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Welcome to the World of Pulitzer Prize Winning Political Cartoonist Michael P. Ramirez |
Nosedive 08-04-17 See Michael's latest cartoons HERE
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Entitlement class fails to brace for a big shock
How Trump Could Force Congress and Its Staff to Live Under Obamacare
Fred Lucas / @FredLucasWH / July 31, 2017 THE DAILY SIGNAL President Donald Trump could have Congress in an uncomfortable corner over the lawmakers’ exemption, and that of their staff, from Obamacare. “I think he should just do it.”—@Heritage’s Robert Moffit “This is one more instance of Congress passing an unpleasant, expensive, onerous law on citizens and then conferring a valuable benefit on itself,” Joe Morris, former general counsel for the Office of Personnel Management, told The Daily Signal. Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that he could take away the exemption, granted by the Obama administration’s Office of Personnel Management, to prod Congress toward agreement on getting rid of Obamacare. The provision provides what critics say is tantamount to an unconstitutional waiver for members of Congress and their staff from rules mandated by the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. To exempt themselves, the 535 lawmakers and their more than 13,000 staffers are treated as if they were a small business employing fewer than 50 workers. read more The Coming ObamaCare Bailout
'Cost-sharing’ subsidies are illegal without an appropriation by Congress The Editorial Board Aug. 2, 2017 7:12 p.m. ET THE WALL STRET JOURNAL The Senate GOP’s health failure is a political debacle that will compound for years, and the first predictable fallout is already here: Republicans in Congress are under pressure to bail out the Obama Care exchanges, even as Donald Trump threatens to let them collapse. The GOP needs to get at least some reform in return if it’s going to save Democrats and insurers from their own failed policies. ***At immediate issue are government payments that insurers receive to offset the costs of mandated benefits and other rules for Affordable Care Act customers. Unlike ObamaCare’s tax credits that go directly to consumers, these “cost-sharing” subsidies for insurers aren’t a permanent appropriation. That means Congress can decide not to appropriate funds, and it hasn’t done so since 2014. President Obama spent the money anyway, which inspired a lawsuit by the House of Representatives against the White House for usurping its power of the purse. Federal Judge Rosemary Collyer last year issued a potentially landmark ruling that Mr. Obama had exceeded his constitutional power. Paying “reimbursements without an appropriation thus violates the Constitution,” Judge Collyer wrote. The Obama Administration appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. But the Trump Administration and House Republicans asked that the case be stayed amid Congress’s health-care negotiations. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has continued the subsidies in the meantime, and another payment is due this month. read more |
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