ObamaCare ‘death panel’ faces growing opposition from Dems

ObamaCare’s cost-cutting board — memorably called a “death panel” by Sarah Palin — is facing growing opposition from Democrats who say it will harm people on Medicare.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean drew attention to the board designed to limit Medicare cost growth when he called for its repeal in an op-ed late last month.

Dean was quickly criticized by supporters of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), who noted his ties to the healthcare industry as an adviser to a major D.C. lobbying firm.

But the former Vermont governor is not the only Democrat looking to kill the panel

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A wave of vulnerable Democrats over the past three months has signed on to bills repealing the board’s powers, including Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Reps. Ron Barber (Ariz.), Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Elizabeth Esty (Conn.).

All five are considered vulnerable in next year’s election, highlighting the stakes and the political angst surrounding the healthcare measure.

The four House Democrats faced criticism from their party in July after voting with Republicans to delay ObamaCare's individual and employer mandates — moves widely interpreted as political positioning ahead of 2014.

Two of the lawmakers explained their opposition by suggesting the board would limit care for Medicare patients.

But the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) blasted the four Democrats for “desperately trying to jump off the ObamaCare train.”

The cost-cutting board has been dogged with controversy over the last three years.

Via: The Hill

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Obama administration using housing department in effort to diversify neighborhoods

In a move some claim is tantamount to social engineering, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is imposing a new rule that would allow the feds to track diversity in America’s neighborhoods and then push policies to change those it deems discriminatory. 

The policy is called, "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing." It will require HUD to gather data on segregation and discrimination in every single neighborhood and try to remedy it.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan unveiled the federal rule at the NAACP convention in July.

"Unfortunately, in too many of our hardest hit communities, no matter how hard a child or her parents work, the life chances of that child, even her lifespan, is determined by the zip code she grows up in. This is simply wrong,” he said.

Data from this discrimination database would be used with zoning laws, housing finance policy, infrastructure planning and transportation to alleviate alleged discrimination and segregation.

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Specifics of the proposed rule are lacking. Now published in the Federal Register and undergoing a 60-day comment period, the rule, "does not prescribe or enforce specific” policies.

But one critic says it smacks of utopian idealism.

Via: Fox News

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20 Cities That May Face Bankruptcy After Detroit

Think Motown is the only major U.S. city in a boatload of financial trouble? Think again.

Detroit's bankruptcy filing sent shivers down the spine of municipal bondholders, government employees, and big-city urban residents all over the country.

That's because many of the 61 largest U.S. cities are plagued with the same kinds of retirement legacy costs that sent Detroit into Chapter 9 bankruptcy this summer.

Editor's Note: ‘This Wasn’t an Accident’ — Experts Testify on Financial Meltdown 

These cities have amassed $118 billion in unfunded healthcare liabilities. These are legal promises to pay healthcare benefits to municipal workers beyond the employee contributions to finance those funds. This is a giant fiscal sink hole — and because of defined benefit plans, the hole keeps getting deeper.

Detroit may be the largest city in American history to go bankrupt, but it is not alone. The city raced to the financial insolvency finish line before anyone else in its class.
Keep an eye on "too big to fail" cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York.

According to an analysis by the Manhattan Institute, several Chicago pension funds are in worse financial shape than the worker pensions in Detroit. One is only 25 percent funded, and where the other 75 percent of the money will come from is anyone's guess. And there are about a dozen major California cities having systemic problems paying their bills.

Here is my worry list, based on bond ratings and other data, of the top 20 cities to watch for financial troubles in the wake of the Detroit story:

1. Compton, Calif.
Compton has teetered on the brink of bankruptcy after it accrued a general-fund deficit of more than $40 million by borrowing from other funds, depleting what had been a $22 million reserve.

2. East Greenbush, N.Y.
A New York state audit concluded that years of fiscal mismanagement — including questionable employment contracts and illegal payments to town officials — left East Greenbush more than $2 million in debt.

3. Fresno, Calif.
Fresno had the ratings of its lease-revenue bonds downgraded to junk-level by Moody's, which also downgraded its convention center and pension obligation bonds due to the city's "exceedingly weak financial position."

Via: Newsmax
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{VIDEO} Town Hall Rage: 'We're Dying Out Here Because You Guys Are Being Nice Guys!'

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, not all members of Congress are using the full five-week vacation to play golf or sit on the beach. A small number are holding a town hall meeting, and some of them are getting an earful from a very disgruntled electorate. Voters are angry about everything from "Obama care" to Benghazi to the NSA. Griff Jenkins reports from a town hall meeting in Maryland.

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX CORRESPONDENT: If it's August, it's town hall season, and some brave members of Congress actually held them in 2013.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When is this government going to come clean with the American people and tell us what this secret law says, how it's being secretly interpreted, how it's being secretly implemented, and what it means to every person in this room!

REP. ANDY HARRIS (R), MARYLAND: I am very, very worried about what the NSA is doing.
We're going to find out that the NSA was not complying with the law. I don't know about you, but I'm offended by the government knowing the record of every person, of having access to every person I call.
(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... now they have all these embassies closed, and they still don't know what's going to happen there!

HARRIS: You have not seen the end of Benghazi. You have definitely not seen the end of the IRS investigation. There's no question you're not seeing the end of that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Innocent people, if you will, are getting slammed by partisan politics.
HARRIS: Let me ask you a question...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are going to be losing (INAUDIBLE)

HARRIS: I think we heard some discontent with what's going on, with not taking care of the problems in this country. And I think you heard a lot of criticism of the president here tonight. You heard some criticism of Congress. You heard about the issues that people are worried about. People are frustrated. They're seeing an economy that's not recovering. They're seeing a president that is sitting on the sidelines, literally playing golf, literally fiddling while Rome is burning.

EUGENE CRAIG iii, MARYLAND RESIDENT: We do not feel that John Boehner effectively represents us. I mean, as the voice of the House of Representatives, I think John Boehner could do a much better job.

ED HUNTER, MARYLAND RESIDENT: I want Boehner up there defying this guy and saying, We're going to impeachment with you if you do not start obeying the laws!

(CROSSTALK)
HUNTER: Listen, we're dying out here because you guys are being nice guys! This is not a Boy Scout meeting!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not! And you're acting like Boy Scouts! You've got to fight!
HUNTER: Because we're losing the country! I want to see more defiance!

We've seen this dozens of times, where Boehner will not -- will not fight or McConnell will not fight, where Paul Ryan and the debate with Joe Biden sit there and sat there and took it from him! And we're -- the American people are putting our hopes on these people to defend us, and we get nothing!

Via: Fox News
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