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Fair Pay For Caregivers New York Times
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GOP Leader McConnell Says 'Too Early To Know' About Sotomayor Filibuster
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday said it is "way too early to know" whether Senate Republicans will attempt to filibuster the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama"s nominee for the Supreme Court, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Although other Senate Republicans have said that they do not plan to filibuster a vote on Sotomayor, McConnell said that Senate Democrats established a precedent of filibustering former President George W. Bush"s nominees. However, he added that he believes blocking votes on judges is generally a "bad idea." Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has said a filibuster is unlikely, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has said that Republicans do not have the votes or the desire to mount a filibuster against Sotomayor. Senate Democrats hope to have confirmation hearings for Sotomayor in July, followed by a full Senate vote before the August recess. Senate Republicans are hoping to push back the hearings until September to give them more time to review her judicial record.Antiabortion Groups Circulate 1998 Legal Brief Abortion-rights opponents on Friday circulated a 1998 legal brief supporting abortion rights that the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund joined while Sotomayor was on the fund"s board. The brief -- which was submitted to the Supreme Court to support a challenge to a Missouri law that made it illegal to use public facilities for abortion services -- warned of "the danger of tampering with the core framework of Roe v. Wade." The brief added that the law would disproportionately affect poor women of color. According to the AP/Star Tribune, there is nothing to indicate that Sotomayor had any role in drafting the brief.PRLDEF President Cesar Perales said that although its board helps determine which legal issues the organization should focus on, it is not involved with deciding which cases to take on. Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life said, "That specific case makes it very difficult for [Sotomayor] to say that she doesn"t have a position" on abortion rights (Hirschfeld Davis, AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune, 6/5).Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Two Federal Judges In related news, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to approve two of Obama"s federal judge nominees, Roll Call reports. The committee voted 12-7 to approve David Hamilton to fill a vacancy in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and voted 16-3 to approve Andre Davis to fill a vacancy on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. The votes were delayed two weeks because of requests from panel Republicans. This week, the committee will consider the nomination of Judge Gerard Lynch to fill a vacancy on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Brady, Roll Call, 6/4).
News of the day
House Democrats To Unveil Health Care Bill Details
"After a series of false starts, House Democrats are finally expected to unveil the details of a sweeping reform measure on Tuesday that would drastically revamp the country"s health care system," Politico reports. "Party leaders had initially planned to introduce legislation last week and start considering it in committees this week. But that timeline was scuttled when a parade of moderates threw up their arms last week at a draft of the bill offered weeks earlier by the three chairmen writing it." While the Democrats "know that the clock is ticking-that the slower the process goes, the more time opponents will have to plant doubts in the minds of voters," Republicans are "feeling giddy-free to stand back and watch as Democrats fight amongst themselves."
Cardiovascular

Only Drop-In Needle Exchange Center In Minnesota Closes Due To Lack Of Funding

Minnesota"s only storefront needle exchange drop-in center, called Access Works!, "fell victim to economic hard times and federal anti-drug policies" and ended its program last week after 13 years, the Minnesota Independent reports. The program "traded used needles for clean ones, conducted HIV and Hepatitis C testing, taught overdose prevention, held support groups and connected users with chemical dependency treatment experts," according to the Independent. Federal funding cannot be used to administer needles for such programs, Lauri Wollner, executive director of the program said. She added, "The federal ban has had a long-term impact. We spend almost $40,000 a year on needles and about $5,000 a year on disposal (of used needles)." Private donations also have been down, she said. While the ban on the use of federal funding for needle exchange is being revisited by Congress, "local needle-exchange activists say it is doubtful that congressional action will be able to save the struggling organization," the article states (Birkey, 8/3). This information was reprinted from dailyreports.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at dailyreports.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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