Obama Exective Order on Ukraine | Admin Not Hideing Politically Obamacare Rule Changes | New Tweaks Help Senate Dems And Unions

Today in Washington, D.C. - March 6, 2014
Today, President Obama issued an Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine. In summary the Executive order allows the administration to impose visa restrictions on Russians and Crimeans identified as ‘threats to Ukraine’s security or territorial integrity’ and imposes sanctions on individuals the government determines are responsible for “undermining democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine.”

Speaking in the White House Briefing Room, President Obama said his administration and European nations concerned about Russia’s intervention in Ukraine were “moving forward together” to sanction Russia, namely officials behind the military move into Crimea. He called “unconstitutional” a planned referendum in the Crimea over whether people there want to remain part of Ukraine, and reiterated a series of steps Russian President Vladimir Putin could take to “de-escalate” the conflict in the region.

The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today. Following an hour of morning business, the Senate voted 58-42 to confirm Rose Gottemoeller, to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. The Senate then confirmed by voice vote the nominations of Suzanne Spaulding to be Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and John Roth to be Inspector General of Department of Homeland Security.

The Senate then began consideration of two bills to curb sexual assaults in the military, S. 1752, offered by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and S. 1917, offered by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO). At 2 PM, a cloture vote on S. 1752 failed to get the 60 votes needed to cut off debate by a vote of 55-45. The Senate then moved on to the subject of cloture on S. 1917.

Yesterday, following the defeat of the controversial nomination of Debo Adegbile to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Senate Democrats used the new rules they created after breaking the rules with the nuclear option to confirm 4 district judges and to invoke cloture on the Gottemoeller nomination.

The House reconvened at 9 AM.  Bills being considered by the House:
H.R. 2824 - To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to stop the ongoing waste by the Department of the Interior of taxpayer resources and implement the final rule on excess spoil, mining waste, and buffers for perennial and intermittent streams, and for other purposes."
H.R. 3826 — "To provide direction to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the establishment of standards for emissions of any greenhouse gas from fossil fuel-fired electric utility generating units, and for other purposes."
H.R. 4152 — "To provide for the costs of loan guarantees for Ukraine."
H.R. 2641 — "To provide for improved coordination of agency actions in the preparation and adoption of environmental documents for permitting determinations, and for other purposes."

Yesterday, the House passed the following bills:
H.R. 2126 (375-36) — "To facilitate better alignment, cooperation, and best practices between commercial real estate landlords and tenants regarding energy efficiency in buildings, and for other purposes."
H.R. 4118 (250-160) — "To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to delay the implementation of the penalty for failure to comply with the individual health insurance mandate."
H.R. 938 (410-1) — "To strengthen the strategic alliance between the United States and Israel, and for other purposes."

The New York Times reports, “The Obama administration, grappling with continued political fallout over its health care law, said Wednesday that it would allow consumers to renew health insurance policies that did not comply with the new law for two more years, pushing the issue well beyond this fall’s midterm elections. The reprieve was the latest in a series of waivers, deadline extensions and unilateral actions by the administration that have drawn criticism from the law’s opponents and supporters, many saying President Obama was testing the limits of his powers. The action reflects the difficulties Mr. Obama has faced in trying to build support for the Affordable Care Act and the uproar over his promise — which he later acknowledged had been overstated — that people who liked their insurance plans could keep them, no matter what. . . . The move reflects the administration’s view that a divided Congress would not be willing to make changes to the law, but lawyers questioned the legitimacy of the action and said it could have unintended consequences in the long run. ‘I support national health care, but what the president is doing is effectively amending or negating the federal law to fit his preferred approach,’ said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. ‘Democrats will rue the day if they remain silent in the face of this shift of power to the executive branch.’ Mr. Turley said Mr. Obama was setting precedents that could be used by future presidents to delay other parts of the health care law or to suspend laws dealing with taxes, civil rights or protection of the environment.”

While much of Obamacare was written and implemented with political timetables paramount, The Times notes that the Obama administration is barely trying to pretend that this latest delay isn’t an outright political move. “Under pressure from Democratic candidates, who are struggling to defend the president’s signature domestic policy, Mr. Obama in November announced a one-year reprieve for insurance plans that did not meet the minimum coverage requirements of the 2010 health care law. Wednesday’s action goes much further, essentially stalling for two more years one of the central tenets of the much-debated law, which was supposed to eliminate what White House officials called substandard insurance and junk policies. The extension could help Democrats in tight midterm election races because it may avoid the cancellation of policies that would otherwise have occurred at the height of the political campaign season this fall. In announcing the new transition policy, the Department of Health and Human Services said it had been devised ‘in close consultation with members of Congress,’ and it gave credit to a number of Democrats in competitive races, including Senators Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Mark Udall of Colorado.”

Earlier this week, The Hill pulled back the curtain entirely, writing, “The Obama administration is set to announce another major delay in implementing the Affordable Care Act, easing election pressure on Democrats. As early as this week, according to two sources, the White House will announce a new directive allowing insurers to continue offering health plans that do not meet ObamaCare’s minimum coverage requirements. Prolonging the ‘keep your plan’ fix will avoid another wave of health policy cancellations otherwise expected this fall. The cancellations would have created a firestorm for Democratic candidates in the last, crucial weeks before Election Day. The White House is intent on protecting its allies in the Senate, where Democrats face a battle to keep control of the chamber. ‘I don’t see how they could have a bunch of these announcements going out in September,’ one consultant in the health insurance industry said. ‘Not when they’re trying to defend the Senate and keep their losses at a minimum in the House. This is not something to have out there right before the election.’”

Exasperated at this latest unilateral delay for political reasons, The Wall Street Journal editors vent: “Maybe the White House figures that if it rewrites ObamaCare enough times, the media will stop paying attention. On Wednesday it ordered one more delay of the mandates for individuals and small business—in time to give a political reprieve to Senators vulnerable in the midterm election. The mass insurance cancellations that hit last fall were merely the first wave, and the market is still replete with health plans that have so far managed to evade ObamaCare's onerous benefit requirements. These policies were due to be terminated starting in October, which has Democratic Senators like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Udall of Colorado scrambling to avoid the TV ads and political blame they deserve. . . . If you doubt this political motivation, HHS distributed a backgrounder to reporters noting that the new rule was ‘developed in close consultation with members of Congress.’ The fact sheet mentions Senators by name, ‘including but not limited to’ Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Udall, Mark Warner of Virginia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, plus nine House Democrats. Supposedly nonpartisan agencies like HHS are usually more subtle. Whether or not this temporary regulatory leniency avoids more insurance disruption, the gambit shows the White House is terrified of a Republican Senate that would be rightly viewed as an ObamaCare repudiation.”

But this latest delay in enforcing standards that would continue to result in insurance cancellations for millions of Americans in order to protect Democrats isn’t the only political tweak to Obamacare the administration made this week. According to The Hill, “A slate of final Affordable Care Act regulations issued Wednesday would give some labor unions a partial reprieve from fees under the landmark healthcare law. Revamped standards issued by the Department of Health and Human Services include changes to ‘reinsurance fees,’ designed to tax health plans from 2014-2016 and will be used to help stabilize the individual market as sick patients come on board. Labor and business groups alike have criticized the fees, uniting behind federal legislation calling for their repeal. . . . Importantly, the new rules would ‘exclude from the obligation to make reinsurance contributions for 2015 and 2016 certain self-insured, self-administered group health plans.’ Many unions have such plans and will not have to pay the reinsurance fees for those years under the new language, though the fees are just one of labor’s gripes about the law.” The Washington Post summarizes, “Another change will exempt unions, universities and other self-insured employers from paying a fee — $63 per person this year — that creates the reinsurance fund. Critics accused the administration of doing so as a favor to unions, who are Democratic allies but have complained about the fee and other aspects of the law’s impact on them.”

Reacting to this latest change to try and protect Democrats and Democrat constituencies from the law they wrote and championed, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The Obama administration’s announcement today that it will continue to allow insurers to sell health care plans that don’t meet Obamacare minimum coverage requirements is not only another reminder of the President’s broken promise that you can keep your plan if you like it, but represents a desperate move to protect vulnerable Democrats in national elections later this year. By announcing a new delay in requiring that policies meet minimum coverage standards, the administration avoids a new round of health policy cancellations set to hit shortly before the November elections. What makes this latest delay so troubling is the fact that it was prompted not by the heartbreaking stories of millions of Americans but by the private pleadings of a handful of endangered Democrats. Americans have become increasingly aware of the fact Obamacare is broken beyond repair. The only ‘fix’ is full repeal followed by step-by-step, patient-centered reforms that drive down costs and that Americans actually want.”

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