The Rundown, 9/30

It could be a very important day for Afghanistan, as President Obama will meet with his entire national security team to discuss U.S. policy going forward. Gen. Stanley McChrystal's report is out in the open, and the general has made it clear that he sees more troops and a strategic reengineering as completely necessary--the alternative being failure. Others, including Vice President Joe Biden, have pressed for a scaled-back mission to seek out and kill al-Qaeda terrorists. We'll find out at some point if the whole team, assembled today at the White House, comes to any agreement.

The president will also tour the NIH headquarters in Bethesda, MD and will make an announcement about stimulus funding, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
And yep, you guessed it. The Senate Finance Committee will continue its markup of health reform legislation. With the public option already going down in defeat on Tuesday, some of the climax will be removed from today's proceedings.

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on reforming the credit rating agencies. Sadly, the hapless band of credit-strapped guys from the FreeCreditReport.com commercials aren't on the witness list...but it would be completely unsurprising if someone started humming the song.

And, for anyone who doesn't believe in global warming, you won't want to miss Sen. James Inhofe's (R-OK) news conference on climate change at the Capitol. He doesn't believe in it, either, and he's planning to go to Copenhagen to say so.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/09/the-rundown-9-30/27492/