Unemployeement is almost 3 full points below what it was when President Obama took office and we are creating between 160,000 and 215,000 new jobs per month. When President Obama was first sworn in we were loosing 750,000 job each month.
The stock market just closed over 17,000 for the first time ever and the new American Health Care Plan is starting to go into effect and 30,000,000 (30 Million) Americans now will have insurance and health care which they lacked before.
All these things have been done in spite of the republicans who have opposed and roadblocked everything the President wanted to do.
The GOP has roadblocked a jobs plan, attempted to shut the government down and not pay bills the Congress has run up and now they are threatning to do it again. The United States had its credit rating cut the last time republicans did this but these mis-directed partisan block heads couldn't care less. They are willing to lay waste to the country to defeat Obama and the democrats.
If you are a republican you are no friend of America, you are in fact as close to a traitor as you will ever get and you need to think about the silly things the GOP supports. Republicans and democrats used to work together for the good of the country. Together we tried to educate the next generation, support womens rights, voting rights and civil rights and attempt to look out for the sick and old and create jobs and keep the economy strong and cooking. Democrats still do those things.
Republicans have become mean spirited and useless. They are willing to take from workers and the poor and give to the rich and big business. In order to win elections they are willing to steal the vote from the young the old and the poor. If you are a republican voter you need to take a close look at your party and decide if they deserve your support and you need to do so right away while we still have a country and a working government.
While accomplishing nothing the republicans have voted against the American health care act (called Obama care by the GOP because hating Obama is the only thing republicans do) 40 times. Say it again 40 times. Both houses of Congress passed it, the President signed it into law and the Supreme Court said it passed muster. It is the Law Of The Land. 40 Times the time wasting fools in the House have voted on this going no where crock of idiocy.
What exactly is the Republican Health Care Plan for America? In the last 16 years the republicans have failed to present one. The GOP wants to destroy the one that was honestly and legally passed and replace it with nothing. Republicans stand for Nothing.
WASHINGTON -- In one of their final votes before heading home for a five-week summer recess, House Republicans voted on Friday to repeal Obamacare. It was their 40th such vote, and like their 39 previous attempts, it will not go any further with the Democratic-controlled Senate or the Democratic president.
The Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013, sponsored by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), would block the Internal Revenue Service from enforcing or implementing any portion of President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law. It passed 232 to 185, with all Republicans voting for it and four Democrats -– Reps. John Barrow (Ga.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Collin Peterson (Minn.) -- siding with them. Six Republicans didn't vote.
Democrats railed against their Republican colleagues on the House floor for spending valuable time on the vote.
"I suspect we don't want to call them the Republicans anymore, but I think we ought to call them the Repeal-icans. Or perhaps the Repeal-ican'ts, because they've never been able to repeal anything," said Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.).
"They have one alternative to Obamacare. It's called NothingCare," added Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas). Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) chimed in that the American public has "seen this movie before."
Price's bill doesn't explicitly repeal Obamacare, but it would effectively cripple the law. The IRS is responsible for implementing crucial elements of Obamacare, such as distributing the tax credits that individuals and small businesses will use to defray the cost of health insurance.
Republicans have gone after the IRS in recent weeks after revelations that it targeted tea party groups applying for nonprofit status with extra scrutiny. Later revelations, however, showed that the IRS also screened progressive groups.
"We care about the health and well-being of the American people, which is why this bill is coming to the floor, " House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on the floor. "Now, recently, Mr. Speaker, we've learned that the IRS has been abusing its power by targeting and punishing American citizens for their political beliefs. And then recklessly spending taxpayer dollars on lavish conferences and bonuses for its employees. This kind of government abuse must stop. The last thing we should do now is to allow the IRS to play such a central role in our health care."
Boehner recently said that the House GOP would continue pushing legislation to repeal Obamacare -- even though it has no chance of clearing the president's desk.
"The program isn't ready," Boehner told CBS. "This is not ready for prime time. This is not good for the country, and we're going to stay at it."
As the Washington Post noted, the Republican-controlled House has largely spent the last week before recess "voting on a collection of legislative proposals aimed mostly at embarrassing the Obama administration and scoring some political points."
Not surprisingly, the Senate has no plans to take up the latest Obamacare repeal bill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried late Thursday to unanimously pass two other bills aimed at repealing the law, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) objected.
"We will not bring it up," Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said of Friday's repeal bill. "Republicans can try and force a vote on it if they want to keep tilting at windmills, but it's just be a further waste of everyone's time and energy."
John Boehner In Over His Head on Shutdown
Speaker John Boehner will use a private party meeting Wednesday to lay out a new strategy to chip away at Obamacare, brushing back at House and Senate conservatives who have urged a government shutdown if the law is funded.
Boehner (R-Ohio) will give a presentation saying that the House Republican leadership supports continuous votes to build “on the successful, targeted strikes against the law that took place in the House this month and resulted in significant Democratic defections, chipping away at the legislative coalition that keeps the president’s health care law on the books,” a GOP leadership aide said on Tuesday evening.
Government funding runs dry in two months, on Sept. 30 — just a few weeks after the House returns from a five-week August recess. A stopgap measure — known as a continuing resolution — needs to be signed into law to keep the government open.
But House leadership thinks a government shutdown would be treacherous for the GOP majority. Boehner, speaking on Tuesday afternoon at a closed leadership meeting where the strategy was discussed, warned of the political dangers of shutting down the federal government, according to sources both present and familiar with the meeting.
It all comes down to this: internal GOP projections show Republicans keeping — if not expanding — their majority in 2014. And Boehner — a veteran of the 1995 government shutdown — isn’t eager to cement the narrative that his chamber favors interrupting critical government operations.
But roughly sixty House Republicans have written to Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) urging them to use the government funding bill to defund the Affordable Care Act.
When Boehner talks to House Republicans, he will not “rule out the ‘defund’ tactic in any way,” an aide said, and the speaker “will note that [the leadership] strategy is compatible with whatever direction the conference decides to take with respect to upcoming legislation to fund government operations.”
Wednesday is a key moment for Boehner to deliver his message to the conference since lawmakers return to their districts Friday for a five-week long August recess.
In recent days, the private concern about a government shutdown has intensified among House Republican leaders. The GOP leadership meeting Tuesday was filled with complaints that members who want to shut down the government because of the health care law haven’t thought of the consequences, or next strategic steps.
Time, once again, is not on Congress’s side. The House returns from its August recess Sept. 9, just nine legislative days before the government runs out of money. There’s little time for legislative haggling.
But the political environment — roughly one year before the November midterms — makes the government funding fight, and the subsequent debt ceiling debate, politically sensitive issues. The nation is expected to hit its debt limit sometime this fall or winter.
The Wednesday strategy talk isn’t the only sign that Republicans are looking to avoid legislative catastrophes.
House Republican leadership aides have also privately told Democrats that they would be willing to pass a government funding measure at $988 billion — a level slightly higher than some conservatives hoped for.
The pair of fall fights over the debt ceiling and government funding have become two of the most important flashpoints of the 113th Congress. President Barack Obama and Democrats have said at every opportunity that they refuse to negotiate over lifting the debt limit, while House Republicans want to exact some budgetary savings or reforms to existing programs. Republican leaders have discussed new energy policy and mandatory budget savings.
At the same time, Obama comes to Capitol Hill Wednesday to discuss legislative strategy with both Senate and House Democrats, many of whom want to raise the debt cap without corresponding cuts or reforms.
It’s not just the level of funding, or the desire to continue to slice away at Obamacare, that complicates the Capitol Hill debate. Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the aisle want to replace the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester. House Republicans sources say they are open to replacing the reductions with more targeted mandatory spending deductions — but will balk at new revenue.
The most likely government-funding scenario, at this point, is to try to fund the government through early- to mid-December.
Republican leadership has always branded the debt ceiling debate as a moment of leverage for their party. But pent up tensions over the party’s legislative agenda have given the two pieces of legislation outsized importance.
This dynamic has been building since the beginning of 2013. Several Republicans privately tell POLITICO that the first six months of legislating have been too light for their taste. Too small-bore and tailored and that many lawmakers say they need a big win before the New Year to take something home to their constituents.
“I wonder why we’re here most weeks,” one senior House Republican told POLITICO, speaking anonymously to avoid getting on the wrong side of top lawmakers.
The big-idea GOP majority has suddenly shrunken to a smaller size, lawmakers tell POLITICO. Once in endless search of tearing up the tax code, rewriting entitlements and reshaping the federal government, Republicans complain that they have been far less aggressive since January.
For the first time in decades, they passed a farm bill with a nutrition section. They will likely pass just five of 12 appropriations bills before the August recess.
House Republicans passed a budget resolution, but refuse to negotiate a larger fiscal package with the Senate, because they fear not being able to find agreement with Democrats.
They have yet to pass an immigration bill — and leaders have been mostly mum on the kind of legislation they prefer.
The concurrent salivation over the government funding and debt ceiling as a legislative lever is the biggest challenge facing leadership. More than 60 Republicans – emboldened by Senate Republicans — have signed onto a letter penned by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) to urge Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to defund Obamacare in appropriations bills.
The letter, as of now, isn’t specific, and doesn’t say that the House needs to defund the entire law. The letter been endorsed by Club for Growth and Heritage Action.
At this point, it seems like Boehner has room to maneuver.
“The letter says to defund the health care bill,” said Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), who signed the Meadows letter. “There are many options open to leadership. The point being, those of us who sent the letter, we’re just asking leadership to take Obamacare and defund it….It doesn’t make a difference — all or part.”
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), a leading critic of Obamacare who serves as vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, didn’t sign the letter, because he said “there are some risks involved” with such a staunch position and “I’m not willing to say unequivocally those are risks I’m going to take.”
Burgess added that he doesn’t want to give “one more dime to a program that’s clearly failing.”
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