From ALG News’ Capitol Hill Correspondent Derek Baker:

In the Senate, intense healthcare overhaul negotiations continue in secret at the White House and across the Capitol complex this week, as Obama and the Democrats ignore C-SPANs request to televise the deliberations. Most pundits agree that for the GOP to have a significant impact on healthcare passage at this point, they need to hammer disgruntled rank-and-file Dems into signing the discharge petition for Rep. Buchanan’s “healthcare sunshine” resolution.

Dems are pushing PhRMA to pony up another $10 billion, breaking the deal brokered back in June with the White House, and Dems are likely to extend the Medicare payroll tax to investment income.  Additional funding sources are necessary, since many of the other provisions Dems are pushing to include would add billions to the final package, such as increased subsidies to lower-income individuals and lowering the Cadillac-tax on high-end insurance plans to appease the labor unions.

Incredibly, Dem leaders have even floated the idea of exempting unions altogether from the Cadillac tax – a raw deal for non-union workers that should have senators from Right to Work states screaming at the tops of their lungs. In fact, this single proposal could be enough to derail the government health care bill in its entirety.

It’s also increasingly likely Dems will scuttle the state insurance exchanges in favor of one national exchange, the Health Choices Administration. It would serve as the federal health cop on approving and rationing healthcare packages for Americans.

Amid all this deal-making, the clock is ticking on producing a package before SOTU. Reid has stated his goal is to get the final package to CBO by early next week for a final cost estimate.

Bottom Line: As several GOP leaders noted this week, ObamaCare can still be stopped. Just enough information is leaking out of closed-door meetings to convince more Americans this will irreparably harm healthcare delivery in America. Look for the Obama-union boss deal on the so-called “Cadillac tax” to become a major issue that could spell end game.

In the House, Chairman Barney Frank, apparently not satisfied with only a 10% unemployment rate and flat consumer lending, is aggressively pursuing federal pay mandates on the financial services industry.  Frank has scheduled a hearing next week to explore ways for the federal government to cap executive compensation in the industry.

He openly mocks the industry’s claim that pay caps would harm their ability to recruit and keep top talent.  Oddly enough, he hasn’t required the CEOs of Fannie and Freddie to attend the hearing and they won’t be subject to the caps (Politico has reported that the government agreed to pay $6 million packages to both CEOs).

Bottom Line: Heavy-handed, unconstitutional actions such as these by liberals underscore the fact that they despise capitalism. Federal intervention and mandates imposed on the private sector always serve to increase consumer costs, impair performance and lower quality.  Frank seems to prefer the Russian economic model over the American free enterprise system.