On 8/15/2013, we covered a story that was getting traction (proliferated by outrage) of the AMPAC (American Muslim Political Action Committee) plan for a Million Muslim March on 9/11/2013. On tonight’s Judge Jeanine, the Judge took the founder and organizer to task, a must watch.
Daily Archives: August 17, 2013
Judge Jeanine Opening Statement 8/17/2013: ‘You Even Get Bitch Slapped by Russian President Putin After Begging Him for Five Weeks to Return NSA Leaker Edward Snowden’
‘…You shouldn’t waste our money on your political bunglers hare brained solar energy nonsense also known as Solyndra to the tune of a half a billion of our dollars… you should develop the technology that allows us to drill for oil and the fracking that we need to be energy sufficient.’
Obama: The Little-Known Plan to Bypass Congress and Impose a New Fee on All Cellphone Users
The Blaze reported: A little-known White House proposal announced earlier this year could see a new federal fee imposed on all cellphone users — and without the approval of Congress.
The program, known as ConnectEd, aims to increase high-speed Internet access in schools, providing students with digital notebooks and teachers with the ability to customize lessons “like never before,” the Utah Standard-Examiner puts it.
The program is expected to cost billions of dollars and the White House hopes to fund it by increasing fees on mobile users.
The program is expected to cost somewhere between $4 and $6 billion, the Standard-Examiner reports, adding that the plan should cost cellphone users roughly $12 in fees over three years.
One of the program’s chief selling points is that President Barack Obama wouldn’t have to seek Congress’ approval. The plan would require the approval of the Federal Communications Commission, an independent government agency filled with Obama-appointed officials.
There are five seats on the commissions: two are Democrats, one is Republican, and there are two vacancies awaiting Obama appointments.
The White House and its supporters are thrilled with the proposal.
“It’s got a lot of the characteristics of big-vision policy that you really don’t get through legislation anymore,” said Rob Nabors, White House deputy chief of staff.
“We are here to do big things — and we can do this without Congress,” the president reportedly told staff in a meeting.
Naturally, Republicans are opposed to the idea of the White House imposing a federal fee (i.e. a tax) on the American people without their representatives first signing off on it.
“Most consumers would balk at higher costs, higher phone bills, and I sure hope that this is not part of the equation that ultimately comes out,” said Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “If they pursue that course, there’s going to be pushback, absolutely.”
Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a Republican former FCC commissioner, chimed in: “Using the FCC as a way to get around Congress to spend money that Congress doesn’t have the political will to spend — I think that’s very scary.”
“Constitutionally, it’s Congress that decides how federal funds should be spent,” he added.
National Review Online’s Charles C. W. Cooke is a little more blunt in his criticism of the little-known proposal:
This is pretty simple: federal taxation falls not “mostly,” not “preferably,” not “traditionally,” not “hopefully,” but solely under Congress’s jurisidiction.
This does not change if Congress is marked by “stagnation and dysfunction and an inability to act.”
If this “fee” is imposed without having gone through Congress, Americans will be subjected to taxation that has not been approved by their representatives.
That the president is putting pressure on the FCC because he can’t get what he wants through Congress is wholly inappropriate, and it cannot be simultaneously written off as a minor change by an independent body and lauded by “White House senior advisers” as “one of the biggest potential achievements of Obama’s second term.”
[…]
He is simply not allowed to address that issue without Congress. That the president and his allies are evidently sitting around the White House trying to work out how they can get aroundthe constitutional system of the United States should be worrying to each and every one of us. The only thing more worrying is that it is apparently not.
And despite the possible legal and Constitutional dilemmas created by ConnectEd, it doesn’t appear that the president will cool to the idea any time soon.
“How do we make sure Americans have the chance to earn the best skills and education possible?” the president said before a crowd of students and teachers on June 6. “At a moment when the rest of the world is trying to out-educate us, we’ve got to make sure that our young people – all you guys – have every tool that you need to go as far as your talents and your dreams and your ambitions and your hard work will take you.”
White House Awards Grants for Enrolling Citizens onto Obamacare Exchanges
Breitbart reported: Over 100 organizations—including Planned Parenthood affiliates, community groups, health care providers, and business groups—will receive $67 million in grants to serve as “navigators” who will help Americans sign up for health insurance in Obamacare’s new state exchanges.
Among the “navigator” recipients of the awards are Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Mobile ($20,750), University of Arkansas ($774,745), Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona ($190,268), Pinellas County (FL) Board of County Commissioners ($600,000), National Hispanic Council on Aging ($646,825), University of Georgia ($1,657,378), Mercy Hospital and Medical Center (IL) ($452,590), Arab Community Center for Economic & Social Services ($276,593), University of Mississippi Medical Center ($831,986), Mental Health America (in multiple locations), and Migrant Health Promotion, Inc. ($589,750).
CMS.gov has a complete list of “navigator” recipients who will be helping Americans sign up for the Obamacare exchanges.
Jason Millman at Politico reported Thursday that The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the $67 million in grants is in excess of what the Obama administration initially said would be available for the “navigators.” An additional $13 million was taken from the health law prevention fund for those states that refused to set up the exchanges, leaving it instead to the federal government to do so.
The “navigators” will especially be utilized in what Millman refers to as “Obamacare-resistant states,” where the president’s signature legislation is not being promoted. Navigators cannot recommend a specific health insurance plan or coverage but are supposedly working to help Americans understand their options. Navigators are also prohibited from accepting compensation from insurers.
Texas and Florida, Millman reports, have been “singled out” as key to Obamacare’s success. Navigators in those states will receive about $10.9 million and $7.9 million, respectively.
Millman writes:
The single biggest grant — approximately $5.9 million — went to the United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County, which serves the Fort Worth and Arlington areas of Texas. The group says it plans to work across the state, according to HHS.
He further reports that 19 of the “Obamacare-resistant states” have put forward additional requirements for more navigator training and licensure beyond what the Obama administration requires, leading to some legal issues regarding state versus federal laws.
Three Planned Parenthood affiliates in Iowa, Montana, and New Hampshire received a grant of $655,000 to serve as “navigators.”
President Obama asked Planned Parenthood to help him promote Obamacare during his appearance at the organization’s gala event in April.
“I’m here to… ask for your help, because we need to get the word out,” he told Planned Parenthood supporters. “We need you to tell your patients, your friends, your neighbors, your family members what the health care law means for them.”
Obama added:
Make sure that they know that there are plans out there right now that cover the cost of contraception and preventative care free of charge. We’ve got to spread the word, particularly among women, particularly among young women, who are the ones who are most likely to benefit from these laws.
Regarding the “navigators,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement:
Navigators will be among the many resources available to help consumers understand their coverage options in the Marketplace. A network of volunteers on the ground in every state – health care providers, business leaders, faith leaders, community groups, advocates and local elected officials – can help spread the word and encourage their neighbors to get enrolled.
According to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), navigators must perform the followingfunctions:
- Conduct public education activities;
- Distribute fair and impartial information on health plan enrollment, premium tax credits, and free or low-cost coverage through Medicaid;
- Facilitate enrollment in qualified health plans;
- Provide referrals to other consumer assistance organizations or state agencies that address health insurance issues; and
- Provide information in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.
In addition to the navigator program, Enroll America, a nonprofit group with close associations to the Obama administration, is also pushing to get Americans signed up for health insurance.
As Breitbart News reported in April, the head of Enroll America is Anne Filipic, a former Obama White House official under Valerie Jarrett, and the advisory board of Enroll America includes prominent members of AARP, NAACP, and SEIU.
HHS also is using the help of “Champions for Coverage,” businesses and organizations across the nation that are “pitching in to help consumers understand the coming options for quality, affordable coverage.”
“Champions for Coverage” include the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), NAACP, the National Baptist Convention, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Partnership for Women and Families.
HHS provides a complete list of “Champions for Coverage” here.
On Wednesday, Kirsten Andersen at LifeSiteNews reported that Washington D.C. Planned Parenthood was awarded $375,000 to serve as a “Health Link Assister” that will steer its clients toward the D.C. health insurance exchange.
The abortion giant was one of 35 “Health Link Assisters” selected by the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority to receive part of the $6.4 million in grants to pay for “in-house ‘experts’ on Obamacare to promote the health insurance exchanges to their clients.”
D.C. Health Link Assisters “are a critical part of our enrollment efforts,” said Mila Kofman, executive director of the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority. “These organizations are trusted voices and sources of information in their communities and they will be our boots on the ground.”
Paul Bedard at the Washington Examiner reported that the Obama administration is intent on selling Obamacare to Americans so that the October 1st opening day of the exchanges will be successful.
On Monday, Sebelius told her department workers in an email, “We have a huge opportunity to help even more Americans – and you can help the effort.”
Sebelius suggested to her staff to “help spread the word by adding a widget to your email signature.” [link added]
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Sebelius has been traveling to Republican-led states that have chosen not to set up exchanges where, according to her, “the job is made doubly difficult.”
“We know that there will be states where things will go very well because the states are all in,” Sebelius said. For those in other states, “getting correct facts to them, drilling down through the misinformation, is going to be more complicated. That’s where a lot of my time and effort is going to be spent, on the markets that are really federal markets.”
Sebelius ridiculed the campaign of Republicans such as Sen. Mike Lee (UT) and Ted Cruz (TX) who have threatened to defund Obamacare.
“There still is a dialogue being perpetuated by some opponents that this is gonna go away, and that this is not the law,” she said. “The Affordable Care Act was signed in March of 2010, it was upheld by the Supreme Court a year ago, the president was re-elected and we will implement the law. This is the law; it’s not a debate any longer, it’s not a discussion.”
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