He won't say whether he's got 60 votes to pass it, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a Saturday vote to move the health care bill forward.

Republicans have been working to persuade members not to vote in favor of this procedural vote if they're planning to vote against health care. They warn their colleagues not to be in the position of having to say "I was for it before I was against it," echoing Sen. John Kerry's flip-flop on Iraq.  read more »

Indian Country has been waiting 17 years for Congress to update the Indian Health Care Improvement Act... and will have to wait a little longer.

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee was poised to take action on two of Indian Country's top priorities today: improving health care and support young people on reservations. But a full legislative schedule have pushed the votes into the future. No new date has been set.  read more »

Latinos are playing a big role in deciding what states get more representation in Congress next time around - and what states lose out. A new report by America’s Voice Education Fund shows that after the Census is complete next year, the demographic shift will be obvious.

The breakdown is expected to look something like this:

States gaining seats in the House:
Texas (+4)
Arizona (+2)
Florida (+1)
Georgia (+1)
Nevada (+1)
Oregon (+1)
South Carolina (+1)
Utah (+1)

States projected to lose House seats:
Ohio (-2)
Illinois (-1)
Iowa (-1)
Louisiana (-1)
Massachusetts (-1)  read more »

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has introduced a bill requiring the Census to count undocumented immigrants. She says it's a way to make sure every vote counts. Right now, Congressional districts are determined by the number of people in an area - not the number of voters.

"I think that there are districts out in California that have half the number of voters that I have in my district, but they have a lot of illegals in the district," she says. "I think the Census should clarify whether you're here legally or illegally."  read more »

H. Leighton Steward is on Capitol Hill this week, lobbying against cap-and-trade climate legislation. He's the head of an entity called Plants Need CO2, whose slogans are pithy little nuggets like "Warmer is Better than Colder." The name says it all: Steward says it's a bad idea to set policies that aim to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, because after all, plants breathe in that carbon dioxide that we put into the air when we drive our SUVs. So, the more the better!  read more »

James Edwards, coauthor of The Congressional Politics of Immigration Reform, wrote for the National Review that Congress needs to deal with immigration before it takes on health care – not the order it’s currently working in.  read more »

President George Bush cut off biannual talks with Cuba on migration in 2003. But the two countries appear ready to get them started again.

With recent Administration announcements that some restrictions on travel and family remittances will be loosened, U.S. relations with the island are poised for an improvement.  read more »

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who chairs the Immigration Subcommittee in the Senate, told the Associated Press yesterday that he’s planning on getting an immigration bill on the floor by Labor Day.

That’s more optimistic than the President or even many Congressional advocates have been willing to be.  read more »

The Council on Foreign Relations released a report today calling comprehensive immigration reform, including more skilled immigration and “earned legalization” for the estimated 12 million here without papers. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush chairs CFR’s Task Force on U.S. Immigration Policy.  read more »

President Obama came into the White House promising a different tactic on immigration enforcement. He and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano decided to focus their punitive powers on employers, not workers, who violate immigration law.  read more »