fed’s oversight would be ‘a bad idea’ because the central bank needs to be connected to both Wall Street and Main Street in order to understand the country’s complete economic picture. ‘We need to see what’s happening in the entire financial system,’ he said.”  Bernanke found support from Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, who agreed the Federal Reserve should maintain its current authority.  But Republican Spencer Bachus was skeptical, calling the Fed’s past performance “inadequate”: "In spite of its oversight, many of the large, complex banking organizations excessively leveraged and engaged in off-balance sheet transactions that helped precipitate the financial crisis."

CONSERVATIVE PICKS:  Karen Travers (one of the best minds when it comes to college basketball in my opinion) wrote up an insightful analysis on President Obama’s Final Four Picks.  “At the WH Tuesday Obama filled out his NCAA men's & women's basketball tournament brackets with ESPN's Andy Katz and Doris Burke.   The hoopster-in-chief picked the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks to win the men's tournament – a somewhat safe pick from a president who ran on a campaign promising change. But is his selection of a national champion motivated more by politics than basketball insight?   Obama admitted that he may be influenced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who served as governor of Kansas.  "She is a fanatical Jayhawks fan, she's a maniac when it comes to the Jayhawks — talks trash all the time," Obama said of Sebelius.  Apparently unconcerned by the possibility of a bracket-busting Cinderella, Obama's Final Four – Kansas, Kentucky, Kansas State and Villanova – is comprised of two No. 1 seeds and two No. 2 seeds.  His national runner-up pick is Kentucky, pitting two no. 1 seeds in a championship game that will certainly be replicated on thousands of brackets across the country. This is the second year Obama has filled out his men's tournament bracket with ESPN, but the first time he filled out a bracket for the women's tournament.   He picked Connecticut, Stanford, Tennessee and Notre Dame to reach the women's Final Four, and ESPN will reveal his pick for the women's champion later this week.”  (thanks to Karen Travers/George Sanchez for this entry)