In a completely obvious maneuver, the Senate parliamentarian has kicked out the Health Insurance Rate Authority from the reconciliation set of fixes. The national rate reviewer would have had the ability to cancel premium increases across the country, in association with state regulators. But it has no primary budgetary impact, so out it goes.

This is frankly rather amazing in that totally-saw-it-coming way. We’ve been waiting for days to see the CBO score to see how much the final health care bill will cost, with the goals being to both reduce the deficit and to fit under the arbitrary $900 billion cap posed by Obama.

It seems they’ve been unable to do so, as Ben Smith now reports that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is on his way to the White House to discuss plans by Democrats to actually raise the tax on middle class health care plans in order to pay for the bill.

The internet is buzzing about this report on heraldscotland.com, where we find that large, “bunker buster” bombs are being shipped from Concord, California to a base on the island of Diego Garcia. The report claims the bombs are intended for immediate use in an attack on Iran. An alternate explanation would be that the bombs are meant to increase pressure on Iran to prevent enrichment of uranium to weapons grade.

Why have we not yet seen a reconciliation bill with a final CBO score? It needs to be made public today if they want to have it online for 72 hours before a planned Saturday vote. The answer seems to be that they are having trouble putting together a reconciliation bill that the CBO will project as saving a sufficient amount of money.

There is, of course, a very easy solution to the House Democrats’ CBO trouble. They could add a public option or Medicare buy-in.

Still lots of work for the leadership to do. And where’s that CBO score?

Blanche Lincoln can threaten to filibuster her own party’s bill, and she never even gets a call. But Dennis Kucinich, on the other hand, stands up for a key principle of health care reform that Obama campaigned on — and gets a personal visit from Air Force One.

If indeed this health care bill passes, people across the country will have to start examining the basic assumptions with which we have heretofore approached politics. The thing I have learned above all else in this campaign is that the corporate control of government is much more extensive than I ever imagined, and the tools we have to fight its influence are ineffective.

The announcement that PhRMA plans to drop $6 million in a final round of pro-reform ads is a good indication that they received strong assurances that their secret deals with the Obama administration will be protected.

People can choose to support the bill despite this, the biggest rollback in abortion access since Roe v. Wade, on the grounds that increases in total health care access will limit abortions, or because women’s health will improve, or whatever other reason. But don’t pretend to “study” the issue. We know exactly what the Senate bill would accomplish, taking a legitimate medical procedure and making it taboo.

Some said I would cast deciding vote. President’s visit to my district underscored the urgency. I have taken this fight further than many in Congress cared to carry it.