Herman Cain, a conservative radio host and former business executive, became the latest Republican to officially enter the 2012 presidential campaign on Saturday.◼ hermancain.com
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which would have to allocate the funds, told Dow Jones News Service, "I don't know where this money is going to come from. Two billion dollars, when everything is getting cut to the bone, is going to be difficult."
The Daily Caller has learned that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rate review rules, which it finalized on Thursday, exempt “Medigap” policy providers, like the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), from oversight when such providers increase payment rates for their supplemental insurance plans....AARP repsonds that "this story’s mischaracterization of the senators’ letter and the new rules is inexcusable."
...it’s clear that the AARP is set to make millions, if not billions, of extra dollars in Medigap plan sales moving forward because they’ve effectively knocked out their biggest competitor, Medicare Advantage, through Obamacare.
From the beginning of the U.S. military intervention in Libya, the Obama administration has cited the 1973 War Powers Act as the legal basis of its ability to conduct military activities for 60 days without first seeking a declaration of war from Congress. The military intervention started on March 19; Congress was notified on March 21. Those 60 days expire today.
Obama is an excellent orator, and though his speech was camouflaged in the nomenclature terms of UN Resolution 242, his immediate demand to return to 1967 lines ultimately cancels out the Resolution’s call for Israel’s right to “live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”
The GOP is making some progress towards earning their votes, Maddalone said. For example, 38 percent of his respondents said the GOP is “doing a good job addressing and engaging with young professionals,” and 58 percent said they would consider voting for the GOP “if you felt that Republicans were doing a good job addressing and engaging with young professionals.”
Washington (CNN) – As the U.S. military campaign in Libya approaches the 60-day mark this Friday, six Republican senators wrote President Obama asking if he will comply with the War Powers Act, which says Congress must authorize action that lasts more than 60 days.
"Friday is the final day of the statutory sixty-day period for you to terminate the use of the United States Armed Forces in Libya under the War Powers Resolution. Last week some in your Administration indicated use of the United States Armed Forces will continue indefinitely, while others said you would act in a manner consistent with the War Powers Resolution. Therefore, we are writing to ask whether you intend to comply with the requirements of the War Powers Resolution. We await your response," wrote the GOP senators Wednesday.
The letter was signed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
Liu's nomination was blocked by a Republican filibuster Thursday -- the first successful filibuster against a judicial nominee since Democrats stopped all 10 of George W. Bush's appeals court nominees from 2003 to 2005. Although no one back then could have predicted that today's fight would be about Liu, everyone knew it was going to happen sometime. Once Democrats crossed the line to filibuster those Bush nominees, you could bet Republicans would strike back. And now they have.◼ Senate GOP blocks vote on Obama judicial nominee - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner
Liu was as good a target as any for the GOP. A legal scholar who has never been a judge and has little experience practicing law, Liu occupies a place on the far left side of the legal spectrum.
...When the commission was meeting in Redding, former state Assembly candidate Karen Brooks said she tried to recruit anyone and everyone to hop in her minivan to make the three-hour drive east for the meeting. She went alone.
”The sentiment was just, 'Why waste my time?'” Brooks said of those she unsuccessfully lobbied to make the trip....
Brooks said when she drove the three-plus hours to attend the Redding meeting, she was surprised to hear commissioners refer to it as a rural area.
”They said, 'This is our rural meeting coming to Redding,'” she recalled. “I said, 'No, this is like a big city for us.' I said, 'You need to go to a place like Eureka, or Quincy, or Big Bear, those rural areas that are resource based and agriculture based -- some of these places where generations of families have lived.”
In a speech outlining U.S. policy in the Middle East and North Africa, Obama on Thursday sided with the Palestinians' opening position a day ahead of a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is vehemently opposed to referring to the 1967 borders.◼ PM slams Obama call for ‘Palestine’ based on ’67 lines - Jerusalem Post
Until Thursday, the U.S. position had been that the Palestinian goal of a state based on the 1967 borders, with agreed land swaps, should be reconciled with Israel's desire for a secure Jewish state through negotiations.
The White House Press Office has refused to give the Boston Herald full access to President Obama’s Boston fund-raiser today, in e-mails objecting to the newspaper’s front page placement of a Mitt Romney op-ed, saying pool reporters are chosen based on whether they cover the news “fairly.”Vote in the Boston Herald Poll: Herald Pulse
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom defended Romney’s March 8 opinion piece:
“That op-ed was about jobs, which apparently is a sensitive subject for the thin-skinned people around the president. The White House may be able to manipulate pool coverage, but they can’t manipulate the fact that millions of Americans are out of work because of President Obama’s failure to create jobs and get our economy moving,” Fehrnstrom said in a statement yesterday.
For decades, Gingrich has built his name on being the idea man for Republicans. He has repeatedly emphasized over the years that the challenges facing the nation are so great that we need to move beyond the stale old political debates and talk about fundamental chaanges that need to be made.◼ Iowan to Gingrich: Get out now before you make a bigger fool of yourself
As Alana Goodman noted, back in 1992, Gingrich urged college students to push for "radical" changes. During his tenure as Speaker, he pushed for restraining the growth rate of Medicare. And in his entire post- House Speakership brand has been built around this idea of needing to do the big stuff. He has fostered this image through organizations such as "American Solutions" and the "Center for Health Transformation" as well as book titles such as "Winning the Future" (ironic now) and "Real Change."
And when Republicans lost power after 2006, his message to the GOP was to be bolder. In January 2007, Gingrich invoked an old Ronald Reagan quote and declared, "If I could name the theme for the 2008 elections it would be this: Bold solutions based on bold colors."
Ryan argued in his speech that the higher taxes and increased spending Obama is proposing in his plan will hamper productivity and business and ultimately weaken the economy. Ryan instead called for slashing spending and government regulations that hamper business.
National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said, "It has mystified me and others as to why the administration has been so slow-footed [in Syria]," said Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations. "The administration certainly set a precedent in what it did in Libya ... and now [it] seems to be passing up a tremendous strategic opportunity."
Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, has said publicly that the president will not raise $1 billion, contrary to press reports. Privately, members of Obama’s national finance committee expect to raise about the same amount of money as they did in 2008.
A Texas pol who is close to Perry has been telling a few key strategists that the nation's longest-serving governor sees a vacuum and is waiting to be summoned into the race. This source believes that could happen by late summer. Without fellow Southerners Haley Barbour or Mike Huckabee in the race -- and with Newt Gingrich's early troubles raising further doubts about the current lineup -- there could be a glaring niche for Perry to fill.
According to another well-connected Republican, at least one Perry confidant has been very quietly making inquiries about the political terrain in the nation's first voting state of Iowa. A third Perry associate, RCP has learned, has been heralding a small contingent of Iowans with the time-tested line that is often used by would-be candidates who are leaving their options open: "Keep your powder dry."
Brown's plan now goes to legislators, who have until June 15 to pass a spending plan and send it back to the governor for his signature.
North Coast representatives Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, and Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, both offered lukewarm responses to Brown's proposal Monday, with Evans even going so far as to question whether she could support the Democratic governor's plan as it includes the closing of a host of state parks within her district.
“Unflippingbelievable! No, wait, it is believable,” Palin said in an email to TheDC. “Seriously, this is corrupt. And anyone who still supports the Pelosi-Reid-Obama agenda of centralized government takeovers of the free market and the corresponding crony capitalism is, in my book, complicit.”
The Obama administration approved 204 new waivers to Democrats' healthcare reform law over the past month, bringing the total to 1,372.◼ Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers are gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district - The Daily Caller
The waivers are temporary and only apply to one provision of the law, which requires health plans to offer at least $750,000 worth of annual medical benefits before leaving patients to fend for themselves. Still, Republicans have assailed the waivers as a sign of both favoritism and of major problems with the law.
"The fact that over 1,000 waivers have been granted is a tacit admission that the healthcare law is fundamentally flawed," Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said in March. Upton is one of three House committee chairmen who has used new oversight powers to investigate the annual limit waivers....
Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama’s administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district....◼ House puts health care measure on Florida ballot - Miami Herald
Before hanging up on TheDC, Tru Spa’s owner said new government health care regulations, both the federal-level Obamacare and new local laws in Northern California, have “devastated” the business. “It’s been bad for us,” he said, without divulging his name, referring to the new health care restrictions.
Giving proof to Main Street's worries that President Obama's healthcare reform will lead to thousands of new and costly regulations, the Department of Health and Human Services has taken one small section of the law and written enough new rules to (equal) every page of Obama's campaign book, The Audacity of Hope—plus another 45 pages....◼ Washington Post and CBS receiving money from Obamacare ’slush fund’ - The Daily Caller
Two mainstream news organizations are receiving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Obamacare’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) — a $5 billion grant program that’s doling out cash to companies, states and labor unions in what the Obama administration considers an effort to pay for health insurance for early retirees. The Washington Post Company raked in $573,217 in taxpayer subsidies and CBS Corporation secured $722,388 worth of Americans’ money....◼ MORE: Harry Reid's entire state, Nevada secures partial waiver from federal health care law - Las Vegas Sun
The Health and Human Services Department announced late Friday that Nevada had secured a statewide waiver from certain implementation requirements of the Obama administration’s health care law, because forcing them through, the department found, “may lead to the destabilization of the individual market."◼ Nancy Pelosi denies having anything to do with the Waivers - Huffington Post
This morning Republicans are just beginning to assess the damage that former House Speaker and current presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has done to the GOP budget plan currently before Congress. On "Meet the Press" Sunday, Gingrich denounced House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan's plan to restructure Medicare, saying, "I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate."◼ RYAN: 'With Allies Like That, Who Needs The Left?' - Real Clear Politics
On his radio program Monday morning, former Education Secretary Bill Bennett, who knows Gingrich well but is also close to Ryan, reacted angrily to Gingrich's remarks. Referring to Ryan's Medicare plan as "right-wing social engineering" is, Bennett said, "an unforgivable mistake, in my judgment." Bennett went on to say that Gingrich "has taken himself out of serious consideration for the [2012] race."
In some ways, Obama's first campaign never folded.
After he was elected, he turned it into an organization called Organizing for America to communicate with supporters, rally them behind his policies and encourage get-out-the-vote efforts during the midterm elections. The group, run through the Democratic National Committee, has been criticized even by some Democrats for being ineffective at translating support for Obama's campaign into support for his policies.
Kerry, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said the chopper's wreckage -- which aviation experts said was the first public evidence of a secret U.S. stealth Blackhawk program -- would be handed over to American officials Tuesday. Kerry (D-Mass.) met with senior Pakistani civilian and military officials today in Islamabad in hopes of improving relations between the two countries following America's unilateral incursion into Pakistan to kill the al Qaeda leader on May 1.
The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government loses its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, adding urgency to efforts in Washington to fashion a compromise over the debt.
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has warned for months that the government would soon hit the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling — a legal limit on how much it can borrow. With the government poised to reach that limit Monday, Geithner is undertaking special measures in an effort to postpone the day when he will no longer have enough funds to pay all of the government’s bills.
Geithner, who has already suspended a program that helps state and local government manage their finances, will begin to borrow from retirement funds for federal workers....
Administration officials have expressed interest in raising the amount that federal employees contribute to their pensions, sources told The Washington Post.
The Treasury Department plans to announce Monday it will stop issuing and reinvesting government securities in certain government pension plans, part of a series of steps designed to delay a default until Aug. 2.
The Treasury's moves buy time for the White House and congressional leaders to reach a deficit-reduction agreement that could clear the way for enough lawmakers to vote to raise the amount of money Congress allows the nation to borrow.
◼ Gangster Government: Barack Obama and the New Washington Thugocracy
◼ The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate
◼ Democrats exiting the sinking ship: Part 2: Daniel Akaka◼ Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl is retiring, making him the sixth senator in the Democrats' caucus to opt out of running for reelection in 2012 - Yahoo
◼ Jim Webb: Exiting the sinking ship? Part 1
◼ Lieberman, Harman and vanishing Democratic moderates
Among those who are potential contenders for Kohl's seat are Rep. Paul Ryan, author of the House GOP's controversial budget bill that overhauls Medicare, and former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, who lost his seat in last fall's midterm elections.◼ Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., to Retire - National Journal
Cain, who supports replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax, called for cutting taxes to stimulate the economy.
"It's time to tell the people the truth, lower taxes are good for the economy, and we don't have any intention of hurting old people, children or puppy dogs," Cain said.
Cain will formally announce his White House bid next Saturday at an Atlanta rally.
