Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Rocky Road Ahead For Implementation Of ObamaCare


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Remarks by the President at the Diplomatic Corps Reception

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

State Department
Washington D.C.

6:57 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)   Well, good evening, everyone.  It is wonderful to see all of you. 

I want to publicly thank Deputy Secretary Bill Burns.  For those of you who don’t know, Bill is only the second career diplomat in American history to rise to the level of Deputy Secretary.  (Applause.)   It is a tribute to Bill’s extraordinary skills.  I first met him when I was a new senator, and I traveled to Moscow.  And he was then the ambassador in Moscow, and he immediately impressed me.  One of these guys who doesn't speak loud, but actually has something to say.  (Laughter.)  Which is hard to find in Washington.  (Laughter.)  In Washington you have a lot of folks who speak loud and have nothing to say.  (Laughter.)

And so we’re thrilled obviously with the work that he has done, but Bill I think is representative of our incredible Foreign Service officers.  So thanks not only to Bill, but to all the outstanding State Department personnel who are working every day, often at great risk, to advance our interests and our ideals around the world.

Had Secretary Clinton been able to join us, I was going to congratulate her on her record-breaking travels, visiting 112 nations, just about every one of the countries that are represented here this evening -- more than 400 travel days; nearly 1 million miles.  These are not frequent flyer miles.  (Laughter.)  She does not get discounts.  I suspect she’s not going to be flying commercial that much after she leaves the State Department.  But she is tireless and extraordinary.

I spoke with her this past week.  We can’t wait to have her back.  And I know that all of you join me in sending her wishes for a speedy recovery. 

Now, we get together like this every year or so around the holidays -— either here or at the White House.  It’s a chance for me to express my appreciation for the cooperation and partnership between our countries.  That includes the hospitality that you and your fellow citizens show every single day to our diplomats and their families -— Americans who are serving far from home.  

But tonight, I also want to thank you for something else.  This obviously continues to be a very difficult week here in America.  We’re still grieving and reeling from unspeakable violence that took place in Newtown.  I was up there on Sunday.  I told the families there that they are not alone; that our entire nation stands with them.  But over the past few days what we’ve also seen is that the entire world stands with them; and so many of your countries, your citizens, your leaders have sent messages to them.  And I know they are grateful and certainly I am grateful. 

At our embassies and consulates, people are placing flowers and leaving notes.  We’ve seen candlelight vigils, and makeshift memorials -— including a beach in Brazil marked by 26 crosses and a bright American flag.  Across the globe, people are going online and posting messages and sending emails and texts of support.  I think of the woman, a teacher in Lithuania, who said, “I send all my love and prayers to the families.  It’s all I can do from so far away, but my heart is now in Newtown.”

So this evening, I want you and your fellow citizens back home to know how much this has meant to all of us -— to the good people of Newtown, to me, and to the American people.  You’ve stood with us, just as we’ve stood with you in similar moments -—whether it’s been a Scottish village, an Australian town, most recently the terrible tragedy at a youth camp in Norway.

Whether it’s a tsunami that strikes, or an earthquake that levels communities, or when a young girl is targeted and nearly killed, just for wanting to go to school, we’re reminded that terrible things happen in this world, but there are more people of goodwill than people of ill will.  And that if we can just remind ourselves of our common humanity, perhaps we can make progress. 

These are moments that pierce through all the noise of our daily lives.  And they speak to a larger truth that permeates our work together.  You turn on the TV, you open the newspaper, and every day it seems we’re bombarded with images of tension and conflict and division and differences.  And that sometimes seems to validate those who believe that civilizations are destined to clash.

But when you think about the last few days, you’re reminded that there’s a fundamental human response that transcends cultures and transcends borders.  And that’s what is represented in this room.  You look around the room and we reflect this vast tapestry of human experience -- people from every continent and every culture; North, South, East and West; from all the great faiths, every creed and color; men and women.  And we’re reminded that whatever differences on the surface, deep down we’re bound by a certain set of basic aspirations. 

We want our children to be safe and free from fear.  We want people to live in dignity and prosperity, free from want.  We want people to be free to think for themselves, and speak their minds and pray as they choose.  We want them to surpass or do a little bit better than we did.  That’s what we want for our children.  That’s why we’re here -- to serve them to do everything in our power to leave our children, and the next generation a better, safer world.

And that’s why, over the past four years, we’ve worked together, wherever we can, with your nations in a new era of engagement, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.  Strengthening alliances.  Forging new partnerships.  Confronting the spread of nuclear weapons.  Promoting open government, global health and food security, and fighting human trafficking.  Ending one war in Iraq.  Winding down another war in Afghanistan.  Going after terrorist networks that threaten all of our people.  Standing up for self-determination and freedom -- from South Sudan to the Arab Spring to Burma.  (Applause.)

At the same time, we’re mindful that we’ve got so much more work to do together.  There still are wars to end.  There are still democratic transitions to sustain.  Violent extremism remains out there and has to be confronted and deadly weapons still have to be contained.  We have to work to ease tensions between nations and uphold human rights.  There are still political prisoners that need to be freed and children that deserve a better education.  And all of us have to be concerned about a changing climate that could have a profound impact on every single country here. 

This must be our work.  And I’m here to say tonight that this spirit of partnership with your nations that defined my first term will remain a core principle of my second term.  That’s my commitment.  That is America’s commitment.  And that, I think, is one of the ways we can honor all these beautiful children and incredible teachers who were lost this past Friday -- by building a future that is equal to their dreams, and delivers on the dreams of children all around the world just like them. 

So as we gather this holiday season and look ahead to the New Year, I’d leave you with a simple message, a wish:  In the face of violence, let’s seek peace.  In the face of injustice, let’s strive for dignity.  In the face of oppression, let’s stand for liberty.  And in the face of suspicion and mistrust, let’s build the empathy and understanding.  Let’s understand that we need to live together -- as nations and as peoples and as brothers and sisters, as children of a loving God.  I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

God bless you.  God bless America.

END                       
7:07 P.M. EST

December 24, 2012 11:46 AM ESTTracking Santa With Our Eyes in the Sky

The Energy Department's Los Alamos National Lab is using state-of-the-art technology to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe the night before Christmas.

Some of our followers on Pinterest joined us at the White House for a holiday social. Take a look at their experience.

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Bipartisan Group Of Former National Security Advisers Condemn Attacks On Hagel


Four former national security advisers in a letter to the editor in the Washington Post published on Tuesday denounced what New York TImes columnist Tom Friedman described as “disgusting” attacks on former Republican senator Chuck Hagel and praised Hagel’s prior service to the United States.

Responding to a Dec. 21 Post story on Hagel’s potential nomination to be Secretary of Defense, the former national security advisers, James L. Jones (Obama), Brent Scowcroft (Ford, H.W Bush) , Zbigniew Brzezinski (Carter) and Frank Carlucci (Reagan), said they “strongly object…to the attacks on the character of former senator Chuck Hagel,” whom they called “a man of unshakable integrity and wisdom who has served his country in the most distinguished manner in peace and war”:

He is a rare example of a public servant willing to rise above partisan politics to advance the interests of the United States and its friends and allies. Moreover, it is damaging to the quality of our civic discourse for prospective Cabinet nominees to be subjected to such vicious attacks on their character before an official nomination.

This type of behavior will only discourage future prospective nominees from public service when our country badly needs quality leadership in government.

Scowcroft and 10 other retired senior U.S. military officials, including William Fallon and Anthony Zinni, signed a letter last week saying that Hagel would be “a strong leader at the Pentagon” and that he’s “eminently qualified for the job.” That letter came on the heals of one just days prior in which nine former U.S. Ambassadors, including Ryan Crocker, signed a letter praising Hagel’s qualifications for the top Pentagon job.

The high-level support for Hagel comes after the “neocon smear machine” recently began a campaign to tar Hagel as an anti-Semite and anti-Israel and not sufficiently militaristic toward Iran after news reports that he is President Obama’s top choice to succeed Leon Panetta.

Friedman defended Hagel against the backlash in his Times column today. “I think he would make a fine secretary of defense — precisely because some of his views are not ‘mainstream.’”

In its Dec. 21 article on Hagel, the Post quoted Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) calling the former Nebraska Republican an “excellent candidate” for Pentagon chief. “Most senators who served with Chuck would be favorable to his nomination,” Lugar said.

The Atlantic’s Robert Wright notes today that Hagel has now drawn wide ranging support from across the ideological spectrum. “[B]y and large this fight is between some neocons (plus a few reliable supporters) and everybody else,” he writes, adding: “So it’s in Obama’s hands. There’s a lot at stake here — not just whether McCarthyite smears will be allowed to succeed, but whether Obama, in the wake of the Susan Rice episode, will now get a reputation as someone who caves whenever he faces resistance.”

(Photo: Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski – Getty)


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Even Leftist Nun Can't Use 'God' In Her Convention Speech

Tim Graham's picture

All the liberals (especially liberal Catholics) who complained the church was entering partisan politics when Cardinal Timothy Dolan agreed to give a blessing to the Republican National Convention -- before he accepted the same assignment for the Democrats -- apparently had no complaint about Catholics entering partisan politics when Sister Simone Campbell drew standing ovations on Wednesday night in a convention address attacking Paul Ryan as a terrible Catholic.

A peek at the transcript suggests something amusing: at the same time Democrats scrapped the word "God" from the platform, and then hastily returned it despite heavy booing, Sister Simone never used the word "God" in her anti-Ryan lecture. She began:

In June, I joined other Catholic sisters on a 2,700-mile bus journey through nine states to tell Americans about the budget Congressman Paul Ryan wrote and Governor Romney endorsed.

Paul Ryan claims his budget reflects the principles of our shared Catholic faith. But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the Ryan budget failed a basic moral test, because it would harm families living in poverty.

We agree with our bishops, and that's why we went on the road: to stand with struggling families and to lift up our Catholic sisters who serve them. Their work to alleviate suffering would be seriously harmed by the Romney-Ryan budget, and that is wrong.

During our journey, I rediscovered a few truths. First, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be responsible. But their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate families. Rather, our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another. I am my sister's keeper. I am my brother's keeper.

The most obnoxious part of this speech was this dissident Catholic hailing Obamacare as the truly pro-life social program: "The Affordable Care Act will cover people like Margaret. We all share responsibility to ensure that this vital health care reform law is properly implemented and that all governors expand Medicaid coverage so no more Margarets die from lack of care. This is part of my pro-life stance and the right thing to do."

Or it came at the end, where the same Sister Simone who slammed the bishops of her church as being clueless males urged the nation to listen and not "yell at each other." Listen, and then slam your opponent for an "immoral budget" that attacks the poor:

She wishes they, and the rest of the nation, would listen to one another with kindness and compassion. Listen to one another rather than yell at each other. I told her then, and I tell her now, that she is not alone.

Looking out at you tonight, I feel your presence combined with that of the thousands of caring people we met on our journey. Together, we understand that an immoral budget that hurts already struggling families does not reflect our nation's values. We are better than that.

So I urge you to join us on the bus. Join us as together we stand with Matt and Mark, Billy and his family, the woman in Hershey and the Margarets of our nation.

This is what we nuns on the bus are all about: We care for the 100 percent, and that will secure the blessings of liberty for our nation. So join us as we nuns and all of us drive for faith, family and fairness.

Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Tim Graham on Twitter.

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The Biggest Republican Miscalculations Of 2012

1. Romney can still win.

Karl Rove didn’t just predict Romney would win beforehand; he actually insisted that Romney still may win Ohio after Fox News called Ohio for Obama. Fox host Megyn Kelly even replied, “Is this the math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better?”

2. Romney would win in an ‘unskewed’ landslide.

Claiming that the polls finding Obama in the lead before the election had a “liberal bias,” Dean Chambers founded UnskewedPolls.com, a Republican alternate universe. UnskewedPolls.com predicted Romney would win 275 electoral votes. After the election, Chambers admitted he was wrong and started another site accusing Obama of winning with voter fraud.

3. Latinos would vote for Romney.

The Romney campaign said its goal was to win at least 38 percent of Latino voters, but after Mitt Romney staked out the most extreme immigration stances — and Ann Romney claimed Latino voters needed to get past “their biases” — he won less than a quarter of the Latino vote.

4. Marriage equality would be defeated.

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, told SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile, that marriage equality opponents would prevail on ballot referenda Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota, boasting “I think we’re going to win all four. But say we were to lose one — but still, we lost [just] one… Anyone who looks as an objective observer will still be able to say, if we lose one state, the record still shows that [we’ve] won, whatever, 35 out of 36.” The pro-marriage-equality side prevailed in all four states.

5. Obama juiced the jobs numbers.

After a significant drop in unemployment, conservatives on Twitter, led by former General Electrics CEO Jack Welch, claimed the numbers were fabricated by the Obama administration. Needless to say, they weren’t, and Welch ended up stepping down — briefly — from his job at Forbes.


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Who will pay the Obamacare individual mandate tax?

Slide 9 | Obamacare in Pictures

President Obama has promised not to raise taxes on the middle class, but nearly 70 percent of those who will pay the Obamacare individual mandate tax earn less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), and 10 percent live in poverty. This chart shows the share of total payers of the tax by income group.


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President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Ernie DuBester – Member, Federal Labor Relations Authority
• Carol Waller Pope – Member, Federal Labor Relations Authority, and upon appointment to be designated Chair

The President also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Ruth David – Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation
• Maria T. Zuber – Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation
 Laura Skandera Trombley  – Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board

President Obama said, “I am confident that these outstanding individuals will greatly serve the American people in their new roles and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Ernie DuBester, Nominee for Member, Federal Labor Relations Authority
Ernie DuBester currently serves as a Member on the Federal Labor Relations Authority, a position he has held since 2009.  Previously, Mr. DuBester served as a Mediator at the National Mediation Board from 2005 to 2009.  From 2001 to 2005, Mr. DuBester was a Professor and Chair of the Dispute Resolution Program at George Mason University School of Law.  During that period, he also worked as an Arbitrator of labor and employment matters, which included the handling of Federal sector cases.  From 1997 to 2001, Mr. DuBester taught graduate courses in collective bargaining and arbitration at Catholic University School of Law.  From 1993 to 2001, Mr. DuBester was a Member of the National Mediation Board, serving as Chairman multiple times.  Mr. DuBester served as Legislative Counsel at the AFL-CIO from 1984 to 1993, and he worked at the law firm of Highsaw and Mahoney from 1981 to 1984.  From 1975 to 1981, he served as Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board.  Mr. DuBester received a B.A. from Boston College, a J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America, and an LL.M. in Labor Law from the Georgetown University Law Center. 

Carol Waller Pope, Nominee for Member, Federal Labor Relations Authority, and upon appointment to be designated Chair
Carol Waller Pope is currently Chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), a position she has held since 2009.  She was first appointed as a Member of the FLRA in 2000.  Prior to her appointment, Ms. Pope worked in the Office of the General Counsel of the FLRA from 1980 to 2000, first as an Attorney in the Boston Regional Office, then as Executive Assistant to the General Counsel, and finally as Assistant General Counsel.  Earlier in her career, she served as an Attorney Advisor in the Employee Benefits Division of the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of Labor.  Ms. Pope is the recipient of distinguished achievement and leadership awards from the American Bar Association and the Federal Labor and Employment Law Section.  She received a B.A. from Simmons College and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Dr. Ruth David, Appointee for Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation
Dr. Ruth David is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Analytic Services Inc., a position she has held since 1998.  In this role, she initiated the corporation’s ANSER Institute for Homeland Security and later its Applied Systems Thinking Institute.  From 1995 to 1998, Dr. David was Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the Central Intelligence Agency.  Previously, she worked at Sandia National Laboratories.  Dr. David is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Senior Fellow of the Defense Science Board, and a Member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.  Her numerous accolades include the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal and the National Security Agency Director’s Distinguished Service Medal.  In 2010, she was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame.  Dr. David received a B.S. from Wichita State University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Dr. Maria T. Zuber, Appointee for Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation
Dr. Maria T. Zuber is the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and incoming Vice President for Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  In addition, she serves as the Principal Investigator of NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory Mission.  Dr. Zuber is the first woman to lead a science department at MIT and the first to lead a NASA planetary mission.  She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Geophysical Union, where she served as President of the Planetary Sciences Section.  She received the MIT James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Geological Society of America G.K. Gilbert Award, and the American Astronautical Society Carl Sagan Memorial Award.  Dr. Zuber received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and an Sc.M. and Ph.D. from Brown University.

Dr. Laura Skandera Trombley, Appointee for Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
Dr. Laura Skandera Trombley is the President of Pitzer College, a position she has held since 2002.  Previously, she was Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Coe College.  Dr. Trombley served as an Assistant Provost at S.U.N.Y. Potsdam from 1990 to 1997.  She taught at the University of Eichstäett in Eichstäett, Germany from 1985 to 1988.  Dr. Trombley is a member of the Chronicle of Higher Education/New York Times Higher Education Cabinet and the Council of Presidents of the Association of Governing Boards.  Dr. Trombley received a B.A. and an M.A from Pepperdine University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California.

December 24, 2012 11:46 AM ESTTracking Santa With Our Eyes in the Sky

The Energy Department's Los Alamos National Lab is using state-of-the-art technology to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe the night before Christmas.

Some of our followers on Pinterest joined us at the White House for a holiday social. Take a look at their experience.

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Longtime Criminal Set A Trap To Murder Firefighters, Say Police

The Webster, New York man who fired on firefighters responding to a blaze, killing two, is a felon convicted of manslaughter, according to local police. Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering told a press conference this morning that the suspect was William Spengler, who served roughly 18 years on manslaughter charges for killing his 92 year old grandmother. Spengler had a number of run-ins with the police after that, according to Pickering.

Because Spengler was convicted a felon, he was supposed to be legally barred from owning a gun. However, because of the so-called “gun show loophole” — a National Rifle Assocation (NRA) supported-policy that allows “private” gun sales to take place without background checks — it’s possible Spengler could have purchased his weapon without the seller even checking whether he could legally own a gun or had a history of violence. Guns bought in this manner are used in 80 percent of violent firearm crimes across the country. Moreover, it’s very easy, as a consequence of another set of NRA-supported changes to federal law, for some felons to get their right to own guns reinstated.

When asked about the nature of Spengler’s murderous assault on the firefighters, Pickering said that, from what they could tell so far, “it was a trap.”

According to police, Spengler was armed with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle — the same gun used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.


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The MRC@25: The Worst Media Bias of 2009

Rich Noyes's picture

NewsBusters is showcasing the most egregious bias the Media Research Center has uncovered over the years — four quotes for each of the 25 years of the MRC, 100 quotes total — all leading up to our big 25th Anniversary Gala on Thursday night.

Click here for posts recounting the worst of 1988 through 2008. Today, the worst bias of 2009: Journalists are thrilled by Barack Obama’s arrival in the Oval Office, with ABC’s Terry Moran suggesting he’s the “first President since George Washington to be taking a step down into the Oval Office,” and Newsweek’s Evan Thomas seeing Obama’s approach to foreign policy as being “above the world. He’s sort of God.” [Quotes and video below the jump.]


“We know that wind can make a cold day feel colder, but can national pride make a freezing day feel warmer? It seems to be the case because regardless of the final crowd number estimates, never have so many people shivered so long with such joy. From above, even the seagulls must have been awed by the blanket of humanity.”
— ABC’s Bill Weir on World News, January 20, 2009.

"I like to say that, in some ways, Barack Obama is the first President since George Washington to be taking a step down into the Oval Office. I mean, from visionary leader of a giant movement, now he’s got an executive position that he has to perform in, in a way.”
— ABC Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran to Media Bistro’s Steve Krakauer in a February 20, 2009 “Morning Media Menu” podcast. (MP3 audio.)


“Reagan [at the 1984 D-Day commemoration] was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is, ‘We are above that now. We’re not just parochial, we’re not just chauvinistic, we’re not just provincial. We stand for something.’ I mean, in a way, Obama’s standing above the country, above — above the world. He’s sort of God. He’s going to bring all different sides together.”
— Newsweek’s Evan Thomas to host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, June 5, 2009.


“The Republicans lie! They want to see you dead! They’d rather make money off your dead corpse! They kind of like it when that woman has cancer and they don’t have anything for her.”
— Ed Schultz, host of MSNBC’s The Ed Show, September 23, 2009.


Check back each morning for more classic bias quotes, or visit our “25th Anniversary” section for the entire collection.

Rich Noyes is Research Director at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Rich Noyes on Twitter.

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Next Challenge for the Health Law: Getting the Public to Buy In

But this focus group, along with nine others held around the country in November, was an important tool for advocates coming up with a campaign to educate Americans about the new health care law. The participants were among millions of uninsured people who stand to benefit from the law. With incomes below 400 percent of the poverty level, or $92,200 for a family of four this year, the focus group members will qualify for federal subsidies to help cover the cost of private insurance starting in 2014.

The sessions confirmed a daunting reality: Many of those the law is supposed to help have no idea what it could do for them. In the Miami focus group, a few participants knew only that they could face a fine if they did not buy coverage.

“It’s another forced bill,” said Christopher Pena, 24, who works in customer service.

There lies the challenge for Enroll America, a nonprofit group formed last year to get the word out to the uninsured and encourage them get coverage, providing help along the way. With the election over and the law almost certain to survive, the group is honing its fund-raising and testing strategies for persuading people to sign up for health insurance — a process that will begin in less than a year.

Starting next October, people will be able to shop for coverage, or find out if they are eligible for Medicaid, through online markets known as insurance exchanges.

“Our job is to convey to them that there is help coming that they didn’t know about,” said Rachel Klein, Enroll America’s executive director.

The group has raised only about $6 million so far — but financial backers include some major players in the medical industry: insurers like Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Shield, associations representing both brand name and generic drug manufacturers, hospitals and the Catholic Health Association. Insurance companies generally opposed the law before its passage in 2010 but now have a stake in its success.

Over the next two years, the group hopes to raise as much as $100 million for advertising, social media and other outreach efforts. “There are so many different groups that can play some role in this: hospitals, community health centers, pharmacies, tax preparers,” said Ron Pollack, chairman of Enroll America’s board. “Our job has got to be to try to galvanize each of those sectors, so there is a wide variety of ways people potentially can hear about this.”

Although the campaign will be national, the group will devote more resources to some states than to others. About half of the nation’s uninsured population lives in six states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York and Texas. Of those, states whose leaders remain opposed to the health care law, like Texas, will probably get the most attention, Mr. Pollack said.

At the same time, Enroll America will coordinate with states, many of which are planning their own outreach and enrollment efforts, and with the Obama administration.

The Department of Health and Human Services has already awarded a $3.1 million contract to Weber Shandwick, a public relations firm, to plan a national education campaign for next year. It plans to seek proposals soon for a larger contract with a public relations firm that would help with the actual campaign, officials there said. Although the campaign has yet to take shape, an administration official confirmed that President Obama will play a role as it moves forward.

Republicans in Congress have already criticized the administration for spending taxpayer money to promote the law. Last month, Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, who leads the Ways and Means Committee, subpoenaed Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, seeking information on “public relations campaigns, advertisements, polling, message testing, and similar services.”

In addition to holding focus groups in Miami, Philadelphia, San Antonio and Columbus, Ohio, Enroll America commissioned a nationwide survey to help hone its message. The survey, conducted in September and October by Lake Research Partners, a Democratic polling group, found that the vast majority of uninsured people are unaware of the new coverage options provided by the law.

They are also skeptical. Many who participated in the focus groups or survey reported bad experiences trying to get health insurance, and doubted that the law would provide coverage that was both affordable and comprehensive.

“It’s two major mountains that need to be climbed,” Mr. Pollack said. “People are unaware of the benefits that could be provided to them, and they have to overcome skepticism, based on their past experiences with trying to obtain insurance.”


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Warner Bros. developing ‘Mass Effect’ movie

Warner Bros., the Hollywood studio headed by high-profile Obama fundraiser Barry Meyer has been planning a bigscreen adaptation of the violent third-person shooter video game Mass Effect.

Mass Effect was cited in media coverage of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting this month after social media users attacked the game’s Facebook page because Ryan Lanza, the shooter’s brother, “liked” the game on Facebook.

No verifiable link currently exists between the game and the mass shooting in Connecticut that claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 children.

Nevertheless, as the Obama administration focuses on pushing new gun control policies in the aftermath of the shooting, Warner Bros.’ development of the Mass Effect film might raise new concerns about the motion picture industry’s role in disseminating violent content to teenagers.

“Mass Effect is primarily a shooter based game,” according to the pop culture website whatculture.com. “At every stage of the story, Commander Shepard and his two selected team members go to a new planet and at some point or another, start shooting…”

EA Games announced in May 2010 that Warner Bros., along with producing partner Legendary Pictures, acquired the film rights to Mass Effect and tapped the game’s executive producer to executive produce the film.

Screenwriter Morgan Davis Foehl was recently added to the Mass Effect project, Variety reported on October 24.

Warner Bros. CEO Meyer, like numerous other Hollywood executives, supported President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.

First Lady Michelle Obama was the guest of honor at a fundraiser held at Meyer’s home in his gated community in Los Angeles on August 12. Tickets to Meyer’s fundraiser reportedly cost between $2,500 and $25,000, with proceeds going to the Obama Victory Fund.

Meyer reportedly told his guests to remember “why we’re involved in politics.”

“It’s to support a president who believes in all the things we believe in,” Meyer said.

Guests at Meyer’s fundraiser included fellow Warner Bros. executives, as well as executives from HBO and DreamWorks Animation SKG, among others.

Meyer is also a campaign contributor to Democratic California senator Dianne Feinstein.


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University of Texas law student leads the way in 3-D printable gun technology

Demands for stricter restrictions on gun sales are all the rage right now in light of the Connecticut elementary school massacre. However, a law student at the University of Texas says new technology will soon change the regulatory landscape dramatically, and possibly make such regulation futile.

The student, Cody Wilson, is among the leaders of Defense Distributed, home of the wiki weapon project. The goal of the collaborative, nonprofit project is simple: to create freely available plans that you can download from the Internet and produce a gun using a 3-D printer.

YouTube video at printablegun.com shows Wilson’s group test firing a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, reports KVUE, Austin’s ABC affiliate. An AR-15 was among the weapons Adam Lanza used in the Sandy Hook shooting.

According to Wilson, 24, the group used a 3-D printer to print a plastic lower receiver. The piece was then attached to the rest of a real gun. In a test that was unverified by any independent observers, the plastic piece broke, but not before the gun fired six live rounds.

“What I’m doing is showing people, okay, this is something that can be done right now with this technology, and we’re changing this in the software, and we’re making modifications and customizations and testing with different rounds and different guns, but what we make won’t look like a plastic AR-15,” Wilson told WVUE. “What we make will just be the gun at its most essential, something that just is a firearm practically speaking.”

The legality of printable 3-D guns is not clear. (RELATED: Democratic congressman urges renewal of plastic gun ban)

Democratic New York Rep. Steve Israel doesn’t want to take any chances, though, according to WVUE. Israel has called for the renewal of the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, which is set to expire in December 2013.

As Slate notes, the Act makes it illegal to “manufacture, sell, ship, deliver” or “possess” firearms that garden-variety metal detectors or x-ray machines can’t detect. A renewed act would presumably cover guns manufactured with 3-D printed gun parts, which are plastic.

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Health Costs on His Mind

Sales at Automation Systems LLC, a parts-assembly factory in the Chicago suburbs, dropped 60% following the 2008 financial collapse. Owner Carl Schanstra was able to get the firm back on its feet by breaking into new markets, such as the auto industry. Sales are up 12% this year, and are likely to rise again next year, too.

But for the 34-year-old, the expected growth in sales brings a new concern. He is worried that as Automation Systems continues to expand, it will be subject to a provision in the health-care overhaul that could damage its bottom line.

Mr. Schanstra is contemplating various strategies he can take next year in order to sidestep what he believes are significant burdens of complying with the law. In fact, he's considering whether he should split his manufacturing firm in two.

Taylor Glascock for The Wall Street Journal Owner Carl Schanstra on the factory floor of Automation Systems

That is because his plant, with sales of about $1.6 million for 2012, currently employs 40 full-time workers, mostly low-paid employees who monitor the factory equipment. If sales were to continue to rise, the plant could, conceivably, employ 50 full-time workers in 2014. Under the new health-care law, the Affordable Care Act, businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees will be required, starting in that year, to offer workers health insurance or potentially pay a penalty.

The expense, he says, would drive up the cost of his labor. So he doesn't want to let employment at the factory reach that number. "I'll be hammered for having more people at work," says Mr. Schanstra, who took over the firm when his father died in 2003.

Splitting the business into two would be a "headache," he acknowledges. But with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees in each half of this business, he hopes to avoid paying the penalties that otherwise could amount to at least $40,000 a year. His firm hasn't offered health-insurance benefits since 2003, when premiums jumped 50%, bringing his yearly outlay for coverage for his staff of 20 people to about $40,000 total.

Automation Systems LLC weighs whether to add workers as Affordable Care Act nears

Sales of $1.6 million for 2012, up 12% this year and expected to rise next year40 full-time employees, 10 shy of the 50 that would trigger health-care requirementPenalty for not offering 50 or more full-time workers health insurance: At least $40,000

Source: The company

Legal and tax experts say breaking up a firm—as Mr. Schanstra is contemplating—generally won't allow a business owner to stay outside the parameters of the law. According to the Internal Revenue Code, all workers who are employed by a common group of corporations or business partners must be treated as being employed by a single owner.

But an owner could potentially create a spinoff entity if his or her business has more than one revenue stream, and if there are different owners for each entity, says Peter Fleming, a partner with Carnegie, Pa.-based accounting firm Wilke & Associates LLP. He recommends exploring other options first. "The spinoff move is a big step," he says, because it requires surrendering a portion of the company over to someone else.

Small-business experts say it isn't surprising that some business owners are thinking of splitting their firms or taking other steps to eschew the health-care overhaul due to the associated costs and regulatory burdens. "It's a very legitimate question to ask, should I try to find a way to get under the 50-employee threshold," says Alden Bianchi, a partner with law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo PC in Boston. Providing health insurance is "a compensation cost and it's the job of the business owner to minimize costs," he adds.

Exploring far-reaching strategies to dodge the employer mandate isn't uncommon, adds Katie Mahoney, executive director of health-care policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, because, for some business owners, "it's a matter of dollars and cents and they don't have it. They find a way around it or they close their business."

Average premiums for family health-insurance plans have increased 97% since 2002, according to a September study conducted by nonprofits Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust.

Business owners have other less-radical options for maneuvering around the law's provisions.

Some say they're likely to reduce their workers' hours or even lay off staff in order to remain below the thresholds established under the act. Under the law, firms with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees will have to provide "minimum essential" and "affordable" coverage, or pay a penalty for each employee in excess of 30 full-time employees.

Sidney Brodsky, chief executive officer of James Gerard Foods, a gourmet food business in Phoenix with roughly 50 employees, says he is considering "weeding out" his weakest performers to reduce his firm's head count to below 50 full-time equivalents. He would then bring on contract workers, should he need more help.

Mr. Brodsky has offered health-care benefits to his employees for the past 12 years, though he only contributes 50% toward their premiums. By hovering under the law's employee threshold, he can continue to offer health benefits to his employees without having to worry about meeting the "minimum essential" mandate. In order to avoid penalties, employers must offer a plan that covers at least 60% of the of the actuarial value of the cost of the benefits. In addition, employers must not charge the employee more than 9.5% of his or her household income toward the cost of health-insurance premiums.

Others plan to shift to part-time workers, because there are no penalties if part-time employees aren't offered coverage.

Mr. Schanstra says he is thinking of bringing in a partner to take over one half of the business, should he divide it. He is also considering opening a factory in South America—and focus his growth there—catering to industries in that region. "I want to see where the cards fall," he says. "Splitting the company is not off the table."

Mr. Schanstra is aware that dividing his business into two may not help him dodge the law's requirements. His backup plan, if he can't split his firm, is to keep his head count low or to invest in machinery that would replace workers. He also plans to raise prices as much as 20% starting in January to buffer any health-care related costs he may incur in 2014.

Getting part-time staff is "not a really good functional way for us to operate our business," he says, because of how employees' shifts, which rotate 24 hours a day, are scheduled for optimal productivity.

"The unknown makes everyone stop spending and start saving," he says. "We will be more cautious and leaner and tighten up."

Corrections & Amplifications
Under the Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees more must offer a health plan that covers at least 60% of the of the actuarial value of the cost of the benefits. In addition, employers must not charge the employee more than 9.5% of his or her household income toward the cost of health-insurance premiums. A previous version of this article stated that employers are required to pay 60% of the total cost of the plan's benefits.

Write to Emily Maltby at emily.maltby@wsj.com and Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared December 19, 2012, on page B1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Health Costs on His Mind.


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Obamacare expands dependence on government health care

Slide 1 | Obamacare in Pictures

Obamacare dumps millions into Medicaid and creates new federal subsidies for government-approved coverage. As a result, by the end of the decade most Americans will receive health coverage through government programs.


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Statement by President on the Presidential Election in the Republic of Korea

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For Immediate Release December 19, 2012 Statement by President on the Presidential Election in the Republic of Korea

I congratulate President-elect Park Geun-hye on her success in the election held on Wednesday. I look forward to working closely with the Park Administration to further enhance our extensive cooperation with the Republic of Korea on a wide range of important bilateral, regional and global issues. The U.S.-ROK alliance serves as a linchpin of peace and security in the Asia Pacific and our two nations share a global partnership with deep economic, security, and people-to-people ties. I also wish to reiterate my admiration for all that President Lee has done to strengthen U.S.-ROK relations and promote a Global Korea.

Blog posts on this issue December 24, 2012 1:00 PM ESTWatch: First Lady Michelle Obama Reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas" December 24, 2012 11:46 AM ESTTracking Santa With Our Eyes in the SkyTracking Santa With Our Eyes in the Sky

The Energy Department's Los Alamos National Lab is using state-of-the-art technology to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe the night before Christmas.

December 24, 2012 7:59 AM ESTWhite House Holiday Social in Pictures

Some of our followers on Pinterest joined us at the White House for a holiday social. Take a look at their experience.

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Do laws apply to David Gregory?

Of course not, you stupid wingnut. But nonetheless, a few commoners have been trying to make trouble for him because they don’t know their place.

Here’s what Mr. Gregory did on Sunday’s Meet the Press:

YouTube Preview Image

And now this is happening, as The Hill reports:

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department is investigating “Meet the Press” host David Gregory for a potential violation of the District of Columbia’s gun laws, a spokesman for the department confirmed to The Hill.

While interviewing National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre on Sunday, Gregory held up what appeared to be a 30-round magazine to ask if it should be banned. The cartridge is illegal in Washington, D.C., where “Meet the Press” is filmed…

A petition to arrest Gregory for possession of the high-capacity rifle magazine had nearly 6,000 signatures on Tuesday, needing another 19,000 by Jan. 22 to provoke an official White House response.

That was yesterday, and as of this morning the petition is up to 7,000 signatures. Which is good news for David Gregory, because it means at least 7,000 Americans have heard of him.

Um, sorry to disappoint you, teabaggers, but I’m pretty sure righteous indignation trumps the law. Or at least when it’s righteous indignation in service of liberal agenda items. We need to pass more gun laws because people obey laws. Well, people who aren’t on TV, at least.

By the way, Mr. Gregory sends his children to Sidwell Friends, the same school as Obama’s kids. If armed guards are good enough for their children, why aren’t they good enough for yours?

Just kidding. You know the answer already. Now shut up, peasant.

P.S. Howard Kurtz thinks enforcing the law is a “total waste of time.” Good to know, Howard.


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Petition To Deport CNN Host For Gun Control Support Reaches 60,000 Signatures

A petition to deport CNN host Piers Morgan over his heated comments on gun control has reached more than 62,000 signatures in just 4 days, far exceeding the threshold required for a White House response. A petition must get 25,000 signatures in 30 days in order to elicit a response.

In the wake of the elementary school shooting in Connecticut that left 27 dead, Morgan has become a vocal advocate for tighter gun regulations. Specifically, he is calling for a ban on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, as well as strict background checks on gun sales. According to the petition, Morgan’s comments are no less than “a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution”:

British Citizen and CNN television host Piers Morgan is engaged in a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment. We demand that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights and for exploiting his position as a national network television host to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens.

Of course, Morgan is protected by another constitutional amendment: the First. The CNN host has continued to exercise his rights by openly mocking the petition on Twitter.

Democratic lawmakers have promised to address gun safety immediately upon the start of the 113th Congress in January. Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association refused to cede any ground after the Newtown tragedy, calling for armed guards in every school and stricter scrutiny on the video game industry and opposing any measure limiting gun access.


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Six Bipartisan Entitlement Reforms to Solve the Real Fiscal Crisis: Only Presidential Leadership Is Needed

Abstract: The United States faces a real fiscal crisis, and the impending fiscal cliff of massive tax hikes and spending cuts in January is only the first act. In early 2013, the federal government will exhaust its ability to issue debt legally. Yet as large and as major a concern as federal budget deficits are today, they are of secondary consequence compared with the fiscal quagmire of unaffordable entitlement spending in the next decade. Fortunately, the entitlement problem can be resolved by six simple reforms to improve the fiscal future for Social Security and Medicare. But to implement these reforms, President Barack Obama must lead.

A high-stakes fiscal policy debate of unique size and import has just begun. Absent congressional action to the contrary, a massive slate of tax hikes and spending cuts will take effect on January 1, and that is only the first act. The second act will occur early in 2013 when the federal government will exhaust its ability to issue debt legally. Both acts need prompt solutions.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH) made the first move. After congratulating President Barack Obama upon his reelection, Boehner promised a willingness to work with him, giving Obama the additional revenues he desired through pro-growth tax reform accompanied by reforms in entitlement programs.[1] President Obama's counter, while unsurprising, was unhelpful because he focused exclusively on fiscally meaningless and economically harmful tax hikes on upper-income taxpayers. The President repeatedly has argued for a balanced approach, but he has yet to offer a single meaningful proposal on spending reductions.

While the President prepares to start his second term, he should set about negotiating in good faith with Republicans, especially in the House where Republicans were returned to office in the majority with expectations of cutting spending without increasing taxes. The voters, we are told, expect it. This means the President cannot sit back and just harp on revenues. He needs to address spending and in particular entitlements.

Fortunately, the President has occasion and opportunity to lead by proposing some simple yet transformational reforms in two of the prime sources of the nation's fiscal problems: Social Security and Medicare. Better yet, many such reforms have already been thoroughly considered and enjoy broad bipartisan support, lacking only the moment and the leadership to become a reality. These proposals will not resolve either program's key structural flaws—they constitute a start of the reform journey, not the conclusion—but they would be a powerful start that would markedly alter the nation's fiscal trajectory.

At the start of a President's second term, the political stars are in the best possible alignment for solving big problems. All the President needs to do is seize the moment. This is the moment; President Obama must lead.

Many events arrive by chance, but the present fiscal spectacle is not one of them. The fiscal cliff results from explicit actions by Congress and the President to push difficult fiscal policy issues past the recent election. In this, they succeeded, although it took a series of legislative acts to accomplish it. With regard to taxes:

The payroll tax cut, extended in the spring of 2012, will expire on December 31, 2012. The extension of the Bush tax cuts, signed into law in December 2010, will expire at the end of the year. This same law also established a new structure for the death tax with a 35 percent rate and a $5 million exemption per spouse, which will expire at the end of the year. Various Obamacare tax hikes begin at the start of 2013.[2]

The same pattern holds for the spending cuts. For example, the sequester slated to gouge defense spending while making modest cuts—such as a 2 percent across-the-board cut to Medicare providers—reflects the final leavings of the earlier Budget Control Act, which created the failed "supercommittee." Early in 2012, Congress also prevented deep and disastrous reductions in Medicare provider payments, but this "doc fix" remedy expires at the end of the year.

In May 2011, the federal government exhausted its legal authority to finance deficit spending by issuing debt. The U.S. Department of the Treasury exercised its typical but limited authorities for temporarily creating more room under the "debt limit," allowing policymakers to postpone action until early August. A brutal and economically risky political battle ensued, eventually resulting in legislation that raised the debt limit by $2.1 trillion, sufficient to fund the federal government past the November election.

Projections now suggest that the government will reach the debt limit late in 2012, after which the Treasury will again deploy its limited authorities. This will trigger what could be another difficult negotiation for Congress and President Obama—a negotiation that will be heavily influenced by what happens with the fiscal cliff.

President Obama clearly believes in raising taxes on upper-income taxpayers, and he is willing to weaken the economy, slow job growth, and constrain wage growth to do so. It is difficult to fathom his acceptance of this trade-off of economic security for an ideological doctrine of social justice, especially considering that this long-standing debate likely will rage indefinitely. However, these tax hikes are a distant sideshow in the present context, a political distraction that diverts attention from the central fiscal issue of runaway spending, which gives rise to persistent and economically dangerous deficits.

In his own budget, the President proposed to extend the Bush tax cuts except for those making $250,000 or more, raising $836 billion over the next 10 years. His companion proposal to limit the value of deductions for upper-income taxpayers would raise another $574 billion, for a total of $1.4 trillion. In absolute terms, that is a lot of revenue. However, even allowing for all the other budget gimmicks and tax hikes in Obama's budget, the federal debt would rise by $7.7 trillion over the next 10 years including these tax hikes and by $9.1 trillion without them.

Obama's tax hikes would reduce the rise in federal debt over the next 10 years by about 15 percent. The President is silent about the remaining 85 percent. The numbers confirm that President Obama's tax hike demands are at best tangential to attaining a balanced budget.

As large and as major a concern as federal budget deficits are today, they are nevertheless secondary in consequence to the fiscal quagmire of unaffordable entitlements. Social Security and Medicare in particular share certain vital characteristics. Both programs are extraordinarily complicated, having been built up in complexity over the years one Congress at a time. Similarly, each program badly needs programmatic reforms. For example, the minimum benefit in Social Security is woefully inadequate to protect low-income seniors from poverty, and Medicare still lacks a catastrophic benefit. These are only some of the many shortcomings that must be addressed in fundamental overhauls of each program.

Of most immediate concern, however, is that Social Security and Medicare are unaffordable in their current forms. When this year's kindergarteners enter college, just 13 years away, spending on these two programs plus Medicaid and interest on the debt will devour all tax revenue. (See Chart 1.)

Entitlements and Interest Driving Future Spending Surge

Social Security will lack the funds to pay full benefits beginning as early as 2033.[3] Medicare's unfunded promises in current dollars reach into the many tens of trillions of dollars. These facts are not in dispute. Solutions to our fiscal challenges are needed, urgent, and inevitable.

The fiscal cliff and the debt limit have set the stage, but there is also the reality of the rhythms in the American political system. There are certain windows in every four-year or eight-year cycle when bold leaders can achieve bold things. The first few months of a reelected President's second term is one such window, but it closes fast, and lame-duck status arrives quickly.

Thus, the President must adopt the mantle of leadership, rather than brinksmanship, to steer the nation away from the fiscal cliff and all that is set to follow, and he must start with spending. However, the critical silver lining is that simple, commonsense, and thoroughly vetted solutions such as the four listed below constitute a strong start on the journey to more complete programmatic reforms remedying acknowledged flaws in these programs, and they already enjoy broad support across the political spectrum.

Raise the Social Security eligibility age to match increases in longevity. Originally set at 65, the normal eligibility age is rising two months every year until 2022, when it will reach 67. According to the Social Security actuaries, continuing to increase the eligibility age to 69 by the year 2034 and allowing it to rise more slowly thereafter to reflect gains in longevity could go a long way toward reducing Social Security's funding shortfall.[4] While this would not reduce today's budget deficit, it would strengthen Social Security's finances and dissipate far more important long-term budget pressures. Correct the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The annual COLA benefit adjustment is determined today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index (CPI). However, the CPI, an antiquated measure, generally overstates inflation, meaning that benefits are increased a bit too much each year to offset inflation. The effect on benefits in a given year of switching to a more accurate inflation measure is minute, but Social Security spans generations.[5] Again, according to the Social Security actuaries, using a more modern inflation measure would substantially reduce Social Security's shortfall over time. Raise the Medicare eligibility age to agree with Social Security. Medicare has an eligibility age problem, but unlike Social Security, the Medicare eligibility age remains stuck at 65. An obvious solution is to wait five years and then slowly raise the eligibility age to align eventually with the Social Security eligibility age. While the short-term budgetary savings would be negligible, the long-term savings in Medicare would be profound. Reduce the Medicare subsidy for upper-income beneficiaries. In 2012, the average Medicare beneficiary received a subsidy of about $5,000. The subsidy is the per capita amount of Treasury revenue that is used to fill the financial hole arising each year because Medicare's premiums are inadequate, in conjunction with its other revenue sources, to cover Medicare's total costs. Subsidizing Medicare benefits for low-income seniors—and perhaps for some middle-income seniors—makes sense, but upper-income seniors do not need and should not receive a $5,000 subsidy to buy Medicare health insurance. The Medicare subsidy was first cut for the wealthiest seniors in legislation signed by President George W. Bush in 2004 by income-relating premiums so that higher-income beneficiaries pay a higher share of their Medicare cost. It was cut further in Obamacare, and President Obama proposed to pare it back still further in his budget proposals of February 2012 with still-higher premiums for upper-income beneficiaries.

Medicare has many programmatic problems that demand attention, and the sooner the better, but the immediate fiscal problem is straightforward: It is the subsidy. The total cost of the Medicare subsidy—about $230 billion in 2012—will soar over time as health care costs rise and the baby boomers retire.[6] Paring back the subsidy for well-to-do retirees is an obvious step toward reducing the budget deficit today and shoring up Medicare for the long run.

The four foregoing proposals for Social Security and Medicare meet the test of simplicity, being relatively easy to communicate to the American people, having been thoroughly vetted, and enjoying widespread support. Together, they would dramatically improve America's fiscal future for the better. Two additional proposals, one each for Social Security and Medicare, meet the tests of simplicity and effectiveness but have not been considered as intensively. Yet they should also garner bipartisan support and consideration.

Phase out Social Security benefits for upper-income retirees. Everyone who has ever paid into Social Security is entitled to the benefits prescribed by law. However, as a nation, we need to ask whether today's working families should pay payroll taxes so that upper-income retirees can continue to receive their checks. We need to ask why phasing out the Medicare subsidy to upper-income seniors while continuing to send them their full Social Security check would make sense. In short, Social Security should be social insurance against poverty rather than a government-run pension scheme.

Some might charge that this is redistributionism, but would anyone suggest that millionaires should receive food stamps? Food stamps and other welfare programs are specifically intended to operate as part of the social safety net, yet their existence constitutes a form of redistributionism that most Americans accept. Social Security (and Medicare) should become real insurance against poverty, meaning that only those seniors who need help should receive help. On the other hand, if Social Security remains a universal government-run pension, then it remains a vastly larger program built on an entirely different redistributionist principle: redistribution from workers to retirees, including the wealthy.

Consolidate Medicare's elements and collect a single higher premium. Medicare is actually three distinct components, referred to generally as Parts A, B, and D, reflecting the fact that Medicare was built up over many years. This antiquated structure is confusing and inefficient. An obvious reform is to consolidate the three distinct parts into a unified Medicare program.

Medicare Parts B and D each require beneficiaries to pay a premium covering 25 percent of the cost of the programs. As the Medicare Parts are consolidated, the premium should be consolidated as well and then raised to 35 percent of the relevant costs.[7]

The nation's fiscal problems, today and beyond, derive entirely from excess spending, especially entitlement spending, not a dearth of revenue. While current revenues are exceptionally low as a share of the economy, this is due almost entirely to the weak economy. As analysis by the Administration's budget office and the Congressional Budget Office affirm, revenues will return to a more normal 18.5 percent of the economy as the economy recovers. Given these facts, President Obama's insistence on an economically harmful tax hike for what is essentially a fiscally meaningless increase in revenues will not help policymakers navigate successfully around the fiscal cliff.

A hopeful sign, however, is that the political timing is propitious, and important policy reforms in Social Security and Medicare are simple, straightforward, and well known. These proposals, while not correcting more fundamental programmatic flaws, would materially correct the spending excesses in these programs. Better yet, these proposals are not partisan in nature, but have been supported on a bipartisan basis in the past.

All that is lacking to avoid the fiscal cliff, profoundly stabilize the nation's public finances, and shore up these critical entitlement programs is for the President to take the lead. The nation waits.

—J. D. Foster, Ph.D., is Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy in and Alison Acosta Fraser is Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

[1] Alison Acosta Fraser, “Boehner’s Olive Branch: More Revenues, but Only Through Growth,” Heritage Foundation, The Foundry, November 9, 2012, http://blog.heritage.org/2012/11/09/boehners-olive-branch-more-revenues-but-only-through-growth/.

[2] Curtis S. Dubay, “Taxmageddon: Massive Tax Increase Coming in 2013,” Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. 3558, April 4, 2012, www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/taxmageddon-massive-tax-increase-coming-in-2013.

[3] David C. John, “Social Security Finances Significantly Worse, Says 2012 Trustees’ Report,” Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. 3577, April 23, 2012, www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/social-security-finances-significantly-worse-says-2012-trustees-report.

[4] Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary, “Individual Changes Modifying Social Security,” Actuarial Publications, December 21, 2011, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/solvency/provisions/index.html (accessed November 27, 2012).

[5] The Social Security actuaries have considered in particular a modern measure of inflation known as “chained CPI” (C-CPI). Price indices of this sort are constructed by looking at a basket of goods and services to proxy all consumer purchases. The traditional CPI rarely changes the basket and thus steadily becomes a less accurate proxy as the pattern of consumer purchases changes. The more modern C-CPI, relying on advances in economic theory, updates this reference basket regularly and thus better proxies consumer purchases.


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CNN's Gupta -- Once a Candidate for Obama's Surgeon General -- Trumpets Benefits of ObamaCare

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta boosted ObamaCare on Friday morning's Starting Point without disclosing that he was once a candidate to be President Obama's Surgeon General, and thus the megaphone for ObamaCare.

"Since President Obama's health care law was enacted, 3.1 million people under the age of 26 are now covered by their parents' plans and preventive care is covered 100 percent by insurance companies. Seniors, in particular, have benefitted on prescription drugs," Gupta trumpeted at the start of his report on the health care plans of the presidential candidates. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

"Five-and-a-half million seniors have saved a total of nearly four-and-a-half billion dollars on prescription drugs since the law was enacted, according to the Health and Human Services Department," Gupta continued, spouting the Obama administration's own numbers.

Back in June, as on Friday, Gupta offered no disclosure of his past candidacy for Obama's Surgeon General as he warned of rising health care costs if the health care law's individual mandate was overturned by the Supreme Court. 

Gupta was more tempered towards Mitt Romney's health care plan on Friday, after he promoted the alleged successes of Obama's health care policy. "He [Romney] wants ObamaCare gone, including the prescription drug benefit for seniors. But he does want to keep one of the most popular pieces of ObamaCare, although he doesn't say exactly how his plan would work," reported Gupta.

A transcript of Gupta's report, which aired on Starting Point on September 28 at 7:52 a.m. EDT, is as follows:

(Video Clip)

Dr. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN chief medical correspondent (voice-over): Since President Obama's health care law was enacted, 3.1 million people under the age of 26 are now covered by their parents' plans and preventive care is covered 100 percent by insurance companies. Seniors, in particular, have benefitted on prescription drugs.

BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States: Seniors who fall in the coverage gap known as the donut hole will start getting some help. They'll receive $250 to help pay for prescriptions and that will, over time, fill in the donut hole.

GUPTA: Five-and-a-half million seniors have saved a total of nearly four-and-a-half  billion dollars on prescription drugs since the law was enacted, according to the Health and Human Services Department. He also plans to slow spending on Medicare.

OBAMA: I have strengthened Medicare. We've added years to the life of Medicare. We did it by getting rid of taxpayer subsidies to insurance companies that weren't making people healthier.

GUPTA: By 2014, the law requires everyone to have health insurance, whether they purchase it themselves or through their employers. And insurers can't deny you if you have a pre-existing condition or increase your rates. The law has become a cornerstone of the Obama campaign.

OBAMA: I refuse to eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans who are poor and elderly or disabled all so those with the most can pay less.

GUPTA: But Romney says the Affordable Care Act is unaffordable.

MITT ROMNEY, Republican presidential nominee: We know that health care is too expensive. Obamacare doesn't make it less expensive.

GUPTA: He wants ObamaCare gone, including the prescription drug benefit for seniors. But he does want to keep one of the most popular pieces of ObamaCare, although he doesn't say exactly how his plan would work.

ROMNEY: We have to make sure that people who have pre-existing conditions are able to get insured and that folks that get sick don't get dropped by their insurance company.

GUPTA: Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, propose to cap malpractice insurance, cut Medicaid by $810 billion over the next 10 years, give states more control over their Medicaid funds, overhaul Medicare.

The overhaul, people now younger than 55, when they reach retirement, would have the option of getting a voucher to purchase private insurance or they could stick with traditional Medicare.

Rep. PAUL RYAN, (R-Wisc.), GOP vice presidential nominee: This financial support system is designed to guarantee that seniors can always afford Medicare coverage, no exceptions.

(End Video Clip)

GUPTA: I tell you, Soledad, we don't talk about Medicaid as much as you know. But a big part of ObamaCare is to expand Medicaid, give the states the option to expand the federal poverty level at which people can qualify for it. But it costs money, for the federal government and for the state government.

The Romney plan – and we've been dissecting this for a bit of time now – really turns Medicaid (Inaudible) into a block grant program for the states, let the states decide. But ultimately, there's less federal dollars going into the program, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right, so then since seniors are a large portion of the recipients of Medicaid, what happens to them? How are they affected?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting because I think as a physician I've been looking into this somewhat. People, they think of Medicare for seniors and Medicaid for people who are either impoverished or have disabilities. But there are about 6 million seniors who actually get Medicaid as well; they are called "dually eligible". But I think the area where it impacts them the most is probably in long term and nursing home care.

Because Medicare covers a lot of things. But one of the things where it falls a little bit shorter is in that nursing home care. So if you're a senior who falls within that poverty guideline and you need nursing home care, Medicaid often has been where that source of money has come from. I think those people are probably going to be affected the most here.

Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Matt Hadro on Twitter.

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Executive Order-- Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Monday, December 24, 2012

Executive Order-- Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Monday, December 24, 2012 | The White House Skip to main content | Skip to footer site map The White House. President Barack Obama The White House Emblem Get Email UpdatesContact Us Go to homepage. The White House Blog Photos & Videos Photo Galleries Video Performances Live Streams Podcasts White House Performances

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Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release December 21, 2012 Executive Order-- Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Monday, December 24, 2012

 

EXECUTIVE ORDER - - - - - - - CLOSING OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2012 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 2012, the day before Christmas Day, except as provided in section 2 of this order. Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 24, 2012, for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need. Sec. 3. Monday, December 24, 2012, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States. Sec. 4. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall take such actions as may be necessary to implement this order. Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.  BARACK OBAMA

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National Strategy for Information Sharing and Safeguarding

National Strategy for Information Sharing and Safeguarding | The White House Skip to main content | Skip to footer site map The White House. President Barack Obama The White House Emblem Get Email UpdatesContact Us Go to homepage. The White House Blog Photos & Videos Photo Galleries Video Performances Live Streams Podcasts White House Performances

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Browse White House visitor logs

President Obama greets White House visitors

Issues Civil Rights It Gets Better Defense End of Iraq War Disabilities Economy Jobs Reform and Fiscal Responsibility Strengthening the Middle Class A Plan for Refinancing Support for Business Education Energy & Environment Ethics Foreign Policy Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Taxes Tax Receipt The Buffett Rule Tax Cuts Rural Urban Policy Veterans Joining Forces Technology Seniors & Social Security Service Snapshots Creating Jobs Health Care Small Business PreK-12 Education Women Americans Sharing Their Story

On what $2K means to them

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Extend tax cuts for families making under $250,000 a year

Explore the President's Plan

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President Barack Obama Vice President Joe Biden First Lady Michelle Obama Dr. Jill Biden The Cabinet 2010 Video Reports White House Staff Chief of Staff Jack Lew Deputy Chief of Staff Nancy-Ann DeParle Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco Counselor to the President Peter Rouse Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett Executive Office of the President Other Advisory Boards About the White House White House On the Go

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For Immediate Release December 19, 2012 National Strategy for Information Sharing and Safeguarding

Below is a link to the President’s plan for how the Federal Government will responsibly share and safeguard information that enhances national security and protects the safety of the American people. You can read the plan “National Strategy for Information Sharing and Safeguarding” here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2012sharingstrategy_1.pdf  National security depends on our ability to share the right information, with the right people, at the right time.  Anchored on the 2010 National Security Strategy, the NSISS provides guidance for more effective integration and implementation of policies, processes, standards, and technologies that promote secure and responsible national security information sharing.

Blog posts on this issue December 24, 2012 1:00 PM ESTWatch: First Lady Michelle Obama Reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas" December 24, 2012 11:46 AM ESTTracking Santa With Our Eyes in the SkyTracking Santa With Our Eyes in the Sky

The Energy Department's Los Alamos National Lab is using state-of-the-art technology to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe the night before Christmas.

December 24, 2012 7:59 AM ESTWhite House Holiday Social in Pictures

Some of our followers on Pinterest joined us at the White House for a holiday social. Take a look at their experience.

view all related blog posts ul.related-content li.views-row img {float: left; padding: 5px 10px 0 0;}ul.related-content li.view-all {padding-bottom: 3em;} Stay ConnectedFacebookTwitterFlickrGoogle+YouTubeVimeoiTunesLinkedIn   Home The White House Blog Photos & Videos Photo Galleries Video Performances Live Streams Podcasts Briefing Room Your Weekly Address Speeches & Remarks Press Briefings Statements & Releases White House Schedule Presidential Actions Legislation Nominations & Appointments Disclosures Issues Civil Rights Defense Disabilities Economy Education Energy & Environment Ethics Foreign Policy Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Taxes Rural Urban Policy Veterans Technology Seniors & Social Security Service Snapshots Women The Administration President Barack Obama Vice President Joe Biden First Lady Michelle Obama Dr. Jill Biden The Cabinet White House Staff Executive Office of the President Other Advisory Boards About the White House Inside the White House Presidents First Ladies The Oval Office The Vice President's Residence & Office Eisenhower Executive Office Building Camp David Air Force One White House Fellows White House Internships Tours & Events Mobile Apps Our Government The Executive Branch The Legislative Branch The Judicial Branch The Constitution Federal Agencies & Commissions Elections & Voting State & Local Government Resources Reports and Documents The White House Emblem En español Accessibility Copyright Information Privacy Policy Contact USA.gov Developers Apply for a Job

View the original article here