House Addressed Obamacare Mandates | News Reports Continue Focus on Obamacare Train Wreck In Progress
Today in Washington, D.C. - July 18, 2013:
The Senate convened at 9:30 AM today. Following an hour of morning business, the Senate resumed post-cloture consideration of the nomination of Thomas Perez to be Secretary of Labor. The Senate then voted (54-46) and confirmed Perez, The Senate also voted (59-40) along party lines to confirm Gina McCarthy to be EPA director.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 82-18 to invoke cloture (cut off debate) on the nomination of Fred Hochberg to be president of the Import-Export Bank. Senators later voted 82-17 to confirm his nomination. The Senate also voted 60-40 to invoke cloture on the nomination of Thomas Perez to be Secretary of Labor.
The House convened at 10 AM and moved to address H.R. 5 — "To support State and local accountability for public education, protect State and local authority, inform parents of the performance of their children's schools, and for other purposes." Numerous amendment votes anticipated.
Yesterday, the House voted on two bills related to the Obama care mandate. The first was an effort to legitimize the Obama Administration waiver of the health insurance mandate which was not in compliance with the law. The Republicans put forth a bill to do this and democrats in general opposed the bill.:
H.R. 2667 (264-161) — "To delay the application of the employer health insurance mandate, and for other purposes."
The Second bill voted along party lines was put forth by Republicans to also waive the mandate for the same period for all individuals as well:
H.R. 2668 (251-174) — "To delay the application of the individual health insurance mandate."
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today announced that he has tapped Reps. Tim Griffin (R-AR) and Todd Young (R-IN) to deliver the Weekly Republican Address on Saturday, July 20. Griffin and Young will focus on their legislation H.R. 2667 and H.R. 2668 passed yesterday delaying implementation of the employer mandate in ObamaCare and providing the same relief and basic fairness to individuals.
Today, Speaker Boehner addressed the reports of the pending train wreck of Obamacare. He said, “The picture that the president paints of his health care law looks nothing like the reality facing struggling American families. They know that the law is turning out to be a train wreck. Not ‘fabulous’ or ‘wonderful.’ A train wreck. Nearly every major promise the president has made has been shattered. The law is costing American jobs; it’s forcing people to give up health plans they like; and it’s driving up the cost of care for families across America. In my home state, many Ohioans will pay nearly $200 more a month, on average, for individual plans. The Congressional Budget office has confirmed that any giveaways in the law are dwarfed by the higher costs it will create for consumers. The cost and complexity of the law are so great that the president had to give businesses an exemption from its mandates. Yet – unfairly – American families are not getting the same protections. Even the president’s allies in the labor unions have said the botched implementation of the health care law is leading to ‘nightmare scenarios.’
The Speaker also said “There’s no fairness when big businesses are getting an exemption from ObamaCare mandates, but American families are not. That’s why the House this week passed bills extending those protections – and some basic fairness – to all Americans. To keep the pressure on, I have asked Tim Griffin and Todd Young – the sponsors of this week’s bills – to deliver our weekly Republican address.”
“Both of ObamaCare’s mandates are hurting our economy and adding to the challenges that families and workers already face,” Rep. Griffin (AR-02) said. “They represent everything that is wrong with ObamaCare’s top-down, one-size-fits-all, Washington-knows-best approach to health care, which a majority of Americans oppose.”
“The White House proposed delaying the employer mandate because businesses are having trouble complying with the complexities of the law,” Rep. Young (IN-04) said. “But the individual mandate is just as confusing to individuals, and they don’t have an army of lawyers and accountants at their disposal to make sense of it. This is a simple issue of fairness: hardworking Americans and their families deserve the same sort of tax relief that President Obama is proposing to give to big corporations.”
Time writes, “In a speech at the White House today, President Barack Obama will seek to redirect public attention away from the slow but steady drip of recent news stories about the imperfections of Obamacare. Exactly how the law will work is still a mystery to most Americans and, in this vacuum, Republican opponents of the law have renewed attacks on the health care overhaul and seized on the Administration’s admission that some parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will not be ready on schedule.” A “slow but steady drip” of news stories about the problems of Obamacare might accurately characterize the frequency of such reports since Democrats passed this unpopular law, but over the last 3 months, the rate of reports has in fact become a deluge. The Hill notes, “Senior administration officials characterized Thursday's speech as a chance to cut through the ‘abstraction’ of the political debate surrounding the healthcare law . . . and focus on communicating what the law actually does.”
But it’s hard for the White House to deem the daily parade of stories about the problems resulting from Obamacare and the difficulties it faces in implementation as “abstractions.” Recently, Americans have seen stories describing how Obamacare is forcing employers to reduce hours at businesses across the country, how it’s resulting in higher premiums for many Americans, and how it will result in “consumer horror stories.” Will President Obama deem these all “abstractions” in his speech today?
Just last night, Reuters reported, “Two U.S. government officials warned on Wednesday that the launch of new state healthcare exchanges could potentially be delayed, raising further doubts about the implementation of President Barack Obama's signature legislation. Alan Duncan, an auditor with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an Internal Revenue Service agency that monitors performance, said testing the systems needed to implement the exchanges ‘will be difficult to complete’ by the October 1 start date. ‘The lack of adequate testing could result in significant delays and errors in accepting and processing ... applications for health insurance coverage,’ he told the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform committee. At the same hearing, Government Accountability Office official John Dicken said the amount of work the federal government needs to do in each state has yet to be determined, raising the risk of missing deadlines. He added that the federal government and the states have already missed some deadlines.” Are these problems “abstractions?”
Even prominent union leaders who supported the law are belatedly realizing what a bad piece of legislation it is, as The Wall Street Journal editors point out today: “Last week's open letter comes from James Hoffa (the Teamsters), Joseph Hansen (United Food and Commercial Workers International) and Donald Taylor (Unite-Here, a hotel and other services union). All three, who together represent three million workers, acknowledge they were once ‘strong supporters’ of the Affordable Care Act but now lament the law's ‘perverse incentives’ that ‘are already creating nightmare scenarios.’ The law ‘will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans,’ they note, with some understatement. . . . [T]he Teamsters, UFCW and Unite-Here do have a point that ObamaCare will damage their current coverage—in violation of Mr. Obama's frequent pledge that if you like your health plan you can keep it. . . . This union remonstrance is on the heels of the 22,000-member United Union of Roofers call in April ‘for repeal or complete reform’ of ObamaCare. No doubt there will be more such retractions in the months to come.” Are all these concerns “abstractions?”
Time notes, “The White House is hoping this tableau [of Obama touting various Obamacare provisions] will distract Americans from the Administration’s recent admission that the law’s requirement that larger employers provide health coverage for workers will be delayed. The employer mandate, as the requirement is known, will instead begin in 2015. On Wednesday, Republican leaders in the House orchestrated votes to delay by one year both the employer mandate and the individual mandate, the latter of which requires individuals to carry health insurance or face federal fines.” Politico points out that “they forced Democrats into the awkward position of either supporting the president — who vowed to veto the legislation — or running the risk of appearing to treat Americans unfairly.” Absurdly, according to The Hill, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, “The president would veto those bills because, if they were ever to become law, it would be bad for the American people.” A bill codifying the delay in the employer mandate the president declared by fiat is “bad for the American people?” How does that work?
Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell addressed what reports say the focus of President Obama’s speech will be: some Americans getting rebates. “Later today, the President is scheduled to deliver a speech on Obamacare. He’s expected to say that, because of Obamacare, Americans can expect checks in the mail,” he said. “Sounds great, doesn’t it? Free money. But, as they say, most things in life that sound too good to be true very often are. And, in this case, it’s not so much that people will be getting free money, as that most people will be paying many dollars more for their healthcare and maybe – just maybe – getting a few bucks back. In other words, if you’re a family in Covington facing a $2,100 premium increase under Obamacare, then, really, what would you rather have: a check for $100 or so, or a way to avoid the $2,100 premium increase in the first place? I think the answer’s obvious. And I think most Kentuckians would agree that this is just another sad attempt by the Administration to spin them into wanting a law they don’t.”
McConnell concluded, “So if the Administration is concerned with saving people money on their health care, I have some advice for them. Work with us to repeal Obamacare and start over – work with us to implement common-sense, step-by-step reforms that can actually lower costs for Kentuckians. Because jacking up our constituents’ health care costs is bad enough, but to try to then convince them the opposite is happening – that they’ve actually won some Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes, well, it’s just as absurd as it sounds.”
Tags: Senate confirmations, House Bills, Obamacare problems, train wreck, mandates, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Senate convened at 9:30 AM today. Following an hour of morning business, the Senate resumed post-cloture consideration of the nomination of Thomas Perez to be Secretary of Labor. The Senate then voted (54-46) and confirmed Perez, The Senate also voted (59-40) along party lines to confirm Gina McCarthy to be EPA director.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 82-18 to invoke cloture (cut off debate) on the nomination of Fred Hochberg to be president of the Import-Export Bank. Senators later voted 82-17 to confirm his nomination. The Senate also voted 60-40 to invoke cloture on the nomination of Thomas Perez to be Secretary of Labor.
The House convened at 10 AM and moved to address H.R. 5 — "To support State and local accountability for public education, protect State and local authority, inform parents of the performance of their children's schools, and for other purposes." Numerous amendment votes anticipated.
Yesterday, the House voted on two bills related to the Obama care mandate. The first was an effort to legitimize the Obama Administration waiver of the health insurance mandate which was not in compliance with the law. The Republicans put forth a bill to do this and democrats in general opposed the bill.:
H.R. 2667 (264-161) — "To delay the application of the employer health insurance mandate, and for other purposes."
The Second bill voted along party lines was put forth by Republicans to also waive the mandate for the same period for all individuals as well:
H.R. 2668 (251-174) — "To delay the application of the individual health insurance mandate."
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today announced that he has tapped Reps. Tim Griffin (R-AR) and Todd Young (R-IN) to deliver the Weekly Republican Address on Saturday, July 20. Griffin and Young will focus on their legislation H.R. 2667 and H.R. 2668 passed yesterday delaying implementation of the employer mandate in ObamaCare and providing the same relief and basic fairness to individuals.
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| ObamaCare Train Wreck |
The Speaker also said “There’s no fairness when big businesses are getting an exemption from ObamaCare mandates, but American families are not. That’s why the House this week passed bills extending those protections – and some basic fairness – to all Americans. To keep the pressure on, I have asked Tim Griffin and Todd Young – the sponsors of this week’s bills – to deliver our weekly Republican address.”
“Both of ObamaCare’s mandates are hurting our economy and adding to the challenges that families and workers already face,” Rep. Griffin (AR-02) said. “They represent everything that is wrong with ObamaCare’s top-down, one-size-fits-all, Washington-knows-best approach to health care, which a majority of Americans oppose.”
“The White House proposed delaying the employer mandate because businesses are having trouble complying with the complexities of the law,” Rep. Young (IN-04) said. “But the individual mandate is just as confusing to individuals, and they don’t have an army of lawyers and accountants at their disposal to make sense of it. This is a simple issue of fairness: hardworking Americans and their families deserve the same sort of tax relief that President Obama is proposing to give to big corporations.”
Time writes, “In a speech at the White House today, President Barack Obama will seek to redirect public attention away from the slow but steady drip of recent news stories about the imperfections of Obamacare. Exactly how the law will work is still a mystery to most Americans and, in this vacuum, Republican opponents of the law have renewed attacks on the health care overhaul and seized on the Administration’s admission that some parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will not be ready on schedule.” A “slow but steady drip” of news stories about the problems of Obamacare might accurately characterize the frequency of such reports since Democrats passed this unpopular law, but over the last 3 months, the rate of reports has in fact become a deluge. The Hill notes, “Senior administration officials characterized Thursday's speech as a chance to cut through the ‘abstraction’ of the political debate surrounding the healthcare law . . . and focus on communicating what the law actually does.”
But it’s hard for the White House to deem the daily parade of stories about the problems resulting from Obamacare and the difficulties it faces in implementation as “abstractions.” Recently, Americans have seen stories describing how Obamacare is forcing employers to reduce hours at businesses across the country, how it’s resulting in higher premiums for many Americans, and how it will result in “consumer horror stories.” Will President Obama deem these all “abstractions” in his speech today?
Just last night, Reuters reported, “Two U.S. government officials warned on Wednesday that the launch of new state healthcare exchanges could potentially be delayed, raising further doubts about the implementation of President Barack Obama's signature legislation. Alan Duncan, an auditor with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an Internal Revenue Service agency that monitors performance, said testing the systems needed to implement the exchanges ‘will be difficult to complete’ by the October 1 start date. ‘The lack of adequate testing could result in significant delays and errors in accepting and processing ... applications for health insurance coverage,’ he told the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform committee. At the same hearing, Government Accountability Office official John Dicken said the amount of work the federal government needs to do in each state has yet to be determined, raising the risk of missing deadlines. He added that the federal government and the states have already missed some deadlines.” Are these problems “abstractions?”
Even prominent union leaders who supported the law are belatedly realizing what a bad piece of legislation it is, as The Wall Street Journal editors point out today: “Last week's open letter comes from James Hoffa (the Teamsters), Joseph Hansen (United Food and Commercial Workers International) and Donald Taylor (Unite-Here, a hotel and other services union). All three, who together represent three million workers, acknowledge they were once ‘strong supporters’ of the Affordable Care Act but now lament the law's ‘perverse incentives’ that ‘are already creating nightmare scenarios.’ The law ‘will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans,’ they note, with some understatement. . . . [T]he Teamsters, UFCW and Unite-Here do have a point that ObamaCare will damage their current coverage—in violation of Mr. Obama's frequent pledge that if you like your health plan you can keep it. . . . This union remonstrance is on the heels of the 22,000-member United Union of Roofers call in April ‘for repeal or complete reform’ of ObamaCare. No doubt there will be more such retractions in the months to come.” Are all these concerns “abstractions?”
Time notes, “The White House is hoping this tableau [of Obama touting various Obamacare provisions] will distract Americans from the Administration’s recent admission that the law’s requirement that larger employers provide health coverage for workers will be delayed. The employer mandate, as the requirement is known, will instead begin in 2015. On Wednesday, Republican leaders in the House orchestrated votes to delay by one year both the employer mandate and the individual mandate, the latter of which requires individuals to carry health insurance or face federal fines.” Politico points out that “they forced Democrats into the awkward position of either supporting the president — who vowed to veto the legislation — or running the risk of appearing to treat Americans unfairly.” Absurdly, according to The Hill, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, “The president would veto those bills because, if they were ever to become law, it would be bad for the American people.” A bill codifying the delay in the employer mandate the president declared by fiat is “bad for the American people?” How does that work?
Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell addressed what reports say the focus of President Obama’s speech will be: some Americans getting rebates. “Later today, the President is scheduled to deliver a speech on Obamacare. He’s expected to say that, because of Obamacare, Americans can expect checks in the mail,” he said. “Sounds great, doesn’t it? Free money. But, as they say, most things in life that sound too good to be true very often are. And, in this case, it’s not so much that people will be getting free money, as that most people will be paying many dollars more for their healthcare and maybe – just maybe – getting a few bucks back. In other words, if you’re a family in Covington facing a $2,100 premium increase under Obamacare, then, really, what would you rather have: a check for $100 or so, or a way to avoid the $2,100 premium increase in the first place? I think the answer’s obvious. And I think most Kentuckians would agree that this is just another sad attempt by the Administration to spin them into wanting a law they don’t.”
McConnell concluded, “So if the Administration is concerned with saving people money on their health care, I have some advice for them. Work with us to repeal Obamacare and start over – work with us to implement common-sense, step-by-step reforms that can actually lower costs for Kentuckians. Because jacking up our constituents’ health care costs is bad enough, but to try to then convince them the opposite is happening – that they’ve actually won some Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes, well, it’s just as absurd as it sounds.”
Tags: Senate confirmations, House Bills, Obamacare problems, train wreck, mandates, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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