Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Stupak Abortion Language to Be Substituted for Senate Language in Deal to Secure Health Care Votes  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made a deal with Rep. Bart Stupak in order to secure his vote and that of other anti-choice Democrats for the health care bill, which is scheduled to be voted on this Sunday.

Richard Grenell / CBS News:
Crossing a Line in the Health Care Debate?  —  Richard Grenell: Is the White House Sending Healthcare Propaganda to Federal Employees?  —  (CBS) Richard Grenell served as the spokesman for the last four U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations: Zalmay Khalilzad, John Bolton, John Danforth and John Negroponte.

New York Times:
Rift Emerges Over Medicare as Health Care Vote Nears  —  Share your thoughts about the health care debate.  —  The latest on President Obama, his administration and other news from Washington and around the nation.  Join the discussion.  —  WASHINGTON - A dispute over Medicare payments rates created …

Jeffrey T. Kuhner / Washington Times:
Impeach the president?  —  The ‘Slaughter Solution’ would violate the Constitution  —  The Democrats are assaulting the very pillars of our democracy.  As the debate on Obamacare reaches the long, painful end, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is confronting a political nightmare.

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
GOP: Dems are bluffing, don't have the votes  —  House GOP whip Rep. Eric Cantor has sent out a brief memo outlining the health care vote count from the Republican perspective.  The best way to look at it is not to ask whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi has gotten the 216 votes needed to pass …

Sarah Binder / The New Republic:
A Viewer's Guide to This Weekend  —  Sarah Binder is a professor of political science at George Washington University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.  She is the author of several books on Congress, including Stalemate (Brookings 2003) and Politics or Principle?

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Breaking: Ellsworth To Vote Yes  —  Another big get for Dems: Rep Brad Ellsworth, a former Yes vote who shared the concerns of the Stupak dozen and was intensely wooed by both sides, will vote Yes on the Senate bill, his spokesman confirms to me.  —  “He's a Yes,” Jonathan Kott …

Mark Matthews / Orlando Sentinel:
Exclusive: Kosmas to back healthcare reform  —  WASHINGTON — After days of fence-sitting, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach said Friday that she would support a sweeping Democratic plan for healthcare reform that has divided the country even as it aims to bring health insurance to 95 percent of Americans.

The Huffington Post:
Reid Promises Separate Public Option Vote In Next Few Months  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Hoping to assuage progressive Democrats who remain disappointed with the content of the health care reform bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) committed on Friday to holding a separate vote on a public option in the coming months.

The Politico:
Obamacare threatens U.S. future  —  Liberals have long dreamed of putting the government in charge of America's health insurance industry.  Each time they tried, the American people have stood up and rejected a government takeover of health care.  —  This is different.

KDKA-TV:
U.S. Rep. Altmire To Vote Against Health Care Bill  —  PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Congressman Jason Altmire will vote against the latest version of health care reform when the U.S. House of Representatives votes on the bill this weekend.  —  Altmire confirmed that he has decided to vote …

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Fact Sheet: The Truth About the Health Care Bill  —  click for a PDF of our health care reform fact sheet  —  I'll be on the new CNN show with Jon King that premieres at noon ET, available for live stream here — jh  —  The Firedoglake health care team has been covering the debate in congress since it began last year.

Christina Bellantoni / TPMDC:
Dems: Memo On Medicare Changes Isn't Ours — It's A GOP ‘Hoax’  —  Democrats today are accusing Republicans of circulating a fraudulent memo that claims to be sent to “Democratic health and communications staff” and which suggests the majority party leadership wants to make big changes to Medicare next year after health care passes.

kff.org:
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — March 2010  —  The March Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds the public still divided on health reform legislation, with 46 percent of Americans backing the reform proposals on Capitol Hill, 42 percent opposing them and 12 percent saying they aren't sure.

ama-assn.org:
AMA Supports House Passage of Health System Reform  —  Will work with Congress and the administration to make critical changes that cannot be addressed through the reconciliation process  —  For immediate release:  —  Washington, D.C. - After careful review and consideration …

Chris Frates / The Politico:
Democrats challenge authenticity of ‘doc fix’ memo  —  An earlier post in this spot detailed what was purported by Republicans to be an internal Democratic memo regarding the upcoming health reform vote Sunday.  Democratic leadership has challenged the authenticity of the memo.

Capitol Confidential / Big Government:
The Heat is On: Congressman's Office Says Constituent Calls Are ‘Harassment’  —  Yesterday, I decided to call Rep. John Garamendi's (CA-10) office in Washington, D.C. He's my representative and I wanted to voice my opposition to the Senate Health Care Bill.  I spoke with a female staffer …

The Note:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Shoots Down Rep. Bart Stupak's ‘Fix’  —  ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked about Bart Stupak's suggestion that there could be another bill to address abortion funding and she said, “I haven't heard any of that.”

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
New Health Care Whip Count: 193 Yes, 208 No (with Leaners: 203-211); Update 2x: 195 Yes  —  Update: John Boccieri has just confirmed that he will vote for this bill-that brings the Yes column to 194.  —  Update 2: Dina Titus gets us to 195 “yes.”  —  Here's the last one.

CNN:
Obama rips insurers in final health care push  —  FAIRFAX, Virginia (CNN) - President Barack Obama made a final, urgent public plea for health care reform Friday, slamming private insurers and accusing his plan's opponents of spreading lies and distortions.  —  The president's populist push …

Bruce Bartlett / Forbes:
The Misinformed Tea Party Movement  —  For an antitax group, they don't know much about taxes.  —  On March 16 the Tea Party crowd showed up for yet another demonstration on Capitol Hill in Washington.  Curious about the factual knowledge these people have regarding the issues they are protesting …

Les Blumenthal / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
State of the health care debate: Talk radio attacks an 11-year old  —  WASHINGTON — Conservative talk show hosts and columnists have ridiculed an 11-year-old Washington state boy's account of his mother's death as a “sob story” exploited by the White House and congressional Democrats like a …

The Hill:
Anti-abortion Democrats working on a vote deal with Senate on bill  —  At least six anti-abortion Democrats are open to supporting the healthcare bill if they can get a guarantee from the Senate that it will move separate legislation containing the House abortion language, one of those Democratic holdouts said Friday.

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Kristol: Reconciliation “Fixes” Make Health Care Reform MORE Politically Toxic  —  Nancy Pelosi and Louise Slaughter have come up with a parliamentary maneuver — “deem and pass” — reeking of evasiveness and trickery that Democratic members are going to have to embrace.  But it gets better!

Chicago Breaking Business:
Caterpillar: Health care bill would cost it $100M  —  A worker at Caterpillar's plant in Mossville, Ill. (José Moré/Chicago Tribune)  —  Dow Jones Newswires |  Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives …

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
SEIU To Yank Support For Arcuri, Will Search For Challenger  —  It appears SEIU is dead serious about this business about yanking support for House Dems who vote No on the health bill.  —  The SEIU bluntly informed Dem Rep Michael Arcuri of New York yesterday that it's pulling support …

Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Boccieri is a ‘yes’  —  An almost somber Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio) said Friday that he will switch his vote to ‘yes’ on the health care bill.  —  Boccieri is in the swing district of swing districts in the swing state of swing states.  His vote was a big get for the Democratic leadership …

Wall Street Journal:
Deal Near on Gitmo, Detainee Trials  —  The White House is nearing a deal with a bipartisan group of senators to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and pave the way for more detainees to be tried before military commissions, a move that would reverse a signature Obama administration security policy.

Jon Ralston / Las Vegas Sun:
Ensign's refusal to resign harms many in his circle  —  It's no longer a question of “if” but of “when” between now and January 2013 that John Ensign's short, previously happy, suddenly unhappy life as a senator will end.  —  One week after I told you about Ensign's breathtakingly obtuse statement through …

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
Are Anti-Abortion Democrats Open to a Deal on Health Care?  —  Rep. Bart Stupak Says He and His Supporters are Holding Firm But They Are Open to Negotiations  —  Anti-abortion Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak says he will vote “No” on the health care bill unless changes are made to accommodate …