This Week’s Health Policy News Roundup Curated by Jane M. Orient, M.D.
Like the Affordable Care Act, the 1,600-page “CRomnibus” was rammed through the House in a hasty secret process. Members received the wording a few days before the vote and were denied the chance to offer amendments. As with the ACA, we’ll find out what’s in it after it passes. The very length is a clue: it is stuffed full of pork. Without the help of special interests, how did it get so long?
The CR (Continuing Resolution) has become a substitute for an actual budget. The House could have passed a simple two-month CR to continue government spending at current levels, allowing the newly elected Congress to decide the budget. Instead Speaker Boehner abdicated the power of the purse, its only powerful tool, and refused to defund ObamaCare, the executive amnesty, or other Obama priorities. “Boehner Bombs the Base,” writes Shawn Mitchell. http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/shawnmitchell/2014/12/15/boehner-bombs-the-base-n1931793/page/full
The Senate concurred after some discussion, in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation and compromise with the agenda voters had just rejected. The individual mandate, after all, “has its paternity in the Republican Party [RomneyCare] as an alternative to larger, more intrusive government run health programs,” writes David Beier, former Chief Domestic Policy Advisor for Vice President Gore. http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/12/08/a-compromise-on-the-affordable-care-act/
Sixty-seven Republicans voted against the $1.1 trillion spending bill. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/12/11/The-67-House-Republicans-Who-Voted-Against-The-1-1-Trillion-Cromnibus-Spending-Bill/
Over the objections of Nancy Pelosi, 57 Democrats voted “yes.” Obama sent his chief of staff to beg Democrats to support the measure in a closed caucus meeting, and Jamie Dimon of Chase Bank himself phoned lawmakers to urge them to back the measure, favored by the Big Banks, reported Ben Domenech. http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c7c578f94365a99fb2dd164c1&id=88f8c59915&e=0a7fbc92f5
Sen. Ted Cruz raised a constitutional point of order that, if sustained, would have sent the bill back to the House to remove amnesty funding. Twenty Republicans joined the Democrats in voting to reject Cruz’s point of order and to ignore the serious constitutional problems with the President’s executive amnesty. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3237355/posts
Quotable comments on the CRomnibus bill: http://heartland.org/press-releases/2014/12/11/heartland-institute-experts-comment-congress-omnibus-spending-bill
Social Media:
Friend emails: It's actually pronounced "CRONY-BUS." The "M" in "Cromnibus" is silent. CC @SpeakerBoehner
— Matthew Boyle (@mboyle1) December 11, 2014
Barely 1 mon from midterms & Boehner has already surrendered the leverage we, the people handed the GOP. Why? http://t.co/61PL5PJnuZ #tcot
— Allen West (@AllenWest) December 12, 2014
NBC Nightly News Ends Silence on Gruber 32 Days After 1st Video Aired http://t.co/7Q2Qy1hlsk
— David Morgan (@StarCoreOne02) December 10, 2014
Massachusetts: Most Have Yet to Pay for Health Care | NECN http://t.co/AH2KhayuJ9 via @necn
— Lee S. Gross, M.D. (@drleegross) December 13, 2014