Senate Dems Add Funding For Obamacare to Continuing Resolution And Returns It To The House
Today in Washinton, D.C. - Sept. 27, 2012
The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of H.J. Res. 59, the House-passed continuing resolution (CR).
At 12:30 PM, the Senate will begin a series of four votes on H.J. Res. 59: a vote on cloture on the bill, a vote on waiving budget points of order against the bill, a vote on the Reid substitute amendment (which would remove Obamacare defunding and debt prioritization language) and then a vote on final passage of the bill. If the bill is amended before passage, wit will be sent back to the House for consideration.
The Senate voted 79-19 to end debate on a short-term spending measure and moved ahead towards final passage. The Senate passed a short-term spending bill Friday after voting 54-44 to restore funding for President Obama’s health-care law, sending the measure back to a fractured House just four days before a threatened federal government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Democrats would reject any conservative add-ons that Boehner might attach to the funding bill.
The House reconvened at 9 AM today. They took up and passed the following bills:
H.R. 1412 (402-0) - Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2013
H.R. 3096 (403-2) — "To designate the building occupied by the Federal Bureau of Investigation located at 801 Follin Lane, Vienna, Virginia, as the "Michael D. Resnick Terrorist Screening Center"."
The House will adjourn early today and return tomorrow, Saturday, at 10 AM to address the Senate anticipated amended version of the House passed Continuing Resolution which funded the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Yesterday the House passed:
H.R. 3095 (405-0) — "To ensure that any new or revised requirement providing for the screening, testing, or treatment of individuals operating commercial motor vehicles for sleep disorders is adopted pursuant to a rulemaking proceeding, and for other purposes."
H.R. 2600 (410-0) — "To amend the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act to clarify how the Act applies to condominiums."
During President Obama’s latest campaign-style rally yesterday to attack Republicans and promote Obamacare, the president said, “All right, let me just wrap up by saying this: Like any law, like any big product launch, there are going to be some glitches as this thing unfolds.” And sure enough, as the administration scrambles to implement this unpopular law, there have been many prominent “glitches” this week.
In fact, just minutes after Obama wrapped up his rally, news came that the administration was announcing another delay due to problems with implementing the law. Reuters wrote, “The U.S. government on Thursday announced new delays in rolling out President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, saying small business and Spanish-language health insurance enrollment services would not begin on October 1 as planned.” BuzzFeed noted, “Small businesses that wish to enroll in the exchanges to purchase health insurance for employees will be forced to fax, call, or make purchases for their employees in person.” The AP adds, “In a potentially more significant delay affecting the law's larger insurance market for individuals, the administration quietly told Hispanic groups on Wednesday that the Spanish-language version of the healthcare.gov website will not be ready to handle online enrollments for a few weeks. . . . ‘Every step in the implementation process has seen delays and setbacks,’ Kevin Kuhlman, a top official of the National Federation of Independent Business, said in a statement. ‘This is starting to seem like a parody; unfortunately, it is extremely serious.’”
BuzzFeed noticed the absurdity of the whole situation and headlined its piece, “White House Delays Obamacare While Attacking Republicans For Trying To Delay Obamacare”
Of course, these newest delays aren’t the only problems that have popped up for Obamacare just days before the administration wants the exchanges to open. Reuters writes, “Earlier this month, health insurers complained of problems displaying basic information about the plans they will sell on federally run exchanges in 36 states. Among states that will run their own exchanges, Colorado, Oregon and the District of Columbia pared back their launches to address technical problems.” The “basic information” the exchanges can’t display? The costs to consumers of these new plans. As The Washington Post wrote about the District of Columbia exchange, “While the D.C. Health Link will launch a Web site on October 1, shoppers will not have access to the their premium prices until mid-November. The delay comes after the District marketplace discovered ‘a high error rate’ in calculating the tax credits that low- and middle-income people will use to purchase insurance on the marketplace.” The reporter, writing at Ezra Klein’s liberal blog for The Post, admitted, “This certainly is not good news for Obamacare, especially in the wake of the other reports on similar glitches at the federal level. The Obama administration has repeatedly promised that, starting on October 1, all Americans will be able to purchase insurance coverage on the new marketplaces. In the District of Columbia, that won't be true.”
Last week, a report in The Wall Street Journal suggested these problems could be widespread. The Journal wrote, “Less than two weeks before the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the federal health overhaul, the government's software can't reliably determine how much people need to pay for coverage, according to insurance executives and people familiar with the program. . . . If not resolved by the Oct. 1 launch date, the problems could affect consumers in 36 states where the federal government is running all or part of the exchanges. . . . ‘There's a blanket acknowledgment that rates are being calculated incorrectly,’ said one senior health-insurance executive who asked not to be named. ‘Our tech and operations people are very concerned about the problems they're seeing and the potential of them to stick around.’”
As Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said today, “I’m not sure if you’ve got a fax machine at home. Not many Americans do anymore. Neither do a lot of small businesses. So it seems a bit odd to tell small businesses they need to fax in – fax in – enrollment forms for Obamacare. But that’s just what the Obama Administration is now doing. Well, if I might paraphrase the President: The '80s called, and they want their health policy back.”
He continued, “Ironically, the same day the President was painting more rosy scenarios in Maryland, the Administration announced yet another delay in this law’s implementation. That’s about the time we found out about the fax machines. And all that follows the revelation of yet more exchange problems – this time with an exchange here in D.C. You might be able to take any one of the many Obamacare problems in isolation and explain it away, say it doesn't matter, call it just an ‘anecdote.’ But what we’re getting here is a constant drip-drip, paired with the effects we’re seeing on jobs and health care and the economy. And it all adds up to one thing: a law in trouble. A law that needs to be repealed. That’s the goal of every member on this side. We’re united on the need to repeal Obamacare. We want to replace it with sensible, bipartisan reforms that will actually work. And in a few minutes, each and every one of us will vote against funding Obamacare.
Leader McConnell concluded, “The problem here is that we can’t get that done unless some of our friends on the other side are prepared to step up and work with us on this issue. That doesn't mean we’ll give up the fight if they don’t. We won’t. There are a lot of other things we can do in the meantime. For instance, we can follow the Administration’s lead in offering an Obamacare delay for the American people. After all, the Administration seems to think businesses deserve a break from Obamacare. Doesn't the middle class deserve the same treatment? Republicans think so. And I think we might be able to convince enough Democrats to join us on that – to help us provide fairness to the middle class. Yesterday, one Democrat Senator already signaled his willingness to delay some of the worst aspects of the law as well. He called a delay for the American people ‘very reasonable and sensible.’ And he posed a question: ‘Don’t you think it’d be fair?’ . . . That’s a question for my Democrat colleagues – many of whom know how badly this law is hurting their constituents. Isn’t that just the fair thing to do? Of course it is. So I’m calling for Democrat Senators to put the middle class ahead of the President’s pride. I’m calling for them to help us pass a delay for everyone. We’ve already filed legislation that would do just that. A bipartisan majority of the House supports it. Let’s work together to do it. Then, once we get that done, let’s keep working to get rid of this law and replace it with real reforms.”
Tags: US Senate, continuing resolution, Obamacare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of H.J. Res. 59, the House-passed continuing resolution (CR).
At 12:30 PM, the Senate will begin a series of four votes on H.J. Res. 59: a vote on cloture on the bill, a vote on waiving budget points of order against the bill, a vote on the Reid substitute amendment (which would remove Obamacare defunding and debt prioritization language) and then a vote on final passage of the bill. If the bill is amended before passage, wit will be sent back to the House for consideration.
The Senate voted 79-19 to end debate on a short-term spending measure and moved ahead towards final passage. The Senate passed a short-term spending bill Friday after voting 54-44 to restore funding for President Obama’s health-care law, sending the measure back to a fractured House just four days before a threatened federal government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Democrats would reject any conservative add-ons that Boehner might attach to the funding bill.
The House reconvened at 9 AM today. They took up and passed the following bills:
H.R. 1412 (402-0) - Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2013
H.R. 3096 (403-2) — "To designate the building occupied by the Federal Bureau of Investigation located at 801 Follin Lane, Vienna, Virginia, as the "Michael D. Resnick Terrorist Screening Center"."
The House will adjourn early today and return tomorrow, Saturday, at 10 AM to address the Senate anticipated amended version of the House passed Continuing Resolution which funded the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Yesterday the House passed:
H.R. 3095 (405-0) — "To ensure that any new or revised requirement providing for the screening, testing, or treatment of individuals operating commercial motor vehicles for sleep disorders is adopted pursuant to a rulemaking proceeding, and for other purposes."
H.R. 2600 (410-0) — "To amend the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act to clarify how the Act applies to condominiums."
During President Obama’s latest campaign-style rally yesterday to attack Republicans and promote Obamacare, the president said, “All right, let me just wrap up by saying this: Like any law, like any big product launch, there are going to be some glitches as this thing unfolds.” And sure enough, as the administration scrambles to implement this unpopular law, there have been many prominent “glitches” this week.
In fact, just minutes after Obama wrapped up his rally, news came that the administration was announcing another delay due to problems with implementing the law. Reuters wrote, “The U.S. government on Thursday announced new delays in rolling out President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, saying small business and Spanish-language health insurance enrollment services would not begin on October 1 as planned.” BuzzFeed noted, “Small businesses that wish to enroll in the exchanges to purchase health insurance for employees will be forced to fax, call, or make purchases for their employees in person.” The AP adds, “In a potentially more significant delay affecting the law's larger insurance market for individuals, the administration quietly told Hispanic groups on Wednesday that the Spanish-language version of the healthcare.gov website will not be ready to handle online enrollments for a few weeks. . . . ‘Every step in the implementation process has seen delays and setbacks,’ Kevin Kuhlman, a top official of the National Federation of Independent Business, said in a statement. ‘This is starting to seem like a parody; unfortunately, it is extremely serious.’”
BuzzFeed noticed the absurdity of the whole situation and headlined its piece, “White House Delays Obamacare While Attacking Republicans For Trying To Delay Obamacare”
Of course, these newest delays aren’t the only problems that have popped up for Obamacare just days before the administration wants the exchanges to open. Reuters writes, “Earlier this month, health insurers complained of problems displaying basic information about the plans they will sell on federally run exchanges in 36 states. Among states that will run their own exchanges, Colorado, Oregon and the District of Columbia pared back their launches to address technical problems.” The “basic information” the exchanges can’t display? The costs to consumers of these new plans. As The Washington Post wrote about the District of Columbia exchange, “While the D.C. Health Link will launch a Web site on October 1, shoppers will not have access to the their premium prices until mid-November. The delay comes after the District marketplace discovered ‘a high error rate’ in calculating the tax credits that low- and middle-income people will use to purchase insurance on the marketplace.” The reporter, writing at Ezra Klein’s liberal blog for The Post, admitted, “This certainly is not good news for Obamacare, especially in the wake of the other reports on similar glitches at the federal level. The Obama administration has repeatedly promised that, starting on October 1, all Americans will be able to purchase insurance coverage on the new marketplaces. In the District of Columbia, that won't be true.”
Last week, a report in The Wall Street Journal suggested these problems could be widespread. The Journal wrote, “Less than two weeks before the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the federal health overhaul, the government's software can't reliably determine how much people need to pay for coverage, according to insurance executives and people familiar with the program. . . . If not resolved by the Oct. 1 launch date, the problems could affect consumers in 36 states where the federal government is running all or part of the exchanges. . . . ‘There's a blanket acknowledgment that rates are being calculated incorrectly,’ said one senior health-insurance executive who asked not to be named. ‘Our tech and operations people are very concerned about the problems they're seeing and the potential of them to stick around.’”
As Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said today, “I’m not sure if you’ve got a fax machine at home. Not many Americans do anymore. Neither do a lot of small businesses. So it seems a bit odd to tell small businesses they need to fax in – fax in – enrollment forms for Obamacare. But that’s just what the Obama Administration is now doing. Well, if I might paraphrase the President: The '80s called, and they want their health policy back.”
He continued, “Ironically, the same day the President was painting more rosy scenarios in Maryland, the Administration announced yet another delay in this law’s implementation. That’s about the time we found out about the fax machines. And all that follows the revelation of yet more exchange problems – this time with an exchange here in D.C. You might be able to take any one of the many Obamacare problems in isolation and explain it away, say it doesn't matter, call it just an ‘anecdote.’ But what we’re getting here is a constant drip-drip, paired with the effects we’re seeing on jobs and health care and the economy. And it all adds up to one thing: a law in trouble. A law that needs to be repealed. That’s the goal of every member on this side. We’re united on the need to repeal Obamacare. We want to replace it with sensible, bipartisan reforms that will actually work. And in a few minutes, each and every one of us will vote against funding Obamacare.
Leader McConnell concluded, “The problem here is that we can’t get that done unless some of our friends on the other side are prepared to step up and work with us on this issue. That doesn't mean we’ll give up the fight if they don’t. We won’t. There are a lot of other things we can do in the meantime. For instance, we can follow the Administration’s lead in offering an Obamacare delay for the American people. After all, the Administration seems to think businesses deserve a break from Obamacare. Doesn't the middle class deserve the same treatment? Republicans think so. And I think we might be able to convince enough Democrats to join us on that – to help us provide fairness to the middle class. Yesterday, one Democrat Senator already signaled his willingness to delay some of the worst aspects of the law as well. He called a delay for the American people ‘very reasonable and sensible.’ And he posed a question: ‘Don’t you think it’d be fair?’ . . . That’s a question for my Democrat colleagues – many of whom know how badly this law is hurting their constituents. Isn’t that just the fair thing to do? Of course it is. So I’m calling for Democrat Senators to put the middle class ahead of the President’s pride. I’m calling for them to help us pass a delay for everyone. We’ve already filed legislation that would do just that. A bipartisan majority of the House supports it. Let’s work together to do it. Then, once we get that done, let’s keep working to get rid of this law and replace it with real reforms.”
Tags: US Senate, continuing resolution, Obamacare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 2:21 PM - Post Link
3 Comments:
I hope the House will stand tall. I have my doubts.
Thank you, Cruz. You made me see how bad the rest of the GOP can be. Only the few of you who stayed together are going to go to the next level; the rest of you can go....home.
Rubber Ball Syndrome.
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