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Subscribe to RSSPaul Ryan seems skeptical of President Obama’s outreach. And perhaps President Obama should continue to be skeptical of Ryan. The Hill: “Rep. Paul Ryan: House budget will assume the repeal of ‘ObamaCare’.”Ryan on FOX: “This is what budgeting is all about. It’s about making tough choices to fix our country’s problems. We believe ‘ObamaCare’ is a program that will not work.”
But President Obama might have an ally in Tom Coburn, with whom he was friends as a senator. Coburn said the problem is Senate leadership, per The Hill. Coburn said: “The Senate's not nearly as dysfunctional as it's made out to be, because there's great relationships in the Senate. Our problem in the Senate is the leadership in the Senate, not the members in the Senate.”
He said on “Meet the Press” yesterday: “I think the president is tremendously sincere. I don’t think this is just a political change in tactic. I think he actually would like to solve the problems of the country. I think he’s got a great chance to accomplish a big deal.”
For John Boehner, the GOP’s problem is also the box, not the pizza. Here he is in an interview with Roll Call: “Our principles — things like freedom and responsibility — are eternal, but we’ve got to do a better job of articulating those principles.”
Boehner wouldn’t address if he’ll retire by 2014 or before, but did say, “I’m far from done.”
Passing a budget is hard, Democrats are finding. The Hill: “Senate Democrats say they will soon pass their first budget in four years, but it is proving a test. Disputes over tax cuts, spending reductions and entitlement reform all present challenges to Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).”
“Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee say they hope to keep the focus during this week’s expected marathon markup on setting a sound course for the country’s fiscal future,” Roll Call reports. “Though such issues have dominated the national political conversation since 2008, this week marks the first time in four years that members will actually debate a budget resolution, with proceedings expected to kick off Wednesday.”
“Members of Congress are now posting their stock transactions online on a regular basis to comply with a law enacted 11 months ago to curtail illegal insider trading by lawmakers and their staffs,” USA Today notes. But there’s always a loophole… “No lawmakers or staffers have been cited for violating the act, but one senior congressional staffer said a few colleagues who had been frequent stock traders have switched to mutual funds, which are exempt from the new requirement. Some brokerages issue reports to customers quarterly rather than monthly, adding to the difficulty of complying with the STOCK Act.”
The Hill: “Congress struggles to entice states to report mental illness for gun checks.”
Roll Call dubs Dean Heller “Senator Squatter”: “Staffers for Sen. Dean Heller have been bullying other senators’ aides to protect the Nevada Republican’s space in the Russell Senate Office Building, CQ Roll Call has learned. As part of the biennial Senate office lottery, junior members are obligated to show their office suites to more senior members, who then have 24 hours to decide whether to claim that space as their own. Heller’s office suite — which he inherited after the scandal-fueled resignation of Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. — may be particularly attractive to other senators because its floor plan includes a larger-than-average member office.”
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Sunday morning, habit got the best of me, and I turned on the Sunday political shows. All it took was watching David Gregory's intro to the show, however, to make me change the channel. I get the feeling MTP has decided Republicans are their target audience. The bias is evident even during the promo: selling the idea that it's the President's role to win over Republicans, to compromise with them. Just because you say so, Gregory, doesn't make it so.
I landed on ABC's This Week for about two seconds, then switched to the soothing programming of CBS's non-political Morning Show. I'm disgusted with politicians. I'm disgusted with Congress. I'm disgusted with Republicans. I'm disgusted with the media. The only figure I'm not disgusted with is Barack Obama, but I seem to have to go through other channels, i.e. Organizing for America, in order to get my voice heard.
Target audience may simply be the demographic with the dollars to buy the products the sponsors are advertising. The bigger problem is that Progressives have allowed Obama to shift the terms of the debate so that "Entitlement Reform" is an issue implying that there is a need for reform. Note, no one seriously proposes raising the FICA cap which can also be considered a reform to make the program sustainable. The concern should be whether Obama (some what like Clinton) is more concerned about his personal legacy as opposed to good policy.
Ryan's mistake is in calling for the 'Repeal' of Obamacare. He should start calling it a 'Reform' of Obamacare to cut out the costs that make little sense while keeping those aspects that make some sense, like getting rid of those 'pre-existing conditions' clauses the insurance companies used to deny coverage.
Obamacare is now the 'law of the land' and too fully entrenched to root it out, so the Republicans should change their focus to 'Improving ' it, not repealing it.
"Tough choices"? The only folks Ryan is willing to be "tough" on are the elderly and the poor. Ryan doesn't seem to understand how many people will be left hungry and homeless if Ryan's plan ever saw light or he doesn't care, and like one writer put it, Ryan's economic plan was soundly rejected the majority of Americans last November.
Paul Ryan isn't even listening to his own Leader, John Boehner, that has already told Ryan that "Obamacare is the law now." Even the Supreme Court has ruled Obamacare to be "constitutional".
TO: Roy Wilson-336103 who wrote
Who woulda thunk it. Hell must be freezing over.
The day actually came when I agree with something Roy Wilson said.
Ha!
TO: Amy B. Portland, ME who wrote:
Agreed!
I'm sure David Gregory has a long-term contract with Meet the Press, but he's ruined it for me.
I too have to go through other channels if I want to hear a Sunday Morning News Program because there's something that disgusts me about David Gregory, probably his slant towards the right is what makes me wanna puke.
Ironically, I sometimes even find Fox News Sunday a better choice than Meet the Press.
Obamacare has already been in action and those who have it love it. Their kids are now insured and those with preexisting conditions finally have affordable healthcare. More will be realized next year. CBO says that the law is not costly except to those who can but refuse to get medical insurance. The cost to them is relatively small.
Like to see a link to that story please Adler-lotsanumbers.
American Girl-724855
Honestly, the best source of news I've found is NPR. It's hard for me to adjust to radio, however, having grown up watching news on TV. Until they replace Gregory with Chuck Todd, or someone else, however, I'm not going to torment myself watching Meet The Press.
The repugnican house is rife with "Jerry Blanks"... Users, boozers, and losers.
“Congress struggles to entice states to report mental illness for gun checks.”
That's a big problem. Not many doctors are willing to put their clients names to a list of 'potentially dangerous mental patients'.
And what would happen if a newspaper used 'Freedom of Information' as an excuse to print the names of 'potentially dangerous mental patients', like the N Y Newspaper that used that ploy to print the names and addresses of those who applied for a gun permit?
Imagine the consternation among liberals if people are allowed to check to see if their neighbors are deemed 'potentially dangerous mental patients'.
Where's the tradeoff between 'Privacy' and 'Freedom of Information'?
Now the tea people republicans are down to arguing about office space. They're afraid they'll lose their plush offices. How about if they just lose their jobs in 2012, then they won't need office space. Lets elect someone who cares more about the country than where they sit and do nothing.
Mo, I understand that even Karl Rove is against the Teabaggers.
Let Ryan go first in the budget debate.
Then, the Democratic leadership in the Senate needs to ask why Ryan counts ObamaCare's $716 billion in savings when he would repeal ObamaCare? Follow it up by showing a more compassionate approach to Medicare.
Americans overwhelmingly do not like vouchers.
Instead, Democrats need to make a simple move of gradually increasing Medicare's eligibility age. Point out that it is a common sense approach that Reagan used for Social Security. It forces Republicans to decide if they like Ryan's approach or Reagan's approach. It forces Republicans at the state level to decide if they want to support the Tea Party Republicans or to support Democrats seeking a Reagan like solution.
Ask Republicans and their biggest fear is that Republicans continue to support Ryan's approach knowing that if Democrats take the Reagan approach proving who takes the "common sense" approach.
President Obama has publicly stated a willingness to seek the middle ground, provided it is part of a grand bargain. It is now time for the Congressional Democrats to put pressure on Congressional Republicans.
Nice thought Deb. GOP'ers only praise Reagan for the not snitching rule and sending a whole navy flotilla to Grenada.Mostly everything else he did he had to change back. Oh, he couldnt but the loonies back in the bin after he released them. One of the loonies then shoot him.
Boehner wouldn’t address if he’ll retire by 2014 or before, but did say, “I’m far from done.”... Oh, he is done, he just doesn't know it.