Then, later today, the Senate will take up the confirmation of Elena Kagan, who will almost certainly be confirmed to the Supreme Court, who will almost certainly play a pivotal role in reshaping state-federal relations, and whose actual thinking about such subjects will almost certainly not come out in the hearings. (An example of what Kagan could opine on: Yesterday, the Supreme Court said it would take up the case of Arizona's immigration law.)
By the end of the week, we'll all need a break from Supreme Court coverage. Fortunately, this Thursday is the date that one of health reform's first provisions, insurance pools for high-risk sick people priced out of the privary market, are scheduled to go live. Thirty states have somehow managed to launch pools, others haven't. Republican Senator Mike Enzi, R-Utah, is already criticizing the Department of Health and Human Services for missing its 90-day deadline, which passed last week but HHS allowed states to start pools this week to coincide with the beginning of states' fiscal years. (Although shouldn't Enzi, as an opponent of health reform, be pleased?)
You think being late is bad? Last week, federal officials revealed that funding for the $5 billion set aside to pay for these high risk pools will run out in 2013, a year before subsidised state-run health insurance exchanges go live. But that's a problem for later. Let's get through this week first.
