NBC Nightly News (3/26, story 5, 2:55, Williams) reported, "President Obama will sign the final version of the healthcare bill on Tuesday," and on Friday, House Speaker Pelosi "put her signature on it."

        The New York Times (3/27, Pear, Herszenhorn) noted that the White House announced the President "would step up his defense of" healthcare reform "with a trip next week to Maine." Rep. Chellie Pingree "strongly supported the legislation, as did many of her constituents," but "aides to Ms. Pingree predicted that the president would be greeted by some protesters."

        Lawmakers Encounter Disparate Reactions In Home Districts. Under the headline "Lawmakers Face Fallout At Home From Health Vote," the New York Times (3/29, Nagourney) reports that "Representative Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat who supported...Obama's healthcare bill, drew shouts of 'amen' as he returned home on Friday. But his supporters did not publicize a speech he delivered Saturday morning, out of fear it would be disrupted by protesters." Meanwhile, "Representative John Barrow, a Democrat from Georgia who voted against the bill, was embraced as a hero by white constituents," as "at the same event, distressed black voters assailed him." Rep. Anh Cao, "a Louisiana Republican who opposed the bill, found a decidedly tepid reception in his district, where one-fifth of residents do not have health insurance."

        Under the headline "Congressman Finds Political Vitriol Follows Him Home To Ohio," the Washington Post (3/29, Thompson) reports that "Rep. Steve Driehaus spent the first Sunday of his two-week break from Washington," and "outside his Cincinnati home, a few angry protesters wouldn't allow him a full escape from the raw and vitriolic discussions that have embroiled the healthcare debate for more than a year. They showed up to decry the freshman congressman's vote for the overhaul, standing in the chilling rain most of the afternoon Sunday holding signs." The "gathering, which never included more than three people at a time, was anchored by Jim Berns, a libertarian who has run for Driehaus's seat three times and for the state legislature 10 times."

The Wall Street Journal (3/29, McKinnon) reports that, according to some analysts, provisions in the new health reform law which would expand certain benefits for the elderly, some early retirees, and coal miners may ultimately cost more than anticipated. Notably, a program for disabled elderly, called Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, or CLASS, was supported by labor unions and by the disabled and elderly. It is expected to attract about 10 million workers over the next 10 years. But the CBO warned last year that CLASS' expenses would quickly outstrip worker contributions, and become a burden on the government.

The Hill (3/29, Bolton) reports that appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sen. Lindsey Graham "predicted Sunday that a wave of state legislatures would fight to resist federal healthcare reform that will add billions in costs to their budgets." Said Graham, "This fight won't wind up being just in Washington, it's going to spread to every statehouse in the nation and we're going to have referendums on this bill throughout every statehouse in the nation. ... Can the states afford what Washington did to them?"

        Asked, on NBC's Meet The Press (3/28, Gregory), if a "campaign of repeal" is "realistic," Graham responded, "Only if you replace it. ... It is good to repeal the cuts in Medicare and to repeal the massive tax increases -- and replace it with opportunities to buy insurance in the private sector without cutting Medicare and raising taxes and using budget gimmick Ponzi schemes like the Class Act. ... This fight won't wind up being just in Washington; it's going to spread to every statehouse in the nation, and we're going to have referendums on this bill through every statehouse in the nation."

        On CBS's Face The Nation (3/28, Schieffer), Sen. Jim DeMint said, "Over sixty percent of Americans still want Republicans to fight to repeal this. So what I do next is, I'm trying to replace those who voted for this bill. I want to repeal it. And I want to replace it with some real reform that puts patients in charge of their healthcare again." DeMint added, "All of us who believe in freedom in this country recognize that if this healthcare bill stands, it'll not only destroy our healthcare system, we believe it'll bankrupt our country. So to give up on repealing this bill will be giving up on our country for me and, I think, for millions of Americans."

        High Court Could Eventually Decide Fate Of Healthcare Bill. The Washington Times (3/29, Rowland) reports, "The same Supreme Court justices whom President Obama blasted during his State of the Union address this year may ultimately decide the fate of his crowning achievement as more than a dozen states have called on the courts to strike down the health insurance mandate of Democrats' healthcare overhaul -- a move that would threaten the entire law." The Times adds that "at issue is the scope of the federal government's power over states and individuals. Critics of the law say the requirement that all Americans buy insurance or pay a fine, if allowed, would mean that Congress has virtually boundless authority to compel actions. Proponents argue that legal precedents support an expansive reading of the legislative branch's license to regulate such activity."

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