Tag: Congress

In straight party line votes, the Democrats in Congress once again voted for Obamacare, refusing to even consider a one year delay in some of its provisions in order to keep the government running.

7:18 pm

In straight party line votes, the Democrats in Congress today once again voted for Obamacare, refusing to even consider a one year delay in some of its provisions in order to keep the government running.

The Senate voted for the second time Monday to kill a Republican counter-offer that would rein in ObamaCare while funding the government, kicking the bill back to the House with only a couple hours left on the clock before the government begins to shut down. Lawmakers are facing a midnight deadline to reach an agreement on a government spending bill. Senate Democrats vow they will not accept any proposal that targets ObamaCare. The latest House bill would have delayed the law’s individual mandate while prohibiting lawmakers, their staff and top administration officials from getting government subsidies for their health care.

The Senate voted 54-46 along party lines to reject it. [emphasis mine]

My description of this story above is not how most news outlets are covering the story, since it spins the story in favor of the Republicans. However, the fact remains that the Democrats continue to demand that Obamacare be enforced, come hell or high water. No compromise, no negotiation, no discussion will be allowed, even if that means the entire federal government will go down in flames.

Personally, I am not worried about a government shutdown. It will be generally as harmless as sequestration was, especially since both parties came to an agreement to fund the military, which will not shutdown. Stories like this, about how NASA will be shutdown almost entirely, are mostly repeating overstatements and lies by the administration. Some projects will get delayed, others stalled, but nothing important will likely be lost.

And yes, we still intend to hike tomorrow in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, even if the Park Service tells us it is closed.

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Why the House should stand firm.

3:33 pm

Why the House should stand firm.

When President Barack Obama is willing to negotiate with Russian, Syrian and Iranian leaders but unwilling to negotiate with the U.S. House of Representatives, it is time for the House to stand firm. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, according to unnamed sources quoted in Politico, that he will refuse to attend a negotiation at the White House because House Republicans have to cave and surrender to his terms, it is time to stand firm. When a senior, unnamed Democratic official is quoted Monday morning calling for no negotiations and saying “it’s time to punch the bully in the nose,” it is time to stand firm. When Obama spends a week making three partisan speeches attacking Republicans and then calls House Speaker John Boehner to tell him, “I will not negotiate,” it is time to stand firm.

It is a sad commentary on Obama’s attitude toward the elected majority of the House of Representatives that he could have a more pleasant conversation with the head of the Iranian dictatorship than with the elected leader of the U.S. House.

Just once in my life I would like to see the conservatives stand firm and not back down. What the Republicans are demanding is not unreasonable, and considering the numerous problems being caused by Obamacare, quite relevant and appropriate. If the Democrats discover they can get their way in even these circumstances, then their behavior in the coming years will become far more intolerant and uncompromising.

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“It is the Democrats who have taken an absolutist position.”

5:04 pm

“It is the Democrats who have taken an absolutist position.”

The rest of the quote makes this point even clearer.

I’d like to repeal every word of the law. But that wasn’t my position even in this fight – my position in this fight was, we should defund it, which is different from repeal….Even now what the House of Representatives has done is a step removed from defunding – it’s delaying it. Now that’s the essence of a compromise. For all of us who want to see it repealed, simply delaying it for American families on the same terms as has been done for American corporations – that’s a compromise.

Guess who said it.

I repeat that this budget battle illustrates to everyone that the Democrats are willing to shut down the government rather than deal with the terrible problems their terrible law has caused. They imposed Obamcare on everyone without any negotiation or compromise, and remain unwilling to even consider any discussion or changes.

It is their baby, and since they are willing to practically die for it, maybe the voters should give them what they want.

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Obamacare will destroy our members’ health insurance, cry the unions.

6:54 am

Finding out what’s in it: Obamacare will destroy our members’ health insurance, cry the unions.

The key question the author asks:

What surprises me about this is that union leaders are pretty strategic when it comes to employee benefits. It was obvious in 2009 that Obamacare’s employer mandate would incentivize this shift. Why didn’t labor unions fight it back then?

The answer to that question is summed up in two words: blind partisanship. For the last two decades these unions have been hand-in-glove Democratic operatives. If the Democrats said “Jump!” the unions asked “How high?” If they had used just a little bit of brain power back in 2010 — as conservatives and tea party activists did — they would have seen how terrible Obamacare is and would have opposed it.

The real question is this: Will they now support Republicans who are trying to stop and repeal Obamacare? Or will the unions continue to be blindly partisan when it comes to elections? Sadly, I think they will continue to be blindly partisan.

Posted as we approach the Texas border.

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The Treasury Inspector General has found that the IRS cannot account for $67 million of Obamacare funds.

3:06 pm

We’ve only just begun: The Treasury Inspector General has found that the IRS cannot account for $67 million of Obamacare funds.

he “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law. The fund, totaling some $1 billion of taxpayer money, was used to roll out enforcement mechanisms for the approximately 50 tax provisions of Obamacare. According to the report: “Specifically, the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify approximately $67 million [from the slush fund] of indirect ACA costs incurred for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2012.”

The report also found other spending abuses, including using the money for travel that was unjustified.

But everything’s under control. The Democratic Party will make sure Obamacare is funded, no matter what!

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The Obamacare wars are just beginning.

10:35 am

The Obamacare wars are just beginning.

This is war—turning sectors of the economy into partisan battlefields is a cost of their agenda that liberals, with their pure faith in “programs,” never factor in. But wars also have a way of leading to unexpected outcomes.

Read the whole thing. The author outlines how this terrible law, defended again today by the Democrats in the Senate, will have numerous unintended consequences that were unexpected and are generally bad.

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Obamacare was written and passed solely by Democrats.

9:53 am

A reminder: Obamacare was written and passed solely by the Democrats.

The no-trespass sign to the GOP during the writing of the Affordable Care Act deprived it of the benefits of critical scrutiny and helpful ideas from the business community that is a primary GOP constituent. That kind of input might have prevented many of the calamities caused by ObamaCare: the uncertainty prompting employers to put off hiring; the high costs provoking big businesses like Delta and Walgreens to shed coverage, and others to shift parts of their workforce from full to part time; the threat to union-negotiated medical insurance, and the unpopularity of the law.

While Social Security and Medicare always had hard-core foes on the right, that was nothing like the broad, persistent and combative enmity directed at ObamaCare. Democrats have no one to blame but their our-way-or-the-highway approach. [emphasis mine]

This law is the fault of the Democrats, and no one should allow them to distract us into forgetting that. Moreover, when or if the government shuts down, it will be because the Democrats in power once again voted in support of this terrible law. And they did it now, when its destructive consequences have become all too evident.

As much as they like to blame others for their failures, this failure is their responsibility, through and through.

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Senator Cruz’s speech today in trying to get the Senator to pass the House bill funding the government but defunding Obamacare.

7:06 pm

An evening pause: Senator Cruz’s (R-Texas) speech today in trying to get the Senate to pass the House continuing resolution funding the government but defunding Obamacare. His speech begins at 6:25, after Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) rejected that bill.

I think it worthwhile for everyone to watch this speech, as Cruz makes it very clear that the only people willing to shut the government down are the Democrats. Moreover, Reid’s rejection establishes unequivocally the fact that the Democrats are once again endorsing Obamacare, despite its now very obvious disastrous problems.

25 comments

The Republican battle plan for defunding Obamacare while keeping the government operating.

10:12 am

The Republican battle plan for defunding Obamacare while keeping the government operating.

What makes me skeptical is their fear of having the government shut down, a fear that somehow does not worry the Democrats. While Obama and the Democrats are quite willing to shut everything down to save Obamacare, the Republicans don’t seem to have the same courage. Under these circumstances, they will likely lose the battle.

And why is it that everyone assumes the Republicans will be blamed for the shutdown when they seem to be the ones most interested in avoiding it?

Update: The House has now voted to defund Obamacare but fund the goverment.

Note that the Democrats in the House have once again voted in support of Obamacare, a law that is very clearly destroying the health insurance business.

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