RedState Briefing 11/15/2013

Morning Briefing For November 15, 2013 >> Today's Sponsor 1.  The Other Problem With Fred Upton’s Legislation Let’s say the House passes Congressman Upton’s legislation and the Senate passes Senate Landrieu’s legislation. Let’s further say that Landrieu’s will not pass the House. We have two pieces of legislation that cannot pass either chamber. After the President’s press conference yesterday, a number of states announced that, contrary to what the President said, people will not be able to keep their healthcare plans. Likewise, more than a handful of lawyers came out and said the President has no authority to do what he did yesterday without Congress’s consent. In other words, what the President said was just words with nothing to back them up. Insurance companies understand that Mary Landrieu’s legislation would be devastating for them. So I suspect they’ll go to Harry Reid, encourage him to pass the Upton legislation, then send it on to President Obama who will sign it. Now, most everyone pushing the Upton legislation points out that is really has no teeth. It is a paper tiger. Even the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board concedes this. But the Upton legislation gives the appearance of doing something. So this Republican measure gets passed by the House, passed by the Senate, signed by the President, heralded by the media as a bipartisan success, and . . .? And rates continue going up. The insurance companies that play along do so by letting people keep their existing plans at a much higher monthly premium. The public anger about Obamacare grows. And now the Republican Party owns it too. They, after all, passed the Upton legislation. They, after all, promised the American public that the Upton legislation would allow people to keep their insurance plans. Congratulations Republicans, you are now, if Upton does pass, co-owners of the rate shock Americans are suffering and your plan, as so many of you privately acknowledge, really does absolutely nothing. So desperate are Republican leaders to avoid admitting they should have listened to Ted Cruz, they’ll become co-owners of Obamacare rather than fight for full repeal or defunding Obamacare. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 2.  Riddle Me This, Republicans I have read Jeffrey Anderson trying to explain how the Upton + Landrieu combo is not a trap. He and other Republicans argue that Landrieu will destabilize Obamacare by keeping people out of the exchanges who are needed in the exchanges to fund it. Some of them are honest about what is going to happen. Rate shock will escalate more quickly and painfully. Insurance companies that have spent three years preparing for the transition to Obamacare will be, with Landrieu, required to let people keep their present insurance. But the companies will not be required to let people keep those present plans at present rates. Rates are going to skyrocket. People will not be able to afford what was just recently affordable. Further, they will not get subsidies. So what is more likely to happen?  . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 3.  President Obama’s “Administrative Fix” Will Make the Problem Worse By now you have no doubt heard that President Obama, in a disastrous and meandering news conference, has announced that he will attempt, via executive fiat, to implement something very similar to the Upton Plan, which will purportedly allow (but not require) insurance companies  to continue to offer plans that were made illegal by Obamacare. Without wading into the politics of this move, as a matter of policy, it is going to be a disaster. That the President would even attempt it indicates that he does not have even a rudimentary understanding of how insurance works – which is a minor problem seeing as how he apparently sees fit to unilaterally dictate insurance policy for the whole country as of today. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 4.  Washington State to Obama: **** Off There is good news and bad news here. Barack Obama has made a career of scapegoating people and playing one racial, ethnic, or economic group off against another. Obamacare is no different. It is simply class envy and income redistribution tarted up with good intentions. Yesterday’s presser was intended to make insurance companies the scapegoats for the Obama administration’s galactic incompetence. The bottom line is that it will be virtually impossible for insurance companies to recalculate rates, notify customers, etc., by the deadlines. This would permit Obama to say he did what he could but the evil insurance companies would not go along. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 5.  Fred Upton Supports the Landrieu Obamacare Fix. So Does Barack Obama The Upton bill is more of the kabuki theater the Establishment GOP has entertained us with since the government shutdown. Why is it that the same people who were trying so hard to help Obama fix Obamacare in October are suddenly interested in killing Obamacare today? The short answer is that they aren’t. Fred Upton has said he supports Mary Landrieu’s bill. Barack Obama feels the same way. That should tell you all you need to know about how useful Upton’s bill is to the cause of killing Obamacare. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 6.  Speaker Boehner Kills Immigration Reform… For Now If Speaker John Boehner is to be taken at his word, the House GOP may have just made a critical decision that is both good policy and good politics. A couple of weeks ago I posted about the growing pressure from the Senate Gang of [your number here] led by the odious John McCain and the duplicitous Lindsey Graham to legalize some millions of illegal immigrants living within the United States [see Immigration Reform: One Tiny Step at a Time]. At that time, John McCain was advocating a “pass the bill to find out what’s in it strategy” of having the House pass something that the Senate would replace in conference with the S. 744, a bill that is some 1200 pages long and among other things defines the minimum wage for various agricultural workers and makes Nevada a border state. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 7.  Immigration Reform: One Tiny Step at a Time The next challenge facing the conservatives will be the comprehensive immigration bill so beloved of Democrats and the Ruling Class. The ardor to pursue this has diminished since the horror of Obamacare has become evident but the desire is still there . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 8.  Arrests, Citations Lurk at Union Group Approved by Obama Admin to Promote ObamaCare in Wisconsin Among the 165 groups approved by the Obama Administration to promote or set-up ObamaCare in Wisconsin is Wisconsin Jobs Now, a liberal get-out-the-vote group affiliated with the SEIU. According to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the organization is working as a certified application counselor, or CAC. Numerous individuals who have been employed by Wisconsin Jobs Now or who work there now have been investigated, arrested or cited by law enforcement agencies for legal violations. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → >> Today's Sponsor Sincerely yours, Erick Erickson Editor-in-Chief, RedState Forward This Email to a Friend Take me to RedState