"Immigration advocates try to convert GOP holdouts; Key districts in House targeted for lobby effort" by Erica Werner | Associated Press, August 12, 2013
BEL AIR, Md. — Immigration advocates are swarming parts of the country this month, trying to persuade House Republicans to pass a comprehensive overhaul. Such an effort would not go far at the meeting Representative Andy Harris held recently in this town northeast of Baltimore.
The overflow crowd, overwhelmingly white and older, booed loudly when one audience member asked Harris to support a path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Loud applause followed as Harris shot the idea down, calling it ‘‘a nonstarter.’’
‘‘The bottom line is there are plenty of immigration laws on the books,’’ Harris said. ‘‘The House is in no rush to take up immigration.’’
Harris, a 56-year-old physician and the son of Eastern European immigrants, is in a safe GOP district with few Latino voters, and he is not on target lists drawn up by immigration proponents. So it is no surprise that advocates will not be out in force at his events.
A TARGET LIST? That's okay?
Yet his position is far from unique.
For all the effort that business and labor groups, activists, and others who support action on immigration say they are pouring into making themselves heard during Congress’s five-week summer recess, there are scores of House Republicans who are hearing very little of the clamor.
Actually, they are hearing their constituents, but the agenda-pu$hing paper that feigns a love of democracy doesn't see it that way.
These lawmakers are insulated in safe districts where immigration activists do not bother to venture, or are so hardened in their positions that no one is trying to change their minds....
With immigration legislation stuck in limbo in the GOP-led House, that reality raises the question of how successful advocates can be in reaching their goal for this month: generating enough momentum to propel Congress to act when lawmakers return to Washington in September.
A week into lawmakers’ summer recess, advocates are trumpeting comments from a few Republicans, including Daniel Webster of Florida, Aaron Schock of Illinois, and Dave Reichert of Washington, indicating qualified support for eventual citizenship for those in the country illegally.
So there will be an amnesty component in addition to the work visas that the Repuglican House is going to cobble together for the House-Senate conference.
It is unclear whether such developments are limited to a small number of lawmakers, including some in districts with changing demographics or a more moderate electorate, or whether they become widespread enough to compel House Republicans to act on a package of immigration bills that could be merged with a Senate-passed measure and sent to President Obama....
What did I just say?
Any action even on that is not expected until October at the earliest....
Sneak it on through when you are not looking as holiday season begins.
Of the 233 Republicans in the House, 121 are on a list of targets distributed last month by senators who support an immigration overhaul, but that target list includes a number of long shots....
They say their efforts are getting results.
I'm nauseous from the spin.
They point to Schock’s recent announcement that he supports a path to citizenship with certain conditions, and similar statements from Reichert and Webster, among others.
America’s Voice says those recent announcements bring to more than 20 the number of GOP House members who have indicated some kind of support for citizenship.
It is a position backed by most voters in most national polls.
I don't believe that agenda-pu$hing, corporate pre$$ poll, sorry.
But the story is different in many GOP House districts, which often have few Latino voters and are drawn to make them safe for Republicans.
Which faction of the War Party do you like?
--more--"
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Senator Marco Rubio pushes hard for overhaul
And if nothing is done he says Obama should DICTATE AMNESTY for ALL ILLEGALS!!
Un-f***ing-believable!
Related: House Close to Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Yeah, they have been working on it IN SECRET!
"House GOP, Democrats clash over immigration; Compromise unlikely for Obama priority" by Erica Werner | Associated Press, July 24, 2013
WASHINGTON — House Republicans took a tentative step toward offering citizenship to some unauthorized immigrants Tuesday but hit an immediate wall of resistance from the White House and advocates who said it was not enough.
That's posing. They will accepted limited amnesty in whatever bill is sent to him.
The dismissive reaction to the GOP proposal to offer eventual citizenship to some immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children underscored the difficulties of finding a compromise in the Republican-led House on the politically explosive issue.
Good. In this case, gridlock is good.
That left prospects cloudy for one of President Obama’s top second-term priorities. Congress is preparing to break for a monthlong summer recess at the end of next week without action in the full House on any immigration legislation, even after the Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan bill last month to better secure the borders and create a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.
Yeah, forget about the new work visas meant to insource cheap and compliant foreign labor.
At a hearing of the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee Tuesday on how to deal with immigrants brought here illegally as children, House Republican leaders embraced offering citizenship to such immigrants, and Judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia, is working on a bill with majority leader Eric Cantor toward the goal.
Hadn't heard much about that behind-the-scenes secret, but.... I'll bet it will come with a "must serve in the military" clause.
Some Democrats and immigration advocates said it was a welcome development, but before the hearing began, Democrats dismissed Goodlatte and Cantor’s not-yet-released legislation....
A split in the Democrats?
Democrats and immigration advocates have pushed hard in past years for legislation offering citizenship to immigrants brought as youths. The so-called DREAM Act passed the House in 2010 when it was controlled by Democrats but was blocked by Senate Republicans.
But now, with a comprehensive solution like the one passed by the Senate in sight, Democrats and outside activists say they will not settle for anything less.
“Legalizing only the DREAMers is not enough,” said Representative Luis Gutierrez, Democrat of Illinois....
Fine. Vote against whatever they come up with then.
Some Democrats and outside advocates also contended that Republicans were advancing a politically attractive measure to give themselves cover to avoid dealing with all the immigrants here illegally.
Oh my God, they Republicans are playing politics!
They noted that as recently as June the House’s GOP majority voted to overturn an Obama administration policy halting deportations of some immigrants brought to the United States as youths — a policy put in place after Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act.
“Don’t be fooled. This is not about the DREAM Act. It’s about politics and the Republicans’ attempt to make it look like they are taking immigration reform seriously,” said a statement from the Fair Immigration Reform Movement.
Republicans warned that such opposition could backfire.
“Attempts to group the entire 11 million into one homogenous group in an effort to secure a political remedy will only wind up hurting the most vulnerable,” said Gowdy.
--more--"
"Boehner again criticizes King for remarks on immigration
WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner elevated his criticism of fellow Republican Representative Steve King of Iowa on Thursday over King’s suggestion that many immigrants in the country illegally are drug runners, calling the comments ‘‘deeply offensive and wrong.’’
At his weekly news conference, Boehner ramped up his previous criticism of King’s remarks without being asked. The Ohio Republican took the unusual step of calling King out by name, dramatizing the concern among GOP leaders that incendiary comments from the right can tarnish the party’s image even as lawmakers struggle to find a solution to the immigration debate.
I'm tired of the imagery and illusion of shit-fooley politics!
King told a conservative news website last week that with respect to immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children, ‘‘for every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.’’
That's a laugher considering the global surveillance grid. If it's true, they are being allowed to do it. Now if you will excuse me, it's time for a smoke (smile).
The comments began to circulate widely Tuesday, drawing condemnation from Boehner, House majority leader Eric Cantor, other Republicans, and numerous Democrats.
Several hours after Boehner spoke, King defended his remarks and expanded on them.
‘‘There are many, many young people coming across the border unlawfully who are smuggling drugs into the United States,’’ King said on the House floor. ‘‘We must not sacrifice the rule of law on the altar of political expediency.’’
--more--"
Yeah, knock it off. That drug money fuels bank profits and is a vital part of the economy.
"Immigrants a vital part of the Mass. economy" by Sarah Shemkus | Globe Correspondent, August 04, 2013
Immigration remains one of the most contentious debates. The US Senate in June passed a sweeping immigration bill, but it has stalled in the Republican-controlled House.
The outcome of this standoff has implications for Massachusetts, where immigration plays a vital role in the economy. Immigration accounts for much of the state’s population growth; foreign-born residents make up 15 percent of the state’s population, compared to 13 percent nationally.
Immigrants have become increasingly important to the workforces of Massachusetts industries, from technology to tourism. They are expected to play even larger roles in coming years as the aging, native-born population leaves the labor force.
Immigrants are likely to be poorer, receiving public assistance at a slightly higher rate than native-born residents, according to the The Immigrant Learning Center Inc. in Malden.
But to say such a thing makes you a racist.
But immigrants also show higher rates of state income tax payments, workforce participation, and entrepreneurship.
Yeah, the jewspaper makes a good point: they are so much better than you Amurkn slobs.
Here are three of their stories....
***************************
For Joseph, as with many immigrants, coming to the United States meant starting over. In his hometown of Petion-Ville, an affluent suburb of Port-au-Prince, Joseph made a good living in computer repair. He also managed a local team that played handball, a cross between soccer and basketball popular in Europe and other parts of the world.
He came to the United States to join his family....
Those concerns are going to be dropped to the end of the list as economics takes a much more decisive role.
A cook at a McDonald’s are among the most common ways for new arrivals to enter the workforce; 14.2 percent of employed recent immigrants work in the accommodations and food services sector, according The Immigrant Learning Center Inc. in Malden, a nonprofit that offers English classes to new immigrants....
Related: May I Take Your Order?
You see why they don't want you, right?
Joseph is confident that moving to the United States has given him a much greater chance of improving his life than staying in Haiti, one of the world’s poorest nations.
Well, that I agree with. The cholera epidemic, sex abuse at the school, and lack of rebuilding is a scandal.
In his new home, his age and financial circumstances are unlikely to hold him back as they would have in his home country, he said.
“Even if you are old or young in this country,” he said, “ if you have a goal, you have an opportunity to reach your goal.”
You keep believing that, kid.
***********************
Andre Kurs first visited the United States when he was about 10 for a family trip to Disney World in Florida. A few years later, his parents sent him to a classic American summer camp in Vermont....
I hope he wasn't sexually abused.
The immigration overhaul bill recently passed by the US Senate calls for the creation of a system that would give priority to green card applicants with high educational achievements and significant work experience.
And family less of a factor.
The proposal, however, has stalled in the House....
--more--"
He's an H1-B.
See what happens once you get citizenship?
Time to pull on the old heart strings:
"Amid immigration debate, a call to stay deportations; Lynn case raises concerns" by Maria Sacchetti | Globe Staff, August 05, 2013
LYNN — Days after the Globe interviewed Justo Barrios in custody, US immigration officers released him last Wednesday without explanation, but his case is among a string of deportation cases that have troubled advocates for immigrants and some US senators in recent weeks. Advocates say the Obama administration is still deporting immigrants who are not criminals or other top priorities and who might soon apply for legal residency if Congress changes the law....
Gee, first he two-faces the kids on student loans, now it's the illegals.
Two US senators, both Democrats, have also raised concerns about deportations. Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut personally urged immigration officials to halt two other deportations in recent weeks. Both serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee that held hearings on an immigration bill that passed in June and would allow millions of immigrants to apply for legal residency....
Others say immigration agents should enforce the existing law, adding that there is no guarantee Congress will pass an immigration overhaul. House leaders have said they would not take up the Senate bill and instead have focused on their piecemeal measures.
“The advocates are trying to create this sense of inevitability that just doesn’t exist,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that favors stricter enforcement. “We don’t really know what’s going to happen.”
**********************
Among the Massachusetts immigrants deported in recent weeks are Roger Tabora, 33, and married to a US citizen in Springfield, and Julio Yupa, 26, a roofer from Framingham whose references included his church pastor and a mayor from New Jersey, where he had also lived. Both were deported in May, Tabora to Honduras, and Yupa to Ecuador.
Another man, Josue Martinez, a 28-year-old father of five from Fitchburg, is in jail awaiting deportation to El Salvador.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Tabora, Yupa, and Martinez did not meet the criteria to have their cases set aside. Though advocates said they did not have criminal records, immigration officials said they were fugitives who had been ordered deported by an immigration judge and never left.
“ICE is focused on sensible, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration law violators,” said ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls.
Until Wednesday, Barrios was detained because he had been a fugitive, too.
He was smuggled from Guatemala through Mexico in hidden compartments under buses, his legs pressed against the sides so he wouldn’t fall into the wheel. Federal agents caught him crossing the southwest border into the United States in 2006 and an immigration judge ordered him deported. At the time, he was 16 and on his own. As a minor, he could have applied for legal residency, but Barrios said he did not know that until it was too late.
His hopes lifted last year when President Obama granted legal residency to immigrants who came here as children, but then he realized that he missed the age cutoff — he had to arrive before he turned 16.
In an interview before his release, Barrios said he disobeyed the deportation order for the same reason he had crossed the border illegally — to help his family. Barrios is one of 12 children who lived in a two-room adobe house in rural San Marcos in Guatemala. His father farmed potatoes and his mother often went without food so that every child could eat.
One in four American children are hungry -- and they are still waiting on food stamps (the corporate subsidy side already passed).
Barrios dropped out of middle school and fixed cars for less than $5 a day. He soon realized what many in the village knew: He could earn more than that in an hour in the United States.
His father begged him not to go, but Barrios insisted.
“I wanted to give him something,” Barrios said, in tears. “I wanted to take us out of this.”
Barrios joined his sister in Lynn and for years took every job he could, fixing cars or laying carpet. He sent $200 a month home to his parents, which pays for his father’s diabetes medicine and helps after the house in Guatemala sustained heavy damage from a powerful earthquake last year.
Not that I want Guatemalans living in abject poverty or suffering in sickness, far from it; however, that is money removed from the Massachusetts economy. How is that helping?
Of course, the U.S-sponsored juntas that killed a couple hundred-thousand Guatemalans in serving the interests of United Fruit was for their own good.
Then, in December, he hit a telephone pole while driving to work without a license.
What?
A Newburyport District Court clerk said he paid a fine and the charges were dismissed.
What?
The accident did not land him in immigration detention, but it didn’t help in June when a police officer in New Hampshire stopped the van he was a passenger in and turned him over to immigration officials.
Advocates argued that immigration officials should have released Barrios because he did not match their priorities for deportation, but he remained jailed in New Hampshire and then in Massachusetts.
It's part of the pri$on-indu$trial complex.
Then, on Wednesday, they released him with a monitoring device attached to his ankle.
Related: Wide use of ankle bracelets creates headaches
What do you mean no one is watching?
Barrios could still be deported, said his lawyer, Matt Cameron.
For now, Barrios is waiting to see what Congress will do.
Aren't we all?
--more--"
Related:
"The president’s visit to Phoenix marks the latest stop on his summertime economic tour aimed at refocusing his agenda on middle-class Americans still struggling to fully recover following the recession."
A recession that is continuing for 93% of us -- but at least he has a good smile!
As for his latest housing plan, way too late. Banks have already stolen most of the homes, although they are still picking around for more assets to put on their balance sheet.
Why does he even want to get rid of Fannie and Freddie when they are back to making record profits again?
And he's trying to link it to the immigration issue?
Related:
Obama Opens His Mouth Again
Obama Will Call
The Boston Globe's NSA Intercepts
Sunday Globe Special: Obama On An Island
Yeah, his tour has stopped for vacation.
UPDATE:
"In the days leading up to the first family’s arrival, there had been a lot of grumbling about the Secret Service’s decision to close South Road, a well-traveled route near where the president is staying. But neighbors seem to be adjusting."
Man, the Boston Globe really is a cock-sucking, elite piece of shit!!!!
"Obama offers GOP a deal to create middle class jobs; President would cut tax rates for businesses" by Mark Landler and Jackie Calmes | New York Times, July 31, 2013
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — President Obama, seeking to break a stalemate with Republicans, said here Tuesday that he would cut corporate tax rates in return for a pledge from Republicans to invest in more programs to generate middle-class jobs.
Using a sea of cardboard boxes in a cavernous Amazon distribution center as a backdrop, Obama described a “grand bargain” for the middle class that he said would stimulate the economy while giving businesses the lower tax rates they have long sought.
“If folks in Washington really want a ‘grand bargain,’ how about a grand bargain for middle-class jobs?” Obama said to a crowd of 2,000. “If we’re going to give businesses a better deal,” he added later, “we’re going to give workers a better deal, too.”
It was the president’s first concrete proposal in an economic offensive that he inaugurated last week in Galesburg, Ill., with a speech that was meant to set his terms for a debate this fall with the Republican-controlled House over fiscal issues.
But only the packaging was new. Obama’s speech cobbled together two existing initiatives that have been stalled in Congress....
While Obama presented the proposal as a concession, Republicans dismissed it even more acidly than usual....
For two years, Republicans have rejected most of Obama’s initiatives to create jobs....
By presenting the corporate tax cut as a stand-alone proposal, the White House hopes to make it more palatable to Republicans....
They could take him to the cleaners again.
Corporations and their Republican allies have long argued, correctly, that the 35 percent corporate tax rate is among the highest in the industrialized world, and have contended that it undercuts the competitiveness of US businesses.
However, numerous tax breaks unique to the United States allow many corporations to significantly reduce or even wipe out their tax liabilities.
Or even GET PAID despite making billions in profits!
The choice of Amazon was meant to illustrate Obama’s theme of a job revival in the United States.
The company recently disclosed plans to hire 5,000 more workers at 17 fulfillment centers around the country, where it packs and ships customer orders.
I was told 7,000, but it's such a small difference (each of those 2,000 of course being a unique life form with its own individual life experience) who cares about the inexactitude there?
But the White House came under fire because many Amazon jobs pay only $11 an hour, and the pace of the work in these warehouses has been described as exhausting.
Obama’s appearance here also raised the hackles of independent booksellers, who blame Amazon for driving bookstores out of business. Amazon is the nation’s biggest seller of books, and its deep discounting and massive selection has lured away many customers.
The American Booksellers Association argued in a letter to Obama that Amazon’s gains have come at the expense of small businesses.
Yeah, never mind all the labor violations.
--more--"
Amazing.
Can there be any more doubt that this "Democrat" president is also a captive of big business and global corporations?
But back to the magical and mystical middle-class economic tour!
"Obama gives pep-talk to weary Democrats" by Donna Cassata and Julie Pace | Associated Press, August 01, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Obama sought to calm jittery Democrats on Wednesday as they prepared to head home to face voters, assuring them they are “on the right side of history” despite problems with the launch of his massive health care overhaul and an immigration fight with Republicans.
When someone says that it means you are on the WRONG SIDE!
In back-to-back closed sessions with House and Senate Democrats, Obama delivered his message about economic prosperity and expanding the middle class.
What, was he practicing the propaganda on them first?
But in return he was confronted with questions from Democrats who are nervous about implementation of the health care law as they look ahead to town hall meetings during the August recess — and to midterm elections next year.
They ought to be nervous, and today's news regarding patients, excuse me, consumers, isn't going to help.
The meetings at the Capitol offered a rare chance for the party’s rank and file to press the president about budget talks with Republicans, the next Federal Reserve chairman, and jobs projects, as well as to appeal to him for help in next year’s campaigns. In a lighter moment, House Democrats presented Obama with a birthday cake. He turns 52 Sunday.
I thought he was supposed to be working with them.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Obama's Birthday
No Use Yellen About This Post
Also see: Larry Summers attuned to both market and middle class
I gue$$ he's gonna be the guy.
The White House is seeking to keep up enthusiasm among Democrats following a rough start to Obama’s second term.
He has gained an agreement in the Senate to get at least some long-blocked nominees confirmed, and the Senate has passed its version of sweeping immigration legislation.
See: Republicans Relent on Obama Nominations
It was a one-off.
But the immigration overhaul faces a deeply uncertain future in the Republican-led House, where many in the GOP oppose a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.
Obama’s landmark health care law continues to baffle many Americans, and the administration failed to assuage the public when it announced this month it would delay a major provision requiring employers to provide coverage, due to concerns about complexity.
No, that made us even more skeptical of the whole badly-written piece of s***.
While major provisions of the overall bill kick in Jan. 1, uninsured people can start shopping for health plans on Oct. 1, and some Democrats are wary of the system being ready. Representative Carol Shea- Porter of New Hampshire said that in her state there is not enough competition because only one company had entered the health care exchange.
Related: Disingenuous Democrats in Home Stretch on Health Tax
What a disappointment Shea-Porter has become.
Obama told House Democrats they “are on the right side of these issues and the right side of history in terms of providing health care to Americans and to ultimately finding comprehensive immigration reform,” said Representative Janice Hahn of California.
Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky said, “I just think he was trying to bolster the courage of the group.”
Obama spoke about his administration’s roll-out plans for health care exchanges, which could be critical to the health care law’s success or failure.
Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats, said Obama told senators not to be defensive in discussing the law.
“He said we have to remind people that a lot of good things are happening,” King told reporters after the senators-only meeting. King listed several of what he said are the law’s accomplishments, such as children being able to use their parent’s insurance until age 26 and reduced costs for drugs.
That was the easy stuff that the insurance companies didn't mind; wait until all the paperwork and other things start later. You think Americans oppose this now? Just wait.
King said there needs to be more emphasis on explaining what the health care law really means to Americans because of repeated attempts by House Republicans “to essentially sabotage it and frighten people.”
Why is it SO DIFFICULT to EXPLAIN?
The sessions came just days before lawmakers leave the capital for a six-week recess and the prospect of facing constituents back home, at town halls at a time when polls show Congress being held in low regard.
I was told it was a a five-week summer recess -- twice, but whatever. If they can't even get that right.... sigh.
Btw, Congress is lower than...
“We have a positive, forceful message, and the Republicans, all they can talk about is repealing Obamacare as if that is the answer to our prayers,” said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. “They’re just wrong.”
Yeah, the "message" will convince us all! Nothing sadder than a delusional Democrap.
Durbin made clear that Democrats had no intention of allowing a repeat of the congressional recess in August 2010, when loud opposition to the Affordable Care Act propelled the GOP takeover of the House in that year’s elections.
They aren't going to have much of a choice.
“We’re not going to leave a void here,” Durbin told reporters. “We’re going to fill this [recess] with our message, and we’re going to do it in a very forceful, positive way.”
In the Senate session, Obama declared that he would not negotiate with Republicans on raising the nation’s borrowing authority and risk a repeat of the 2011 budget showdown.
“He also made clear that we need to sit down and work together on these issues and that there’s certain points that he will insist upon,” said Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland.
--more--"
"Tea Party takes aim at GOP; Activists call for risking government shutdown to stop health law" by Tracy Jan | Globe Staff, August 09, 2013
WASHINGTON — Tea Party activists are mounting a nostalgia tour of sorts this month, a campaign across the country to recapture the magic from the summer of 2009 in hopes of pressuring members of Congress to strip funding from the movement’s public enemy No. 1: “Obamacare.”
I suspect they will be increasing their House margin in addition to taking control of the Senate next year. It's in the math.
There is a key difference from the fervent Tea Party protests of four years ago: Instead of targeting Democrats, conservative groups are confronting members of the Republican Party whom they perceive as weak in their commitment to kill the national health care overhaul.
Despite warnings from GOP leaders that the strategy is political folly, Tea Party activists are demanding that Republican lawmakers threaten to shut down the government as a dramatic way to stop funding for the plan.
At a town hall in Charlotte on Monday, a woman stood up and interrupted North Carolina Republican Representative Robert Pittenger, shouting: “We need to show the American people we stand for conservative values.” The audience applauded.
The challenge was reminiscent of the splash the Tea Party, at its height, made four summers ago at lawmakers’ traditional August Town Hall gatherings. Emotions ran so high in some places that heckling and fistfights broke out, and state troopers were called in to stand guard. Death threats and effigies of congressmen were delivered.
So what false flag psyops are in the works for this August?
By most measures, Pittenger is the kind of lawmaker whom Tea Party leaders should embrace. He has sponsored numerous bills to repeal Obama’s health reform law. But his nuanced message at the recent town meeting — that he would not vote to gut health care funding because it was a futile gesture, given the Democrat-controlled Senate would never go along — did not resonate with the crowd.
His stance was immediately repackaged as a simple “no” and posted on a Tea Party website.
Tea Party organizers say lawmakers should expect more of the same in coming weeks. Conservative activists in South Carolina, Texas, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Tennessee are also planning to grill GOP members over the next two weeks.
The activists want senators and representatives to refuse to vote in favor of continued government funding in the fall unless such a budget deal pulls funding from the health care law, whose key benefits are set to begin in January.
But some Republicans have denounced the idea of linking the health care law to the general budget, saying it is irresponsible to threaten a government shutdown — a tactic that in the past has backfired, as measured in approval ratings, on Republicans.
To avoid being targeted by the Tea Party campaign, many elected officials are shying away from publicizing their August forums or have decided against holding them at all.
Or they went on vacation to Israel instead.
Instead, they are holding one-on-one meetings with constituents, scheduled in advance. Some are choosing to conduct town halls over the telephone via conference calls or over the Internet on Google “hangouts” — where their staffs can exert more control over what questions get asked. Others are turning town halls into “invite only” events.
The antithesis of this country's most basic tradition! That's not democracy!
“It’s outrageous,” said Matt Kibbe, head of FreedomWorks, a major Tea Party group with headquarters in Washington. “Regardless of your political affiliation, it seems like there’s a defacto obligation to listen to constituents and engage in that process. People are pretty frustrated about Obamacare and having nowhere to vent their frustration only builds the pressure.”
Oh, they li$ten, and that is why I'm here.
Tea Party groups are urging their members to help compile calendars and maps across the country noting where town halls will occur. When none are scheduled, activists are e-mailing and calling lawmakers’ offices demanding one.
Some conservatives are organizing their own “mock” town halls, using life-sized cardboard cutouts to represent targeted lawmakers....
How can you tell the difference?
“There was a vocal outcry against Obamacare in 2009, and it’s even stronger now that we see what’s in it,” said Doug Egger, a 66-year-old real estate broker from Bradenton and a member of Tea Party Manatee.
In Dallas on Wednesday evening, activists gathered at an IHOP restaurant to plan an Aug. 17 town hall targeting Senator John Cornyn, the Republican whip who recently withdrew his signature from a letter that calls for defunding the health law as a condition for approving ongoing government funding. Since Cornyn has yet to schedule a town hall, Tea Party members say they plan to represent him using an empty chair and a milk carton plastered with a picture of his face and the word “Missing.”
Related: The Eastwood Excuse
That's why Romney lost, remember?
“These Republicans are operating based on fear. We have a bunch of cowards in office, grown men acting like chickens,” said Katrina Pierson, a 37-year-old founder of the Garland Tea Party who is organizing the event. “We sent them to Washington to do a job, not be Democrats’ whipping boys. And Obamacare is where the line needs to be drawn.”
There are a lot of lines that need to be drawn with this president.
******************************
At an Illinois town hall meeting on Monday, Republican Congressman Aaron Schock said those threatening to hold the government budget hostage over health care were misguided, “beating their chests.”
“If you’re going to take a hostage, you have to be willing to shoot it,” Schock said. To which an audience member gleefully said, “Kill it.”
Told you America's first reaction to anything is kill it (if that really happened).
Of course, in this case infanticide is the right call despite the horrid analogy.
In Tennessee, Tea Party activists trying to unseat Senator Lamar Alexander, a two-term Republican seen as a moderate, are planning to highlight his voting record at public demonstrations and to vet candidates to run against him in a primary. The senator will be represented by a 3-foot tall terracotta rhinoceros signifying a Republican in Name Only (RINO) — in other words, a Democrat in Republican clothing.
“The best way to send a message to these folks if they won’t meet with you is just to primary them,” said Katherine Hudgens, a Tea Party activist in Tennessee. “We may not beat them but we will make them spend money and make them very, very uncomfortable. We will get them one way or another.”
Ominous, isn't it?
Indiana Tea Party activists lament that their three freshmen representatives — all Republicans — have a voting record that falls in line with party leadership, not along the more conservative lines demanded by the Tea Party....
The latest polls show that Americans continue to oppose the health law, with 51.3 percent against it compared to 39.7 percent in favor, according to a Real Clear Politics average.
That's quite a gap, and once they see the forms they are going to like it even less.
Democrats, mindful of the wave of Tea Party victories in the 2010 midterms that helped Republicans win control of the House, are launching their own efforts to fight back in the high-stakes public messaging war this recess.
Messaging, imagery, illusion, I think I'm feeling sick!
Americans United for Change, a Washington-based liberal advocacy group, has begun touting the benefits of health reform in 10 key states, including Texas, North Carolina, and Florida.
Brad Woodhouse, the group’s president, called the Tea Party tactics a “train wreck” for the Republican Party that Democrats can exploit.
Those train wrecks sure faded from the news pages.
“Ever since 2009, the perception has been that Democrats and progressives for the most part have been on the defensive about Obamacare,” Woodhouse said. “It’s critical now that we go on the offense.”
Even if losing?
The group plans to hold town halls with Democratic members to promote the law beginning next week.
Organizers affiliated with Americans United for Change hold daily calls with other liberal groups to plot strategy about deploying activists to Republican town halls around the country, sharing talking points and potential questions.
They are also holding rallies and protests outside members’ district offices, waving signs that say “Hands off my Obamacare.”
“It’s guerrilla warfare,” said Jeremy Funk, the group’s spokesman. “We’ve learned our lesson, and we’re not taking this lying down. We’re going to beat them at their own game this recess.”
Talk about inciting violence!
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Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Making You Think
This is $omething you might want to think about:
"Limits on consumer costs in health care law delayed" by Robert Pear | New York Times, August 13, 2013
WASHINGTON — In another setback for President Obama’s health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care.
The limit on out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and copayments, was not supposed to exceed $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. But under a little-noticed ruling, federal officials have granted a one-year grace period to some insurers, allowing them to set higher limits, or no limit at all, in 2014.
You are going to need that Obamacare because you just got f***ed, Americans!
The grace period has been outlined on the Labor Department’s website since February but was obscured in a maze of legal and bureaucratic language that went largely unnoticed.
Translation: Dr. Obama tried to HIDE IT from you!!
When asked in recent days about the language — which appeared as an answer to one of 137 “frequently asked questions about Affordable Care Act implementation” — department officials confirmed the policy.
The discovery is likely to fuel continuing Republican efforts this fall to discredit the president’s health care law.
He is discrediting it on his own! First he drops requirements for big business, and now this!
Under the policy, many group health plans will be able to maintain separate out-of-pocket limits for benefits in 2014. As a result, a consumer may be required to pay $6,350 for doctors’ services and hospital care, and an additional $6,350 for prescription drugs under a plan administered by a pharmacy benefit manager.
Some consumers may have to pay even more, as some group health plans will not be required to impose any limit on out-of-pocket costs for drugs next year. If a drug plan does not currently have a limit on out-of-pocket costs, it will not have to impose one for 2014, officials said Monday.
The health law, signed more than three years ago by Obama, clearly established a single overall limit on out-of-pocket costs for each individual or family. But federal officials said that many insurers and employers needed more time to comply because they used separate companies to help administer major medical coverage and drug benefits, with separate limits on out-of-pocket costs. In many cases, the companies have separate computer systems that cannot communicate with one another.
Look at these lame-ass excuses trotted out to $erve in$urance companies and health conglomerates.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said: “We knew this was an important issue. We had to balance the interests of consumers with the concerns of health plan sponsors and carriers, which told us that their computer systems were not set up to aggregate all of a person’s out-of-pocket costs. They asked for more time to comply.”
First of all, WHO LEAKED THAT?!?!
Secondly, the balance on that see-saw left you up in the air, "consumers." (Silly me, I thought you were a PATIENT)
Health plans are free to set out-of-pocket limits lower than the levels allowed by the administration. But many employers and health plans sought the grace period, saying they needed time to upgrade their computer systems. Benefit managers using different computer systems “often cannot keep track of all the out-of-pocket costs incurred by a particular individual,” said Kathryn Wilber, a lawyer at the American Benefits Council, which represents many Fortune 500 companies that provide coverage to employees.
All the computers can't keep track of the payments, blah, blah, blah, blah -- and yet we are throwing millions in tax loot to update medical records, huh?
Last month the White House announced a one-year delay in enforcement of another major provision of the law, which requires larger employers to offer health coverage to full-time employees. Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s senior adviser, said that the delay of that mandate showed “we are listening” to businesses, which had complained about the complexity of reporting requirements.
Related: Obama Bends Over For Big Business
Listening to certain kinds of businesses.
Isn't it great when your government and mouthpiece media lie to your face?
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Related:
"Separately, Obama came to the rescue of members of Congress and their aides Friday, saying the federal government would continue paying a large share of their health insurance premiums. Ambiguous provisions of the health care law had created serious doubts about whether such contributions would continue."
Ambiguous? All that time getting it written and passed and the law is ambiguous? What did you expect when you let the insurers and pharmaceuticals write the thing?
Yeah, Obamacare will be good for you; those opposed are just mean!
Too bad you aren't a "member" of the "party," taxpayers!
"Medicare paid $120m in illegal care" by Kelli Kennedy | Associated Press, January 25, 2013
MIAMI — The taxpayer-funded Medicare program paid more than $120 million from 2009 to 2011 in violation of federal law for medical services for inmates and illegal immigrants, according to two reports issued Thursday by federal health officials.
By law, Medicare generally does not pay for services for either group of patients. But the program was billed for more than $33 million in inmate care and more than $91 million for illegal immigrant care over that period, according to the reports from the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general.
In 2011, Medicare expenditures were $549 billion, making Thursday’s figures a fraction of the program’s annual budget. But the reports come as the Obama administration and Congress look for savings in a lean budget year. Putting a dent in Medicare fraud, estimated at $60 billion a year, has the potential for major savings. The reports recommend that officials establish a better system to automatically flag charges for inmates and illegal immigrants.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services already had a system in place to do so, but the reports found that the system didn’t catch improper bills until they had already been paid.
The agency agreed in the report that the system needs to be improved, and in April, Medicare is launching a process to help recoup lost money.
‘‘For cases where Medicare is informed of patients’ unlawful presence after claims have been paid, we are working to implement a process for quickly and completely recouping these improper payments,’’ the agency said in a statement Thursday.
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This as Medicare is cut for American citizens who paid in!
Related: Undocumented Immigrants Sometimes Receive Medicaid
Judicial Watch Uncovers USDA Records Sponsoring U.S. Food Stamp Program for Illegal Aliens
This as the food stamps program for American citizens is being cut.
And while in town:
"No pause in political fund-raising in Mass.; Onslaught of requests has donors fatigued" by Tracy Jan | Globe Staff, August 05, 2013
WASHINGTON — Democratic fund-raisers are aggressively plying Massachusetts, from Boston steak houses to exclusive events on Cape Cod and the Islands, in what campaign-weary contributors say is the busiest non-election-year summer in memory.
August in an off year in the federal election cycle traditionally has been a quieter time in politics. But a plethora of new political groups combined with an unusual number of Massachusetts races and the steady grind of a never-ending partisan war in Washington are betraying the calendar.
The unrelenting competition for political money — with luncheons costing up to $32,400-a-head — is now so intense that wealthy political financiers and operatives say a sense of fatigue is setting in, making it harder to extract cash from the state’s Democratic ATM....
Now I need that Obamacare because this is $ickening in a time of austerity.
Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York will be shaking the money tree at a Monday luncheon for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at the Capital Grille, in the Back Bay. The committee has already tapped donors at its annual retreat on Martha’s Vineyard in July, where the well-heeled paid for the privilege of dining and discussing policy with senators....
What more is there to $ay regarding the AmeriKan political $y$tem?
Bay State donors, accustomed to bankrolling out-of-state campaigns, say they feel especially drained this summer. In addition to the steady slew of Senate races Massachusetts fund-raisers recently slogged through, there is a congressional seat up for grabs, not to mention Boston’s first open mayoral election in a generation and a gubernatorial race next year.
See: Boston's Race For Mayoral Royalty
“The average contributor, strident Democrats and Republicans, has just about had it because it’s been a very tortuous campaign after campaign after campaign, and fatigue has set in,” said Tommy O’Neill, son of former House speaker Tip O’Neill. “You’ve got to make three times the phone calls to get one time the amount of money.”
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Congre$$ Calling
At the end of the month, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Representative Joe Kennedy III will headline a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fund-raiser in the Osterville home of Gerald and Elaine Schuster, Boston philanthropists who were among President Obama’s top fund-raisers. Despite the big-name draws, several regular donors invited to the Cape event say they will not be attending.
This after they return from Israel?
“I don’t find it stimulating at all,” said one Democratic fund-raiser who did not want to be named in order to preserve relationships with other donors. “Right now, the Democratic message is very, very diluted. People don’t want to waste their hard-earned money when the conversations are so lacking in specificity.”
Several fund-raisers say donors frustrated by the gridlock in Washington are more reluctant to give....
Democratic insiders say it’s an increasingly tough sell to persuade a small pool of regular donors to part with their money this early in the election cycle, when their cash can often make the most impact by helping candidates build war chests large enough to ward off challengers. Donors are writing smaller checks, rather than risk reaching individual limits on overall giving this early in the game....
Many donors prefer to wait to see which candidates are viable and invest their money where they think it can make a significant difference....
A succinct way to describe the buying of politicians.
Before writing large checks, the fund-raiser said, donors now want to hear a winning game plan....
Larry Rasky, a Boston-based public relations strategist and major Democratic fund-raiser, said his e-mail is bombarded by an alphabet soup of organizations seeking money: the DNC (Democratic National Committee), DSCC (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee), DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), and OFA (Organizing for Action, a spinoff of Obama’s campaign machine, Obama for America). Then there are the environmental groups, the women’s groups, the gay and lesbian groups, and the labor unions hitting up Democrats. “It’s never empty, once you get on someone’s leadership PAC list,” Rasky said. “You spend a lot of your time unsubscribing from listservs.”
Despite the fatigue, Rasky’s firm recently hosted a fund-raiser in Washington for Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s Senate bid....
Related: Markey a New Man in Senate
Massachusetts has traditionally been one of the biggest export states for Democratic money, with senators and congressmen from around the country flying in to tap the fund-raising machine. In the last election cycle, the Bay State ranked fifth in the country for federal Democratic contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics....
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And when they get back to Washington?
"Congress hits a dead end on government spending; Rift within GOP renews talk of federal shutdown" by Jonathan Weisman and Jackie Calmes | New York Times, August 02, 2013
WASHINGTON — Just hours before leaving on summer recess, Congress Thursday hit a seemingly intractable impasse on government spending, increasing the prospects of a government shutdown in the fall and adding new urgency to fiscal negotiations between the White House and a bloc of Senate Republicans.
The group of eight lawmakers headed to the White House to find a way forward after Senate Republicans filibustered a housing and transportation spending measure, saying it violated a spending deal struck two years ago. The blockade of the Senate bill came after House GOP leaders Wednesday gave up trying to pass their more austere version of the bill when moderate Republicans balked and said the cuts in the House measure were too deep.
The collapse of the spending measures on both sides of the Capitol left leaders of both parties pointing fingers and a resolution up in the air until the House and Senate return after a five-week break....
I guess it is five weeks, I dunno.
No one suggested a breakthrough was imminent, though Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the new White House budget director, said the rift within the Republican Party over spending could be an opening for compromise. Large sections of the government will shut down Oct. 1 unless Congress can find accommodation on new spending measures, and they will have little time to do so when they return Sept. 9.
“We’ve got a $16 trillion debt,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. “We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year we don’t have. This is how you get Greece. This is how you get Detroit. So we can’t do this.”
Actually, the federal government is way worse off than Greece or Detroit. They can't print their own money (well, Greece could, but.... ) to cover up massive debts.
Speaker John A. Boehner said he has no intention of retreating from the spending levels set by the sequester, and he insisted that in September, Republican leaders would find the votes to pass spending bills at that level.
“I’m sure our August recess will have our members in a better mood when they come back,” he said.
But other Republicans said the struggle would only get harder. Facing another rebellion, the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday abruptly set aside the formal drafting of an interior and environmental program spending bill that would have cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget to $5.5 billion from $8.3 billion, slashed clean water grants by 83 percent, and cut the national endowments for the arts and humanities by 49 percent.
I'm for that cut. Government shouldn't be involved in that, among other things.
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Related: US annual budget deficit on track to hit 5-year low
That should take some of the pre$$ure off.
