Policy Papers
Obamacare Architect Confirms Obamacare Deceit
Recently, videos have surfaced showing that Obamacare was deliberately crafted in a way to obscure its costs and contents from the American public. In the videos, recorded in 2012 and 2013, economist Jonathan Gruber, a key Obama administration advisor and one of the law’s chief architects, demonstrated what the administration and congressional Democrats were actually thinking, as opposed to what they were saying publicly. Gruber Was a Chief Architect of Obamacare Gruber joined the Obama... Continue Reading
November 18, 2014
Obamacare Premiums Increase Again
Many Americans purchasing Obamacare-compliant health insurance plans will pay significantly higher premiums next year for coverage that generally carries large deductibles and has narrow provider networks. The high premium and high deductible combination likely contributed to the administration’s decision to wait until just before open enrollment, and after election day, to publicize the rates. These premium increases are on top of last year’s average increase of nearly 50 percent... Continue Reading
November 13, 2014
Supreme Court Takes on Obamacare Again
The Supreme Court recently announced that it will hear another challenge to Obamacare: King v. Burwell. This time, the court will decide whether the health care law should be implemented as written by Congress or implemented as interpreted by the Obama administration. The law allowed states to establish a health insurance exchange that met specific requirements. It also authorized health insurance subsidies for certain people purchasing coverage in state-established exchanges, but not in the... Continue Reading
November 13, 2014
Defense Authorization Needs an Open Process
During the Obama presidency, the Senate has passed a defense authorization bill before the start of the fiscal year only one time. Twice in the last four years Senators were denied their right to amend legislation when Majority Leader Reid blocked an open amendment process for the defense authorization bill. Fiscal Year Date SASC version of bill passed Amendment votes 2010 (S. 1390) July 23, 2009 11 2011 (S. 3454) SASC-reported bill never considered, motion to proceed rejected when Reid... Continue Reading
November 7, 2014
Unemployment Report for October 2014
Unemployment Rate: 5.8 percent Unemployed Americans: 9.0 million Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent for October 2014, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point. It reported an increase of 214,000 nonfarm jobs over last month. This is lower than anticipated job growth of 233,000 for last month. Employment for August was... Continue Reading
October 28, 2014
Obamacare Causing Major Harm in North Carolina
Last week, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina announced that it is raising rates an average of 13.5 percent on its Obamacare plans for 2015 – an increase of nearly $700 for a 45-year old. BCBS is the state’s largest health insurer, enrolling nearly three-quarters of state exchange enrollees, and the only one offering coverage throughout the entire state. These premium hikes are on top of very large rate increases in 2014, when average premiums soared by 136 percent for North... Continue Reading
October 7, 2014
Obamacare’s Problematic Subsidies
In selling his health care law to the American people, President Obama made a series of promises – which he subsequently broke. For example, the president repeatedly declared that Obamacare would lower health care costs for the typical family by $2,500. At a time of heightened financial anxiety, many Americans were attracted to a plan that purported to lower costs. Despite the president’s stump speech promises, Obamacare was never designed to lower health care costs for the average... Continue Reading
October 3, 2014
September 2014 Unemployment Report
Unemployment Rate: 5.9 percent Unemployed Americans: 9.3 million Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 5.9 percent for September 2014, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point. It reported an increase of 248,000 nonfarm jobs over last month. Employment for July was revised upward from 212,000 to 243,000 jobs created, and August was revised up... Continue Reading
September 23, 2014
113th Congress: Leader Reid and the Broken Senate
The majority leader continues to fill the tree … to block roll call votes on hundreds of amendments ... while committees have been locked out Number of times Rule 14 has been used to bypass committees Continue Reading
September 23, 2014
Obamacare Unleashes IRS on Americans
This paper has been updated to reflect the instructions IRS released last week for draft IRS Form 8962 and draft IRS Form 8965. Over the past month, the IRS released drafts of seven new tax forms it will use to monitor Americans’ compliance with Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates, as well as the law’s complicated subsidy scheme. Together, these forms take 13 pages and contain 206 lines for entries. Instructions for these forms make up another 46 pages. Even many of... Continue Reading
September 17, 2014
GAO: HealthCare.gov Still a Security Risk
Yesterday, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office released a report detailing ongoing problems with the security of HealthCare.gov. Moreover, GAO accused the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of accepting significant security risks when it allowed the website to launch on October 1, 2013. Following the hack of HealthCare.gov in July in which malicious software was installed within the website’s network and went undetected for over a month, the GAO report highlights... Continue Reading
September 16, 2014
Five Ways Obamacare Is Failing Families
To pass their health care law, the president and congressional Democrats promised to lower premiums, promised that people would be able to keep their insurance and doctor, and promised that the law would not increase Washington’s deficits. We now know that these promises to Americans were made just to pass the law, and all have been broken. Rather than deal with any of the law’s problems this Congress, Senate Democrats ignored all attempts at bipartisanship while Americans struggled... Continue Reading
September 16, 2014
Five Ways Obamacare Is Failing Families
To pass their health care law, the president and congressional Democrats promised to lower premiums, promised that people would be able to keep their insurance and doctor, and promised that the law would not increase Washington’s deficits. We now know that these promises to Americans were made just to pass the law, and all have been broken. Rather than deal with any of the law’s problems this Congress, Senate Democrats ignored all attempts at bipartisanship while Americans struggled... Continue Reading
September 12, 2014
Obama ISIS Strategy Speech: Good, Bad, and Ugly
On the eve of the remembrance of the September 11, 2001, attacks, President Obama described to the nation his plan to address the threat of the Islamist terrorist group ISIS. This group emerged as a direct consequence of the president’s decision to withdraw from Iraq and, as the Washington Post said on Wednesday, his “failure to come to grips” with the Syrian conflict. Good: A proper framing of the threat and a stated objective to destroy it There were commendable elements of... Continue Reading
September 12, 2014
Obamacare’s War on Work and Wages
The Labor Department confirmed last Friday that more than five years after the recession ended, the labor force participation rate continues to collapse. It sits at 62.8 percent, near its 36-year low and down 0.5 percentage point from this time last year. This news follows a gloomy assessment by the Congressional Budget Office late last month that projected the rate will continue to plummet – to 61.5 percent in 2021. CBO was much more optimistic in 2011. Back then it expected that the... Continue Reading
September 12, 2014
American Energy Underwrites Foreign Policy
As President Obama noted in his prime-time address on Wednesday, America continues to face grave threats around the world. A comprehensive response to those threats – in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and other unstable regions – should incorporate America’s abundant fossil energy resources. The Obama administration has focused too much of its foreign policy attention on more dubious priorities like climate change, which it blames on carbon emissions from burning fossil... Continue Reading
September 9, 2014
September 2014 Policy Calendar
September 9, 2014
Jobs Report Disappoints
In the face of a disappointing jobs report last Friday, the Obama administration tried to spin the “progress” our economy has made since the recession ended more than five years ago. Any reasonable look at the data shows that our economy continues to lag and millions of Americans are still struggling to find work. Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent for August 2014, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point. It reported an... Continue Reading
September 9, 2014
A Strategy to Respond to ISIS
It has been more than three years since President Obama called on Syrian President Assad “to step aside.” It has been more than two years since then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was only “a matter of time” before the Assad regime fell. Because they did not back up those words by supporting the moderate opposition in Syria in a meaningful way, many in the region have thrown their support to the ISIS terrorist group. President Obama has said, “our... Continue Reading
September 9, 2014
Obamacare Keeps Getting Worse
With cringe-worthy memories of the disastrous launch of the Obamacare exchanges a year ago, the Obama administration is trying to delay another catastrophe until after this fall’s elections. That has done nothing to stop the tide of painful headlines and bad news. Here are 10 things we learned about the president’s health care law over the past month. 1. Premiums Are Increasing As key Obamacare mandates and regulations took effect, insurance premiums went up dramatically for millions... Continue Reading