D.C. was rocked last week by the news that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had targeted certain conservative groups for closer scrutiny when they applied for non-profit status. Hearings got underway quickly, and they are sure to continue. A number of bills were introduced. Wakerider bills, we like to call them, because they surf the [...]
Call ‘em crazy. Call it the most important thing Congress could do. The House of Representatives will make another run at repealing Obamacare this week. Just like last time—and the time before that—the repeal vote is for show. But it’s not all for show. Republicans hope that, by showing their commitment to repeal, they can [...]
H. Res. 735 would expressing the sense of the House that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 violates article I, section 7, clause 1 of the United States Constitution because it was a ”Bill for raising Revenue” that did not originate in the House of Representatives. That’s an argument that has been [...]
The bill to repeal Obamacare that House Republicans will run to the floor this coming week has not been introduced yet. Consistent with their promise of advance notice, though, they have made a copy available. This one is blessedly brief at six-and-a-quarter pages. Five of those pages are introductory material and “findings,” the statements Congress [...]
When we wrote “Obamacare Repeal: For Show or For Real?” back in January, the point was that House Republicans were making a great show of trying to repeal Obamacare, but there was no chance their bill was going to pass. Their hopes for getting rid of the new national health care regulations were in the [...]
Hot on the heels of the Supreme Court’s approval of Obamacare, also known as Public Law 111-148, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, there’s another bill in Congress to repeal it. Another bill would defund it. These might be just for show.
With a Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare coming down the pipeline, it’s a good idea for the two sides of the debate to have something to say about health care. The Republicans showed their hand last week when the House passed H.R. 436, the Health Care Cost Reduction Act of 2012. You can’t really call [...]
This week, after the delay caused by the tragic Tucson, Arizona shooting, the House of Representatives takes up H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. The bill would repeal “Obamacare,” also known as Public Law 111-148, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. If you know about congressional procedure, though, you know [...]
The new Congress started last week. Most of its work was ceremonial and organizational. We wrote about the transparency plans of the new Congress, which we’re pretty big on around here. Speaking of big, Congress saw a big number of bills introduced—311 of ‘em, in fact. The first bills of the year tell you a [...]
That’s how we occupy our time during the August recess—pure political agitation! And oh are we agitated lately! It’s not that the “Ground Zero Mosque” debate and the fallout from Obamacare’s passage don’t matter. They do. But what are you missing when you focus on these hot political topics? The answer is below. Should an [...]