Yes, it’s happened again, twice in a matter of days. The Obama administration has made major changes to Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without Congressional approval. Based on a Galen Institute list of administrative changes to ACA, the first change occurred on April 19, 2011 when a Medicare Advantage “patch” was created to […]
STELA Takes Center Stage at Hearing
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology is slated to hold a hearing on the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (STELA) on March 12, 2014. This hearing opens a window of opportunity to discuss outdated regulatory schemes, such as retransmission consent agreements, and must-carry provisions of the Cable Act […]
The ObamaCare Python
On February 12, 2014, the Obama Administration released the final regulation for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer-shared healthcare insurance responsibility provisions. This regulation again delays the employer mandate and changes the healthcare reform law without Congressional approval. But it also contains a provision, which truly demonstrates how pernicious ACA, better known as ObamaCare, is […]
A Continued Push for Net Neutrality
Proponents of net neutrality are once again working towards imposing net neutrality rules and regulations over the Internet. The Internet has thrived in an open and competitive market to become a vital part of society and the global economy. There has been incredible growth in both the speed and quality of the web, largely because […]
The Article One President Strikes Again
On Monday afternoon the Obama administration issued the final regulation for the implementation of the employer-shared responsibility provisions under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The regulation again delays the employer mandate to provide health insurance to employees and corresponding fines for non-compliance until 2015 or 2016, depending on the size of the employer. Here’s […]
Farm Bill Grows Wealth of Narrow Agriculture Interests
On February 3, 2014, the Senate followed the House’s lead and voted 72-22 in favor of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2642, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, more commonly known as the Farm Bill. In passing the legislation, Congress is sending to the President a bill that is both a disaster for taxpayers and likely to be even more expensive and wasteful than the abysmal 2008 Farm Bill that it is replacing.
More Problems with Medicaid Expansion
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, the eligibility for Medicaid program was expanded to nearly all Americans under the age of 65 that are effectively at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level (approximately $32,913 for a family of four.) Prior to Obamacare, Medicaid eligibility was for these mandatory classes: children, pregnant women, very-low income parents, seniors, the blind, and the disabled. Eligibility for these six classes varies by income. (States do have some flexibility in designing and expanding the program.)
Defense Bill: Good, Bad, and Ugly
As taxpayers peruse the Department of Defense (DOD) section of the monolithic Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (H.R. 3547) that funds the federal government through fiscal year (FY) 2014, they will find mixed blessings. The positive news is that the budget for the Army’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A) was slashed by 58.5 percent, from $267,214,000 […]
Obama’s 2014 SOTU: Epic Fail
In his fifth State of the Union address (SOTU) delivered to Congress on January 28, 2014, President Obama failed to utter a single word regarding government waste or the growing national debt, and threatened to continue acting as a “Congress of One,” legislating through the increased use of executive orders. He not only failed to identify a significant cost-cutting proposal or promote an effective pro-growth policy, he also offered only a laundry list of new government spending programs. The speech was long on self-congratulation and short on accomplishments because the President has little to preen about.
The Great GATB
Spoiler Alert! In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, is ultimately gunned down in a case of mistaken identity. In another case of mistaken identity, the Government Accountability and Transparency Board (GATB), an entity established by executive order on June 13, 2011, as part of the Obama Administration’s “Campaign to Cut Waste,” can be easily confused with the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Recovery Board), a separate operation that manages the Recovery.gov website and oversees spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, more commonly known as the “stimulus.”