NYT's Peters Hits 'Waste of Time' Obama-Care Repeal Votes and GOP's 'Myopic Focus' on Deficits

New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters let the Republicans in Congress know he was tired of their silly and "waste of time" attempts to repeal Obamacare in Wednesday's "House to Vote Yet Again On Health Care Repeal."

(Peters was last seen helping Chuck Hagel, Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense, limp across the confirmation finish line.) He wrote on Wednesday:

The 37th time won’t be the charm. But House Republicans are charging forward anyway this week on a vote to repeal President Obama’s signature health care overhaul, which will put the number of times they have tried to eliminate, defund or curtail the law past the three-dozen mark.

“This is what, the 40th time they’re going to do it?” scoffed Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, confessing that she had lost count. “Thirty-eight? 39? 40? 41?” She eventually settled on “high 30s” as her best guess.

....since 2011, Republicans have spent no less than 15 percent of their time on the House floor on repeal in some way.

Liberals mock Republicans for what they dismiss as a waste of time. It represents a fitting ordering of priorities, they say, for a body whose few accomplishments this year include passing a bill that kept the Federal Helium Reserve open, heading off a critical shortage of the gas, and another that modifies the requirements for gold and silver coins commemorating the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Indeed, the Republican House leadership is sensitive to the perception that they are squandering even more time on a repeal vote that is going nowhere.

With the national debt at over $16 trillion, Peters accused the Republicans of suffering from "an almost myopic focus on deficit reduction and budgets."

Republican leadership put off scheduling a vote on an outright repeal of the health care law despite pleas from conservative members who believe it is an issue of paramount importance to voters back home. After losing the presidency and seats in both houses in Congress, the House leadership initially wanted to focus on pursuing an agenda crafted by Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the majority leader, aimed at softening the party’s image by moving off an almost myopic focus on deficit reduction and budgets.

They were able to hold off a vote for some time. At this point in 2011, House Republicans had already voted nine times on some form of repeal.

But conservatives pressed on, noting that their newly elected colleagues had not had a chance to vote on something that is a Republican rite of passage.

Clay Waters is the director of Times Watch, an MRC project tracking the New York Times. Click here to follow Clay Waters on Twitter.

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Roofer Union Calls for Repeal of Obama Health Law

A labor union representing roofers is reversing course and calling for repeal of the federal health law, citing concerns the law will raise its cost for insuring members.

Organized labor was instrumental in getting the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, but more recently has voiced concerns that the law could lead members to lose their existing health plans. The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers is believed to be the first union to initially support the law and later call for its repeal.

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New Hampshire House Approves Stand Your Ground Repeal

The New Hampshire House of Representatives is on a criminal justice roll. Last week, legislators voted to prohibit private prisons. This week, they passed a bill to repeal the ALEC-sponsored Stand Your Ground law, which authorizes the unfettered use of deadly force in self-defense. The NRA-backed laws, also known as “Kill at Will,” gained notoriety after the tragic killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Police cited Florida’s Stand Your Ground law as the reason for not initially arresting the suspect in that case. Reuters reports:

The National Rifle Association and gun rights supporters had campaigned to defeat the bill repealing the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, arguing the change would embolden criminals and lead to greater violence against women.

The bill passed by a roll call vote of 189-184 after a heated debate. The proposed change may face tougher odds in the state Senate, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans.

If repealed, the state would return to the so-called “castle doctrine” under which there is a duty to retreat from a threatening situation unless it occurs inside a person’s home. […]

New Hampshire passed a number of laws loosening control on gun usage in 2011, when Republicans commanded large majorities in both chambers. Since regaining control of the House, Democrats have sought to push back on some of these measures.

In the wake of the Trayvon Martin tragedy, a Florida committee to reform the bill stacked with lawmakers who first proposed the law did not recommend any substantive changes, in spite of empirical research finding these laws were associated with a significant increase in homicides. Some 21 states have laws establishing that there is no duty to retreat, and at least nine include language stating that one may “stand his or her ground,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The NRA has gone so far to offer insurance to cover the costs of a Stand Your Ground defense.

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U.S. Senate may back symbolic repeal of medical device tax

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Opponents of a 2.3 percent tax on medical device companies will likely win passage this week in the U.S. Senate of a largely symbolic resolution calling for repeal of the tax, with some Democrats likely to join all Republicans.

The tax helps to fund President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law. It applies to a range of medical products - from bedpans to expensive heart devices - many manufactured in the home states of the senators backing the repeal.

The resolution calling for repeal will be symbolic because it will come in the form of a non-binding amendment to a non-binding budget measure drafted by Senate Democrats. The resolution would not actually repeal the tax.

Full repeal of the tax may be difficult to achieve, given its $30 billion price tag and the opposition of key Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"The industry has a fighting chance of getting the tax moderated or eliminated as part of a much larger tax reform bill, where the device levy becomes a rounding error," said Paul Heldman, a policy analyst at Potomac Research Group. "But major tax reform in this Congress is a long shot."

Nine Senate Democrats are signed up to back the symbolic amendment. More than a dozen Senate Democrats wrote to Reid last year seeking to delay the tax.

Reid does not support repeal. Nor does Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, who helped usher Obama's healthcare bill into law. The medical device tax is among several new industry levies in the healthcare overhaul law, which aims to provide health insurance for millions of Americans who lack it.

The law is being implemented. It was declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

The medical device tax, which went into effect this year, is projected to raise about $30 billion over a decade. That government revenue would be lost if the tax were repealed.

Democratic Senators from Minnesota, Indiana and Pennsylvania, where some big medical technology companies are based, are among those who have been pushing for a repeal.

Industry officials and lawmakers against the tax say it will hurt innovation and job creation.

(Reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Jan Paschal)

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U.S. Senate may back symbolic repeal of medical device tax

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Opponents of a 2.3 percent tax on medical device companies will likely win passage this week in the U.S. Senate of a largely symbolic resolution calling for repeal of the tax, with some Democrats likely to join all Republicans.

The tax helps to fund President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law. It applies to a range of medical products - from bedpans to expensive heart devices - many manufactured in the home states of the senators backing the repeal.

The resolution calling for repeal will be symbolic because it will come in the form of a non-binding amendment to a non-binding budget measure drafted by Senate Democrats. The resolution would not actually repeal the tax.

Full repeal of the tax may be difficult to achieve, given its $30 billion price tag and the opposition of key Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"The industry has a fighting chance of getting the tax moderated or eliminated as part of a much larger tax reform bill, where the device levy becomes a rounding error," said Paul Heldman, a policy analyst at Potomac Research Group. "But major tax reform in this Congress is a long shot."

Nine Senate Democrats are signed up to back the symbolic amendment. More than a dozen Senate Democrats wrote to Reid last year seeking to delay the tax.

Reid does not support repeal. Nor does Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, who helped usher Obama's healthcare bill into law. The medical device tax is among several new industry levies in the healthcare overhaul law, which aims to provide health insurance for millions of Americans who lack it.

The law is being implemented. It was declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

The medical device tax, which went into effect this year, is projected to raise about $30 billion over a decade. That government revenue would be lost if the tax were repealed.

Democratic Senators from Minnesota, Indiana and Pennsylvania, where some big medical technology companies are based, are among those who have been pushing for a repeal.

Industry officials and lawmakers against the tax say it will hurt innovation and job creation.

(Reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Jan Paschal)

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House GOP Pushes Full repeal Of Obama’s Health Care Law

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House GOP pushes full repeal of Obama’s health care law _ 37th vote to scale back or kill it

(Molly Riley/ Associated Press ) - House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gestures toward a stack of paper representing the 20,000 pages of Affordable Health Care Act regulations during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 16, 2013.

CAPTION By Associated Press, Associated PressMay 16, 2013 10:48 PM EDT

AP

WASHINGTON — One more time, with feeling! The Republican-led House voted yet again Thursday to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law, knowing full well that won’t stop it.

Only months away from the rollout of coverage for uninsured Americans, it was the 37th attempt in a little more than two years by House Republicans to eliminate, defund or partly scale back the Affordable Care Act. The Democratic-led Senate and the president will simply ignore the House action, which came on a virtual party line vote, 229-195.

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But in a Congress where spin often trumps legislation, Republicans see a political advantage to keeping the pressure up as the administration tries to get all the moving parts of the law finally working.

Starting this fall, uninsured people who can’t get coverage through their jobs will be able to sign up for government-subsidized insurance that takes effect Jan. 1. The rollout promises to be bumpy because about half the states are still resisting the law, and congressional Republicans won’t provide the administration with funds it says are needed for a smooth implementation.

Democrats said the House vote was a pointless exercise. They noted that the ACA — as the law is known — has been upheld by the Supreme Court, and millions are already receiving some benefits, from young adults able to stay on a parent’s insurance until age 26, to seniors on Medicare whose high prescription drug bills have been reduced.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said the vote was “a waste of the public’s time.”

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., called it an “obsession ... bordering on the absurd.”

But Republicans see a soft target in a costly program that continues to divide the country.

They’re hoping that implementation problems next year will help the GOP take control of the Senate in the midterm congressional elections and build on its House majority. Part of the political strategy behind Thursday’s vote was to give freshmen Republicans a chance to vote on full repeal of what they dismiss as “Obamacare.”

“Republicans will continue to work to scrap the law in its entirety so we can focus on patient-centered reforms that lower costs and protect jobs,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

What that alternative would look like, no one really knows, because Republicans have not presented a plan of their own since Obama’s law was debated in Congress more than three years ago.

Boehner said a GOP approach would include medical malpractice reforms, risk pools for people with pre-existing medical problems, and letting individuals buy coverage from out-of-state insurers to spur competition. But nothing has been finalized.

Boehner also pointed out that not even Obama believes the health care law is perfect. On seven previous occasions GOP efforts to scale back parts of the law were eventually accepted by the president and signed into law. They included a Medicaid formula that would have allowed thousands of middle-class people to qualify for nearly free coverage, a long-term care insurance plan likely to go belly-up, and paperwork requirements protested by small businesses. The administration sees those as relatively minor changes.

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