ThinkFast: May 5, 2009

After speaking with President Obama, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) predicted that the President will nominate a Supreme Court judge soon. “I’d be surprised if it went beyond this week,” Hatch said, adding that Obama told him he won’t nominate a “radical or an extremist” to replace Justice David Souter.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), a chief sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, said the Senate may have to sacrifice EFCA “in favor of more modest labor-law changes.” “Compromises are going to be made,” said Harkin. “It probably won’t be card-check, because too many people are opposed to it now.”

Several corporate members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are frustrated with the group’s opposition to global warming legislation pending in the House. In a letter to the Chamber, companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Nike, requested that they “refrain from making comments on climate change unless they ‘reflect the full range of views, especially those of Chamber members advocating for congressional action.’”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said yesterday that any public health insurance option “must be subject to the same regulations and requirements as all other plans” in the insurance market. He also suggested that a public plan should be self-sustaining without tax revenue; should pay doctors more than Medicare pays; should not force doctors and hospitals to participate; and should have government managers who are separate from insurance industry regulators.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has announced that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is joining the GOP’s National Council for a New America’s “panel of experts.” “I am pleased to announce that Governor Palin has joined the National Council for a New America’s panel of experts,” Cantor said in a statement.

Speaking at the Panetta Institute in Monterey, CA yesterday, former Bush adviser Karl Rove claimed that President Obama “is failing to fulfill his bipartisan promise in Congress and in the polls.” But former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe shot back at the criticism, saying “this is like getting interview lessons from Sarah Palin.”

The U.S. government “is expected to direct about 10 of the 19 banks undergoing government stress tests to boost their capital…a move that officials hope will quell fears about the solvency of the financial sector.” The banks affected could included Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America, Citigroup Inc. and other regional banks.

“President Barack Obama plans Tuesday to name a new chairman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an agency ridiculed for coziness with the industries whose products it monitors, in addition to expanding the commission and boosting funding for its work.” Obama is expected to name former South Carolina education superintendent Inez Moore Tennenbaum as chairman.

Last year, Murtech, a private firm owned by Robert Murtha, nephew of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), received over $4 million in no-bid defense contracts. Rep. Murtha has steered “hundreds of millions in Pentagon work to companies in his district, many of them fledgling enterprises run by campaign contributors.” Robert Murtha “said he is not at liberty to discuss in detail what his company does.”

And finally: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) is so passionate about health care that he is willing to give his personal e-mail address out to reporters. Yesterday during a conference call hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund announcing the creation of Doctors for America, Baucus said, “This may be a bit dangerous, but I really want to hear from you all, so I’m going to give out my personal e-mail address.” Reporters were then stunned as he revealed his Earthlink address.

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