After all the drama surrounding the down-to-the-wire Senate health care reform bill, which was finally passed on Christmas Eve, 2009, it’s a bit anticlimactic to have to report that President Obama is still having to urge Senate Democrats to ‘finish the job.’ There remain enough differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill [...]

As amazing as it may seem in a Washington that often seems collectively afflicted with ADHD, the Obama Administration spent the entire week last week talking about small businesses. And it’s not even Small Business Week! Evidently, when the President said his renewed focus on job creation would start with small business, he meant it. [...]

Last week, the Obama Administration took the time to wish us all a belated Happy New Year, in the form of a week-long look back at what they were doing all year last year. This sort of political self-indulgence is not uncommon, of course, although it usually emanates from Capitol Hill. On the other hand, [...]

It was almost a year ago that The MicroEnterprise Journal was covering the how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was taking shape even before Barack Obama had been sworn into office. And what I was saying at the time was that there was not much in it that would directly benefit microbusinesses. Fast forward [...]

In case you were wondering, the health care reform bill currently being negotiated between the House and the Senate will almost certainly be useless for the majority of microbusinesses. There are a few good things the bill accomplishes. For example, it prohibits insurance companies from denying insurance to prospective purchasers on the basis of pre-existing [...]

While everybody was busy hyperventilating over the down-to-the-wire legislative uber-drama of health care reform late last year, Congress was also relatively quietly getting its regular housekeeping chores done. Among said chores — which include such critical matters as the naming of post office buildings — was the disposition of those federal spending bills. There had [...]

Congress returns from its brief Veterans Day break this week and will leave town again next week for Thanksgiving. One of the things expected to happen during this particular flying visit to Capitol Hill between District Work Periods is a vote in the House on a fistful of small business related bills. Three of them [...]

When it comes to controversial, gigantic, game-changing legislation, Congress is not slacking off. When lawmakers are finished with the current health care reform slugfest, there is another major legislative initiative waiting in the wings for the to fight about next. And the probable subject of the next round of mud-slinging is the Clean Energy Jobs [...]

The President was going to give a major speech on health care reform to a joint session of Congress. This is something that doesn’t usually happen beyond the annual State of the Union Address. Said the White House Press Office, ‘Let there by hype.’ And there was hype. In the end, the Great Speech got [...]

“You may think you’ve won but your victory won’t matter once I’ve detonated this Smart-but-Evil bomb, a weapon with such destructive power that it will blow up this entire planet!!! Muwhahahahaha!!!”

The evil laugh is required.

Now, you wouldn’t think to see this sort of thing this side of an old episode of Underdog but something very similar is going on this very minute in the national health care reform debate — such as it is.