21 federal agencies working to implement Obamacare, but who are they?

Thirty-nine Republican senators want to know who the 21 federal agencies helping to implement Obamacare are and what those agencies are doing to promote the program.

A leaked April 2013 slideshow from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said 21 federal agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture and Education, are working on an educational program to implement Obamacare.

That reference prompted the senators' curiosity.

"At a time federal agency budgets have been tightened by the sequester and the White House has warned of cuts to basic programs, I would like to know how 21 agencies, such as those overseeing agriculture and education, would have the taxpayer dollars to implement and promote the new health care law — an activity outside of their missions and an expense not authorized by Congress," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said.

The slides, which were created by CMS's Health Insurance Marketplace Outreach and Education department, do not name the other 19 agencies involved or what they are doing in the effort.

A source within the department would only acknowledge to the Washington Examiner that 21 agencies are doing Obamacare promotional work, but declined to provide additional details.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Border Patrol Union: Drug Cartels Have 'Representatives' in 2,000 U.S. Cities

(CNSNews.com) – In a July 28 letter addressed to “fellow Americans,” the union of former Border Patrol agents called for Congress to deny amnesty to illegal aliens and cited “transnational criminal businesses” that have “representatives” in 2,000 American cities.

“Transnational  criminal  enterprises  have  annually  invested  millions  of  dollars  to  create  and  staff  international  drug   and  human  smuggling  networks  inside  the  United  States; thus  it  is  no  surprise  that  they  continue    to  accelerate  their   efforts  to  get  trusted  representatives  in  place  as  a  means  to  guarantee  continued  success,” the letter, distributed via email by Zach Taylor, chairman of  National  Association  of  Former  Border  Patrol  Officers, Inc., stated.

“We must never lose sight of the fact that the United States is the market place for the bulk of transnational criminal businesses engaged in human trafficking and the smuggling, distribution and sale of illegal drugs,” the letter, signed by former agents for the U.S., Canada, Southwest and U.S./Mexico border chapters, stated. “Organized crime on this scale we are speaking about cannot exist without political protection.

“Most heroin, cocaine, meth, and marijuana marketed in the United States is produced outside of our country, and then smuggled into the United States,” the letter stated. “The placement of trusted foreign employees inside the United States is imperative to insure success in continuing to supply the demand, and returning the profits to the foreign organization.

Via: CNS News

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Tennessee newspaper fires editorial editor for anti-Obama headline

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama visited Chattanooga, Tenn. as part of his PR blitz on the economy.

But he was greeted with a headline of an editorial in the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press, “Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough.”

The editorial began:

Welcome to Chattanooga, one of hundreds of cities throughout this great nation struggling to succeed in spite of your foolish policies that limit job creation, stifle economic growth and suffocate the entrepreneurial spirit. Forgive us if you are not greeted with the same level of Southern hospitality that our area usually bestows on its distinguished guests. You see, we understand you are in town to share your umpteenth different job creation plan during your time in office. If it works as well as your other job creation programs, then thanks, but no thanks. We’d prefer you keep it to yourself.

Jim Galloway, writing for the nearby left-leaning Atlanta Journal-Constitution, called the headline “hostile” and “rude.”

And apparently that was a step too far for the newspaper’s management.

In a story published on Thursday, the Free Press announced the firing of editor Drew Johnson and called his headline inappropriate.

The headline was inappropriate for this newspaper. It was not the original headline approved for publication, and Johnson violated the normal editing process when he changed the headline. The newspaper’s decision to terminate Johnson had nothing to do with the content of the editorial, which criticized the president’s job creation ideas and Chattanooga’sSmart Grid. The Free Press page has often printed editorials critical of the president and his policies.

Via: The Daily Caller

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California: New Cigarette Tax Could Reduce State Revenues

I received two calls from the Board of Equalization late this week claiming information in a story I wrote about the latest tobacco tax bill was wrong. The calls were from Venus Stromberg, spokeswoman, and Brian Miller, tax counsel.

Photo courtesy Sudipto_Sarkar, flickr

SB 768, by state Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, would increase the state’s cigarette tax another $2 a pack from the current 87 cents. That would be a 230 percent hike, to $2.87.

I wrote, “The State Board of Equalization has found that California will actually lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue if SB 768 passes. Even legislators have become weary of funding programs using tobacco tax revenue because of its instability.”

But the BOE employees who called me said the tax revenues actually will be more than a $300 million net gain through the special fund SB 768 will create.

Yet according to a study by the BOE itself, programs funded by cigarette taxes have experienced a “funding gap” due to cigarette sale decreases. And the revenue raised from the cigarette tax in California has decreased, according to a Federation of Tax Administrators study, “The Tax Burden on Tobacco.”

However, the BOE analysis of the tobacco tax which I linked to in my first story is terribly confusing and also makes it sound as if the state will take a hit.

Via: California Political Review

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WHY DEFUNDING OBAMACARE MATTERS, WIN OR LOSE

As conservative Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and others attempt to build support for a plan to defund Obamacare in this fall's forthcoming budget battles, they have faced criticism from fellow conservatives on two grounds: first, it will be difficult to convince enough Democrats to agree; second, there is little that can be done to stop a program already in motion. 

(Criticism from the left objects to the attempt to "sabotage" the program, forgetting some Democrats' efforts to defund the Iraq War, with troops in the field.)

The critics overlook the strongest case for attempting to defund Obamacare: namely, that doing so is an urgent political necessity to save a party rapidly losing touch with its voter base. 

Conservatives--and, in fact, Americans in general--are eager for an effective opposition party. Among the many different explanations for why Mitt Romney lost in 2012--changing demographics, Tea Party suppression, the "47 percent" remark--the fact remains that he was the candidate least qualified to take on the policy most objectionable to voters.

Obamcare remains deeply unpopular, not just among Republicans: now even unions are complaining. Up to now, the public has seen one interest group after another line up for special waivers and exemptions, but no effort to unite the opposition in common cause against the law itself. Instead, Americans--and conservatives in particular--have watched as one Republican governor after another (with a few noteworthy exceptions) elected in 2009-20 with Tea Party support, has lined up to accept Obamacare's expanded Medicaid funds.

Via: Breitbart

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MUST READ: Me and My Obamaphones

Me and My Obamaphones

Not on welfare or below the poverty line? Never mind — here’s your free phone.
By  Jillian Kay Melchior


Confession: You’re paying my phone bill.

In the past month, I have received three shiny new cell phones, courtesy of American taxpayers, that should never have fallen into my hands.

The Federal Communications Commission oversees the so-called Lifeline program, created in 1984 to make sure impoverished Americans had telephone service available to call their moms, bosses, and 911. In 2008, the FCC expanded the program to offer subsidized cell-phone service, and since then, the expenses of running the program have soared. In 2012, the program’s costs had risen to $2.189 billion, up from $822 million before wireless carriers were included. As of June, there were 13.8 million active Lifeline subscriptions.

To be eligible for Lifeline, the applicant is supposed to be receiving some significant government benefit — food stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, public housing assistance, etc. But because welfare eligibility has expanded under the Obama administration, more people than ever before are qualified to receive “free” cell-phone service — part of the reason why Lifeline mobiles have become commonly known as Obamaphones. Alternatively, applicants can qualify if their household income is less than 136 percent of the federal poverty line.

Via: National Review

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Poll: Obama No Help to the Middle Class

Only 12% of Americans Think Obama’s Policies Have Helped The Middle Class…

Despite his ongoing campaign to promote his economic agenda, President Obama is having trouble persuading the country that his policies are helping the middle class.

The latest Monmouth University poll finds that a plurality of Americans think Wall Street and other elites have been served better than the middle class by the president. Only 12 percent of Americans said middle class families have greatly benefited from Obama's policies, while 46 percent said they haven't benefited at all and an additional 39 percent say they have benefited only a "little."

[READ: GOP Strategist: Obama in a 'World of Hurt']

There is considerable skepticism that Obama's policies have been of much benefit to any groups. But the haves are seen as benefiting more than the have-nots, according to the poll. Forty-four percent said Wall Street bankers had been helped "a lot" by Obama; 35 percent said wealthy families had benefited a lot, along with health insurance companies at 34 percent, poor families at 20 percent and middle class families at only 12 percent.

Obama has been emphasizing his middle-class agenda in a series of speeches around the country, but it apparently isn't having much impact so far. "Given President Obama's track record with the middle class, this new focus may be seen as too little too late," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, N.J., in a prepared statement. "Of course, some of the problem may lie in the acrimonious relationship between the president and the House of Representatives," which is controlled by Republicans.

A spokesman for the pollster added: "The American public is split on the veracity of President Obama's announcement that he wants to refocus the remainder of his term on helping the middle class. Less than half (46 percent) believe the president when he says this, while exactly half (50 percent) do not believe him."

Via: US News

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Repeal ObamaCare: It's Now or Never

When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed Congress in 2010, it was enacted with not one single Republican vote. The Democrats -- all on their own -- rammed ObamaCare into law.

The day before taking over one-sixth of the American economy, one of the Democrats' leading lights, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) then-Speaker of the House, famously advised the American public, "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy."

Obviously, the Republicans knew enough about the drug-like properties of what would hereafter be referred to as ObamaCare to "just say no" when it was put up to a vote. Since its passage more than three years ago, the "fog of controversy" continues and after seeing what's in it, most Americans are dismayed, as the realities of implementing ObamaCare displace the hallucinations that spawned its passage.

A few poll results from the week of July 22, 2013:

• Rasmussen: 61 percent of Americans think the U.S. health care system will get worse in the coming years.
• NBC News/Wall Street Journal: 47 percent think ObamaCare is a bad idea; only 34 percent think it is a good idea (and this is from a sample that had 19 percent Republicans and 30 percent Democrats!).
• Fox News: 53 percent want to repeal ObamaCare, 40 percent want to keep it (47 percent think the law will cost them more money next year, and only 11 percent think it will save them money).
• Washington Post/ABC News: 49 percent oppose ObamaCare, 42 percent support it.

Most Americans are skeptical about this massive overhaul of the nation's health care system, pushed through on a partisan basis in the dead of night and then only through false statements, broken promises, back-stabbing (remember the deal with Bart Stupak to uphold the Hyde Amendment and not fund abortions), and outright buying of votes, (e.g., just Google Sen. Ben Nelson's "Cornhusker Kickback" or Sen. Mary Landrieu's "Louisiana Purchase"). 

Via: American Thinker

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Issa on Obama Treasury Official’s Testimony: ‘Pretty Close to a Useless Witness’

(CNSNew.com) – Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told an Obama-appointed Treasury official that she was “pretty close to a useless witness” during a hearing into the IRS regulation issued last year that expands tax credits beyond those provided for in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to individuals in states that do not set up health insurance exchanges.

“You were pretty close to a useless witness who came, saying, ‘I don’t know,’” Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said to Emily McMahon, deputy assistant secretary for tax policy at Treasury.

“And if history is of any indication, the things you said you’d take back for the record, you won’t come back with any answers,” he said at the hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy, Health Policy and Entitlements on Wednesday.

The IRS regulation, recorded in the federal register on May 23, 2012, expands the tax credit established in the law for eligible enrollees in state insurance exchanges to include those insured through federally established and operated exchanges.

Twenty-seven states have declined to set up insurance exchanges, which will result in “default” to federal exchanges, according the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Via: CNS News

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REPORT: OBAMA GETS TESTY, SNAPS AT DEMS DURING HILL MEETING

President Barack Obama got testy and reportedly snapped at two Democrats during a Wednesday meeting on Capitol Hill. 

Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY) asked Obama about a loan guarantee application from a company in his district that has been "stuck in the final approval stages." According to CNN, "one Democratic source in the room said Maloney began his question by recognizing it was an issue that may be better discussed on the staff level, rather than with the president."

In a "rude and dismissive" manner, Obama reportedly answered, "You're right. You should have talked to staff about this." Obama then reportedly "said in a testy way to Maloney that at least now he can go back and tell his constituents he stood up to the president for them."

CNN reported that sources said Obama was "unnecessarily unkind when responding to Maloney's question." 

Obama also reportedly lashed out at Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) when he suggested Larry Summers would be a bad choice to head the Federal Reserve. The President reportedly blasted liberal outlets like the Huffington Post for saying Summers was not liberal enough to head the Fed. 

Regarding Obama's exchange with Maloney, White House press secretary Jay Carney said he believed Obama was not testy. 

"The president was very appreciative of the question," Carney said.

Carney continued:

The question got into specifics about a program and I think the president not only said that his staff would follow up on it, he guaranteed that the president's staff would follow up on it. And he was very glad to see the interest in these kinds of programs that was expressed by the congressman.

In response, Maloney said, "I asked the President for a commitment to prioritize a local jobs project, and I got it. I appreciate the President's responsiveness." Maloney was reportedly not offended. 

Via: Breitbart

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Fugitive Snowden slips out of Moscow airport for secret location

Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden slipped quietly out of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday after securing temporary asylum in Russia, ending more than a month in limbo in the transit area.

A Russian lawyer who has been assisting Snowden said the American, who is wanted in the United States for leaking details of secret government surveillance programs, had gone to a safe location which would remain secret.

After 39 days avoiding hordes of reporters desperate for a glimpse of him, Snowden managed to give them the slip again, leaving the airport in a taxi without being spotted.

Snowden's case has caused new strains in relations between Russia and the United States, which wants him extradited to face espionage charges. But a Kremlin official said ties would not suffer from what he called a "relatively insignificant" case.

Via: Reuters

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Democrats Won’t Let Small Businesses Escape Obamacare Mandate-(Video)

Congressman Alan Grayson recently stated that he will be introducing a co-sponsored legislation to  keep small businesses from opting to hire part time employees instead of full-time employees, in order to avoid having to comply with the now delayed Obamacare employer mandate. 

House Republicans railed against President Obama’s Obamacare full-implementation flinch, calling it unfair, and suggested that the President should delay the entire law’s implementation. 

Jorge Bonilla, Grayson’s potential 2014 Republican congressional opponent,  sent over this response to Grayson’s “wage control” piece of legislation-  Instead of burdening employers and small businesses, we should seek ways in which to facilitate growth. 

We know how the Obama administration intends to counter job losses and hourly wage reductions brought on by Obamacare. We are seeing the beginning of a campaign for wage control, which will be even more of a burden to job creation, and is just as doomed to fail as Obamacare.”-Jorge Bonilla 

Via: Shark Tank

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