Obama May Face First Veto Override: Medical Device Tax

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

President Barack Obama has his work cut out for him if he’s going to avoid House Republicans nixing part of the Affordable Care Act with a veto override.

The 2.3 percent tax on medical devices enacted as part of that law passed Thursday in the House 280-140, giving Republicans hope they’ll have the votes for an override, which requires a two-thirds majority. That came with a dozen Republicans absent for the vote. Every Republican present and 46 Democrats voted to nuke the tax.

A nonbinding vote to repeal the medical device tax passed the Senate with a veto-proof majority backed by 34 members of the Democratic caucus as part of the 2013 budget resolution vote-a-rama in the Senate, but never got anywhere with then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., putting the clamps down on the chamber.

But that vote was on a revenue-neutral proposal, while the House-passed bill would simply add about $24 billion to the debt over a decade.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has made repealing the medical device tax a part of his agenda, so some version seems likely t0 get to Obama’s desk whenever McConnell can find floor time to squeeze it in.

Via: Roll Call

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Democrats demand seat at the table for budget talks

Senate Democrats want to ensure they have a place at the table for any high-level budget talks this year.

For the first time since President Obama won election in 2008, Democrats are stuck in the minority in both chambers of Congress.

They don’t want to get sidelined in the same way they did at the end of the Clinton administration, when Republicans last controlled the Senate and House under a Democratic president.

Then, President Clinton took the lead in negotiating the year-end spending bills, wielding the bully pulpit to get the best deal he could to increase funding for domestic programs.

“That was then. We’re now,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (Md.), the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It is the Senate Democrats that are doing everything to force this issue.”

Senate Democratic leaders don’t want to rely on Obama’s veto to compel Republicans into convening a budget summit later this year, as that could lead to negotiations limited to the White House and GOP leaders.

Instead, Senate Democrats want to convene high-level talks now. They’re demanding a prominent role by threatening to block every single appropriations bill Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) brings to the floor, well before any of them reaches Obama’s desk.

“We hope to demonstrate as quickly as possible to the Republicans that if we’re going to resolve this budget crisis, we shouldn’t wait until November or December. Let’s do it now,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who also serves as the ranking member on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

“If it’s going to work, it will require congressional leadership on both sides to meet with the president,” he added. “As long as the Republicans need 60 votes in the Senate and don’t have them, they’ll need Democratic cooperation.”

Clinton clinched his role as his party’s lead negotiator after he bested former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) in the spending standoff that resulted in the 1995 to 1996 government shutdown.

“The 1997 budget deal we were totally cut out of,” said Steve Elmendorf, who served as a senior adviser to House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt (Mo.).

Via: The Hill

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TSA whistleblowers describe security concerns, culture of 'fear and distrust'

Whistleblowers on Tuesday portrayed the beleaguered Transportation Security Administration as an agency mired in a culture of “fear and distrust” while raising security concerns over several programs -- including TSA PreCheck, in which passes for expedited screening allegedly are passed out “like Halloween candy.”

The TSA employees leveled their criticism during a Senate hearing that follows recent bombshell inspector general reports. One showed undercover agents were able to sneak fake explosives and banned weapons through airport checkpoints about 96 percent of the time; the findings led to the acting TSA secretary being reassigned last week. A second report released Monday showed the agency failed to flag 73 commercial airport workers "linked to terrorism." 

As if to underscore the security concerns being addressed, the committee hearing was interrupted shortly after noon over a suspicious package report. Capitol Police emptied the committee room, and evacuated the floor of the Senate office building. 

Earlier, Rebecca Roering, an assistant TSA federal security director at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the agency suffers from low morale. She said this is in part the result of agency leadership, composed of too many former commercial airline executives “placing more emphasis on customer service and passenger wait times than on security and detection rates.

Via: Fox News

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CALIFORNIA: Free Rides Program for Drunk Senators Withers Under Public Criticism

Ancient Greek historian Herodotus tells us that when the Persians decided a matter while drunk, they made a rule to reconsider it when sober.

Recent news from Sacramento tells us that the state Legislature may have adopted at least the first part of the Persian ritual. Members of the Senate were recently issued cards with a phone number they could call 24/7 when inebriated, so they could be picked up at whatever location and be driven home by a Senate employee. When the program became public last week, it withered under public ridicule and the Senate leadership responded by attempting to quietly put the genie back in the bottle by canceling the free service to lawmakers late Friday afternoon.

However, if the “drunks ride free” cards are no longer valid, the questions raised by this elitist perk remain.

The program was probably a defensive reaction to the bad publicity stemming from the drunken driving arrests of four lawmakers in the last five years, but it makes one wonder: How serious is this problem?  If taxpayers were expected to pay for this service, should money also be spent providing counseling or detox to those members of the Legislature who drink in excess? Perhaps these cards were a tacit admission that some legislators have a drinking problem,which may boost the argument that some have been making that drug testing should be required for elected officials. Just last year such a bill was introduced in the Florida Legislature.

Some will say that safety should be the primary concern, and they would be right, but aren’t our elected officials bright enough to call a cab when they are tipsy?  Perhaps they don’t like dipping into their $142-a-day in tax free expense money, which they get on top of the highest legislative salaries in all 50 states. And considering their ability to influence government policy, is it fair to say that it is most likely that the drinks they consume are not paid for by them but by favor seekers?

Although the cost to taxpayers for the free ride program was relatively small – we have a state budget of $170 billion – it is another symbol of the arrogance of the political class when dealing with other people’s money. It is the same kind of thinking that allowed the Senate President Pro Tem to spend nearly $30,000 in taxpayers’ money on his “inauguration” held at the Los Angeles Music Center.

Via: California Political Review

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McConnell: No more Obama judicial confirmations?

That’s not quite what Mitch McConnell proposes here in his interview last night with Hugh Hewitt, but functionally it will likely amount to the same thing. Hugh wants an end to judicial confirmations as a payback for Harry Reid’s “nuclear option” last session in removing filibusters from the process, and asks whether McConnell will follow through on it. McConnell tells Hugh that the Senate has only confirmed those judges Barack Obama has appointed that pass muster with the Republican caucus, and that’s how he sees the rest of the session going:

HH: And my last question goes to judicial nominations. I am one of those people who wouldn’t confirm another judge given the antics they pulled last year. But what is the situation vis-à-vis federal judicial nominations and the process in the Senate right now?

MM: Well, so far, the only judges we’ve confirmed have been federal district judges that have been signed off on by Republican Senators.

HH: And so you expect that that will continue to be the case for the balance of this session?

MM: I think that’s highly likely, yeah.

In other words, McConnell leaves the door open for Obama to nominate judges that the Republican majority find acceptable. It’s a formula that arguably enforces the “advice” part of “advice and consent” in the Constitution (Article II, Section 2), but with the operational wrinkle that flexes McConnell’s muscle. Normally, a President would have some leeway to gain majority approval from the Senate as a whole, but the attempt to derail minority input in the last session means McConnell wants to play hardball in this session, especially after Obama and Reid used it to pack the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Via: Hot Air

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CA Senate Passes Bill to Raise Legal Smoking Age to 21

Adding another bill to its reputation as a trend-setting Legislature, Sacramento has taken a big step toward raising the statewide smoking age to 21. By an overwhelming tally of 26 to 8, the state Senate voted to prohibit sales of tobacco products to those aged 18-20.

By the numbers

According to the bill’s supporters, the ban would be instrumental in dramatically reducing not only teen smoking but smoking in general. “Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, said he introduced the bill, SB151, out of concern that an estimated 90 percent of tobacco users start before age 21,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

That statistic emerged from a recent Institute of Medicine study making the rounds in policy circles. Researchers suggested that “teen smoking could be curbed by 12 percent if the age limit was raised to 21,” as LA ist noted, “making it harder for minors to find somebody to buy cigarettes for them.” In real numbers, the study concluded, the age-21 limit would ensure “more than 200,000 fewer premature deaths nationally for those born between 2000 and 2019.”

Although critics have pointed out that people older than 18 are adults eligible to be drafted and bound to signed contracts, the Times observed, momentum has gathered to raise the legal smoking age for reasons unrelated to consistency in the treatment of individual rights and responsibilities.

Via: California Political Review

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Mike Lee: Americans deserve better than Congress' 'governing from a cliff'

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, addresses the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 26, 2015 in National Harbor, Md. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Sen. Mike Lee criticized his fellow lawmakers for waiting until the last moment to act on the expiring Patriot Act.

"I do believe we have the votes … the question is not whether we will get this passed, but when," the Utah Republican said Sunday on CNN.

"It'll happen tonight or on Wednesday," he said, before criticizing how Congress continues to "govern from a cliff."

Congress knew the Patriot Act was set to expire June 1 four years ago, but failed to act on it, Lee, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said.

"American people deserve better than this … governing from a cliff," Lee said, adding, "This sort of thing has become all too common."

It's a "bad habit" adopted by both parties, Lee said.

According to Lee, the USA Freedom Act — which has been passed by the House but remains stalled in the Senate — solves the underlying problem of bulk collection of Americans' phone records and keeping the American people safe.

Senators are to adjourn Sunday in Washington to decide what to with expiring provisions of the Patriot Act, which expire June 1.

Via: Washington Examiner

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NSA winds down once-secret phone-records collection program

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Security Agency has begun winding down its collection and storage of American phone records after the Senate failed to agree on a path forward to change or extend the once-secret program ahead of its expiration at the end of the month.

Barring an 11th hour compromise when the Senate returns to session May 31, a much-debated provision of the Patriot Act — and some other lesser known surveillance tools — will sunset at midnight that day. The change also would have a major impact on the FBI, which uses the Patriot Act and the other provisions to gather records in investigations of suspected spies and terrorists.

In a chaotic scene during the wee hours of Saturday, Senate Republicans blocked a bill known as the USA Freedom Act, which would have ended the NSA's bulk collection but preserved its ability to search the records held by the phone companies on a case-by-case basis. The bill was backed by President Barack Obama, House Republicans and the nation's top law enforcement and intelligence officials.

It fell just three votes short of the 60 needed for passage. All the "no" votes but one were cast by Republicans, some of whom said they thought the USA Freedom Act didn't go far enough to help the NSA maintain its capabilities.

If Senate Republican leaders were counting on extending current law and continuing the negotiations, they miscalculated. Democrats and libertarian-minded Republicans refused to go along. A bill to grant a two-month extension of the law failed, and senators objected to each attempt by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky offer up a short term extension.

The failure to act means the NSA will immediately begin curtailing its searches of domestic phone records for connections to international terrorists. The Justice Department said in a statement that it will take time to taper off the collection process from the phone companies. That process began Friday, said an administration official who would not be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Via: My Way

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LIVE UPDATES: PRESIDENT OBAMA’S TRADE BILL FACES KEY VOTE IN SENATE

The Senate is considering H.R.1314, a trade measure President Obama is pushing for. Majority Leader 

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

54%

 wants to cut off debate on the measure so it can be voted on this week. The measure would need 60 votes to move forward before the Memorial Day recess. 

Via: Breitbart

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HHS Confirmation Hearings: 49,000 Words, Zero on Abortion-Drug Mandate

Two Senate committees held hearings this month on the nomination of Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell to succeed Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services, the federal agency most responsible for overseeing implementation of Obamacare.

In these two hearings, according to transcripts published by CQ Transcriptions, the senators and the nominee spoke approximately 49,000 words. Not one of these words directly addressed the contraception-sterilization-abortion-inducing drug regulation that Sebelius issued under Obamacare and that is now the target of more than 90 lawsuits.

The closest anyone came was Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who told Burwell he was going to ask her a question in writing in "regard to abortion coverage transparency for insurance plans offered in the federal exchanges."

The central question in the lawsuits filed against Sebelius is whether the federal government can force Americans into complicity with the taking of innocent human life by compelling them to buy or provide health insurance that covers abortion-inducing drugs.

Via: CNS News

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An annotated chart about why Presidential approval ratings matter.

Strictly speaking, I am not criticizing the Fix for not drawing a more explicit link between Presidential approval ratings and Senate churn in a midterm election. They established the basic point, which was that both parties are increasingly taking seriously that the President’s current low numbers will translate into Democratic losses in the Senate. The Monkey Cage spells it out:

Presidential approval is strongly correlated with midterm congressional election outcomes. Gallup has polled Americans on presidential approval during every midterm election cycle since 1954. Across the 16 midterm election cycles from 1954 through 2012 the average level of presidential approval during the first quarter (January to March) of the election year is about 58 percent. Over the available Gallup presidential approval polls for the first quarter of this year, Obama’s approval is significantly below the average, about 42 percent, worse than every other year except 2006 and 1974.

Or, you can see it as a spreadsheet. ‘Year’ is midterm election year, ‘App’ lumps in the average 1st quarter Gallup approval rating for the sitting President into one of three categories (above 75%, 50% to 74%, 25% to 49%), and ‘G/L ‘ is the number of seats that the President’s party gained or lost in the Senate that year. It’s grim reading for Democrats, this cycle.

Year	App	G/L
1954	50%+	-2
1958	50%+	-13
1962	75%+	+3
1966	50%+	-3
1970	50%+	+2
1974	25%+	-4
1978	25%+	-3
1982	25%+	+0
1986	50%+	-8
1990	50%+	-1
1994	50%+	-8
1998	50%+	+0
2002	75%+	+2
2006	25%+	-6
2010	25%+	-6
2014	25%+

As you can see, there’s no magic equation for this situation, but generally it’s clear enough that while high Presidential popularity may not gain his party seats, low Presidential popularity is a great way for his party to lose them. In fact, merely holding the Presidency at all is a great way for his party to lose seats. Again, this is not a magic bullet. But if you look at that chart… there’s absolutely nothing stopping the Democrats from losing six or more seats this year. In fact, it’s not even unprecedented for the Democrats to lose Senate seats in the double-digits this year: it happened to Eisenhower in 1958, and the country liked him.

So what caused that one to happen? Oh, just an economic recession.

Via: Red State
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The Hotline's Senate Race Rankings: Republicans in Command

The 2014 Senate landscape continues to look challenging for Democrats. Republicans can take back the chamber after eight years of Democratic control with a net gain of six seats, and the seven seats most likely to flip are held by Democrats in states President Obama lost in 2012.

The most important change since we looked at the Senate map three months ago is the glut of outside spending, particularly against Democratic incumbents in the majority-making seats of North Carolina, Louisiana, and Alaska. The nonprofit, conservative group Americans for Prosperity has dumped tens of millions into those states, beating up incumbents who now have--at best--50/50 chances of retaining their seats.

Republicans are well positioned to win a Senate majority in 2014. A favorable map, combined with a positive national environment driven by disapproval of the health care law, have put Democrats on the defensive.

The rankings are best considered in tiers. The first two seats are very likely to flip, while in seats 3 and 4 Republicans are favored to take over. In seats 5 through 7, Democratic incumbents in red states are deeply vulnerable, and if Republicans win the top four, they need only two of the three seats in this tier to control the Senate.

Seats 8 to 12 are also close to 50/50 races. Colorado debuts in this tier after the top recruit, Rep. Cory Gardner, decided to run. In seats 13 to 15, the Democratic incumbent is likely to retain control of the seat, although the races bear watching--and Republicans don't need seats 13 to 15 to wrestle control of the majority.

Via: National Journal

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Fresh hope for GOP to take over Senate

For months, the key question about the upcoming midterm congressional elections has been whether Republicans can overcome their six-seat deficit to become the majority party in the US Senate.

Now the question has changed somewhat — to whether the surprising strength of Republican candidates in states once considered long shots for the GOP portends disaster for Democrats hobbled by ObamaCare and the president’s weak approval ratings.

No one doubted the GOP would come close or better than close to a Senate takeover in November. But every day, the map looks more favorable for the Republicans.

First, four races feature wounded Democrats in states that went against President Obama in 2012: Mark Pryor (Arkansas), Mary Landrieu (Lousiana), Kay Hagan (North Carolina) and Mark Begich (Alaska).

The GOP challenger in Arkansas, the extremely impressive Rep. Tom Cotton, may already be running away with his race; he’s ahead anywhere from four to seven points over Pryor. Every potential Republican challenger to Hagan is beating her in head-to-head polls. In Alaska, Begich is losing to both possible GOP candidates and has a job-approval rating around 40 percent, which is basically death for an incumbent. Landrieu is essentially tied with her leading challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy; that’s better than her colleagues, but not where you want to be when you’ve served as a senator for 18 years.

Via: New York Post

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After Senate Dems go nuclear, GOP fights back with conventional weapons

Democrats may have changed the rules on filibusters, but far from ending the intense battle over President Obama’s nominations, the move has pushed Republicans to fight harder — and to pioneer other tactics.

The latest move was made late Friday, just as the Senate was preparing to adjourn for a two-week recess. Republicans refused to allow a courtesy request to keep the full slate of Obama nominees pending. As a result, the nomination process must restart early next year.

It was a capstone of a year in which a deal on filibusters frayed and finally collapsed, leaving the Senate atmosphere more poisoned than it has been in generations.

Restarting the nomination process is a small procedural hurdle, but it’s the latest sign that Republicans intend for Democrats to feel the pain from using the “nuclear option” in November to change the filibuster rules.

“The normal way the Senate has operated for a couple hundred years has been destroyed this year, and to ask that normalcy come about now is just beyond the pale,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said as he delivered the parliamentary blow that forced dozens of nominations to be killed for lack of action.

Enlarge Photo

Alejandro Mayorkas was confirmed as deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department ... more >

Republicans did confirm a number of military nominations but blocked all pending judicial, ambassadorial and civilian Cabinet posts.

Such action is by no means unprecedented. Indeed, Senate rules state that if the chamber adjourns for the end of a session, any of the president’s nominations that haven’t reached at least the floor will be sent back to the White House.

Via: Washington Times

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Just where is Scott Brown? New Hampshire? Massachusetts? BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

Where's Scott Brown? Not clear that Scott Brown knows.

Brown is the former Massachusetts senator who's being mentioned as a possible U.S. Senate candidate in New Hampshire next year.

The Republican was interviewed in Londonderry, N.H., Thursday, and momentarily seemed to forget where he was.

Here was his comment:

"What I've heard from the Republicans up here is they're thankful that I've been around for a year, helping them raise money, helping them raise awareness as to the issues that are affecting not only people here in Massachuset--uh, in New Hampshire, but also in Massachusetts, obviously, in Maine. I've been to Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, I've been all over the New England area, certainly, talking and helping people raise money."

The video was publicized Friday by American Bridge, a group with strong Democratic party ties.

Via: MCClatchyDC

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/12/06/210838/just-where-is-scott-brown-new.html#storylink=cpy

Silver Lining For GOP: Nuclear Option Could Make Repealing ObamaCare Easier

Conservatives are outraged over Harry Reid pulling the trigger on the so-called nuclear option in the Senate, making it impossible for Republicans to stop President Obama from nominating anyone he wants to positions in the government.

But some on the right are finding comfort in the theory that Reid’s legislative maneuver could actually make it easier for Republicans to eventually repeal Obamacare — if all the pieces come together in 2017.

On Thursday, Senate Democrats — led by Reid, the Senate majority leader — took the drastic step of changing the body’s rules to prevent Republicans from being able to filibuster most of the president’s nominees.

By employing the nuclear option, Democrats changed the rules so that nomination voted on by the Senate — such as cabinet positions or appeals court judges — only need a majority of votes to pass, instead of the traditional 60 votes.

While Democrats claim the new rule only applies to nominations — and not Supreme Court picks or legislation — conservative commentator George Will is among those who pointed out that there’s no reason to think the majority rule won’t be expanded to other issues in the Senate.

And that’s something that could help Republicans repeal Obamacare if they win the presidency in 2016, win the Senate and keep control of the House.

“There’s no limiting principle in the principle they’re invoking,” Will said on Special Report on Fox News on Thursday night. “That is majorities should rule all the time.”

He continued: “What this means is if in the spring of 2017 there’s a Republican president, which there could be, the Republicans still hold the House, and they have 51 senators, they can repeal Obamacare with 51 votes. And I’m not sure the people who did this today have thought this.”

Via: The Daily Caller

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Transcript: President Obama’s Nov. 21 remarks on Senate filibuster changes

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Alrighty. Good afternoon, everybody.

It's no secret that the American people have probably never been more frustrated with Washington, and one of the reasons why that is is that over the past five years, we've seen an unprecedented pattern of obstruction in Congress that's prevented too much of the American people's business from getting done.

All too often we've seen a single senator or a handful of senators choose to abuse arcane procedural tactics to unilaterally block bipartisan compromises or to prevent well-qualified, patriotic Americans from filling critical positions of public service in our system of government.

Now, at a time when millions of Americans have desperately searched for work, repeated abuse of these tactics have blocked legislation that might create jobs. They've defeated actions that would help women fighting for equal pay. They prevented more progress than we would have liked for striving young immigrants trying to earn their citizenship, or it's blocked efforts to end tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas. They've even been used to block common-sense and widely supported steps to protect more Americans from gun violence, even as families of victims sat in the Senate chamber and watched. And they've prevented far too many talented Americans from serving their country at a time when their country needs their talents the most.

Via: Washington Post

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[VIDEO] EXCLUSIVE - RAND PAUL: 'WE WANT OUR FREEDOMS BACK'

On Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) released a video to Breitbart News exclusively in which he argued that the surveillance state under President Obama had grown beyond any reasonable proportions. “We were once outraged and dismayed and spurred to resist when British soldiers came knocking at our door with illegitimate warrants seeking taxes on our papers. Today,” Paul continued, “your government responds that there is no expectation of privacy once you consign your records to a third party. Your government applies that the Fourth Amendment applies not at all to your bank records, your Visa bill, your internet searches or purchases or emails. If not resistance, shouldn’t there at least be outrage?”

Paul said, “Imagine for a moment what information could be gathered from your Visa bill,” mentioning health information, political information, and personal information. “Are we so afraid of terrorists that we are willing to give up the very freedoms that separate us from them?” Paul asked.

He mentioned pro-surveillance senators who argued that Americans were not being spied upon, showing a picture of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). “The surveillance state was made to disappear through the legerdemain of defining it out of existence,” Paul stated.

Citing The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera, Paul explained, “Kundera captures the heart of the debate: the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting…against allowing the state to define away its usurpations. Will we allow defenders of the surveillance state to airbrush history and define away the notion of spying? Will we sit idly by as our expectation of freedom is defined downward?”

He added, “Will we be sunshine patriots, or will we stand up like free men and women and say, ‘Enough is enough, we want our freedoms back’?”

Via: Breitbart

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First lady rallies on Obamacare: 'There but for the grace of God go I'

The president has dispatched first lady Michelle Obama to rally Democrats around his beleaguered Obamacare which she has boiled down to one religious phrase: “There but for the grade of God go I.”

At a New York City fundraiser for Senate Democrats Monday, the first lady opened with a long defense of Obamacare, suggesting her audience lives by the principle that everyone should have insurance.

We don’t believe in handouts. We don’t think anyone should get a free ride,” she said Monday afternoon in a speech at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers.

“But we also understand one simple principle — that there but for the grace of God go I; that in the blink of an eye, any of us — any of us — could be faced with a terrible diagnosis. Any of us could be injured in a horrible accident. Any of us could lose the job we count on to support our family — any of us,” she said.

“And when that happens, it shouldn’t mean falling off a cliff. It shouldn’t mean having to go without food, or medicine, or a roof over our heads — not here in the United States of America. Not in the greatest country on the planet. That is not who we are,” Obama added.

She conceded that political fights over the years, including over Obamacare, haven’t been a cakewalk. “I know it hasn’t always been easy. I know that there have been plenty of ups and downs over these years,” she said.

But, she added, the fight to keep Obamacare is something Democrats should join, not quit as it is besieged with problems. “What happened last month reminded us that the folks that we send to Washington make decisions about some very important issues — issues that affect our lives every single day. Will we be able to see a doctor when we’re sick? Will our businesses have what they need to create good jobs? Will our kids have what they need to learn and grow — things like decent nutrition, safe streets, good schools?”

Via: Washington Examiner

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Deal to avoid another government shutdown struggling in Senate

WASHINGTON -- The congressional committee that is trying to negotiate a deal to prevent the next government shutdown has run into a roadblock: Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell, the GOP minority leader, made the trek across the Capitol on Tuesday to tell a private session of House Republicans that his preference is not to give in when it comes to easing up on the mandatory budget cuts that are set to take effect Jan. 15.

“I wish them well,” McConnell said about the bipartisan House-Senate committee trying to craft a deal. “I hope they’ll comply with the law.”

McConnell’s foray into the budget talks come as the Kentucky senator is heading toward a tough reelection battle in the Bluegrass State where he faces not only a Democrat candidate, but a tea party-styled Republican challenging him from the right.

PHOTOS: 2013's memorable political moments

Congress is facing another shutdown threat when money to fund the government runs out Jan. 15. At that time, the next round of so-called sequester cuts are set to slice across government departments, imposed by Congress as part of an earlier failed attempt to force a budget compromise.

Finding bipartisan agreement this time has been as tough as ever. Lawmakers from both parties increasingly view those sequester cuts as a bad idea, but the divisions inside the GOP have deepened.

Fiscal conservatives want to preserve the sequester cuts as their biggest trophy from the last several years of politically bruising fights with Democrats and the White House. But the party’s defense hawks, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), want to undo the Pentagon reductions, saying the cuts would decimate the Defense Department.

McConnell’s suggestion for keeping the top-line spending on par with the sequester cuts is not a recipe for compromise with Democrats. His proposal would essentially require shifting the reductions away from the Pentagon and onto other government programs, something Democrats have resisted as they push for new tax revenue by closing loopholes.

“That’s not where the American people are,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who is leading the bipartisan budget committee with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) “They want us to solve the sequester issue. They don’t want the government to shut down again.”

The committee of House and Senate lawmakers has largely moved its work to the backrooms, with no public meetings scheduled. Top leaders face a Dec. 13 deadline to cut a deal

Via: Chicago Tribune

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