Senator-Elect Brown to be Sworn In Feb. 11th

The Hill reports that Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-MA) will be sworn-in to his US Senate seat Thursday, February 11th, giving Republicans 41 seats in the upper chamber.

Democrats, since the Massachusetts special election, have been scrambling to form a strategy for advancing their health reform legislation through Congress and eventually reaching President Obama's desk.

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GOP Brown Victorious in Massachusetts

In a special election to fill the late Senator Ted Kennedy's US Senate seat, Republican Scott Brown, formerly a little-known Massachusetts state senator, claimed victory in a tight, momentum-shifting race late Tuesday night. Claiming 52 percent of the vote, Mr. Brown now will head to Washington, DC to be sworn in as Massachusetts's junior Senator and will be faced with a number of issues pressing not only GOPs, but the entire Senate, most notably health care reform. Displacing Democrats' fillibuster-proof 60 votes, Mr. Brown now forces the White House and a Democrat-controlled Congress to figure out how and when they will pass what stands to be President Obama's signature domestic policy initiative, historic health reform legislation. As Washington anxiously, or soberly, awaits Mr. Brown's arrival into the Senate, news outlets are reporting that Democratic leaders are now scrambling to salvage health reform before it gets torn and tattered by GOPs, misguided by midterm election concerns, or other pressing policy issues.

To read more on Mr. Brown's landmark victory, click on the following major media outlet links:

The Hill - Brown Snags Massachusetts Senate Seat in Stunning Upset Win for Republicans
The New York Times - GOP Takes Massachusetts Senate Seat
The Wall Street Journal - GOP Victory Upends Senate
Kaiser Health News - Republican Brown Wins Senate Seat

Massachusetts Cuts Health Rolls

To deal with pressing budget cuts, and skyrocketing costs due to increased enrollment of their health insurance coverage mandate, Massachusetts is cutting 12% from the Commonwealth Care budget, the Boston Globe reports.

The article, from the Boston Globe, begins with:

"Overseers of Massachusetts’ trailblazing healthcare program made their first cuts yesterday, trimming $115 million, or 12 percent, from Commonwealth Care, which subsidizes premiums for needy residents and is the centerpiece of the 2006 law.

The board of the Connector Authority made the cuts as officials confronted two side effects of the recession: the state budget crisis and a surge in enrollment by the recently unemployed."

Find the complete article here.