Barrasso: Obamacare Premiums Depend on Side of Street You Live On

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming says his disturbing find that some Americans pay more for their Affordable Care Act premiums than their neighbors is proof of how unfair President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law is.

"It is nutty … [You] save money or end up paying more depending on which side of the street you live," Barrasso told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"[A] person living on one side of the street or the other could end up paying up to $600 a year more … Not because of their health, not because of fitness, not because of pre-existing conditions, but solely because of which side of the street they live.

"This is happening all over America. There's so many of the unintended consequences of the healthcare law, but people know that they're not being treated fairly."

Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, analyzed costs in three states participating in the federal healthcare exchange: South Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Via: Newsmax

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Sen. Barrasso: Sebelius now 'laughingstock of America'

Sen. John Barrasso on Sunday added to his criticism of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ handling of the ObamaCare website, saying she is now the “laughingstock of America.”

The comments by Barrasso, R-Wyo., who last week called for Sebelius’ resignation, follow NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” comedy show in which the opening skit featured an actor pretending to be Sebelius talking about the site and its problems.

Barrasso is just one of dozens of congressional Republicans who have called for the resignation of Sebelius, whose agency has handled the development and Oct. 1 rollout of the site.

Thirty-three House Republicans, separately, sent a letter to President Obama urging him to ask for the resignation. They appeared to be joined Sunday in the call by Tennessee GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who said Sebelius will testify on Capitol Hill this week "before she's out the door."

"The incompetence in building this website is staggering," Blackburn told "Fox News Sunday." 

Sebelius last week fought back against calls for her resignation, saying she doesn’t work for the people asking her to resign and that “no one is getting fired” over the glitches.

Via: Fox News

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Dana Milbank: Now, lead from the front

Let us hear no more about President Obama leading from behind.

Since a White House adviser uttered that phrase to the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza in 2011 to describe Obama’s leadership in Libya, “leading from behind” has become a favorite refrain of Republicans trying to portray Obama as weak.

Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) detected “a policy of leading from behind, of indecision” in Syria. Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) said Obama’s “strategy of leading from behind meant [Moammar] Gaddafi’s weapons stockpiles went unsecured.” Sen. Dan Coats (Ind.) said Obama’s insistence on higher taxes was more evidence that “the president continues to lead from behind.” Rep. Doc Hastings (Wash.) even said that “the American people have been waiting for the Obama administration to stop leading from behind” — and to hurry up approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

But the last use of the phrase I could find in the congressional record was on Oct. 2, at the start of the shutdown, when. Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) said Obama had been “once again attempting to lead from behind in a crisis.”

They aren’t saying that now.

Obama got out in front of the shutdown and debt-ceiling standoff. He took a firm position — no negotiating — and he made his case to the country vigorously and repeatedly. Republicans miscalculated, assuming Obama would again give in. The result was the sort of decisive victory rarely seen in Washington skirmishes.

Via: Washington Post

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Mikulski: Defaulting is ‘deadbeat, deadbeat, deadbeat’

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said Thursday that the United States is one week away from being a “deadbeat nation.”

“We are on the verge of being a deadbeat nation,” Mikulski said on the Senate floor. “A deadbeat is someone who does not meet their financial obligations. … That is deadbeat, deadbeat, deadbeat.

“I think it’s humiliating; I think it’s despicable. … We must not be a deadbeat nation.”

Lawmakers are working against an Oct. 17 deadline for raising the nation's borrowing limit. 

Treasury and the White House have warned that if the limit is not lifted, the government could default on its debt, leading to a recession. 

Mikulski, the Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman, urged her colleagues to support a measure from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that would raise the debt ceiling by nearly $1 trillion. A procedural vote to advance that legislation is scheduled for Saturday.

It's unclear whether Reid will have the votes. The measure would raise the debt ceiling but would not cut spending, and it could be difficult for Republicans to back a "clean" debt ceiling hike.

"If we as a nation are going to incur more debt, then we need to find real savings," Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said Thursday. "It’s time to set [spending] priorities."

The House is expected to pass its own short-term debt-ceiling extension, possibly later this week, but many Republicans are trying to add language that would cut entitlement programs, including ObamaCare.

Via: The Hill

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