REPUBLICAN IDEAS: A Positive Message Focused On Creating Jobs, Turning Around The Economy, And Incremental Health Care Reform.

Virginia’s Blueprint To Success: So how did Republicans manage to dominate on economic issues after two cycles of losing — often by double digits — on their handling of the economy? Part of it was simply keeping that focus on jobs, and not allowing itself to get sidetracked by social or cultural issues. TIME

GOP Health Care Plan Focuses On Lowering Costs. Boehner hasn’t released the full details of the bill but has said that it would make it easier to buy insurance across state lines, impose strict limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and allow individuals and small businesses to pool their resources to buy insurance as a group. That is designed to boost their purchasing power to help lower individual premiums. The legislation would also direct federal funds to states that establish pools to defray the costs of covering the most high-risk individuals, encouraging the 16 states that don’t to establish them. Republicans think lowering the costs to insure these high-risk individuals is the key to reducing premiums across the entire health care system. Politico

HEALTH CARE ROUND UP

Rhetoric: Flashback July 2008: Sen. Obama Promises To Lower Premiums By $2,500. It is one of the most audacious promises in a campaign that has been thick with them. In speech after speech, Senator Barack Obama has vowed that he will lower the country’s health care costs enough to “bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family.” Moreover, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has promised that his health plan will be in place “by the end of my first term as president of the United States.” The New York Times

Reality: Today: CBO Score: Public Option Would Have Higher Premiums Than Private Policies. The Congressional Budget Office says a version of the so- called public option backed by House Democrats would charge “somewhat higher” premiums than the average private insurance policy offered on a government-sponsored exchange to be set up to sell coverage to small businesses and individuals. Bloomberg

House GOP Women Set To Take On Dem Health Care Bill. McMorris Rodgers, who is vice chairwoman of the Republican Conference, is corralling all 17 House GOP women to take part in events this week. They include special-order speeches on Tuesday night, the launch of a health care video on Wednesday, a telephone town hall with female physicians and small-business owners on Wednesday, a forum with bloggers on Thursday, and a press event on Friday. A GOP leadership aide said the female Members will also speak out against the Democratic health care bill during one-minute speeches throughout the week. Many of the lawmakers will also appear at a Tuesday morning press stakeout following the GOP’s weekly Conference meeting. Roll Call
 

City Hospitals Worry About House Bill's Reduction In Medicare Payments. The recommendation that New York hospitals fear most is that Medicare should reduce payments to areas where costs grow fastest and increase payments to those who are best at controlling them. They argue that some of the most efficient hospitals are in affluent and rural areas that do not face the same challenges, including higher poverty and cost of living, as New York. “This line of inquiry is destructive to urban centers,” said Dr. Kenneth L. Davis, chief executive at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. “Unless we deal with the problems of poverty in underserved areas, health care will be expensive in urban areas.” The New York Times

ECONOMY: Dissention Among The Ranks? Sec. Locke Says A Second Stimulus Is Being Considered, While Jobs Panel Indicates Federal Spending Is Not The Way To Create Jobs, So What’s The Takeaway? The First Stimulus Has Failed To Have A Significant Impact On Job Creation.

Plans For A Second Stimulus Are Being “Hotly Discussed And Very Seriously Considered”. Locke, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, said: “If there is to be another stimulus -- and that’s being hotly discussed and very seriously considered within the administration as well as members of Congress -- it needs to be very targeted, very specific and we need to be very mindful of the deficit as well.” Bloomberg

Budget Check: Jobs Panel Indicates Federal Spending Is Not The Way To Create Jobs. A top White House advisory committee Monday recommended ways to expand jobs in exports, energy-efficient buildings and infrastructure, but in an apparent nod to the U.S.'s growing debt, stopped short of suggesting such policies be promoted by large federal spending. The Wall Street Journal

Just Words: Although Obama called for bold and innovative action, the ideas discussed were not particularly new. The Los Angeles Times

GAO Wary Of Auto Task Force Team. GAO also questioned staffing levels for the administration's auto task force. Treasury officials told GAO that they plan to disband the team over time as other Treasury aides monitor the companies' financial conditions. Once made up of 16 staffers, the task force now has just four professional staff members. Former task force head Steve Rattner has left, while Ron Bloom, a key member, is now also advising the administration on manufacturing policy. GAO said it was concerned Treasury "may not have sufficient expertise to actively oversee and protect the government's ownership interests, including determining when and how to divest these interests." The Associated Press

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: The Administration Continues Its Holding Pattern On Afghanistan As It Is Becoming More Apparent That The Policy Objectives Of The Obama Administration Are Being Challenged Across The Globe.

The Administration Strategy Stalls Progress In Afghanistan Because It Has Yet To Endorse Its Own Strategy. The main problem now isn't Afghanistan's President. It is that no one in Washington or around the world is sure whether America's President is committed to his own strategy—or even if he'll stick with that strategy if he reaffirms it. As long as those doubts persist, everyone in this conflict will hedge their bets: the NATO allies, on the number of troops they'll commit and the fighting they will do; Mr. Karzai, in his dealings with Afghan's regional kingpins and drug lords; and the Pakistanis, in their own battles with the Taliban. ...For purely domestic political reasons, Mr. Obama may be tempted to split the difference between General McChrystal's request and the 68,000 troops now on the ground. This could well be the worst option: A reaffirmation of the same goals in Afghanistan without the troops and resources that the military brass believes are needed to succeed. The Wall Street Journal

Administration’s Policy Objectives Faces Challenges From Across The Globe. Across a region spanning Pakistan to the Mediterranean, foreign leaders seem to be challenging the very premise of his policy: that foreign countries can reasonably be persuaded to move in the direction of common interests, and that a better-loved America can get more done. In Afghanistan, an all-out effort to promote a legitimate election turned into a scramble to prevent a civil war and ease the defrauded challenger off the stage. Iran persuaded the White House to drop its late-September deadline for action and then appears to have rejected a deal on nuclear fuel. Great powers such as Russia and China show no appetite for crucial concessions, while the U.S. Congress continues to block major action on a pillar of Obama’s policy goals — international action on climate change. Politico

IN OTHER NEWS

• NYT: Voters Remorse In Iowa
• Barnes: Major Congressional Reforms Demand Bipartisan Support
• WT: Big Money Buys Seats At Lawmakers' Dinner Tables
• Goldberg: Don't Bury GOP Yet
• Stephens: Pleading With Iran Will Get The West Nowhere

THE SCHEDULE

• The House will meet at 8:00 a.m. for Morning Hour debate. The House will then meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business and recess immediately and will reconvene at approximately 10:00 a.m. in a Joint Meeting with the Senate to receive Her Excellency, Doctor Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. GOP Leaders will hold their weekly stakeout at 10:00 a.m.

• The Senate will convene and recess at 10:00 a.m. to attend a Joint session of Congress to receive Her Excellency, Doctor Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the Joint meeting, the Senate shall resume consideration of H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Benefits Extention Act of 2009.