Surprise: Obamacare slashes Medicare home healthcare 14% January 1, 2014

As Nancy Pelosi said, we have to learn what's in it. She thought we would love Obamacare then. The truth is most Americans are coming to hate it. Slashing medical care for seniors isn't popular.

The Administration made this announcement very quietly, waiting to do so until the very end of the last Friday before Thanksgiving, perhaps thinking that most people would not be looking.
To be sure, the timing of the Administration’s quiet announcement did keep it out of sight – for a while.  That ended on December 12^th, however, when the Washington Examiner broke the story in an article headlined “ObamaCare forcing 14 percent cut in Medicare’s home health program.”  FOX News and the Daily Caller have also picked up this story, so full attention is now being paid to this unprecedented cut – and the harm it will do to frail seniors across America.
As the Examiner’s Richard Pollock wrote, “An estimated 3.5 million poor and ill homebound senior citizens will wake up on New Year’s Day to discover ObamaCare has slashed funding for their home health care program.”  He’s right: on January 1^st, the Obama Administration will sharply cut Medicare funding for home healthcare services.

AP Report: President Obama considering cutting U.S. nuclear deterrent by up to 80%

Did Obama get new instructions from his Chinese masters?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is weighing options for sharp new cuts to the U.S. nuclear force, including a reduction of up to 80 percent in the number of deployed weapons, The Associated Press has learned.

Even the most modest option now under consideration would be an historic and politically bold disarmament step in a presidential election year, although the plan is in line with President Barack Obama’s 2009 pledge to pursue the elimination of nuclear weapons.

No final decision has been made, but the administration is considering at least three options for lower total numbers of deployed strategic nuclear weapons cutting to around 1,000 to 1,100, 700 to 800, or 300 to 400, according to a former government official and a congressional staffer. Both spoke on condition of anonymity in order to reveal internal administration deliberations.

The potential cuts would be from a current treaty limit of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads.
Obama has often cited his desire to seek lower levels of nuclear weapons, but specific options for a further round of cuts had been kept under wraps until the AP learned of the three options now on the table.

Keep on reading…

Americans Strongly Favor Cutting Spending Over Raising Taxes to Reduce the Deficit

77 percent of Americans prefer to reduce spending to cut the deficit. Only 9% want to raise taxes. The difficult part is people have trouble naming a program they want to cut.

(CBS News)- A new CBS News poll finds that Americans strongly prefer cutting spending to raising taxes to reduce the federal deficit. While 77 percent prefer to cut spending, just nine percent call for raising taxes. Another nine percent want to do both.

Yet most Americans could not volunteer a program they’d be willing to see cut in order to reduce the deficit – only 38 percent could name a program they would support cutting. The top responses were military/defense (six percent), Social Security/Medicare (four percent) and welfare/food stamps (four percent).

I have a couple of suggestions for spending cuts. The first place is federal employee salaries and benefits. Federal employees made $108,476 on average (wages and benefits combined) in 2008. It is more now. This needs to be trimmed by 10% ~20%. Billions of dollars are being wasted on earmarks and other pork-barrel spending for home districts. This has to end. Also, the federal government should end subsidies for illegal immigrants. California is estimated to spend over $10 billion annually for education, medical care and other support for illegal immigrants. Tye federal government should reduce money given to states bi the amount that goes to support illegal immigration.

Rats Jump Off a Sinking Democrat Ship

Republicans now have enough votes in the House to continue the Bush tax cuts thanks to forty-seven Democrats who have pledged to buck their party. Of course, Democrats are delaying a vote on the tax cuts until after the midterm election. It is unclear how these 'blue dog' wannabees will vote after the election.

AP reported:

Forty-seven House Democrats — enough to give Republicans a victory on taxes if the issue came to a vote — are breaking ranks with President Barack Obama by calling on party leaders to continue Bush-era tax cuts on investment income.

The lawmakers, led by Rep. John Adler, D-N.J., have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they strongly support extending the current tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

Senator Nelson Exempts Palm Beach, Dade, and Broward counties From Medicare Advantage Benefits Cuts

There is language in Harry Reids's Senate health care bill to exempts Palm Beach, Dade, and Broward counties from Medicare Advantage benefits cuts. This is thought to be a pay-off for Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson. Many pundits wondered how Nelson could justify supporting a health care reform bill that cuts Medicare by $500 billion when his home state has so many seniors. Now, we know. He is having the heart of his base exempted from the worst of the cuts. This should be criminal.

House Votes to Cut Off ACORN Funding

The ACORN organization is being cracked more every day. The release of several video tapes of ACORN misconduct and a Senate vote to strip ACORN of all funding have taken a toll on the organization in the last few days. Now, the House has voted overwhelmingly to defund ACORN.


From The Hill:

In a vote of 345-75-2 on Thursday, the House approved a GOP amendment to a student loan bill that would defund the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Since 1995, the nonprofit, grass-roots group has received more that $50 million in federal funds.

This vote comes in the wake of videos released last week in which ACORN employees tell undercover citizen journalists posing as a pimp and prostitute how to evade federal tax laws. It was the latest in a wave of controversies that the self-described, nonpartisan organization has been in the center of -- primariliy concerning voter fraud.

Here are the NAYS.
Click image for larger view:

Obama Planning to Slash Health Care Funding for Elderly in 2010 by $1.4 billion

Team Obama is planning to throw elderly heart and cancer patients under the bus in 2010 to save money. They are planning $1.4 billion in medicare cuts to cardiologists and oncologists. A cut this large could seriously reduce the amount of care elderly heart and cancer patients receive. If Obamacare passes, this is only the beginning.

Bloomberg reported:

Americans Want Tax Cuts, Not New Health Care Spending

A new Rasmussen poll has found that a majority of Americans would prefer middle class tax cuts to new government spending on health care. Meanwhile, the Democrats are struggling to fund their health care reform. Tax increases for the middle class are still on the table.

From Rasmussen:

Fifty-four percent (54%) of U.S. voters say tax cuts for the middle class are more important than new spending for health care reform, even as President Obama’s top economic advisers signal that tax hikes may be necessary.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, taken Monday and Tuesday nights, finds that 34% disagree and say new spending for health care reform is more important. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure.

It is important to note that this question asked about new government spending for health care reform rather than about the overall concept of health care reform itself.

The partisan and ideological divide on the question is sizable. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Democrats say new spending for health care reform is the priority. But 80% of Republicans and 62% of voters not affiliated with either party favor tax cuts for the middle class.

Obama flip-flops and proposes Medicare and Medicaid cuts of $600 billion

During the election of 2008, Obama had a different opinion of Medicare and Medicaid cuts.

"It Gets Worse" Ad


Now, Obama is proposing massive Medicare and Medicaid cuts.
The Washington Post reported:

Obama has proposed trimming more than $600 billion from Medicare and Medicaid by 2019 -- including more than $300 billion in cuts unveiled in his Saturday radio and Internet address.

Obama budget axes aid for jailing illegal immigrants

President Obama has finally found a spending program he thinks we don't need. The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAPP) provides states with assistance to offset the costs of jailing illegal immigrants. Apparently, this is far less important than funding a sex study in Argentina gay bars. Acorn has benefited from the stimulus spending. Since we can't afford to jail illegal immigrants anymore, Acorn can sign them up as Democratic voters.

President Obama voted in the Senate to provide additional funding for a program targeted for elimination by his budget that provides states a federal subsidy to offset the costs of jailing illegal immigrants.

Killing the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAPP) would save $400 million, according to Obama's budget for fiscal 2010 released Thursday. It's one of the largest non-defense discretionary cuts proposed in the president's budget.

The program is popular with border-state politicians on Capitol Hill, however, making its elimination a tough sell to lawmakers, particularly from California.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has repeatedly pushed for additional funding for the program, and lawmakers from other states that have costs associated with illegal aliens have also offered support.

Obama proposes token spending cuts

President Obama has asked his Cabinet to cut $100 million dollars from the budget. This might seem like a lot to us working stiffs, but it is a drop in the bucket to Washington. As Instapundit blogged,

FAKE BUDGET CUTS? “In our age of trillion-dollar budgets and deficits, $100 million is a rounding error at a Department of Agriculture regional office.”

Here is another comparison from Yahoo Finance,

For all the trumpeting, the effort raised questions about why Obama set the bar so low, considering that $100 million amounts to:

--Less than one-quarter of the budget increase that Congress awarded to itself.

--4 percent of the military aid the United States sends to Israel.

--Less than half the cost of one F-22 fighter plane.

--7 percent of the federal subsidy for the money-losing Amtrak passenger rail system.

--1/10,000th of the government's operating budgets for Cabinet agencies, excluding the Iraq and Afghan wars and the stimulus bill.

Basically, this cut will amount to a middle class family dropping two Starbucks lattes a year.

According to Fox news, Obama said,

"$100 million here, $100 million there, pretty soon even in Washington it adds up to real money."

If only President Obama would take those words to heart when he is proposing trillions of dollars in new spending.

Obama Administration proposes deep cuts in weapons programs

Barack Obama campaigned on a plan to make deep cuts in the defense department. He has forced Defense Secretary Robert Gates to make proposals for those deep cuts; including an almost elimination of the F-22 fighter jet program. Secretary Gates is so chocked up he is almost unable to get the details out.

Gates to cut several major weapons programs(video)

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is proposing deep cuts to some big weapons programs such as the F-22 fighter jet as the Pentagon takes a hard look at how it spends money. (April 6)