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White House Submits Sotomayor's Questionnaire To Senate Judiciary Committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee"s vetting of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama"s nominee for the Supreme Court, officially began Thursday when the White House delivered her written responses to a comprehensive questionnaire designed by the committee"s leadership, Roll Call reports. The questionnaire -- developed by Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) -- will be used as part of preparations for Sotomayor"s as-yet-unscheduled round of confirmation hearings (Stanton, Roll Call, 6/4).Sotomayor disclosed a large amount of information in the questionnaire, such as her net worth and a timeline for when she learned that she was under consideration by the White House as a potential replacement to retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter (Perine, CQ Today, 6/4). According to Roll Call, Sotomayor"s responses might offer members of both parties "fodder to support or oppose her nomination."Leahy, who has the authority to schedule the confirmation hearings, said in a statement that Sotomayor "has advanced the confirmation process by promptly complying with this Senate requirement, and now the Senate should promptly schedule hearings to fairly consider her nomination to our highest court," adding, "The unfair attacks that have been leveled at her from outside the Senate are all the more reason to give her the chance to respond." Earlier this week, he said that he would announce a start date for the hearings after Sotomayor"s responses were received (Roll Call, 6/4). Meanwhile, Sotomayor on Thursday continued another round of private meetings with senators on Capitol Hill, including a few GOP senators who earlier had expressed concerns about her past comments and actions, CQ Today reports (CQ Today, 6/4).Questions Over Sotomayor"s Position on Abortion-Rights Issue RemainIn related news, USA Today on Friday examined how Sotomayor in the past 17 years as a federal judge "has left no clear footprints revealing" her position on abortion-rights issues. This week, some Democratic senators in private meetings with Sotomayor attempted to seek answers, while advocates on both sides of the debate are urging senators to question her about her views on Roe v. Wade during the expected confirmation hearings. On Wednesday, following a meeting with Sotomayor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that she believes Sotomayor has respect for judicial precedent. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said, "I don"t have concerns about this nominee in the sense that I think there is something on the record (against abortion rights)," adding, "We just think it"s important for Supreme Court nominees to say where they stand." Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, agreed, noting the lack of a definitive position on abortion rights in Sotomayor"s record. Feinstein also said that she will persist on abortion-rights issues. "I remember what it was like when abortion was illegal, and the lives of young, desperate women were in jeopardy," she said, adding that she is concerned "Americans no longer appreciate what it would mean if (abortion rights) were taken away" (Biskupic, USA Today, 6/5).
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Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries

"Blog Watch" offers readers a roundup of health policy-related blog posts.Appropriately, the last of the Senate Finance Committee"s three major public roundtables on health reform issues was on finance. Keith Hennessy lauds economist Kate Baicker"s testimony (.pdf) and says it helps connect reform ideas to a system of third-party payment. Hennessy says the current system leads people to "spend more of other people"s money than they do of their own, and less wisely." Hennessy explores the example of employer-sponsored insurance, which he says makes health insurance appear less expensive to employees than it is.Meanwhile, the New Republic"s Jonathan Cohn, who has been calling attention to potential ways of financing the significant cost of reform, recommends the testimony of Center on Budget and Policy Priorities President Robert Greenstein. Greenstein testified that there are no "painless" ways of raising money for reform, and said, "This leads to my first recommendation, in the form of a plea to the Committee. Please do not take any offset options off the table at this time. I believe you ultimately will need to put together a package that contains an array of spending and revenue offsets." Offsets could include removing or limiting the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance. Bob Lazsewski strenuously disagrees. He illustrates a post titled "Paying for a Big Part of Health Care Reform With New Taxes Would Be a Terrible Mistake!" with a graph of the trends in health insurance premiums over the last 20 years and says, "paying for most of health care reform by raising taxes would be nothing less than cowardly and fiscally irresponsible." He continues, "the Congress is so desperate to find money and so unwilling to anger any powerful health care special interests we better get ready for some interesting rationalizations to promote tax increases in the place of fundamental reforms."After the hearing, ranking member Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) gave a presentation at the Heritage Foundation on his preferences for bipartisan reform legislation and the Foundry"s Marguerite Higgins blogged Enzi"s key points. She says the senator wants to increase affordability, use private plans for coverage and ensure a bill is fully paid for.The White House appears to be initiating additional outreach efforts to mobilize support. Jose Antonio Vargas of the Washington Post"s Daily Dose reports that President Obama"s administration chose to send its first WhiteHouse.gov e-mail on health reform Wednesday. Vargas says, "It"s only fitting that Obama"s first official e-mail from the White House is about health care reform. As early as December, the incoming Obama administration began using new media tools to build grassroots support around the issue."Interesting elsewhere: