President Obama urges Congress to pass the Buffett Rule -- which asks those who
make more than $1 million a year to pay at least the same percentage of their
income in taxes as middle class families -- as a principle of fairness.
GOP Unveils Plan to Cut Medicare,
Medicaid, Food Stamps and More !
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, unveiled his latest plan to slash spending Tuesday, returning to his controversial proposal to cut Medicare in part by privatizing the system that provides health care to the elderly.
His budget plan -- which Congress will not enact, but which offers an election-year blueprint for the GOP to tout as evidence of fiscal responsibility -- would set just two income tax rates of 10 percent and 25 percent and a corporate rate of 25 percent, while eliminating many deductions and loopholes. Ryan promised the tax reforms would be "revenue neutral."
But the flash point is likely to be the Wisconsin lawmaker's proposal to begin offering retirees the option of switching to a privatized Medicare system in which beneficiaries receive "premium support" from the government permitting them to buy insurance on the open market. Democrats hammered that proposal last year as ending Medicare as we know it. Ryan cast it as saving the program and controlling costs through competition.
"We propose to save and strengthen Medicare by taking the power away from bureaucrats," said Ryan as he rolled out his proposal Tuesday on Capitol Hill. "We believe competition and choice should be the way forward."
Ryan's budget would cut Medicare by $205 billion compared to President Barack Obama's budget, according to the documents he handed out.
Democrats pounced.
"A Republican budget to end Medicare is a Republican budget to end Medicare, no matter what you call it," said Eddie Vale, a spokesman with the Democrat-aligned Protect Your Care. "Paul Ryan can claim a tweak here or a tweak there from his last budget that ended Medicare. He can try to latch onto a new co-sponsor. But no window dressing can change the fact that, at its heart, his budget is a plan to end Medicare by ending the way the program has worked successfully for decades and throwing seniors out onto the mercy of the private insurance companies."
Also likely to generate opposition are plans to to dramatically cut other safety net programs, including food stamps and Medicaid, both of which would be converted to block grant programs that would be run at the discretion of individual states. Medicaid would lose $770 billion compared to Obama's budget, according to Ryan's documents. (read rest of article)
The GOP MUST Be Stopped...
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WATCH: President Announces Cordray to head CFPB (Cleveland)
ANOTHER Great Job Mr. President !
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"More Optimistic " about "Change"
WATCH:
(Real Clear Politics) In a video conference with Iowa Democrats on Tuesday night, President Obama made his case for another term. Obama outlined his progress during his first term and asked for their help in the upcoming campaign.
Obama also reminisced about his 2008 bid for the presidency.
"We've still got a lot of work to do. But think about the change that was accomplished because of those caucuses four years ago," Obama said in a message that was distributed to more than 200 Democratic caucus locations throughout the state of Iowa.
"In some ways I'm actually more optimistic now than I was when we first ran, because we've already seen change take place," Obama said when asked whether he still believed in 'hope and change,' his signature slogan of the 2008 election cycle.
"Part of what 2012 is about is about reminding the American people how far we've traveled and the concrete effects that some of our work has had in terms of making sure people have health insurance," Obama also said.
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2.5 Million MORE Young Adults Have Coverage
Thanks to 'Obama-Care'
By: Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and Human Services
As a parent, nothing gives us more peace of mind than knowing that our children can pursue their dreams without unfair limitations. This is why I’m excited to announce that millions more young adults in America now have health insurance coverage thanks to the health care law – enabling them to pursue their goals without worrying about what will happen if they get sick.
The provision in the law allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance until age 26 has resulted in 2.5 million young people gaining coverage, according to analysis based on new data released today by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Families around the country are benefitting from this part of the law, including families like the Houghs, whose daughter Natalie was diagnosed with a rare heart condition after suffering a cardiac arrest at school. Her condition requires a lifetime of medication and care. There was a day when this diagnosis would mean insurance companies would either not cover Natalie or would offer her unaffordable plans. It would mean that Natalie and her family would have to keep paying, or face the unimaginable alternative.
Now, thanks to the health care law, Natalie can stay on her family’s plan and has started college. And, by the time she turns 26, it will be illegal for a plan to deny coverage to anyone, regardless of their health and Natalie will have access to quality, affordable care.
Today’s news is more evidence of the good things the health care law is doing for young people and their families. More young adults in this country can now go on and live their lives with less worry about visiting their doctor when they get sick, or incurring catastrophic medical bills if they are in an accident. And for us parents, this lets us breathe a sigh of relief.
President Obama in Osawatomie, Kansas
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ACTION TIME !!!
SPEAK OUT !!!
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President Responds to Super Committee Failure
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B4B Note: The GOP's desire to do all they can to make certain that our country fails in hopes of blaming/defeating The President is actually domestic terrorism and should be identified as such.
PATHETIC !
Ohio voters rejected Issue 2, a ballot referendum on Senate Bill 5, a measure that restricts collective bargaining rights for more than 360,000 public employees, among other provisions. Opposition to the legislation inspired large protests from residents around the state this year.
Immediately after the results came in, union officials sent out statements declaring success.
"One message rang loud and clear tonight in Ohio and across the country: those who spend their time scapegoating workers and pushing a partisan agenda will only strengthen the resolve of working people," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "From the very beginning, it’s been clear that Gov. Kasich, and indeed many politicians, were pushing an agenda that was about politics, not about solving our nation’s problems or creating jobs."
"Even after John Kasich locked the doors to democracy and shut out everyday heroes from the Statehouse, in the cold, blister of February -- working people never lost hope. We marched in the spring, circulated petitions in the summer and now, this fall, we delivered a win for all working people by defeating Issue 2, repealing Senate Bill 5," added Becky Williams, president of SEIU District 1199 in Ohio.
Kasich held a press conference shortly after the fate of Issue 2 had been declared, saying it was time for him to "take a deep breath" and figure out what to do next.
"When I say it is a time to pause, it is right now, on this issue," he said. "The people have spoken clearly. You don't ignore the public. Look, I also have an obligation to lead. I've been leading since the day I took this office, and I'll continue to do that. But part of leading is listening and hearing what people have to say to you."
Kasich signed SB 5 into law on March 31, although the law was put on hold during the referendum campaign. The labor-aligned group We Are Ohio organized the anti-Issue 2 effort, and Building A Better Ohio led the pro-Issue 2 fight.
Tuesday's defeat may have nullified SB 5, but parts of the law may not be dead in the long term. While much of the public attention has centered on the law's ban on collective bargaining for public employees, the law also contained provisions to require public employees to contribute to their health care and pension benefits, along with pushing merit pay for teachers -- proposals that polled well in the run-up to the election.
Ohio State Rep. Mike Foley (D) said the Republican leadership in the legislature may try to pass these proposals one by one when they reconvene in January.
"They could act and take bits and pieces of it and try a new bill on teacher merit pay or health care...or any of the parts of the bill that they think they can get passed," Foley said. "I don't know if they will. We'll have to see. ... I think some of the Republican members on their side of the aisle are going to start looking at their leadership funny if they come back with another collective bargaining bill."
"We certainly are going to be ready for that, if we're still in the same kind of political situation of them controlling the state legislature and governor's office," added AFL-CIO Political Director Mike Podhorzer. "We're hoping the vote on Tuesday will have demonstrated this is enormously unpopular.
Kasich's spokesman recently said the governor had not been focusing on what-ifs in case the referendum was defeated.
PEOPLE POWER WORKS !
President Obama is in France for a meeting of the G20 -- a gathering of 20 nations that represent the world's most important industrialized economies. In addition to working sessions with the full assembly of leaders, the President also held bilateral talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In his conversation with President Sarkozy, he discussed the focus of this week's talks:
I think it's no surprise that we spent most of our conversation focused on strengthening the global economic recovery so that we are creating jobs for our people and stabilizing the financial markets around the world. The most important aspect of our task over the next two days is to resolve the financial crisis here in Europe. President Sarkozy has shown extraordinary leadership on this issue. I agree with him that the EU has made some important steps towards a comprehensive solution, and that would not have happened without Nicolas's leadership. But here at the G20 we're going to have to flesh out more of the details about how the plan will be fully and decisively implemented.
The President elaborated on that theme in his conversation with Chancellor Merkel:
This is going to be a very busy two days. Central to our discussions at the G20 is how do we achieve greater global growth and put people back to work. That means we’re going to have to resolve the situation here in Europe. And without Angela’s leadership we would not have already made the progress that we’ve seen at the EU meeting on October 27th.
President Obama says that we can’t wait for Congress to take action to grow the economy and create jobs -- and highlights actions he took to help families refinance their mortgages, put veterans to work, and lower the cost of student loans.
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(In Hiatus) Welcome to the OFFICIAL SITE for Blacks4Barack !...a multi-racial, net/grassroots organization est. in Feb. 2007 to increase support for Barack Obama for President. Recognized nationwide Greg Jones (Cleveland, Ohio) is National Director. ALSO ! You can listen to archives of the Obama TALK RADIO show NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH with Greg Jones. Scroll down to visit our one-of-a-kind 'Memory Lane' below 4 the World's Most COMPLETE review of Historic Campaign '08 and More!
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