Ok, a quick, but important update to the below post about whether members of Congress are trying to wiggle out of the requirement that they and their aides purchase insurance on the exchanges starting in 2014.
To sum up briefly, in 2009, members of the Senate Finance Committee adopted an amendment to their draft of the health care bill that was designed to effectively drop members of Congress and their staffs into the exchanges, just like regular individuals.
The question now is whether they’re trying to retroactively exempt themselves from that requirement, or simply trying to deal fairly with the same sort of implementation snafus that many states, etc, are experiencing on a day to day basis. Read More
Boston bombers reportedly had plan to hit Times Square on trip to New York City.
Some ‘fair and balanced’ highlights from the opening of the George W Bush library.
In less than 24 hours, a story about a shady, secret bipartisan effort to rescue members of Congress and their staffs from the rough seas of Obamacare has turned into a much less controversial tale about Obamacare implementation problems ensnaring innocent Hill staffers.
What I imagine makes all this unusually annoying for Democrats is that this particular Obamacare problem only exists because four years ago a Republican Senator tried to embarrass them with an amendment nobody really thought was good policy.
But that’s all deep in the dustbin at this point. In 2013, every Obamacare implementation screw up is presented and viewed as the direct consequence of bad Democratic legislating. Even in cases where the legislative measure in question was written in a fit of pettiness by a Republican trying to kill the bill.
Last night, the Senate proved it can fix big problems for real Americans — so long as they’re rich, or relatively rich, or fly for business or what have you.
The short version is that late last night it took a break from its regular schedule of lacking 60 votes to shampoo the chamber carpet and unanimously passed a bill that will provide the FAA unique flexibility under sequestration — and thus halt the furloughs that have been causing travel delays around the country. Today the House will follow suit, and the White House has made it clear President Obama intends to sign it. Great if you fly. Bad, bad news if you’re on head start or rely on meals on wheels or otherwise aren’t a Priority Pass holder.
Aside the obvious iniquity, this is a big error. Read More
Sherrod Brown is taking a real run at the big banks … and the White House.
Tom Brokaw says the White House Correspondents Dinner hasn’t been the same since Lindsay Lohan got invited.
Very notable that steep social services and defense cuts are both easier to handle than flight delays.