The White House made news this week as President Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel indicated his boss would be open to negotiating a health care reform package without a "public option" (government plan). President Obama issued a statement from Russia correcting the suggestion and clearly articulating his support of a public plan.

Meanwhile, the White House continues to work major stakeholders one by one on the issue; Vice President Biden this week announced a deal with the three main trade associations representing hospitals under which hospitals would receive $155 billion less in Medicare and Medicaid payments over 10 years.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Reid appeared irritated with the slow pace of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus' (D-MT) authorship of his committee's health care reform bill. Baucus has been dedicated to crafting a bipartisan bill that Ranking Member Grassley (D-IA) could support. According to numerous reports, Reid urged Baucus to move more quickly and drop his quest for a bipartisan bill. Reid subsequently met with a group of centrist GOP Senators to dispel this report; however, the question of how much bipartisan consensus will end up in a final product remains. Meanwhile, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee is concluding its mark-up of its version of health care reform. Sen. Dodd (D-CT), acting on behalf of ailing Chairman Kennedy (D-MA) has not sought bipartisan support, and no Republicans on the panel approve of the bill; it is expected to pass out of committee on a purely party-line vote. The two legislation pending in both committees are interconnected; the HELP Committee bill contains costly reforms while the Finance Committee bill intends to answer the question, "How to pay for reform?" The White House and Reid are seeking a floor vote on reform by the August recess; a conference committee to hammer out differences and compromises with a House bill would then be handled in the fall.

On the House side, Democratic leaders, learning from the fractious climate change debate, are working to educate the Democratic caucus on the "tri-committee" legislation strategy it is pursuing, with an eye to marking up bills in the three committees of jurisdiction (Education & Labor, Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means) in late July and passing a bill by the end of the month. Under House rules, it will be easy for the majority party to pass a bill of its choosing with little to no bipartisan input or support. In the Senate, where final passage will require 60 votes, the path to achieving reform is much messier and may well slip beyond the majority's self-imposed vote deadline.

The House of Representatives passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, by a squeaker of a vote: 219-212. The vote followed intense personal lobbying of fellow Democrats by Speaker Pelosi, who is well known for her passionate advocacy of climate control, and a rarely-used House version of a filibuster that included Minority Leader Boehner (R-OH) reading the 300-plus page manager's amendment page by page on the House floor before the vote on final passage. Forty-four Democrats bucked party leadership to vote against the bill; eight Republicans voted for it. (How did your Representative vote? Check the roll call results here.) The bill contained the controversial cap and trade provision that a Printing Industries of America analysis shows could cause an average printing company to experience reduced shipments of approximately $20,000 per year. Prior to the vote, Printing Industries of America issued a "Key Vote" notice to all 435 U.S. Representatives. The Senate is on a slower timetable and began holding hearings this week in the Committees on Environmental & Public Works, Finance, and Foreign Relations to examine the issue. Majority Leader Reid has stated he would like to see a floor vote on the issue this fall.

The House Committee on Government Reform & Oversight announced a tentative full committee mark-up on H.R. 22, which could occur as early as this Friday. Time is of the essence in passing the legislation, which aims to provide immediate short-term relief to the USPS' cash crunch that is expected to reach crisis impact on the first day of the next fiscal year. H.R. 22 would relieve temporarily the agency of the requirement to pre-fund retiree and health benefits, a provision of the 2006 postal reform bill inserted at insistence of the Bush Administration. View more information on H.R. 22 here. The USPS continues to struggle with cost containment in its labor costs. According to the Federal Times, fewer than two percent of USPS employees offered early retirement options accepted the offers. For additional USPS news, please visit www.postcom.org. Printing Industries of America is a proud member of the Association of Postal Commerce.

The arrival of the newest U.S. Senator, Al Franken (D-MN), brings a 60-vote majority to the Democrats and adds a new dynamic to the Employee Free Choice Act debate. Sen. Harkin (D-IA), who supports the EFCA, and other Senators seeking to draft a compromise, so-called "Son of the EFCA," have been using the filibuster-proof moment as a means to moving a bill. Franken supports the EFCA as introduced and was feted at a welcome reception this week hosted by the AFL-CIO's headquarters. However, there is not yet a solid 60 votes in support of the EFCA and no official compromise legislation has been introduced. Printing Industries of America continues its work as part of a Coalition for a Democratic Workplace to block the EFCA and any legislation built upon its flawed concepts. The 580-member coalition sent a letter to all U.S. Senators this week urging a "no compromise" position on EFCA's mandatory binding arbitration provision. Meanwhile, union leaders are seeking to add pressure at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in a meeting scheduled with President Obama for next Monday.

New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (R) announced her resignation on Tuesday as she seeks to explore a bid for retiring Senator Judd Gregg's (R) Senate seat in 2010.  The open seat is expected to be competitive.

Senator Al Franken was sworn into office Tuesday as Minnesota's junior senator following a drawn-out legal contest over the validity of his narrow victory of former Sen. Norm Coleman. Franken will serve on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension and Judiciary Committees.

Dates have been set for the California primary to replace Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D), who resigned earlier this year to take a top job at the U.S. Department of State.  The all-party special primary will be held September 1 and if the runoff would be held on November 3^rd. A runoff would only be needed if a candidate does not initially receive 50 percent or higher of the primary vote.