Obama’s new pledge: It’ll be ‘easy’ for Republicans to back immigration reform

President Obama met with top U.S. business leaders on Tuesday in an effort to drum up more support for an immigration reform bill that’s already cleared the Senate but faces an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled House.

GOP House Speaker John A. Boehner and others in his party have indicated they won’t take up the Senate bill — which includes tighter border security but also contains the controversial pathway to citizenship provision — and instead will consider a piece-by-piece approach to immigration reform, rather than a sweeping bill such as the one that has emerged from the Senate.

But the president argues the Senate measure already has enough House support to pass.

By again highlighting the wide support for immigration reform, Mr. Obama said he’s looking to make it “easy” for Mr. Boehner to simply bring up the Senate bill before Dec. 31.

“Although right now there has been some resistance from House Republicans, what’s been encouraging is there have been a number of House Republicans who think this is the right thing to do, as well,” Mr. Obama said just before the meeting began. “It’s my estimation that we actually have the votes to get comprehensive immigration reform done right now. The politics are challenging for the speaker and others. We want to make it as easy for him as possible. This is not an issue where we’re looking for a political win. This is one where we’re looking for a substantive win.”

Via: Washington Times

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Two Obama Voters Are Outraged Over Huge Insurance Hikes

California residents Cindy Vinson and Tom Waschura are proud to say they voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012. They’ve also been proud advocates for his prized health care law. But after opening their health insurance bills last month, they’re both “floored.”

“I was laughing at Boehner—until the mail came today,” Waschura told San Jose Mercury News, referencing House Speaker John Boehner during the heat of the defund Obamacaredebate on Capitol Hill in late September.

Both Vinson and Waschura’s health insurance plans are being replaced to meet the requirements of Obamacare. Vinson will pay $1,800 more a year for an individual policy, while Waschura’s plan for his family of four will increase by $10,000.

>>> How Will You Fare in the Obamacare Exchanges?

“I really don’t like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so [mad] about this,” Waschura said. “When you take $10,000 out of my family’s pocket each year, that’s otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy.”

Now that health insurance companies are releasing new costs, people like Vinson, a 60-year-old retired teacher, are realizing their premiums will make up the difference for other Americans.

“Of course, I want people to have health care,” Vinson told San Jose Mercury News. “I just didn’t realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally.”

Via: The Foundry

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Obamacare concern: Health care users start to get kicked off insurance plans

Boehner predicts more losers than winners by end of month

The health care law’s honeymoon period is over.

For several years, Obamacare provided new benefits: Children could stay on their parents’ plans longer, insurance companies couldn’t impose lifetime benefit caps, and seniors got extra help in buying prescription drugs. But during the past two months, some consumers have been kicked off plans, and they and others are having to navigate the complexities of health care exchanges.

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SEE ALSO: More Democrats push for delay in Obamacare mandate

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House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said Wednesday that more people have been kicked out of their health care plans thanks to recently activated provisions than have been able to sign up in the exchanges — an equation he said underscored the problems with the law.

“When you begin to look at these hundreds of thousands of people, I think what you’re going to see at the end of October are more Americans are going to lose their health insurance than are going to sign up at these exchanges,” Mr. Boehner told reporters.

Consumers have reported tremendous difficulties in signing up through the federal online portal, HealthCare.gov. That has led Republicans and even some Democrats to urge President Obama to extend the enrollment period and/or delay imposing tax penalties on those who fail to sign up — thus violating the law’s “individual mandate” requiring most Americans to get insurance.

As those difficulties emerge, meanwhile, Kaiser Health News reported this week that hundreds of thousands of Americans have received notices from their insurers canceling their policies: 300,000 from Florida Blue and 160,000 from Kaiser Permanente in California, in addition to thousands from other major insurers.

Via: Washington Times

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Hill Democrats frustrated by Obamacare rollout

House Democrats voiced growing frustration and anger with the broken Obamacare enrollment site on Wednesday as administration officials tried to reassure them that HealthCare.gov will be repaired.

Democrats, who labored to get the Affordable Care Act through Congress in the first year of the Obama presidency, said they wanted the administration to share details of what’s wrong and when it will be fixed.

“It’s screwed up,” Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said, summing up the whole situation.

(Understanding Obamacare: A guide to the ACA)

The disastrous rollout three weeks ago of HealthCare.gov was obscured initially by the government shutdown, but now it’s Topic A on the Hill. Republicans are pouncing on ineptitude — and demanding delays. They had demanded a briefing too —and House Speaker John Boehner’s office said HHS had agreed and details were being worked out.

“It’s not clear why Republicans were excluded in the first place, but we look forward to getting answers to how the administration botched this enormous use of taxpayer dollars so badly,” a spokesman emailed reporters.

And Democrats are none too happy about all the problems of a program that they have a lot riding on. Expanding health care coverage is a longtime Democratic goal — but it’s also been politically costly and they need it to work.

Via: Politico

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Boehner: More people will lose insurance under Obamacare than sign up in exchanges

House Speaker John A. Boehner predicted Wednesday that by the end of the month, more Americans will have lost their insurance by being kicked off existing health plans than the number who were able to sign up in the flawed online healthcare.gov website.

And the early numbers may back him up.

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PHOTOS: President Obama's favorite footstool: The famous Resolute desk

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Kaiser Health News reported this week that hundreds of thousands of Americans have received notices from their insurers canceling their policies: 300,000 from Florida Blue and 160,000 from Kaiser Permanente in California.

One industry analyst told Kaiser Health News the moves may be a way of insurers ridding their own rolls of costly consumers they don’t want, and pushing those people onto the federal health exchanges.

“When you begin to look at these hundreds of thousands of people, I think what you’re going to see at the end of October are more Americans are going to lose their health insurance than are going to sign up at these exchanges,” the Ohio Republican told reporters.

The White House and the rest of the Obama administration continued to struggle with explaining why the rollout of the online federal portal to sign up for the health exchanges has performed so badly.

Via: Washington Times

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History of a Shutdown

Clashing tactics led to squandered opportunities, but the Right can still unite to defeat O’Care. 

The developing narrative, whether on talk radio or in these pages and other publications, about the shutdown fight — who was on what side, what the options were, and what was gained or not — often starts from incorrect premises, based on incomplete or erroneous assumptions. Since we need to understand how we got here if we want to do better, as a team, next time, it’s important to lay out some of the unpublished history.

The ACA passed Congress without a single Republican vote. After it became law, Republicans were essentially unified in their opposition to the law and in their oft-stated desire for repeal. Nonetheless, Republicans fell essentially into three strategic camps on how to go forward.

1. Fixers: On the center-to-right portion of the spectrum (since there are no longer any Rockefeller Republicans, who might well have approved of the ACA), the most moderate/centrist were the “fixers,” who thought that the law, if not repealed, could be repaired. Many conservatives initially feared that much of the GOP establishment and leadership lay in this camp. But in the wake of the 2010 election, any advocates for this strategy completely disappeared; the post-shutdown conversation, however, might bring them back.

Via: NRO

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Under Boehner: Debt Up $3T In Under 3 Yrs--Enough to Buy Every Household 3 Yrs Tuition at State College

(CNSNews.com) - Since John Boehner became speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 5, 2011, the debt of the federal government has increased by $3,064,063,380,067.72. That is more than the total federal debt accumulated in the first 200 years of the U.S. Congress--during the terms of the first 48 speakers of the House.

It also equals about $26,722 for each of the 114,663,000 households the Census Bureau estimates are now in the United States.

The $26,722 in new debt per household accumulated under Speaker Boehner would have been more than enough to buy every household in the United States a minivan or pickup truck--or to pay three years of in-state tuition (not counting room and board) at the typical state college.

The Republicans won a majority of the House in the November 2010 elections. On Jan. 5, 2011, the new Republican majority elected Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as speaker. At the close of business that day, the federal government's debt was $14,011,526,727,895.85, according to the U.S. Treasury.

On Oct. 17, 2013, the most recent day reported by the Treasury, the federal debt was $17,075,590,107,963.57. That means that since Boehner became speaker, the federal debt has increased $3,064,063,380,067.72.

Via: CNS News

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5 THINGS LOST, 5 THINGS WON BY GOP IN BUDGET/DEBT FIGHT

The House has yet to vote on Republican leaders' proposed bill for ending the government shutdown and the debt ceiling fight. The GOP, having entered aiming to defund Obamacare and reach some agreement on major budget changes, now merely hopes that the Democrat-controlled Senate and the White House will accept the Vitter amendment to remove Obamacare subsidies from Congress, its staff, and political appointees.

The polls have been bad for both parties, and the president as well. But Republicans are receiving more of the blame. Yet there are a few gains the GOP can claim, even while taking some losses. Here are the bad and good:

Via: Breitbart

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6 Questions About What’s Happening With the Debt Ceiling, Answered

Negotiations between the House and Senate over the government shutdown and debt ceiling are moving faster than a cocktail server at the Tortilla Coast. Here’s an up-to-date explainer on what’s happening, what it means, and whether you should cash out your 401K and hide it in your mattress.

Do We Have a Deal?

Sounds like it! After a House GOP proposal fell apart late last night, the only viable option left was a Senate plan from earlier Tuesday. According to congressional sources, House Speaker John Boehner is going to let the bill through with Democratic votes, which means the hard-right caucus that has been the primary wrench in the gears for the past three weeks won’t be able to stop it:

As Talking Points Memo’s Sahil Kapur put it, “Game over.”

Do We Really Have a Deal?

Not yet. Any number of things can still go wrong, chief among them being one Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), the commander of the defund strategy.

The Senate ordinarily requires thirty hours of post-cloture debate, which it can skip if it has the unanimous consent of the Senate. But unlike the House of Representatives, Senate rules allow proceedings to be halted by an individual member. Cruz alone could capsize that vote, causing thirty hours of debate on the vote for unanimous consent, and then another thirty after cloture. So all it would take is Cruz’s objection to add sixty hours to this process, pushing us over the October 17 debt ceiling deadline. (Business Insider’s Joshua Green has an excellent breakdown of all this here.)

Howevs! If the House votes on a deal first, this process is negated, and the bill needs only to pass a 60-vote threshold for cloture. At this point, I’m sure you don’t need to be told what can hold up a cloture motion, but it rhymes with illabuster. There are two types of filibusters. The silent one, which simply requires forty-one votes against cloture, has been the card up the Senate GOP’s sleeve for the past four years. But Senate Republicans are beyond disgusted with this entire debacle and want it over, now. It’s doubtful they’ll deny cloture; even this guy doesn’t want to:

Via: Mediaite.com

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House GOP drops ObamaCare’s medical-device tax from new bill, final cave looming

The most pitiful part of what’s happening right now isn’t the cave itself, which was predictable since day one of the quixotic “defund” effort, but the fact that they’re going to drag it out another day or two to the bitter end purely for theatrical purposes. There’s a 99 percent chance that Reid will reject whatever emerges tonight from the House, leaving Boehner to float a clean debt-ceiling hike tomorrow and let Pelosi and the Democrats bail him out, but in order to marginally reduce the upset among grassroots conservatives, he’s going to push this to the last possible moment. That means passing — hopefully — one more House bill to show that he really did try to get something in return for raising the debt limit, even though what he and House Republicans are now asking for barely qualifies as “something.”

Now that the medical-device tax is out, the already weak House bill has even fewer ObamaCare-related demands in it than it did this morning. And the punchline is, it’s been pulled not as a concession to Obama but because House conservatives regard it as a giveaway to business lobbyists. As James Antle put it, “So the only easily gettable Obamacare concession is out because Rs can’t sell it as Obamacare concession.”

Conservatives complained today that delaying the [medical-device] tax would be “crony capitalism” and they can’t sell it to the Republican base as a viable Republican win.

But that swift change hasn’t stalled the GOP’s push for a Tuesday vote. “The leaders are giving us one more chance to get something passed out of the House before the Senate does its thing,” says a veteran House Republican. “I think we’ll get it through, at least that’s my sense of things now. We want to do something that marks our position, so we don’t end up swallowing whatever terrible bait the Senate casts our way. Now, I know, and the majority of us know, that this is futile. But believe me, even getting to 218 on this plan will be an achievement.”…

House insiders say Boehner’s fear is that conservative activists and powerful conservative groups start to align against the bill and rattle its fragile coalition. If that happens, and the bill’s support falls apart, a simple, six-week debt-ceiling extension is still in the leadership’s back pocket, but there’s no plan to bring that up anytime soon. More likely, should things fizzle on the whip front, is that another conference meeting is called and the House GOP “gets real,” as one Boehner ally puts it, about “what’s possible within divided government, and whether Republicans are willing to back anything at all.”

Translation: The leadership’s going to make one last stand tonight to show conservative voters that they really fought on this, even though what they’re now fighting for is worthless to everyone, and then inform House conservatives tomorrow that they have no choice but to pass some sort of clean debt-ceiling hike with Democratic help. That’s because “what’s possible within divided government” was painfully apparent two weeks ago, but if Boehner had caved then instead of now, he would have been accused of not “trying.” So he went through the motions of trying, up to and including a shutdown, and now it’s time to do the responsible thing and not risk a new recession with a technical default. Meanwhile, the Senate isn’t doing anything right now except waiting to see if Boehner can get anything passed through the House with Republican votes. If he can’t, then Reid will might well end up demanding that even the token concessions to the GOP in his bill with McConnell be dropped. After all, it’ll be Democrats who are now the main actors in passing something in the lower chamber, not Republicans.

Via: Hot AIr

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HOUSE GOP BLINKS: WILL LIFT DEBT AND REOPEN GOVERNMENT

House Republicans have sent the White House a revised proposal to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks, as well as reopen government through December 15th, which was their original spending proposal before the partial shutdown. The revised GOP plan reflects the demands Obama made in a meeting with House GOP Leaders on Thursday. It also reflects the unwillingness of the DC GOP to face a fiscal showdown with Democrats. 

Aside from reopening the government and agreeing to raise America's debt over the current $16.7 trillion limit, the Republicans made several other concession to President Obama and the Democrats. One such example is that Obamacare would receive funding. The Republicans would get to take out a portion of the president's signature legislation, but the law would substantially remain intact. The AP reports:

Under a proposal she and other GOP senators have been developing, a medical device tax that helps finance the health care law would be repealed, and millions of individuals eligible for subsidies to purchase health insurance under the program would be subject to stronger income verification.

In addition, some of the across-the-board "sequester" cuts would be reversed under the GOP plan. It has not been determined which specific cuts will be targeted at this time.

In exchange for meeting, at least momentarily, all of Obama's demands, the House GOP is seeking a "framework" for future negotiations on addressing longer-term budget issues. These negotiations would be led for the Republicans by Rep. Paul Ryan, who is likely to seek a "grand bargain" resolving the nation's structural budget problems. 

Via: Breitbart

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HANNITY: BOEHNER MUST BE REPLACED

On his radio show on Friday, Fox News host Sean Hannity said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), along with the rest of the Republican leadership in the House, had to be replaced. 

"I do think leadership in the House needs to change," Hannity said. "I don't think John Boehner is equipped for the job. I don't think he has the stomach to negotiate. I don't think he has the ability to communicate the positive, solution-oriented vision for the country."

"How hard is it?" Hannity asked. "Why aren't these guys out there explaining what their vision is?"

For instance, Hannity said Republican leaders have not done a good job of explaining how America's plentiful domestic energy sources can lead to prosperity. He also cited issues like health savings accounts and ways to reduce the country's debt to preserve the nation's solvency as missed opportunities. He said the GOP has a "communications problem" that has been reflected in the party's bad poll numbers.

Hannity also ripped Republican leaders in Washington for "alienating" the Tea Party. Hannity named Senators like John McCain (R-AZ) and Bob Corker (R-TN) for being the top offenders and said their "unwillingness to stand strong" and constant bashing of the Tea Party is "irritating every conservative I know." 

Via: Breitbart . Continue Reading....

Senate Republicans Look to Jam Boehner

Returning from their White House meeting with President Obama, some Republican senators said they are fed up with how Speaker John Boehner and the House GOP have handled the shutdown showdown and are ready to take charge of the debate.

“The House Republicans so far don’t want to get rid of the shutdown. I don’t know in what world we’re faring well under the shutdown, in terms of policy or politics. So, in that sense, yeah, I’d rather have the Senate” take charge, says Arizona senator Jeff Flake.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine is leading negotiations with Democrats over a bill to combine a government funding bill with the debt-ceiling increase along with repeal of the medical-device tax in Obamacare. House Republican leaders have shown a new sense of urgency to deal with Obama in part because of fear that Collins’s plan will gain steam, rolling the more conservative House position.

One scenario that would mirror how several standoffs between Boehner and Obama have ended since Republicans took control of the House in 2010 is for Senate Republicans to help pass a bill deeply disliked by House Republicans, after which political pressure would force Boehner to pass the bill largely with Democratic votes.

While the situation is tense, it does not appear acrimonious, and communication continues between top officials from both chambers. Senator Rob Portman said he met with House Ways and Means chairman Dave Camp last night after Camp attended the House session at the White House, and Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said he had dinner with a House “principal” who had been at the session as well.

Via: NRO

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House Republicans Said to Insist on Conditions to End Shutdown

House Republicans offered a plan to raise the U.S. debt limit and end a partial government shutdown that would require the president to accept policy conditions attached to a spending measure, said two congressional aides.

Republicans sent a list of policy options to the White House, following a meeting yesterday, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity. President Barack Obama has insisted that he wouldn’t accept any conditions for reopening the government, which has been partially shut for 11 days after Republicans sought changes to the 2010 health care law.

House Republicans also want Obama to agree to a framework for future negotiations on fiscal and health care policy. If that happens, the House could vote as soon as today on pushing the lapse of U.S. borrowing authority to Nov. 22 from Oct. 17, according to the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private offer.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today he is open to hearing Republican proposals, though he doesn’t like the idea of extending U.S. borrowing authority only to Nov. 22. Reid said he would continue advocating a delay of the next debt-limit fight into 2015.

“Using their theory, we would have another one of these periods of bedlam here in Washington right before the most important purchasing season anytime during the year,” Reid said, referring to the holiday shopping season, without saying he would stop a short-term extension.

Via: Newsmax

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Jason Furman: Senate GOP plan is another ‘ransom’ demand

Top White House economics adviser Jason Furman on Thursday dismissed elements of a potential budget offer by Senate Republicans as “another form of ransom.”

He also questioned why House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would push ahead with a plan to raise the debt limit but not reopen the government, although he added that the White House has yet to see any legislation.

“There is just no reason to do that,” Furman said at a breakfast hosted by the Center for American Progress. “Every day the shutdown goes on, the effects get worse. I don’t know why you’d want to deal with one of them and not deal with the other.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been gauging support within the GOP conference to temporarily raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government in return for a handful of policy proposals, such as a repeal of the medical device tax in the health care law.

But Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, repeated the White House’s hard line against negotiating until the government shutdown ends and country’s borrowing authority is extended.

“If every six weeks you have some other thing that you are adding and trying to extract in exchange for just doing your basic business of keeping the government funded — and by the way, just at sequester level for six weeks — and not defaulting for six weeks, that is not a remotely tenable way to function,” Furman said.

Via: Politico

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