Super Committee

Why The Super Committee Is Heading For Super Catastrophe

Brian Beutler | November 8, 2011, 5:48AM

As of Tuesday morning, betting on the Super Committee to succeed would be playing the odds.

A key member of the Senate Democratic leadership team has openly predicted the panel will gridlock and fail, and placed the blame squarely on Republicans.

As GOP committee members met privately, Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen -- a Democrat on the panel -- told Bloomberg, "You need to close some of these tax loopholes and you need to generate additional revenue. And so that balance is going to be important. We saw the dueling letters just last week. We had a bipartisan group in the House that said, 'Look, everything is on the table including revenues - tax revenues.' And within 24 hours you had 33 [Republican] Senators say, 'no new net tax revenues.'"

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112th Congress

Poll: Health Care Obama's Best -- And Worst -- Accomplishment

Jon Terbush | January 13, 2011, 10:31AM

President Barack Obama

In a stark measure of just how divisive the health care law is, a Quinnipiac poll released today finds that that piece of legislation is both the most popular and unpopular accomplishment of Obama's presidency.

In the poll, health care reform was by far the top answer to two open ended questions that asked respondents to name the best and the worst thing Obama has done as president. Twenty-six percent of respondents said health care was he best thing Obama has done, while 27% said it was the worst thing he's done in office.

No other specific policy or action Obama has taken polled higher than six percent on either question in the survey.

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Health Care

Sebelius: Secretive Campaign Spending Distorting Health Care Reform Is 'Alarming'

Christina Bellantoni | September 30, 2010, 10:43AM

Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters today that unprecedented and "opaque" spending on television ads by shadowy groups is "dangerous," sounding a political note that could indicate she has a future within the administration or on the ballot down the line.

"I have never seen a situation like this at least in my lifetime. The amount of money being spent is just staggering. ... I think that's pretty dangerous," Sebelius said at a breakfast hosted this morning by the Christian Science Monitor.

Sebelius brought up campaign finance unprompted, and said she would prefer to see transparency since so many "millionaires and billionaires" are funding groups that pretend to be grassroots, especially to drive an anti-health care message. She twice called it "dangerous," adding that it's "pretty alarming."

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Government Shutdown

Choke It, Starve It, Shrink It: What That Government Shutdown Talk Is Really About

Christina Bellantoni | September 3, 2010, 11:29AM

Alex Cortes of DeFundIt.org

Now that we know the Republicans have settled on a campaign strategy pledging to "defund" health care reform if they win back Congressional power, it's time to take a look at what that actually means. Could it be a precursor to a Republican showdown with President Obama repeating the 1995 and 1996 government shutdowns?

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said he thinks the Republicans are hinting at shutdown with their promises to defund everything.

"They want to shrink it to where it doesn't work, and then when it doesn't work, they go, 'Look! It doesn't work, get rid of it.' And that's been their strategy all along," Trumka told TPM Thursday after speaking to reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "They don't talk about how to make things effective; they talk about how to get rid of them."

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John Boehner

Boehner's Recipe For Creating Jobs: Do Nothing

Brian Beutler | July 21, 2010, 3:54PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

In a meeting with several reporters this afternoon, House Minority Leader John Boehner outlined the top three measures he'd pursue if he becomes Speaker of the House next Congress to create new jobs. But, those who thought he'd outline specific programs and how they would create jobs were disappointed with a familiar litany of wish-list items: repeal health care reform, eschew climate legislation, and renew the Bush tax cuts.

In other words, repeal a program that largely hasn't yet taken effect; prevent new legislation that is also not in effect; and keep a current tax structure in place. Step four: profit. Or jobs.

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Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Back To Beating The 'Death Panels' Drum

Megan Carpentier | July 9, 2010, 3:31PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

You didn't think the resurrection of death panels would begin and end with one Fox News legal contributor, did you? Donald Berwick's supposedly nefarious plans for the nation's seniors from his ominpotent perch atop the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (reporting to the Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services) are far too dangerous for that -- and Rep. Michele Bachmann knows it.

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Death Panels

Obama's Recess Appointment Allows GOP To Resurrect Death Panels (VIDEO)

Megan Carpentier | July 8, 2010, 12:48PM

Former GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin

It was only a year ago that Sarah Palin invented out of whole cloth the concept of "death panels" and accused Congress of inserting them into the health care bill. Though they have been at this point thoroughly debunked as a way for Medicare to pay for doctors to talk patients through their options on end-of-life care before they are at the end of their lives, the concept that the government will decide which seniors should live and which should die apparently continues to hold resonance for easily-frightened elderly people, Fox News viewers and Fox News legal contributor and former Pataki appointee Peter Johnson, Jr.. That's the only explanation for Johnson's resurrection of death panels today in order to attack the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick.

Berwick, the new Republican whipping boy for health care reform, once expressed admiration for the British system because of its ability to provide universal coverage and improve care. Obviously, that means he plans to use his new position to kill off American's senior citizens.

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Health Care

Insurers Voluntarily Agree To Kick-Start HCR Reform Changes Early

Christina Bellantoni | April 28, 2010, 6:39PM

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama

The nation's health insurance companies have agreed to speed up a critical element of the new health care reform law to ban the practice of canceling coverage when you get sick known as rescissions. America's Health Insurance Plans this afternoon sent Congressional leaders a letter announcing that insurers will put the change in place in May, instead of September as called for in the law.

As we reported yesterday, Democrats had been urging early action, and WellPoint agreed to make the change. But with the full AHIP backing outlined in the letter, Democrats can showcase swift action they can campaign on in advance of the midterm elections. Read the letter in full here.

"While many health plans already abide by the standards outlined in the new law, our community is committed to implementing the new standard in May 2010 to ensure that individuals and families will have greater peace of mind when purchasing coverage on their own," wrote AHIP president Karen Ignagni.

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