In a big victory for the White House, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a major set of changes to the health care system in America, voting 31-28 in favor of a bill that was forged after days of high stakes negotiations involving all wings of the Democratic Party.

There were mixed signals again on Thursday for Democrats in the Congress, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee moved ahead on a health reform bill, while bipartisan negotiations in the Senate ground to a halt.

A day after House Democratic leaders cut a deal with Blue Dog Democrats, there were even more public headaches for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as dozens of more liberal lawmakers publicly threatened to vote against a health care bill unless changes sought by moderates are reversed.

I will assume for this blog entry that you weren't sitting around last night watching The Deuce and its coverage of the health reform debate in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The U.S. House is set to vote on a $636 billion defense spending measure today that is chock full of almost 1,100 earmarks, which spend about $2.7 billion in all. If you can't access the list, then you can find it at http://bit.ly/iFhBp

About the time of President Obama's town hall meeting on Tuesday sponsored by the AARP, I got a couple of emails about whether the Democratic plan is "better" for seniors or not.

As Democrats struggle to forge a deal on health care legislation in Congress, there are a lot of lawmakers pointing the finger back at Republicans, asking where is the GOP plan on health reform?

Democratic leaders in Congress are doing their best to keep health care reform on track, but even their public statements are starting to show that a vote this week in the House is a long shot.

As we get deeper into the debate on health care in the Congress, we've been hearing more and more from critics who charge that lawmakers enjoy "Cadillac" health plans.

I started digging again through the Democrats' health care reform bill, and I keep finding things that I'm sure will cause people to furrow their brow and ask for a repeat.

The Congressional Budget Office is not a well known government organ, but it is an important one in this health care battle, and over the weekend, it smacked President Obama and Democrats in the knees again.

The House on Thursday passed another major spending bill for the next fiscal year, this one a $123 billion measure for Transportation and Housing projects that featured 1,066 earmarks.

There were no huge shockers as President Obama met the media last night, using a prime time White House news conference to press the case for health reform legislation in the Congress.

While the talk in the halls of the Capitol in recent days has been about whether or not Democrats can strike a deal soon on a health care bill, there was almost a guarantee of victory from Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday.

The temperatures have been rising in the month of July, as you can really tell that political battles in Washington, D.C. have fired up both sides by all of the electronic rebukes people are giving each other, and me, in recent weeks.

President Obama gets another chance to make the case for his efforts on sweeping changes in the U.S. health care system, as he holds a formal news conference at the White House tonight at 8pm EDT.

As Democrats fight each other over health care reform, there are a few major issues that have cropped up in the debate over the details.

Democrats are again on the defensive over guns, as today the Senate will vote on a plan that would let people with concealed weapons permits carry their guns in states with similar permit laws.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee worked after midnight on Monday night amid more partisan bickering in public, and more negotiations among Democrats in private on health care reform.

Around midnight Monday night, the House Energy and Commerce Committee was debating an amendment on long term care. Originally, part of that amendment dealt with something much different.

The future of major health care legislation is the main focus this week for the Congress and the White House, as Democratic leaders try to keep their plans on track, as they duke it out mainly with members of their own party.

There is a lot to look at as you thumb through some of the work being done in the Congress on health care reform when it comes to the details of the legislation. Understanding it is a different question.

It will be a high stakes week for all involved in the battle over the Democrats' health care reform plans in the Congress. Here's some thoughts on what to expect.

Four days of confirmation hearings are over for Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, as President Obama's nominee seems headed for confirmation in the next three weeks.

I got several urgent sounding emails from listeners yesterday about how one page of the new health care reform bill from Democrats would negatively impact the current health system.

** UPDATED ** Republicans in Congress are expressing more frustration with work on a new health care bill in the House, as Democrats on three committees unveiled almost three thousand pages of revised legislative language.

Fifteen years ago in the health care debate, I clearly remember what made it start to turn in the favor of Republicans. It was a chart.

Democrats are trying to create some momentum in their drive for sweeping changes in the health care system. Whether that produces progress is another question.

Since we don't see paper copies of bills too often anymore, there wasn't a thud when the 1,018 page health care bill from House Democrats landed in my Inbox on Tuesday afternoon.

One thing that struck me about day one of the Sotomayor hearings was the arguments being presented by both parties which were certainly meant for a larger audience and a broader time frame.

This was supposed to be a week where Democrats returned from a July 4th break and made great strides on health care reform. It didn't exactly turn out that way.

The revelation that the parents of a U.S. Senator paid $96,000 to the family of his mistress prompted a Congressional watchdog group to call Thursday for a federal criminal investigation of the matter.

"Folks, reform is coming. It is on track," said Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday at the White House about health care reform efforts. Unfortunately for the Obama Administration, Democrats in the Congress don't seem to be listening.

It became very obvious to me on Tuesday that the battle is really on inside the Democratic Party for what should in a health care reform bill in the Congress.

The first Senate hearing on the Cap and Trade bill since House approval of that legislation was about what you would expect, as both parties staked out familiar ground on the issue.

The battle over Cap and Trade/climate change legislation officially moves to the Senate today, as a key committee there begins hearings on the bill approved by the House in late June.

Democrats on a key Senate committee start work again today on plans for sweeping reforms in the health care system, as backers work against the clock to get a reform bill through the House and Senate by early August.

The Cap and Trade battle heats up this week as the Congress returns to work, with the focus now squarely on the Senate and what it does with the legislation.

There has been a lot of talk in recent days about what's in the Cap and Trade bill when it comes to forcing homeowners to make energy efficiency upgrades to their homes before selling them.

Well, judging from the response yesterday, lots of people want to see a lot more of the details in the House-passed Cap and Trade/global warming bill. So here's a few more things to chew on.

I don't have to be a regular in the White House Briefing Room to know what's going on right now. Both sides are digging in for the long haul. And it's going to get testy in coming weeks.

I know, I know. I'm probably boring you to death by going through the Cap and Trade bill with a fine tooth comb.

President Obama gets out the bully pulpit today on health care reform, as he holds a town hall meeting on the issue in Virginia, an event that the White House will also share on the internet.

The hard workers at the Government Printing Office have now added in the last minute extras that Democrats attached to the climate change/cap and trade bill, as it now tips the scales at 1,428 pages in all.

At 1,428 pages, the House-passed Cap and Trade/climate change bill is too big for me to print out here on my blog. So I thought I would give you a taste by simply listing the Table of Contents.

If you want any chance of finding a group of lawmakers from Congress in Washington, D.C. today, then I know exactly the place to be, and it isn't on Capitol Hill.