Bob Gates successfully convinced Brown on the implementation process, which should concern people a bit, especially as Gates might not be around to do the implementation. Gates did say that he would not “slow-walk” things, but what about his successor? What if a President Palin reaches office without implementation in place, and she just never certifies it? I don’t know if that’s likely, but it’s something to watch.

Ben Nelson, the conservative Democratic Senator who in recent months has had a voting profile not unlike a conservative Republican, announced his opposition to the DREAM Act, leaving Democratic leaders in search of additional Republican votes to make up the difference.

Since we have started a public debate about whether or not to extend Bush’s massive, deficit-ballooning tax cuts to millionaires, the same deficit hawks who sent up trial balloons about cutting Social Security and other benefits have been very quiet. Very interesting, yes?

Ben Nelson has come out for extending all the Bush tax cuts “until Nebraska’s and the nation’s economy is in better shape, and perhaps longer, because raising taxes in a weak economy could impair recovery.” It’s funny that he throws Nebraska in there, which is sitting on 5%. It’s also funny that he calls the extension an action “to help the economy” like the stimulus package in 2009, even though this would merely be an extension of current tax rates, which aren’t boosting the economy in any way.

As we get deeper into the electoral cycle and things get more polarized, it should come as no surprise that attitudes have become more polarized on health care.

Nelnet improperly exploits a loophole in the student lending regulations for years, and then last Friday afternoon settled a $1+ billion student loan fraud case for $55 million, just as college students head back to campus. Lovely.

But I’m sure that nothing like this could happen with insurance companies and the Health Insurance reform regulations, or the Wall Street firms and the FinReg rules . . .

Welcome back to campus, everyone.

Even when this vote passes, the House would have to concur, and they’re not supposed to be in session until September. There was talk yesterday of calling the House back to pass this.

If you were hoping that the Democrats in the Senate would do something about the Republicans’ unprecedented abuse of the filibuster, you can forget it.

You can be excused for assuming that Senate Democrats don’t even particularly want the DISCLOSE Act to proceed to the floor today, otherwise they would be making arrangements to have all the Senators in the caucus available for the vote

Multiple outlets, but led by Jane Kleeb at Bold Nebraska, have confirmed that Ben Nelson will support the financial reform bill. It’s unclear what Nelson got in exchange for his support, but that was a pretty quick turnaround. Maybe Harry Reid told him that his objection to no Senate input on the head of the new consumer protection bureau was totally ridiculous, because the position is subject to Senate confirmation. Perhaps Nelson just said, “Oh,” and moved on.