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Reid Health Care Bill Doesn't Really Benefit the Middle Class

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 8:48:08 PM

How would the Reid bill affect the middle class?

There has been confused public discussion about the effects of the Reid bill on low- and middle-income taxpayers.  Senator Grassley and his Finance Committee staff have worked with the Joint Tax Committee staff to disentangle the strands a present and clearer picture of the actual financial effects of the Reid bill on different middle class populations.

Grassley’s staff summarize the results this way:

First, there is a group of low- and middle-income taxpayers who clearly benefit under the bill.  This group, however, is relatively small.  There is another much larger group of middle-income taxpayers who are seeing their taxes go up due to one or a combination of the following tax increases:  (1) the high cost plan tax, (2) the medical expense deduction limitation, and (3) the medicare payroll tax.  In general, this group is not benefiting from the tax credit (because they are not eligible for the tax credit), but they are subject to the tax increase(s).  Also, there is an additional group of taxpayers who would be affected by other tax increase provisions that JCT could not distribute.  Finance Committee staff is working with JCT to determine how to identify this “un-distributed” group of people. … This analysis reveals that while a relatively small group of middle-class individuals, families, and single parents are benefiting under the Reid bill, a much larger group of middle-class individuals, families, and single parents are disadvantaged.

http://keithhennessey.com/2009/12/10/reid-bill-middle-class/

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Statistical Tie in Generic Congressional Ballot Poll

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 8:14:06 PM

CNN poll: GOP has erased party popularity gap in Congress

By Paul Steinhauser, CNN Deputy Political Director
December 10, 2009 12:21 p.m. EST

Washington (CNN) -- Eleven months before crucial midterm elections, a national poll indicates that the public is divided over whether the country would be better off with Democrats or Republicans controlling Congress.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday, 40 percent of people questioned say the U.S. would be better off if Democrats ran Congress while 39 percent feel things would be better if Republicans took charge on Capitol Hill. The 1-point margin is a statistical tie.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/10/gop.congress/index.html?iref=allsearch


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This is Where Graham Goes Off the Deep End

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 8:12:52 PM

Senators offer Copenhagen boost

By Ben Geman - 12/10/09 03:12 PM ET

Three senators crafting a compromise climate bill have endorsed a national greenhouse gas emissions cut of 17 percent by 2020.

The emissions target was included in a proposed framework on Thursday from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). It mirrors House-passed legislation and represents the target President Barack Obama will offer on behalf of the U.S. at the international climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/71709-kerry-graham-lieberman-endorse-17-percent-near-term-emissions-cut-lieberman-says-more-than-60-votes-in-play
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House Passes $447 Billion Omnibus Bill

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 8:11:27 PM

House Democrats pass $447B omnibus

By Walter Alarkon - 12/10/09 03:30 PM ET

House Democrats passed a massive $447 billion appropriations conference report Thursday to fund a host of different government agencies in fiscal 2010.

The conference report, approved on a 221-202 vote, didn't get any support from House Republicans, who raised concerns about spending increases.

The omnibus was opposed by 28 Democrats, a group that was made up of mostly centrists. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) voted "present" on the conference report because of her opposition to a language in the report allowing Amtrak train passengers to check in handguns with their baggage, her office said.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/71717-house-democrats-pass-447-billion-omnibus

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Reid's Fundraiser is Cancelled

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 8:05:04 PM

Reid cancels New Orleans fundraiser

By Sean J. Miller - 12/10/09 03:55 PM ET
The controversial New Orleans fundraiser for Majority Leader Harry Reid has been called off as the Senate is expected to remain in session over the weekend to deal with the healthcare bill, according to an official with his campaign. Reid (D-Nev.) was scheduled to attend a Saturday brunch co-hosted by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Democratic consultant James Carville at the New Orleans home of investor David Voelker.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/71719-reid-cancels-new-orleans-fundraiser
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Forcing People to Buy Health Insurance is Not Like Forcing People to Buy Auto Insurance

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 7:36:30 PM

An Unconstitutional Mandate    [Hans A. von Spakovsky]

When Nancy Pelosi was asked where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance, she dismissed the question by saying, “Are you serious? Are you serious?” According to CNSNews, her press spokesman said that this authority comes from Congress’s “constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.” However, as a new legal memorandum from Heritage points out, Speaker Pelosi is completely wrong: The individual insurance mandate is both unconstitutional and unprecedented (there is a two-page executive summary for anyone who does not have time to read the entire memorandum).

There is no question that the Supreme Court has upheld extensive regulation of economic activity through the Commerce Clause, but it has never upheld any requirement by Congress that an individual participate in economic activity. There is nothing in the Constitution that allows Congress to punish you if you don’t engage in commerce. Liberal law professors and editorial writers such as Erwin Chemerinsky of UC-Irvine and Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post try to gloss over this point, and won’t admit that the Supreme Court has never approved any such requirement.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzhiYWYwMjYyODUyMDAxMmQyN2Q3MGI5ZmFmZDgzODY=
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Statue Honoring President Obama in Indonesia

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 7:02:18 PM
Tags: obama  
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Pelosi on Passing Health Care Bill: "We would do Almost Anything to Pass a Healthcare Bill"

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 3:37:23 PM

Pelosi: We'd do 'almost anything' to pass healthcare bill this year

By Mike Soraghan - 12/10/09 12:00 PM ET

House leaders are open to returning during the Christmas recess to pass healthcare if the Senate acts quickly.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) laid out a scenario Thursday in which the massive overhaul of the nation's health system could pass by the end of the year.

http://thehill.com//homenews/house/71663-pelosi-christmas-recess-healthcare-vote-possible
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Reid Needs All the Fundraisers He Can Get

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 3:33:23 PM

Reid Asks Republicans for Weekend Off, Has Big Easy Fundraiser to Get To


ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports: Senators and staffers watched CSPAN breathlessly from their offices Wednesday evening as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated they might not have to work this weekend.

The Senate has been working at a breakneck pace (for the Senate) on the health reform legislation. Lawmakers  worked all last weekend on Democrats' health reform bill and they worked the Saturday before Thanksgiving and all signs indicated they would work this coming weekend too.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/12/reid-asks-republicans-for-weekend-off-has-big-easy-fundraiser-to-get-to.html

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Andrew Breitbart's New Venture

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 3:21:03 PM

Exclusive Interview: Andrew Breitbart Announces Launch of New “Big” Sites

by Colby Hall | 12:42 pm, December 10th, 2009

When Andrew Breitbart launched Big Government in September, we asked if he was gearing up to be the next Arianna Huffington: An opinion blog rainmaker with a one-stop digital powerhouse, but presented from the opposite end of the political spectrum.

Three months later, hyperbole has become reality as Breitbart is adding to his network of vertical blogs. The newest site to join the Breitbart network is “Big Journalism,” which will launch in January of next year. His target is much bigger than HuffPo — or any other website for that matter. Breitbart is gunning for the institution of mainstream media, or what he calls “the Democratic-media complex.”

http://www.mediaite.com/online/andrew-breitbart-launching-new-sites/


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Senate "Compromise" is a "Dramatic Step Toward a Single-Payer System"

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 3:18:59 PM
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Medicare sausage?

The emerging buy-in proposal could have costly unintended consequences.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

THE ONLY THING more unsettling than watching legislative sausage being made is watching it being made on the fly. The 11th-hour "compromise" on health-care reform and the public option supposedly includes an expansion of Medicare to let people ages 55 to 64 buy into the program. This is an idea dating to at least the Clinton administration, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) originally proposed allowing the buy-in as a temporary measure before the new insurance exchanges get underway. However, the last-minute introduction of this idea within the broader context of health reform raises numerous questions -- not least of which is whether this proposal is a far more dramatic step toward a single-payer system than lawmakers on either side realize.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/09/AR2009120903902.html
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Taxes, Taxes, Taxes During the Recession

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 11:10:22 AM
The Highest Tax Increases Ever
State and local governments demand that their residents shut up and pay up during a recession.

By Jim Geraghty

State governments know we’re in a recession, and they know you’re hurting. That’s why they’re demanding more from you.

We’ve seen a lot of anger about taxes at the tea parties and town-hall meetings this year, and observers might be forgiven for thinking that the federal government enacted income-tax increases the moment Obama was inaugurated. It did not, but Americans are governed by more than Washington, and while Obama has enacted only one major tax increase this year — raising the tobacco tax nearly 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes, to $1.01 — state and local governments have responded to the recession by essentially lifting up their citizens, turning them upside down, and shaking them until all their remaining pocket change falls out.

A new survey of state governments shows that 29 states enacted tax and fee increases this year that are expected to take almost $24 billion from their residents.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTZhZDdjZmI4ODY1Nzc0ZDhhOWI2ZTI2ZWRjZTNhZDE=
Tags: tax   gerahty  
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Napolitano Not Consulted Over Decision to Try KSM in New York

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 10:43:44 AM

Napolitano Says She Was Not Consulted in Decision to Try KSM in New York City

By Daphne Eviatar 12/9/09 11:47 AM

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano whether Attorney General Eric Holder consulted her before deciding to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators in a federal court in New York.

“No, I was not consulted,” said Napolitano. “That is a prosecution decision and I think it was properly made by the attorney general.”

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Democrats to Raise Federal Debt Ceiling

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 10:42:31 AM

Dems to lift debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion, fear 2010 backlash


By DAVID ROGERS | 12/9/09 7:24 PM EST

In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections.

“We’ve incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday. And the Maryland Democrat confirmed that the anticipated increase could be as high as $1.8 trillion — nearly twice what had been assumed in last spring’s budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30417.html



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Protests in Iran

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, December 10, 2009 9:18:16 AM
Currently, in Iran, there are protests against the government and I have to admit I have not been doing a good job following it, but a person who has done a wonderful job is Michael Ledeen. His blog, Faster Please, really is great and he is now covering all the protests in Iran that are happening right now.

Here is his blog:

http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/

Tags: Iran  
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