After the Democrats cleared the second of three 60 vote hurdles last night, Republicans ceded enough debate time back to the majority so that passage of Obamacare through the Senate will take place n Christmas Eve at 8 AM. Conservatives have every right to be disappointed that Senate Republicans did not force the maximum amount of debate possible. But they can take heart in a key point of order that will be voted on later today. Sponsored by Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and John Ensign (R-NV), that vote will lay …
Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who made the trip to Copenhagen to tell delegates the American public is rejecting a national energy tax, opined that the UN climate change conference was a failure in USA Today. The market agrees with him. As expectations for a legally binding treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fell, so did the price of carbon: “European and United Nations carbon prices fell the most since February after the Copenhagen climate accord didn’t set targets that would boost demand for permits. European Union carbon-dioxide allowances for …
FIFE, Scotland—The White House, the U.S. mainstream press and other assorted Obama defenders are giving the impression that the President salvaged a good outcome at Copenhagen, or so I’ve heard while spending Christmas in Scotland (the holidays being what the locals call vacation, something they spend in Europe, which is a place not here but across the Channel). The narrative of Obama sweeping in and eking out good outcomes is not at all the reading here in Great Britain, where papers on both the left and the right have denounced …
It has been widely reported that various “sweeteners” are tucked away in the Manager’s Amendment to the Senate health care bill (H.R. 3950). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) worked out provisions designed to secure the votes of Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Carl Levin (D-MI) by exempting the biggest insurers in their states from the new health insurance premium taxes embodied in the bill. Sure enough, the Manager’s Amendment adds under Section 9010(c)(2) a new subsection (C) tailored to exempt Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and a new …
You’re 27 and employed, but you’re not raking in the dough. You’ve always been healthy, so the fact that you don’t have health insurance isn’t a big deal to you. Now, though, you’re hearing something about a “congressional mandate” to buy health insurance. The health insurance industry considers you a member of the “Young Invincible” demographic (whether you realize it or not). Like many of the rest of the people in your demographic, you’ve decided that you don’t want to shell-out a few thousand dollars a year for health insurance …
Yesterday the American Medical Association announced their support for the Senate version of Obamacare. Which is interesting since both the House and Senate versions of Obamacare cut doctor Medicare reimbursement rates by 20% starting in 2011. If Obamacare were to reinstate these cuts, the plan would add $196 billion to the deficit in the first 10 years and $765 billion in the second decade. But President Barack Obama promised the American people yesterday: “I just want to be clear, for all those who are continually carping about how this is …
The Left is lost without a villain. You can’t have victims without one. To maintain its cult of victimology, the Left must identify (or create) bad guys. Hence, according to the narrative from the Left: Our economy struggles because fat cat bankers are selfish and George W. Bush left Barack Obama a mess. Health care is expensive because insurance companies are greedy. And we cannot enter health-reform paradise because Joe Lieberman is blocking the doorway. The Democrats’ choice for Vice President in 2000, Sen. Lieberman (I, CT) is now Public …
We need to transform to a new, clean energy economy but we can’t build solar panels in the Mojave Desert if California Senator Diane Feinstein has anything to say about it: Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big solar plants and wind farms planned for the region. But before the bill to create two new Mojave national monuments has even had its first hearing, the California Democrat has largely achieved her aim. …
This morning at around 8 AM, the Senate passed, again on a straight party-line vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) manager’s amendment to the Senate’s version of Obamacare. This keeps the Senate on pace to pass the bill at 9 PM on Christmas Eve despite the fact that Americans overwhelmingly opposed the legislation. But even after the Senate gives President Barack Obama his $2.5 trillion Christmas present, the bill, assuming it is to be considered in regular order, still must go through a House and Senate conference. President Barack Obama …
Over the weekend, Senators from both sides of the aisle debated the merits of Obamacare with a level of emotion rarely seen in the halls of the U.S. Senate. But one senator took home the prize for the most outrageous comments unbecoming of an elected representative. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) began a floor speech citing a liberal op-ed that referred to the “lunatic fringe,” which appears to lump all sorts of groups in with conservatives. He used this as a catalyst to make floor remarks (seen in the video above) about Obamacare’s …
