More than two-thirds of Americans hope the Supreme Court justices will overturn some or all of President Obama's health care overhaul when they announce their decision later this month, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll released Thursday morning.
Forty-one percent of respondents said they want the court to undo the entire law, while another 27 percent said it should strike the individual mandate to buy health insurance but leave the rest of the law intact.
The poll showed little change in public opinion since March, when the court considered constitutional challenges to the law in a marathon week of hearings.
Its decision is sure to color the presidential race as Americans remain sharply divided over the health care law, largely along party lines.
The law is also unpopular among independent voters, with nearly three-fourths saying they hope the court overturns at least some of it, while 20 percent said all of it should be upheld.
Obama budget defeated 99-0 in Senate
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/may/16/oba...
President Obama's budget suffered a second embarrassing defeat Wednesday, when senators voted 99-0 to reject it.
Coupled with the House's rejection in March, 414-0, that means Mr. Obama's budget has failed to win a single vote in support this year.
Republicans forced the vote by offering the president's plan on the Senate floor.
Democrats disputed that it was actually the president's plan, arguing that the slim amendment didn't actually match Mr. Obama's budget document, which ran thousands of pages. But Republicans said they used all of the president's numbers in the proposal, so it faithfully represented his plan.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican, even challenged Democrats to point out any errors in the numbers and he would correct them — a challenge no Democrats took up.
"A stunning development for the president of the United States in his fourth year in office," Mr. Sessions said of the unanimous opposition.
The White House has held its proposal out as a "balanced approach" to beginning to rein in deficits. It calls for tax increases to begin to offset higher spending, and would begin to level off debt as a percentage of the economy by 2022. It would produce $6.4 trillion in new deficits over that time.
By contrast the chief Republican alternative from the House GOP would notch just $3.1 trillion in deficits, and three Senate Republican alternatives would all come in below $2 trillion.
The Senate is holding votes Wednesday on Mr. Obama's budget, the House GOP's budget and the three Senate Republican alternatives. None was expected to gain the 50 votes needed to pass the chamber.
