Obama Admin To Use $20 Mil In Taxpayer Money For Obamacare Ad Campaign

HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius: "Congress is making me spend $20 dollars to promote ObamaCare."
Who in Congress? "Why those who passed Obamacare?"
I believe those people were Democrats, is that true?
"Well, of course, but it needs to be done; ads stimulate the economy and help brother Obama."
Where will the ad first be run? "In Arkansas, We want help Gov. Beebe to implement ObamaCare."
Satire Q and A - But so true!

Today in Washington. D.C. - May 22, 2012:
The Senate today is considering the motion to proceed to S. 3187, a bill concerning FDA user fees. At 2:15, the Senate will agree to the motion to proceed to S. 3187 and begin consideration of the bill, working from an Enzi-Harkin substitute amendment. Votes on amendments to the bill are possible today.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 61-34 to confirm Paul Watford to be a judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The House was back in session for a short while and then adjourned until Friday May 25, 2012.  In fact they are not in session this week. Of course, some may still be facing primary races in their congressional districts. Regardless, they do have nice expensive paid breaks to go along with their high pay. If that sounds snarky, write it off to my 22 yrs in the military when I was never afforded such planned or unplanned luxury. Normally, I would be pleased when Congress is not making or passing new laws which cost us more money and or endanger liberty, but with the current administration, I shutter to consider the myriad of abusive regulations generated every week or the unconstitutional oversight of Americans promoted by government agencies when they are not busy partying or making luxury trips at taxpayers expense.

The Hill reports today, “The Health and Human Services Department has signed a $20 million contract with a public-relations firm to highlight part of the Affordable Care Act.” According to PR Week, which first reported on the contract, “‘The campaign will inform the American people about the many preventive benefits now available to those with Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act,’ a representative from the Department of Health and Human Services said.” So once again, the Obama administration will be spending millions of taxpayer dollars to sell the public on Democrats’ still unpopular (and unconstitutional) health care law.

Of course, this isn’t the first time this administration has spent tax dollars to promote Obamacare. Back in 2010, the Obama administration spent $3 million in October alone on TV ads promoting their health care bill. Factcheck.org called the promise made in one of the ads saying Medicare benefits would stay the same “fictional.” Earlier that year, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a mailer, again paid for with taxpayer money, touting the health care law, that was starkly at odds with the CMS actuary’s own skeptical analysis of Obamacare.

Writing about today’s news, Lachlan Markey of The Heritage Foundation points out, “Last year, HHS asked Congress to quadruple the budget for its public affairs office – to nearly $20 million – and nearly double the size of the office’s staff. The department insisted the changes were necessary to ‘help Americans understand and access their benefits and information under the law.’”

The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis noticed something else interesting about the HHS announcement. “The story [in The Hill] notes that the public relations firm Porter Novelli ‘won the contract after a competitive bidding process.’ Interestingly,” Lewis writes “the managing director of Porter Novellis’ Washington D.C. office is Catherine “Kiki” McLean — a true ‘D.C. insider,’ according to her bio. Indeed she is. Among her other accomplishments, McLean’s bio also notes she was ‘an on-air surrogate for the Obama for America campaign.’ This, of course, raises a few questions, including: Just how competitive was the competitive bid process that went to a senior Democrat? And isn’t this the kind of insider access Obama decried in 2008?”

Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell pointed to the story “about HHS signing a $20 million contract to promote Obamacare. $20 million of taxpayer money to promote a bill most Americans want to see repealed.  Let me suggest that the President spend a little more time trying to do something about the spending, debt, and gas prices, and a little less time trying to spin the unpopular things he’s already done—it might require a little more work, but it’s what we need.”

A USA Today/ Gallup Poll reflects that 72% Think ObamaCare Will Make Things Worse Or Won’t Help. They state, "Americans are less optimistic that the law will improve their family's healthcare situation in the long run, however. Thirty-eight percent expect the law to make their situation worse, compared with 24% who say better. . . . Now suppose all of the provisions of the healthcare law go into effect in the next few years. In the long run, how do you think the healthcare law would affect your family’s healthcare situation? All Americans: Make better: 24%; Not much difference: 34%; Make worse: 38%."

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