TPMDC John Barrasso
17th Amendment
The GOP's New Constitutional Amendment: Give States Veto Power Over Federal Laws
Republicans say they've found the problem in America -- and that problem is the basic framework of the Union as we know it today.
A group of Republicans in the House and Senate are proposing an amendment to the Constitution that would allow a vote by two-thirds of the states' legislatures to override any federal law they did not agree with.
The proposed constitutional amendment, a tea party favorite, is being touted by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) in the Senate and co-sponsored by Sens. John Barasso (R-WY) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT). In the House, Reps. Rob Bishop (R-UT), Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Paul Broun (R-GA) are leading the charge.
The goal, according to proponents, is to stop the tyranny of Washington over the economy and circumscribe other federal powers.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 17th Amendment, Constitution, John Barrasso, Mike Enzi, Morgan Griffith, Nullification, Orrin Hatch, Paul Broun, Rob Bishop
Sunday Shows
TPMDC Sunday Roundup
Ryan: 'If You Want To Good At These Jobs, You've Got To Be Willing To Lose The Job'
Appearing on This Week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) dismissed the potential political backlash against his proposals to drastically change and privatize Medicare. "And I hear this all the time from the political people, from the pundits and the pollsters that this could be -- this could hurt us politically. I don't care about that," said Ryan. "What I care about is fixing this country and getting this debt situation under control. Look, literally, Christiane [Amanpour], if all we fear about is our political careers, then we have no business having these jobs. If you want to good at these jobs, you've got to be willing to lose the job."
McCain Pans Obama For "Backseat Role" On Libya
Appearing on Face The Nation, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) accused President Obama of taking a "backseat role" on Libya. "I would like to remind you that NATO is an organization of 28 countries," said McCain. "With Italy there's now seven of them actually in the fight. They don't have the assets that the United States of America does. ...the United States is NATO. So the British and the French - God bless them and others - they don't have the assets. They are running out of some of their munitions." He also added: "We need to get back into the fight. We should be leading. We should not be following."
Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Birther, Chris Van Hollen, David Axelrod, Donald Trump, Gas Prices, John Barrasso, John McCain, Libya, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Medicare, Muammar Qaddafi, Paul Ryan, Pres '12, Roundup, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Sunday Shows
Barack Obama
Panacea? Republicans Rejected Obama's Latest Health Care Entreaty Weeks Ago
President Barack Obama
President Obama offered the governors of all states a grand bargain on Monday: Set up working, affordable, universal health care systems in your states in the next three years and we'll unburden you from the requirements of the health care law.
Republicans saw this coming, though, and rejected it as grounds for detente weeks ago.
"That doesn't give the states the option to opt out," said Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), at a press conference last month. "That just says they have to live under Obamacare, and they can then run it themselves."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, John Barrasso, Ron Wyden, Scott Brown
Health Care
Republicans Hide Health Care Law Benefits From Their Constituents
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Two days after a Republican Florida federal court judge voided the entire health care law, the multi-front Republican war against it continues in the Senate, where members will vote today on whether or not to just repeal it, full stop.
Simultaneously, Republican members are trying to sneak grenades into the heart of the law, crafting modifications which they admit are meant to destroy it.
But that presents them with a conundrum when they head back to their states and districts and face constituents who stand to benefit from the law right now -- seniors who are entitled to free checkups, and young adults, who can now stay on their parents' insurance until they turn 26, for example. Republicans can chose to help those constituents navigate the law -- answer their questions constructively, encourage them to seek those benefits -- or they can let their political agendas interfere.
Different strokes for different folks.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bob Corker, Health Care, Health Care Implementation, Health care lawsuits, Insurance, John Barrasso, Lindsey Graham, Medicare, Repealing health care, Republicans, Senate, Sherrod Brown
Lindsey Graham
GOP Sens Admit: Goal Of Changing Health Care Law Is To Kill It
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
We've reached a point in the health care fight where Republicans aren't even pretending that their efforts to tweak the bill aren't also intended to destroy it.
Case in point: A new GOP plan to allow states to opt out of the key provisions of the law is intended to undermine it and cause it to fail, its supporters admit.
"If you took half the states out of the individual mandate requirement, this bill falls, requiring us to draft something new, and quite frankly that is the goal," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. "To find a way to get the Congress to redo this bill.... We want this bill to come to an end."
Points for honesty.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Health Care, Individual Mandate, John Barrasso, Lindsey Graham, Repealing health care, Ron Wyden, Scott Brown
Roundup
TPMDC Saturday Roundup
Obama Talks Up Trade With Asia
In this weekend's YouTube address, President Obama talked up his recent work on trade deals with countries such as China, South Korea and India, saying that it would promote markets for American manufacturing and create jobs here.
"That's why I met with China's President Hu Jintao at the White House this past week. We're now exporting more than $100 billion a year to China in goods and services," said Obama. "And as a result of deals we completed this week, we'll be increasing U.S. exports to China by more than $45 billion, and China's investments in America by several billion dollars. Most important, these deals will support some 235,000 American jobs. And that includes a lot of manufacturing jobs."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Abortion, Barack Obama, China, DCCC, Health Care, House '12, John Barrasso, Nancy Pelosi, Roundup, Sarah Palin, Steve Israel
Roundup
TPMDC Saturday Roundup
Obama: I Will not 'Shortchange Our Children's Education'
In this weekend's YouTube address, President Obama declared his commitment to strengthening the country's education system, and attacked Republicans for wanting to cut education spending by 20 percent.
"Now, it is true that when it comes to our budget, we have real challenges to meet. And if we're serious about getting our fiscal house in order, we'll need to make some tough choices. I'm prepared to make those choices," said Obama. "But what I'm not prepared to do is shortchange our children's education. What I'm not prepared to do is undercut their economic future, your economic future, or the economic future of the United States of America. Nothing would be more detrimental to our prospects for success than cutting back on education. It would consign America to second place in our fiercely competitive global economy. But China and India aren't playing for second. South Korea and Germany aren't playing for second. They're playing for first - and so should America."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2010 elections, American Crossroads, Barack Obama, Bobby Bright, Education, House '10, Israel, Israel/Palestine, John Barrasso, Nancy Pelosi, Pledge To America, Roundup
Energy
GOP Prepares To Oppose Dem Energy Bill Over Oil Spill Liability
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Despite the demise of climate change legislation last week, top Republicans are loudly opposing a new, scaled back energy bill unveiled by Senate Democrats last night.
At a press conference this morning with top Republicans, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) called it a "cobbled-together bill," and GOP aides continue to raise the specter of a "national energy tax" despite the fact that the new legislation contains no tax on carbon emissions.
The Democratic plan, which is comprised of several measures (each of which has bipartisan support), may be in serious jeopardy, unless Democrats budge on one key issue: oil spill liability.
Topics: Cap-and-Trade, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Gulf Coast Oil Spill, John Barrasso, Lisa Murkowski, Nuclear Energy, Oil, Oil Spill, Republicans
Health Care
Working The Ref: Republicans Prepare To Blame Parliamentarian For Dems' Health Care Success
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
If Senate Republican efforts to carpet bomb the health care reconciliation bill with technical objections fails they'll have basically nothing to show for their last two weeks of rhetorical bluster. And in preparation for that, they're preparing to accuse Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin of partisanship in the event that he steamrolls their complaints about the package.
"We'll see what the parliamentarian rules, and whether he becomes a player in this exercise or a--truly--a referee," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters at his weekly press conference today.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Democrats, Health Care, John Barrasso, Mitch McConnell, Reconciliation, Republicans, Senate
Health Care
Barrasso Falsely Claims House Dem Voted For Health Care Bill As Part Of Sweetheart Deal (VIDEO)
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
It's hardly a secret that Republicans are trying to characterize the just-passed health care bill as a product of a bunch of secret, shady backroom deals--the "Cornhusker Kickback," the "Louisiana Purchase," the "Gator-Aid," and so on. But this morning on Fox News, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) came up with a new one--that just happens to be completely false.
"In Utah, a member from Utah that voted on the bill, he was against it and then he was for it. What a coincidence that his brother just got named to be a federal judge," Barrasso said.
Barrasso's referring to Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT), whose highly qualified brother Scott was indeed nominated recently to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. But here's the thing: Matheson voted no.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Democrats, Health Care, Jim Matheson, John Barrasso, Republicans
Health Care
Obama Tells Congress He Likes Four GOP Ideas For Health Care
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), President Obama, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
President Obama this afternoon wrote a letter to Congressional leadership detailing four areas where he thinks Republican ideas can be included in a final health care compromise and pledging to drop the Medicaid deals for Nebraska and Florida from what he proposes tomorrow.
The White House released the letter which Obama wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner summing up his take from the health care summit last week. Obama said he came away from the meeting feeling the group agreed the cost of health care is a massive problem that must be solved.
"I also left convinced that the Republican and Democratic approaches to health care have
more in common than most people think," Obama wrote.
Topics: Barack Obama, Ben Nelson, Health Care, John Barrasso, Medicaid, Mike Enzi, Tom Coburn
Health Care Summit
Obama Takes Dr. Barrasso To Medical School (VIDEO)
President Barack Obama
It could become an iconic moment in a six-hour health care summit that was at times a sleepy affair: President Obama debating Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)--a medical doctor--on whether guaranteeing catastrophic coverage is a sufficient answer to the country's health care woes.
"Would you be satisfied if every member of Congress just had catastrophic care--you think we'd be better health care purchasers?" Obama asked Barrasso. "I mean, is that a change you think we should make?"
"I think actually we would," Barrasso responded. "We'd really focus on it. We'd have more, as you say, skin in the game. And especially if they had a savings account--a health savings account--they could put their money into that, and they'd be spending the money out of that."
Obama's retort left Barrasso speechless:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Barack Obama, Health Care, Health Care Summit, John Barrasso
Health Care
Barrasso: Senate Should Only Pass Health Care Reform If It Can Get 70 Or 80 Votes (VIDEO)
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) told Fox News this morning that the Senate should only pass health care legislation if it can get 70 or 80 votes.
He also called reconciliation -- a process by which Democrats could pass legislation with a simple majority -- a "trick."
"If you're gonna pass something that's gonna impact everyone in this country personally, their own personal health care, and impact one sixth of the economy, you ought to get something like this passed with 70 or 80 votes in the Senate," he said. "That's the way you get the American people to say, yes, this must be a good idea.'"
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bipartisanship, Health Care, John Barrasso
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