GOP IS ATTACKING THE REFORM MOVEMENT, using the same ole, tripe...

LOOKING BACK AT TODAY
President Obama stepped up public pressure on Congress to vote on a bill to overhaul health care before the August recess at an event meant to highlight nurses' support for comprehensive reform, NBC's Athena Jones reports. "We're going to be continually talking about this for the next two or three weeks, until we've got a bill [out of] the Senate," he said, "we've got a bill out of the House, then we'll deserve a few weeks' rest before we come back and finally get a bill done, so we can sign it right here in the Rose Garden." http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/15/1997490.aspx

The Senate HELP Committee passed its version of health care reform 13-10. But there's still a long slog ahead. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/15/1996949.aspx

Senate Finance Committee Democrats met today behind closed doors to make progress on their version of the health-care reform bill. But by the end of the two-hour meeting, no deals were cut, NBC's Blayne Alexander reports. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/15/1997228.aspx

The major Republicans on the Senate Health committee, as well as other notables senators like John McCain, held a press conference today to lambaste the Senate Democrats' health-care bill, which passed out of committee today on a party-line vote, NBC's Doug Adams reports. All were pretty critical of the plan. Lamar Alexander said the bill would bankrupt states because it would "dump 15-20 million Americans into a failed Medicaid system, and then after five years, shift the cost to the states." http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/15/1997181.aspx

Prominent House Republicans unveiled a multi-colored, complicated-to-follow flow chart meant to symbolize the House Democratic health-care reform plan. Remember that in 1994, on the Senate floor, Republicans unveiled a flow chart they created, which derided the White House's health-care plan. The chart played a role, certainly, in derailing health reform then. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/15/1997180.aspx

NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Libby Leist preview Hillary Clinton's foreign policy address. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/15/1996895.aspx

John Kerry is responding to Sarah Palin's opinion piece in the Washington Post on energy. In a piece, published on Huffington Post, Kerry says Palin doesn't understand cap and trade. This is part of an ongoing back and forth between Kerry and Palin. It started with John Kerry trying to make the joke during the Mark Sanford disappearance that the wrong governor went missing. Palin shot back that Kerry "looked quite frustrated" and "sad." "I just wanted to reach out to the TV and say 'John Kerry, why the long face?'," she said. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/15/1997487.aspx

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