Ezra Klein

Gail Collins: Everybody knows, of course, that even when Al Franken finally makes it to Washington, getting all 60 Democrats-and-fellow-travelers to vote together on something will be like herding … something really impossible. Not cats. Cats I could envision all going in one direction if there was a little herring-flavored incentive at the end of […]

From an interview with CNBC’s John Harwood: HARWOOD: One of your jobs as chief of staff is to help the president figure out when you can declare victory on an issue, even if you don’t get everything you want. Two particulars: Can you have a successful outcome on health care if you have not dramatically […]

The Obama administration is right to worry about a coming doctor shortage. We have a medical system that’s co-evolved with a health care system that leaves 47 million people uninsured and tens of millions more underinsured. It employs about the number of doctors required for that level of care usage. Imagine, however, that health care […]

Igor Volsky: So what does all of this mean for health care reform and the recent debate over reconciliation? Democrats now have 60 votes (assuming that Al Franken is seated) to pass health care reform and some pundits may argue that reconciliation is no longer necessary. But this view overestimates the unity of the Democratic […]

An informed reader writes in. Ezra,A few quick notes on your housing market post. I’m in the affordable housing realm—mostly rental, occasionally ownership– so I’d like to think I know something. 1.) This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. A lot of developers of large projects will offer their own financing or partner with a […]

In general, when a politician leaves a party, you ask “why?” With Specter, the more rewarding question is “who?” In this case, there’s an answer: Pat Toomey and the Club for Growth. Toomey is the conservative ex-congressmen mounting a primary challenge against Specter. The Club for Growth is the monomaniacally anti-tax organization that’s funding it. […]

Over at Swampland, Karen Tumulty distinguishes a “filibuster-proof majority,” which is what FDR had, from a Senate where one party or another controlled a theoretically filibuster-proof number of seats, which is what Carter had. Specter’s defection, she suggests, is akin to FDR’s situation rather than Carter’s. But I’m not sure that’s right. FDR, after all, […]

The Financial Times has a good story today on a new twist in the mortgage market. Namely, banks have stopped offering mortgages in buildings that haven’t already sold a sufficient quantity of units. In one case, a buyer with “stellar credit” and a 25 percent downpayment couldn’t get a mortgage because the luxury development she […]

Kathleen Sebelius is expected to win a fairly easy confirmation today. Some Senators have spoken of delay, but few suggest there’s any hope of marshaling a consequential number of “no” votes. And so we will have our Secretary of Health and Human Services. Max Baucus’s glowing statement follows the jump:

The Washington Post confirms: Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, according to sources informed on the decision. Specter’s decision would give Democrats a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next Senator from Minnesota. (Former Sen. Norm Coleman is […]