13 results for search: FPO

News Briefing for Tuesday, February 10, 2015

TEA PARTY PATRIOTS: Great Job So Far, Sen. McConnell. Now Cancel The Recess. “Politicians are flirting dangerously with a deadline for funding a critical government service. A recess looms. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Republicans ran hard against executive amnesty for illegal aliens last fall, and were rewarded by voters with historic majorities. Rather than negotiate from a position of strength, GOP leadership opted to fund almost the entire government through Sept. 30, 2015 – in a lame duck session. The Department of Homeland Security was funded only through February 27, which brings us to the current impasse. Democrats – ...

News Briefing for Friday, December 12, 2014

HEALTHCARE: How ‘Cromnibus’ Helps Blue Cross and Blue Shield “Tucked away near the end of the 1,600-page spending bill is a long-awaited technical fix to the health overhaul law — one that benefits Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers and has been in the works since the bill was passed in 2010. The backstory: Many of the nonprofit ‘Blue’ health plans receive tax breaks on their expenses and reserves as part of a 1980s arrangement in which they lost their broader tax-exempt status. Under the 2010 health law, Blue plans had to spend at least 85% of their revenue from insurance premiums on medical claims to continue to qualify for the ...

News Briefing for Thursday, October 2, 2014

HEALTHCARE: One year in, Obamacare marketplace still subject to political spin (Features tweet from Jenny Beth) “One year after the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov, the federal website that serves as the Obamacare hub for dozens of states, the views on the 2010 health care law are decidedly mixed. According to the CBS News/ New York Times poll released two weeks ago, 51 percent of Americans disapprove of the Affordable Care Act while 41 percent approve. The split comes down along partisan lines -- 83 percent of Republicans said they disapprove of the law, while 67 percent of Democrats approve of it. That partisan split may not be too ...

News Briefing for Thursday, September 18

Below are some of the news stories that we are reading today. HEALTHCARE:   Obamacare's Next Open Enrollment Starts In Two Months - And It Will Be Awful http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/09/17/obamacares-next-open-enrollment-starts-in-two-months-and-it-will-be-awful/   With New Health Law, Shopping Around Can Be Crucial “If you bought health insurance at an Affordable Care Act marketplace this year, it really pays to look around before renewing your coverage for next year. The system is set up to encourage people to renew the policies that they bought last year — and there are clear advantages to doing so, ...

TOPLINE Stuff You Need to Know for Wednesday, August 27, 2014

NY Post Editorial:  IRS Back Up Baloney Some 15 months after Americans learned about the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups, we still have no clue how such an abuse was allowed to happen. And every day, the story only gets murkier. This week, for instance, a government watchdog group, Judicial Watch, said administration officials admitted that all the “missing” e-mails belonging to Lois Lerner (the woman at the heart of the scandal) had been backed up after all — as part of a practice to back up all the government’s e-mails. ...The more we learn, it seems, the less we know. And the less the public can trust their own government. It’s ...

The Targeting of Ted Cruz

Late Wednesday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) released a statement in support of the House’s Continuing Resolution that defunds Obamacare: “Today's announcement that the House will vote to defund Obamacare is terrific news,” said Sen. Cruz. “Just a few weeks ago, this was deemed impossible. We commend House leadership and House Republicans for listening to the people and for taking decisive action to stop Obamacare, the biggest job-killer in America. Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so. At that point, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ...

Congress Ducks Constituents

From Business Week comes a funny, mocking take on the complete avoidance of traditional town halls by Members of Congress: Gone are the packed, freewheeling town halls of the past, where voters stood up at microphones and pelted elected officials with questions on just about anything. Members of Congress largely put an end to unscripted, up-close-and-personal events after the traumatic summer of 2009, when dozens of lawmakers were shouted down by mad-as-hell Tea Partiers and citizens angry that the proposed Affordable Care Act was going too far or not far enough. The new town halls, as described in the article: Activists have reported on this ...

America’s Finances, Family Style

In the next two months, debates over Obamacare funding, the federal government’s funding, and the debt ceiling will dominate Washington. The Heritage Foundation has a wonderful new toy – “Federal Spending by the Numbers, 2013” – that’s helpful in understanding why it’s critical to hold strong on delaying and defunding Obamacare and freezing the debt ceiling. Alison Fraser has a summary of the full document on the Heritage site, but this brings the federal government’s profligacy home to your friends and family: We can’t wait any longer. Delay and defund Obamacare, keep the debt ceiling where it is, and get federal spending ...

Obama’s new “grand bargain” avoids real tax reform and increases spending

From the Associated Press, reporting on the President’s speech yesterday: Seeking to ease Washington gridlock, President Barack Obama on Tuesday challenged Republicans to accept a new fiscal deal to cut corporate tax rates in exchange for more government spending on jobs programs. The offer was immediately panned by GOP lawmakers, who accused the president of repacking proposals he already supports and making no concessions to the opposing party. The Associated Press reports Senator John McCain (R-AZ) shot down the idea, as did Speaker Boehner and numerous other Republicans. What’s so bad about the President’s idea? First, his speech ...

Mainstream media boycotts government propaganda session

Since the AP and Fox were found to be targeted by the Obama Administration for doing accurate journalism, the mainstream media has found itself in the unusual position of standing up to the Administration. Now, with the Attorney General’s office wishing to meet off-the-record with some of the nation’s largest media companies, many are saying “no”: The New York Times and Associated Press said Wednesday that they will not attend a meeting this week between Attorney General Eric Holder and the Washington bureau chiefs of several media outlets to discuss guidelines for journalists in leak investigations. Times executive editor Jill Abramson ...