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POPS "Feelin' Lazy" President Obama to CEOs: ‘We’ve Been a Bit Lazy’ By Jon Garcia Obama has taken the nation that elected him president to task for its own lackadaisical economic performance on the global stage. “We’ve been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted — ‘Well, people would want to come here’ — and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America,” he told the CEOs who are gathered on the sidelines of the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, which the United States is hosting this year in Hawaii. “I think it’s important to remember that the United States is still the largest recipient of foreign investment in the world and there are a lot of things that make foreign investors see the U.S. as a great opportunity — our stability, our openness, our innovative free market culture,” he said. by Tom Maguire http://bit.ly/v7bMMT http://justoneminute.typepad.com
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POPSCATRON: Supremes About to Decide Which Obamacare Cases Make the Cut
And, while obviously pleased that mandate was struck down, the plaintiffs also want the decision reviewed because they believe the Eleventh Circuit should have followed the lower court's lead in striking down the entire law pursuant to its lack of a severability clause. In addition, they also think the appeals court gave short shrift to their "commandeering" claim. The "commandeering" issue arises from Obamacare's dramatic expansion of Medicaid eligibility. The basic argument made by the plaintiffs is that the fiscal pressure associated with that expansion is so coercive that it is, in effect, an unconstitutional "commandeering" of the states. David Kopel, who teaches Advanced Constitutional Law at Denver University, explains it thus: "Under Obamacare, states must either: (1) Drastically expand Medicaid eligibility, thus setting themselves on the road to long-term fiscal ruin; or (2) Be punished with a complete cut-off of all Medicaid funds, thus forcing the states ...
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POPSD.C. Pastor Derrick Harkins to Lead Democrats' Faith Outreach Harkins is stepping into a role the DNC left empty during the 2010 midterm campaign, an absence that some party insiders blamed for large swaths of religious voters turning to the GOP. Burns Strider, one of those critical voices, praised Harkins' appointment on Thursday. "We fail in our politics and causes when we fail to dialogue with and build relationships in our faith communities," Strider, who led faith outreach for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, said in a statement. "Derrick has a deep and profound understanding and respect for these communities." Patrick Gaspard, Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee, said Harkins' hiring "should be a clear sign to everyone that Democrats will be making our case to voters motivated by their faith and values in 2012." D.C. Pastor Derrick Harkins to Lead Democrats' Faith Outreach by Daniel Burke http://bit.ly/tLfaTW http://blog.christianitytoday.com
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POPS0bamaCare Already Falling Apart? "Despite our best analytical efforts, I do not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time," Sebelius said in a letter to congressional leaders. The law required the administration to certify that CLASS would remain financially solvent for 75 years before it could be put into place. Monthly premiums would have ranged from $235 to $391, even as high as $3,000 under some scenarios, the administration said. At those prices, healthy people were unlikely to sign up. "If healthy purchasers are not attracted ... then premiums will increase, which will make it even more unattractive to purchasers who could also obtain policies in the private market," Kathy Greenlee, the lead official on CLASS, said in a memo to Sebelius. That "would cause the program to quickly collapse." more http://apne.ws/ogtbUO http://hosted.ap.org via http://drudgereport.com
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POPS Mourning In America The president, with an eye on November 2012, followed up his response by setting out to make a silk purse from the sow's ear that is the Obama economy. "I think that what we've seen is that we've been able to make steady progress to stabilize the economy," Obama contended, saying it is "so critical for us to make sure that we are taking every action we can take to put people back to work." The president, in fact, is not taking every action he can take to put people back to work. A leader focused on results — rather than appeasing the Democratic Party's liberal base — would recognize by now that stimulus spending and selective, jump-through-the-hoops tax relief have failed. And he would look to American economic history for things that did work — the simple, across-the-board tax cuts of Reagan, Kennedy, Coolidge and, yes, George W. Bush. Instead, this president is blaming others — most notably successful Americans. The president's class warfare has become so heavy-handed,
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POPSObamacare Has Arrived in the Supreme Court . . . from the Obamacare legislation. The NFIB is asking the Court to overrule this holding, since “Congress itself deemed ‘essential’ to the Act’s new insurance regulations.” Given that the 11th and 6th Circuits have issued “directly conflicting final judgments about the facial constitutionality of mandate,” the case is one that the Court should obviously take up given its interest in eliminating conflicting opinions in the courts of appeal. What also differentiates this particular case from the many other lawsuits that have been filed against Obamacare is the “all star” lineup of Supreme Court litigators that the NFIB and the 26 states have lined up to argue their case before the Supreme Court. It includes Michael Carvin, a former DOJ official who has argued (and won) numerous cases before the Court; Gregory Katsas, a former DOJ official who was a clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas; Kevin Marshal, another former DOJ official and Thomas clerk;
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POPSMichele Bachmann on Jobs and the Economy (Part 1 of 3) President Obama’s economic policies have failed: employers are paralyzed by record spending and debt, a weakened dollar, exploding energy prices, the explicit threat of new tax increases on top of the highest corporate rates in the world, Obamacare with its burdens on businesses, and a flood of new rules such as carbon regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency – which should be renamed the Jobs Killing Agency. She issues a specific set of political promises on the same page of her blog as the critique. I will lead the way in cutting spending, reducing taxes and deep-sixing our 3.8 million-word Internal Revenue Code so companies can invest again. As a first order of business, I will direct the elimination of counterproductive regulations, repeal Obamacare and stop cap-and-trade in its tracks so companies can operate again. She also championed regulatory reduction by sponsoring HR 87:
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POPSAARP is Starting to Crack, while Amac Grows Stronger You can save much more than your pennies-a-day membership in exclusive member benefits. Amac offers Medicare supplements, auto insurance, life insurance and discounts on the products and services seniors want and need. http://content.eaglepub.com/?kdtiZOURNeCgBEDfyxs-l5VcsHhquSgFk
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POPSJohn Boehner Might Keep Obamacare Around Forever Here’s why this is important. Headed to the Supreme Court are a volley of lawsuits questioning the constitutionality of the individual mandate. One of those cases ruled that all of Obamacare is unconstitutional because the individual mandate is. If John Boehner gets that trigger, what do you think the odds are that the Democrats, before the Supreme Court can rule, triggers the trigger. They’d thereby save Obamacare by getting rid of the individual mandate and rendering a Supreme Court decision moot. Now, that’s not to say I think the Supreme Court will throw out Obamacare. It all comes down to Anthony Kennedy. But I sure as heck don’t think we should give the Democrats a chance to preclude a Supreme Court decision. And given the chance, I suspect they’d take it. Likewise, Republicans have long maintained that Obamacare must be fully repealed, not “fixed.” Boehner’s strategy would directly undermine that. House Republicans were sent to Washington to repeal Obamacare . .
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POPSObama's Medical Mystery Shoppers As the Times noted, "the decision , after criticism from doctors and politicians, represents an abrupt turnabout. On Sunday night, officials at the health department and the White House staunchly defended the survey as a way to measure access to primary care, and insisted that it posed no threat to privacy." It's a remarkable scoop for a newspaper which has operated as an arm of the Obama Administration's press office (and recently has only seemed interested in breaking big stories when they can damage national security or the election chances of Republicans). Nevertheless, the Times' article quotes four doctors opposed to the scheme and no doctors in favor of it. For example: "'I don't like the idea of the government snooping,' said Dr. Raymond Scalettar, an internist in Washington. 'It's a pernicious practice -- Big Brother tactics, which should be opposed.'" One defense of the plan that has been made by liberal talking heads . . .
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POPSAARP's Game Of Treachery is Now Crystal Clear . . . after playing along with the Obama administration's corporatist favoritism. Corporatism, or "crony capitalism," takes many forms. For instance, when seniors began to catch on to the systemic health care damage that ObamaCare would cause, President Obama and congressional Dems feared disappearing senior political support. In crony capitalism, corporate entities fund misinformation campaigns that paint harmful government action as beneficial and shifty politicians as straight-up. In the case of ObamaCare, AARP leadership supported legislation which AARP members judged harmful and therefore rejected. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) dissected an AARP analysis of prescription drug prices. Using cherry-picked data, AARP had surveyed 217 drugs, 211 of which increased in price over a year. By also excluding generic drugs from the analysis, AARP led members to believe that drug prices had increased 8.3 percent in 2009.
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POPS0bama Claims GOP Tried to "Sneak" Agenda into Budget CBS Radio News White House correspondent Mark Knoller listened in to an audio feed of Mr. Obama's conversation with donors after other reporters traveling with the president had left the room. "When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, he's just being America's accountant ... This is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill -- but wasn't paid for," Mr. Obama told his supporters. "So it's not on the level." more... http://bit.ly/gueoF5 http://www.cbsnews.com
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POPSObamacare’s $5 Billion ‘Slush Fund’ According to Pres. Obama and Congressional Democrats, the program is meant to help early retirees who “often face difficulties obtaining insurance in the individual market because of age or chronic conditions that make coverage unaffordable or inaccessible.” But, Republicans on the Subcommittee say this “slush fund” is another reason they think Obamacare should be repealed. Republicans took shots at Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIO) Deputy Administrator Steven Larsen for how the administration decides who gets a slice of the $5 billion pie – and how the application process works. At the Friday hearing, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican, ripped Larsen because the program doesn’t require companies or labor unions to demonstrate a “financial need,” or that “they’re short of money or that they’re not going to be able to cover the cost of those that are enrolled in the plan that they are choosing to sponsor.”
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POPSRep. Bachmann's Letter to Defund ObamaCare Consequently, we ask that the following language, or more effective language, be added to the FY11 CR to cut off both the annual and automatic appropriations for ObamaCare’s implementation: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds made available by this or any previous Act with respect to any fiscal year may be used to carry out the provisions of Public Law 111-148, Public Law 111-152, or any amendment made by either such Public Law.” It is essential that the above language be included in the CR. We, the undersigned, will not vote in support of a continuing resolution that is void of this crucial funding prohibition. Sincerely, Steve King Michele Bachmann Letter to Leadership to Defund ObamaCare Immediately Posted by Rep. Michele Bachmann read full letter http://bit.ly/igYaez http://www.redstate.com
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POPS Waivers For Everyone . . . it relies entirely on the compulsive force of law – no one in their right minds would willingly participate in ObamaCare unless (almost) everyone else is forced to do so, any more than the liberal millionaires who complain about low tax rates would voluntarily pay more in taxes. Force is the objective, not voluntary co-operation. Of course, the name of the game for statists is to hide that increased cost, so the chosen beneficiaries of their policies think they’re getting something for “free.” Allowing everyone to apply for a straightforward waiver from ObamaCare would greatly reduce the cost of compliance and avoidance… and, of course, it would destroy ObamaCare, because the confused people left milling around in the bloated corpse of the system would no longer be under any illusions that it was making anything cheaper, or more accessible. Exploring the Health Care Waiver Fairness Act by John Hayward http://bit.ly/gWqFBS http://www.humanevents.com 03/10/2011
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POPSEXPOSED $105,464,000,000 Hidden in 0bamacare ~ Michele Bachmann Section 4101(a) allows $230 million in appropriation for school-based health centers. Section 5508 appropriates $230 million for expanded primary care residency programs and Section 2953 allocates $320 to Title XX-type education programs From Minnesota's finest . 3.5.2011 Michele Bachmann Exposes $105 Billion in Hidden Obamacare Funding posted by Trevor Loudon http://newzeal.blogspot.com/05/2011 http://bit.ly/eJqrqa
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POPSYet Another New Obamacare Bureaucracy a “get out of jail free” card by bureaucrats at CCIIO. John Larson, Deputy Administrator and Director of CCIIO, stated in the hearing that waivers allow “employers and insurers to continue offering limited coverage if they can show that complying with the regulation would cause their enrollees to experience a significant increase in premiums or decrease in access to benefits.” Representative Fred Upton (R–MI), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that waivers are necessary because “complying with the PPACA would have forced hundreds of businesses to drop the health insurance plans they provide to their workers because the plans that Obamacare would have forced them to have would have been too expensive, and would have bankrupted those business.” The message resonating from the subcommittee hearing is that the growing number of waivers approved by the CCIIO bureaucracy wouldn’t be needed if Congress took the time to write solid health care . . .
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POPSThese “promises are already falling apart!” Third, you may not be able to keep your existing coverage plan. Congressman Dave Reichart (R–WA) stated that there was language placed in the bill that runs counter to the premise that people can keep their current plans. Sebelius also continued to express a misunderstanding of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program . . . Despite the statute that makes CLASS an explicit opt-out program, the Secretary responded that it had not yet been determined whether enrollment in CLASS will be opt-in or opt-out. In a way, her interpretation of the legislation goes to the heart of separation of powers and whether the unelected bureaucracy can simply rewrite a program created through an act of Congress. Sebelius doesn’t seem to understand that Obamacare is more unpopular than ever because people and businesses are afraid of its plethora of mandates and increase of government control and spending.
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POPSShowdown: Alaska Governor Refuses to Enact Health-Care Law This is an epic showdown in the making with the administration being forced to defend themselves on all fronts: noncompliant states, Congressional defunding and of course the constitutional court case itself. by Dr. Milton Wolf http://wolffiles.blogspot.com
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POPSMessage to Congress: Don't 'Fix' ObamaCare The states, Congress, and ultimately a president who supports the Constitution, must repeal it wholesale. The WSJ goes on to call "promising" a bill from John Barrasso (R-WY) that would allow states to "opt out" of the individual mandate. But this is the kind of piecemeal approach which hurts repeal efforts. There is no severability clause in ObamaCare (the individual mandate is compulsory) and because there isn't, Vinson rejected the law in toto. To allow states to "opt out" weakens both Congressional repeal efforts, as well as judicial precedent, because it subverts his ruling. With this in mind, we must avoid "band-aid" measures. Public perception is fickle, and the nixing of the 1099 reporting provision - the first "tinker" - is a p.r. win for Democrats. The message-"It can be saved!" Never mind that the provision's revenue projection was .009% of the law's projected cost. The impression is one of "solutions."
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POPSWikiLeaks cables: US Agrees to Tell Russia Britain's Nuclear Secrets WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets The US secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week. Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal. The fact that the Americans used British nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip also sheds new light on the so-called “special relationship”, which is shown often to be a one-sided affair by US diplomatic communications obtained by the WikiLeaks website. Details of the behind-the-scenes talks are contained in more than 1,400 US embassy cables published to date by the Telegraph, including almost 800 sent from the London Embassy ...
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POPS Guess Who Predicted The ObamaCare Ruling? Obama Told Me If I Voted For Hillary, The Federal Government Would FORCE Me To Buy Health Insurance And HE WAS RIGHT! http://americanglob.com/2011/02/01/obama-told-me-if-i-voted-for-hillary-the-federal-government-would-force-me-to-buy-health-insurance-and-he-was-right/ more.... videos .... http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/01/video-guess-who-predicted-the-obamacare-ruling
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POPS Cuccinelli Files Suit to Speed Up Health-Care Challenge “The Supreme Court has a rule, Rule Eleven, that allows them at their pure discretion to expedite these cases by which we mean the Court of Appeals, and we have asked them to do that in this case. The Federal Government wrote in our case recently that this is a case of the highest order of magnitude of importance in public policy and we completely agree,” explained Cuccinelli Continue reading on Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/republican-in-richmond/cuccinelli-files-suit-to-speed-up-health-care-challenge#ixzz1CwP53DAL
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POPSThe Real Snow Job in D.C.: Obamacare Waivers Skyrocket to 729 + 4 States; 4 New SEIU Waiver Winners Which brings the total number of Obamacare-promoting SEIU Obamacare escapees to an estimated 45,000 workers represented by seven SEIU locals. HHS puts the total number of union waiver recipients at 182: Collectively-Bargained Employer-Based Plan Applicants: Most of the other health plans receiving waivers are multi-employer health funds created by a collective bargaining agreement between a union and two or more employers, pursuant to the Taft-Hartley Act. These “union plans” are employment based group health plans and operate for the sole benefit of workers. They tend to be larger than other typical group health plans because they cover multiple employers. There are also single-employer union plans that have received a waiver. In total, 182 collectively-bargained plans have received waivers. * The list of Obamacare refugees is too long to list here ....
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POPS Remember The 111th that were supposed to fund the military. Nobody knew what this Congress was really voting on… including members of Congress, who didn’t bother to read the bills anyway. The disgraceful “leadership” of Pelosi and Reid will be studied by generations to come, in the kind of class future kids only have to take when they’re caught skipping more interesting classes to fool around on their hoverboards. This was a Congress at war with American business, which is a war against American liberty, since business is the instrument through which we invest the hours of our lives. The 111th Congress spent its term menacing the private sector with disastrous, economy-killing ideas like cap-and-trade, Card Check, and value-added taxes… then wondered why nobody was creating any jobs. There’s no point in taking risks and doing the hard work to be a winner, when the losers get taxpayer bailouts, provided they have employees from the right labor unions. Of course, this is the Congress ...
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POPS Two Ways to Improve the Repeal Bill Second, naming the bill the “Repeal the Job-Killing Health-Care Law Act” was a wasted opportunity. (No, not because it invokes images of violence.) The bill repeals “Obamacare,” plain and simple. The media go to great lengths to avoid using that label, so Republicans should use it in every bill that addresses Obamacare. The “Obamacare Repeal Act” would have achieved this — and would have been much easier for the rest of us to get our mouths around. Let’s face it, one great unearned benefit of opposing the government take-over of our access to medical services is the ability to use the president’s last name to connote the legislation negatively. It sounds even better than “HillaryCare”! I’ve given a lot of speeches on this legislation, and the auditory aesthetics of the word “Obamacare,” when spoken by and to its critics, is undeniable. It just rolls off the tongue. (“Romneycare” is a close second, of course, and I’m glad of that, too —
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POPS Repeal is Real You can help us take this fight to the next level. First, be sure to thank your representative if he voted Yes on the repeal bill. This is how we keep them on the right track. If your Representative voted the wrong way, let him know (in a polite way, devoid of “violent rhetoric”) of your disappointment with his vote. From here, the ball is now in the Senate’s court. Call and write your Senators, and tell them you want Majority Leader Harry Reid to schedule a debate and vote on the House-passed repeal bill as soon as possible. Repeal is Real Posted by Matt Kibbe more... http://www.redstate.com
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POPSBreaking: GOP Will Move to Repeal Obamacare This Week CNN has learned that Republicans plan to try to repeal the health care law almost immediately after taking control of the House, setting the stage for an early confrontation with President Obama. GOP Will Move to Repeal Obamacare This Week more... http://bit.ly/fYZoqW http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com
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POPSA 'Recovery' Like No Other Only about half as many people held temporary jobs two decades ago. Since then, the current recovery is record-setting in terms of adding temporary jobs. We can compare the three recessions since 1990. While the current recovery has seen the share of jobs held by temporary workers increase by 26 percent, the recession that ended in March 1991 saw a 10 percent increase in share held by temporary workers and the recession that ended in November 2001 had no increase... The explanation behind temporary job creation is pretty simple: uncertainty. Companies don’t want to make longer-term commitments if they don’t know what the next couple of years will look like. New regulations are being imposed on companies, be it health care, finance, the environment, and the other areas. And the exact form and extent of these regulations still have to be determined by regulators.
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POPSJudge Hudson's Ruling Only Delays the Inevitable Indeed, one of the vulnerabilities of the health care legislation cited by Judge Hudson was its use of the term "penalty" rather than "tax" to describe the consequences of a failure to purchase insurance. Still another irony is that the Democrats could have easily avoided this challenge. In its rush to get the legislation passed while there was still a large Democratic majority, Congressional leaders missed some obvious ways to make the law immune to the objections raised in the Virginia case. For example, the bill could have created a government insurance program paid for by taxes, while allowing individuals to opt out with a private policy and get a rebate on the taxes. The net effect of this would be to "penalize" those who failed to purchase private insurance by requiring them to pay for the government policy. This structure is similar to some recent proposals for Social Security reform. If in fact the Supreme Court ultimately declares the bill unconstitutional ...
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POPSNew Low in Support for Health Care Reform U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson, in Richmond, Virginia, ruled today that Congress exceeded its authority by imposing the individual mandate, but he declined to freeze the rollout of the law while court cases proceed. Two other judges, in Detroit and Lynchburg, Va., have upheld the law, and it’s expected ultimately to reach the Supreme Court. video of Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli presser at link Poll Finds Support for Health Care Reform at a New Low more... by Gary Langer http://abcn.ws/esP0Jz http://blogs.abcnews.com
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POPS0bamaCare's Competition-Crushers The Obama team is now writing regulations that are likely to exempt ACOs from some of the costly rules that private providers have to play by. For example, the "Stark" rules bar health-care providers from owning the facilities that they refer patients to -- so that doctors won't have a financial incentive to prescribe treatments simply because they'll get a cut. But ACOs may escape these restrictions. The Obama team may also release the ACOs from key anti-trust provisions. Medicare recently discussed such exemptions with the Federal Trade Commission, so that an ACO can control all the doctors and health-care facilities in its local marketplace. But these antitrust provisions exist precisely because of fear that a consolidated medical provider could drive up regional health-care costs and/or lower the quality of medical care. The ACO concept aims to copy groups such as Kaiser Permanente, where providers are salaried employees of a large (preferably not-for-profit) entity.
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POPSRep. Michele Bachmann: “111 Company Waivers Means… Obamacare Is an Abject Failure!” ....This is an admission of failure by the White House. They may not be admitting it, but their actions are admitting it. Why? Because we see universities and unions and favored companies are getting waivers. What’s a waiver? It’s an exemption. Why do they they need an exemption? Obamacare is a cost driving hiker. It’s a failure. We were told we had to pass Obamacare. We couldn’t wait. We couldn’t even read the bill. We couldn’t take the time to even debate it. Because why? President Obama promised us, he promised that it would drive down the cost of health care. He promised. He promised.”
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POPSDemocrats Will Implement "Trick" to Pass Health Care Reform Well, so much for a bipartisan strategy session on health care. Despite calls from the White House about bringing Republicans to the table to get their ideas into the debate, it looks like Democrats have already decided on a plan to pass their original legislation. Legislation Americans have soundly rejected from coast to coast. Speaking at the National Health Policy Conference hosted by Academy Health and Health Affairs, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's senior health care adviser Wendell Primus said that Democratic leaders in Congress will implement a legislative "trick" to pass their very unpopular version of health care reform. Why propose a televised, bipartisan meeting on February 25th if the underlying plan has been to pass the Democrats' original health care proposal all along? Well, it's simple. President Obama wants to give the appearance of bipartisan cooperation without really caring at all.
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POPSObama Sets Trap for Republicans No matter what the Democrats say to the Republicans or anything that they try to put in there, it would only be a lie. They would sneak things in that none of us want. I believe we should wait until all of them are voted out. We get people in there who care about America and believe in the Constitution and then we can listen to them about health care. RUSH: Absolutely right. Absolutely right. The Republicans ought not get suckered by this and go anywhere near it. CALLER: Say "no!" RUSH: Say "hell, no!" Read the Background Material... • Washington Post: GOP Cool to Obama Call for Two-Party Health Talks • Politico: White House Announces Televised Health Meet • New York Times: Obama Plans Bipartisan Summit on Health Care *Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time. http://bit.ly/cQqrV2 http://www.rushlimbaugh.com
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POPSHill Leaders Welcome Summit Idea "Obviously, I am pleased that the White House finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation on health care," he said. "The problem with the Democrats’ health care bills is not that the American people don’t understand them; the American people do understand them, and they don't like them." Congressional Republicans have largely resisted the Democratic effort to write health care legislation. Only one Republican member voted for the House bill when it passed in November. No Republicans voted for the Senate bill during procedural motions or on final passage.
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POPSAssociated Press: Review State of the Union Speech. Reality 8 Obama 0 coverage " the majority of Americans under age 65 " in the plans they already have. But Obama can’t guarantee people won’t see higher rates or fewer benefits in their existing plans. Because of elements such as new taxes on insurance companies, insurers could change what they offer or how much it costs. OBAMA: The president issued a populist broadside against lobbyists, saying they have “outsized influence” over the government ... THE FACTS: Obama has limited the hiring of lobbyists for administration jobs, but the ban isn’t absolute; seven waivers from the ban have been granted to White House officials alone ... OBAMA: “Because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed… THE FACTS: The success of the Obama-pushed economic stimulus that Congress approved early last year has been an ongoing point of contention. In November, it reported that the stimulus increased the number of people employed .....
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