From: Gary L. Bauer
BREAKING NEWS: The Obama Administration announced moments ago that 106,000 people have signed up for Obamacare. This figure is well below official predictions of 500,000 and also counts people who have not yet paid for their plan, meaning they could still back out.
Only a quarter of those signing up were able to do so through the federal government’s Healthcare.gov website. The administration also announced that nearly four times as many people — 392,000 — have signed up for Obamacare’s expanded Medicaid coverage, guaranteeing an explosion of costs for that entitlement program.
Obama Becomes Iran’s Lobbyist
The Los Angeles Times reports that the Obama White House is warning members of Congress to drop efforts to toughen sanctions on Iran. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that tougher sanctions put American on a “march to war.”
There is broad and growing bi-partisan support in Congress for stronger sanctions against Iran. The Obama Administration is now willing to smear those senators and representatives by accusing them of risking a war.
Of course, the real risk to peace is an Iran with nuclear weapons. The road to war is being paved by American weakness, the abandonment of Israel and the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.
I can’t remember the last time Obama accused Iran of leading the world on a “march to war.” Why is this administration more comfortable confronting Republicans and Democrats than the mullahs in Tehran, who have vowed to wipe Israel off the map and who lead jihadists in chanting “Death to America”?
No Easy Solutions On Obamacare
As the negative headlines about Obamacare continue to pile up, all sides are scrambling to respond. The big news today is that more than one million people in California have lost their health coverage as a result of Obamacare. However, in the desperate search for answers, everyone is finding that there are no easy solutions to clean up this mess. Consider these points:
- Obama is under pressure to address the concerns of millions of people who, in spite of his repeated assurances, have not been able to keep policies and doctors they liked and had. But it is virtually impossible for Obama to reverse this without dealing a deathblow to his signature initiative.The cancellation of millions of individual policies is not an unintended side effect of Obamacare. It was meant to happen. Some Democrats now admit they knew it would happen.For Obamacare to work, the administration had to force entrepreneurs and the self-employed out of relatively inexpensive policies and into more expensive policies in order to provide the money to pay for the massive expansion of Medicaid and to provide generous taxpayer-funded subsidies for millions of other people. Any changes at this stage would massively decrease the revenue coming into Obamacare.
- Some Democrats, like Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, are supporting legislation that will allow people to keep the policies they have lost. That is likely a false hope.Insurance companies are regulated by the states. They have spent the last couple of years preparing for Obamacare and its myriad of mandates. Based on the law and its evolving regulations, the insurance companies filed new policies with state regulators to replace the policies that were deemed “substandard” by Obamacare. State regulators approved those policies and their new higher premiums. It would take a year or more to reverse all that.
- Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is sponsoring legislation that attempts to stop the next phase of this disaster — tens of millions of people in employer-sponsored group policies losing their coverage — while there is still time. That avalanche has not hit yet, but it will.
While millions of people receiving cancellation notices drives headlines, this is only one of the problems with Obamacare. Several news outlets are reporting today that Healthcare.gov will not be ready by the new November 30th deadline. As we reported yesterday, navigator fraud appears to be widespread. The income verification process to determine eligibility for Obamacare’s tax subsidies is not ready. And the website’s security continues to be highly suspect — and the subject of a hearing on Capitol Hill today.
Fix It Or Fight It?
Many of you are suggesting that congressional conservatives should not try to fix Obamacare. In messages I receive, folks argue that they should just let these horrible consequences play out and let Obama suffer the consequences.
I understand the sentiment. But doing nothing would be a disaster.
Conservatives are not bailing out Obama or trying to fix Obamacare. Real people are being hurt. For conservative members of Congress to do nothing just to spite Obama means letting millions of people suffer, and they would be complicit.
I also periodically get questions asking why members of Congress aren’t filing more lawsuits against this administration. They are, but the process is slow. This week 40 members of the House, led by my friend Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, filed an amicus brief in a case before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals questioning the constitutionality of Obamacare.
The Supreme Court upheld Obamacare as a tax. The Constitution requires that tax bills originate in the House of Representatives. But the law that became Obamacare began in the Senate. Stay tuned.
Obamacare Taking A Toll On Obama
Yet another poll finds Obama’s approval rating falling to a record low, dragged down by the Obamacare debacle. According to the latest Quinnipiac survey of registered voters, just 39% of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance. Fifty-four percent disapprove. On Obamacare, the numbers were virtually identical: 39% support it, while 55% oppose it.
Here are some other findings:
- 52% believe that Obama is not honest and trustworthy; 44% believe he is. It’s really bad when Bill Clinton is chastising you for not being honest.
- By a 10-point margin (53% to 43%) voters say the Obama Administration “has not been competent running the government.”
- A majority of voters (51%) said Obama is not paying enough attention to his job, while 43% believe he is.
- And when asked whether they would vote for a Republican or Democrat for Congress, the parties tied at 39% each. Last month, the Quinnipiac poll found Democrats up by nine points.
Promoting Promiscuity
Of all the damage that the left is doing to our foreign policy, the economy and trust in government, none is more pernicious and has more lasting effects than the assault on our values. In Obama’s five years, he has championed abortion, forced religious institutions and Christian business owners to pay for procedures that violate their religious beliefs, asked God’s blessings on the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, and been tireless in promoting same-sex marriage.
Now get this: Left-wing groups are trying to sell Obamacare to young people with ads encouraging immoral and irresponsible behavior. Some ads have shown young men in binge drinking activities. Now there is an ad clearly promoting promiscuity and one night stands.
In the ad, a young woman is depicted as anxious to go all the way with a handsome young man. The caption reads, “Let’s hope he’s as easy to get as this birth control.” See the ads here.
As Rush Limbaugh said on his show today, the ad is suggesting that, thanks to Obamacare, if you like your promiscuous lifestyle you can keep it.
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