Lamar Alexander
Bob Corker
Three U.S. legislators from Tennessee said they want to keep the government open but want to either delay the individual mandate in the new health care law or not fund it.
The federal fiscal year ends at midnight Monday, and the Affordable Care Act takes effect Tuesday. Critics call the controversial health care law “Obamacare,†and it’s at the heart of the federal fiscal feud.
House Republicans have proposed delaying the law’s individual mandate for one year, repealing a medical device tax that would help pay for the law, and keeping the government open. But Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama have rejected attempts to tie the government spending measure to attempts to change the health care law.
Chuck Fleischmann
U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Republicans from Tennessee, and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican representative whose district includes Oak Ridge, have all issued statements supporting the House proposal.
“To avoid a government shutdown, the Senate should promptly agree with this eminently reasonable proposal by the House,†said Alexander, the senior Republican on the Senate health committee. “Seventy nine senators have previously voted to repeal the onerous medical device tax, including 34 Democratic senators. And the President himself has already delayed the employer mandate and at least seven other provisions of the new health care law, and hasn’t even finished writing the regulations, making it clear that Obamacare could not possibly be implemented on Oct. 1 as scheduled.”
Corker said he voted to proceed with a debate on the House-passed bill to fund the government without funding Obamacare. There were four votes in the Senate last week, and the senator said he voted twice on procedural motions to debate the House-passed bill to fund the government without funding Obamacare. He also said he voted against an amendment by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to restore funding for the law and then against final passage of the amended bill that keeps Obamacare funding intact.
“I support the House-passed bill to fund the government without funding Obamacare, which is why I voted twice this week to move it forward,†Corker said. “After the defunding portion of the bill was taken out, I voted against passage of the amended bill that funded Obamacare. Now, the House, where Republicans have the majority, can make good policy changes and send something back to the Senate that hopefully will pass both chambers.â€
Fleischmann said he voted to amend a Senate-passed continuing resolution in an “effort to avoid a government shutdown and stop the job-killing effects of Obamacare.
“In our continuing effort to both avert a government shutdown and defund Obamacare, I proudly cast my vote for two amendments to the continuing resolution,†Fleischmann said. “The first delays Obamacare for a year. President Obama continues to delay bits and pieces of this train wreck of a law; it’s time to get rid of the whole thing. The second amendment permanently repeals the job-killing medical device tax. Once again we in the House have done our part, and I hope the Senate will do the same.â€
However, it seemed unlikely late Monday evening that the two sides would reach an agreement before a midnight deadline.
In a press release last week, Alexander opposed a government shutdown. He said Americans should instead elect more Republicans to the U.S. Senate—and ultimately a Republican president—and repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with step-by-step reforms that would reduce the costs of health care.
If the government shuts down, the senator said, blame would shift from Democrats for passing the health care law to Republicans for shutting down the government.
“Every one of us has voted against voted against Obamacare repeatedly,†Alexander said of Republicans in a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. “Every one of us would vote to repeal it, but in my view, the right tactic is not to shut down the government. It won’t work—Obamacare would just keep going and we would have shut down the government.â€
A government shutdown will not stop the health care law. Alexander said the Affordable Care Act would continue to be funded because nearly 85 percent of the law’s funding is mandatory spending that is not affected by a government shutdown. Obama could also continue to implement the law by deeming it an “essential†part of government services, Alexander said.
Helen Standifer says
Stupid, stupid, stupid. How can they be so destructive og our country. I guess they know how great Obamacare will be and that’s why their are risking the entire country to stop it. If it was going to be a disastor like they say, wouldn’t they want to see it happen so they can jump on Obama. No, they know it will succeed and they can’t stand the thought.
Sam Hopwood says
Now Helen, you are being too critical of just a couple of “good ole country boys’ who are trying to do the right thing and do what is best for ALL of America….. 🙂
TJ Garland says
How do you propose we stop runaway spending by the Feds?
There are literally thousands of useless gov. employess/agencies that have been on the payroll since FDR.
The Obama adm is not furloughing them, but high profile employees for max effect.
Obamacare must be funded every year by the House. Simply not introducing a bill will end it.
Obamacare was designed to destroy small businesses and make all Americans medically dependent on the government.
It will not improve our health or lessen our medical bills.
It is ALL about control. Fascism at its finest.
When you are weaning calves, the one that bawls the loudest, is the one with the largest teat.
mary connolly says
TJ,
Perhaps it’s time to switch to decaf…….
By the way, How is FDR’s Social Security plan and LBJ’s Medicare plan working out for you? Or is that more Fascism at its best?
TJ Garland says
Mary, I need neither one to live comfortably; however, since I was FORCED to match my scores of employees witholding for 40 years, with money from my pocket, (I will never get it back at $1300 a month), i gladly welcome a small rebate from SSI.
FYI, i had a great BCBS health policy that cost less and paid more to doctors and hospitals than the sorryass Medicare and gap insurance i was FORCED to buy last year.
I am glad we both agree it is Fascism.
Helen Standifer says
I don’t know where to start. Who forced you to buy medicare and medigap? I had a great policy too until they raised the deductible and premiums to ungodly amounts. When did you give up BCBS?
Also, didn’t you deduct the amount you paid for your share of FICA all those years?
TJ Garland says
Helen, BcBs will not pay claims if you have SS.
They will take your premiums though.
You CANNOT get a SS check unless you sign up for Medicare A and B. check it out.
I thought gap insurance was a good buy at my age 67 for $105 a month. I did not take part D because I run from drugstores.
Deduct from what?– taxes? What if you have none? Still corporate taxes will only allow a 30% deduction for contributions, including the forced one to SS.
You should have an accountant explain the difference to you. It would take me a good page.
mary connolly says
TJ,
Please read my comment carefully. I do NOT believe that any of these programs amount to Fascism.
Andrew Howe says
I’ll say it.
What our Fed Govt, the administration and the workers, have done to our country over the past few decades is tantamount to economic treason.
9/11 could be considered the start of an economic cold-war, the way we’ve spent so much on DHS and war. And the sad part is that it was obvious from day one that our attempts to halt terrorism were going to bankrupt our nation and fail at the same time.
Step one is to bring our forces home from overseas. We can no longer afford to police the world – we’ve let the terrorists nearly win in this economic cold war.
The problem of wasteful spending is endemic to the entire system, all programs. The trouble is, it’s hard to streamline such an enormous behemoth of govt. It’ll take some seriously dedicated patriots to analyze, discern, and remove the waste from our federal budget, but it’s what needs to be done.
We also need our govt employees, from the top down, to stop treating their paycheck like a cash cow. Anyone who’s worked in this DOE industry knows the waste, knows that we hire 10 men to do the job of 1, knows how most employees only do an hour of ‘real work’ and get paid for 8. Heck, I know of a $500,000.00 project done last month to tear down a 10′ x 12′ shed that contained no radiation or risk. It could’ve been knocked over in an hour, places in a pickup truck and hauled off for $200.
As to our senators and representatives, they’ve proven for many a term that they cannot seem to handle balancing a budget, that they’d rather subvert the process for their own gains, or their party’s gains, rather than do what is righteous. Impeach them all, or lock them up for economic treason.
We’ve lost our own integrity through the decades since WWII and it’s sad, angering, and disgusting.
Sam Hopwood says
A lot of truth in there but we, the voters, are our own worst enemy. We keep electing the same people year after year. Term limits is the answer, from local to state to federal. There are term limits for governors and presidents but not others. Two terms are more than enough, just look at our own city council and school board. I never vote for anyone who has served two terms.
Andrew Howe says
We do keep electing the same, but I also feel that by the time candidates get to that level they end up being very much the same, too.
Even at our local level there is gamesmanship going on, the you-gotta-get-four-votes thing, and that seems to get more and more difficult to avoid as you move up the political ladder.
By the time someone gets to Congress, he owes favors and such. The ‘game’ is a tit-for-tat one, and it needs to be replaced with and ‘all-for-one’ paradigm. I feel only a clean sweep of the present party machine will achieve this in the time needed to save our country from pauperdom.
I love the story of Harry S Truman. He was pretty much put into and kept in power by Pendergast, to be his boy-under-thumb, but when Truman got to the Oval Office he decided he was nobody’s puppet any longer.