Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

The number of waivers the Obama administration has awarded for a provision of the year-old healthcare reform law grew by 128 in March.

With the new waivers, that means 1,168 businesses, insurers, unions and other organizations have received one-year exemptions from a healthcare reform provision requiring at least $750,000 in annual benefits.

The administration says the temporary waivers are granted to help stabilize the insurance market until a fuller package of reforms takes effect in 2014, but the growing number of waivers have exposed the White House to heavy criticism from Republican opponents of the law.

“The fact that over 1,000 waivers have been granted is a tacit admission that the healthcare law is fundamentally flawed,” said Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) last month. Upton is one of three House committee chairmen who has used new oversight powers to investigate the annual limit waivers.
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Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., 3/25/2011; Posted: 3/25/2011

Subject(s): Appropriations

CONTACT: Laena Fallon
March 25, 2011 (202) 225-4027

Leader Cantor Statement on the Ongoing
Spending Debate
Washington, D.C. ? House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) today issued
the following statement regarding the ongoing spending debate:

“Senator Schumer’s comments this morning that the negotiations on a long
term solution to fund the government for the remainder of the year are going
well are completely farfetched. Leader Reid, Senator Schumer and the White
House continue to abandon their responsibility to get our fiscal house in order
by negotiating off of the status quo and refusing to offer any sort of serious
plan for how to cut spending. House Republicans continue to offer serious
solutions to get our fiscal House in order, but we cannot keep doing it alone. If
Senators Reid and Schumer insist on shutting down the government because
they want to protect every last dollar and cent of federal spending then that will
be on their hands.”

After months of failing to agree on how to repeal an unpopular IRS reporting provision included in the healthcare reform act, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to strike it down Wednesday night.

The Senate voted 81-17 on the 1099-reporting requirement, with 17 Democrats voting against the measure.

The healthcare reform provision requires businesses to report for each vendor annual purchases of goods or services of more than $600. The House, which must still approve its own version of the legislation, has signaled it would move quickly to repeal the 1099 requirement.

For months, President Obama has called on lawmakers to repeal the provision, but Democrats and Republicans have clashed over how to offset the $19 billion in lost revenue. Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) each pushed separate bills last year that failed to garner enough support.

The repeal measure approved Wednesday night – an amendment raised by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) on an aviation bill – would offset the cost of repeal by authorizing the Office of Management and Budget to identify unobligated funds. The amendment was almost identical to a bill offered by Johanns, but the Stabenow measure specified funds could not be taken out of the Social Security Administration to offset the costs.

Some Democrats expressed unease with giving OMB the power to cut federal funds.

“What is convenient is not always right,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said on the Senate floor before the vote. “The Constitution places in our hands, and ours alone, the authority to appropriate funds. We cannot statutorily pass that buck and we should not.”

Levin, backed by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), offered an alternative 1099 amendment Wednesday evening that he said would eliminate tax loopholes for the oil and gas industry to fund repeal. The amendment failed 44-54, with a number of Democrats voting against.