Showing posts with label morning must reads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label morning must reads. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Morning Must Reads
Somerset Daily American: Verizon to proceed with cell tower construction
The Tribune Democrat: $300,000 grant to help first responders
Chambersburg Public Opinion: Waynesboro Fire Department Receives $17,149 federal grant
The New York Times: “Rescue workers continued the precarious task early Wednesday of removing explosive methane gas from the coal mine where at least 25 miners died two days before, but they had not received any signs of life from the four people still missing.”
The Washington Times: “The Obama administration's nuclear strategy review made public on Tuesday keeps in place all strategic weapons needed to fight a nuclear war and presents only minor policy changes, a move that upset arms-control advocates who had sought major cuts in U.S. forces.”
The Associated Press: “North Korea has sentenced an American teacher to eight years of hard labor and ordered him to pay a $700,000 fine after he crossed illegally into the country -- the fourth U.S. citizen to be detained by the isolated regime since last year.”
Politico: “A federal appeals court threw a major roadblock into the Federal Communications Commission’s Net neutrality plans as well as its broader National Broadband Plan, ruling that the agency lacks the authority to regulate the Internet.”
Reuters: “The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.”
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Morning Must Reads
The Sentinel: Area shares mixed feelings on healthcare overhaul
Altoona Mirror: Healthy debate
Somerset Daily American: Reaction to health care vote mixed
Indiana Gazette: House vote on health care overhaul makes history
The Tribune Democrat: Reade receives $117,325 grant for ambulance
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Morning Must Reads
New York Times: Obama health care proposal a 'mixed bag'
Washington Post: Jihad Jane
The Wall Street Journal editorial: "Why Obama Can't Move the Health-Care Numbers"
by Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen (The Wall Street Journal Op-Ed)
One of the more amazing aspects of the health-care debate is how steady public opinion has remained. Despite repeated and intense sales efforts by the president and his allies in Congress, most Americans consistently oppose the plan that has become the centerpiece of this legislative season.
In 15 consecutive Rasmussen Reports polls conducted over the past four months, the percentage of Americans that oppose the plan has stayed between 52% and 58%. The number in favor has held steady between 38% and 44%.
The dynamics of the numbers have remained constant as well. Democratic voters strongly support the plan while Republicans and unaffiliated voters oppose it. Senior citizens—the people who use the health-care system more than anybody else and who vote more than anybody else in midterm elections—are more opposed to the plan than younger voters. For every person who strongly favors it, two are strongly opposed.
Why can't the president move the numbers? One reason may be that he keeps talking about details of the proposal while voters are looking at the issue in a broader context. Polling conducted earlier this week shows that 57% of voters believe that passage of the legislation would hurt the economy, while only 25% believe it would help. That makes sense in a nation where most voters believe that increases in government spending are bad for the economy.
When the president responds that the plan is deficit neutral, he runs into a pair of basic problems. The first is that voters think reducing spending is more important than reducing the deficit. So a plan that is deficit neutral with a big spending hike is not going to be well received.
But the bigger problem is that people simply don't trust the official projections. People in Washington may live and die by the pronouncements of the Congressional Budget Office, but 81% of voters say it's likely the plan will end up costing more than projected. Only 10% say the official numbers are likely to be on target.
As a result, 66% of voters believe passage of the president's plan will lead to higher deficits and 78% say it's at least somewhat likely to mean higher middle-class taxes. Even within the president's own political party there are concerns on these fronts.
A plurality of Democrats believe the health-care plan will increase the deficit and a majority say it will likely mean higher middle-class taxes. At a time when voters say that reducing the deficit is a higher priority than health-care reform, these numbers are hard to ignore.
The proposed increase in government spending creates problems for advocates of reform beyond the perceived impact on deficits and the economy. Fifty-nine percent of voters say that the biggest problem with the health-care system is the cost: They want reform that will bring down the cost of care. For these voters, the notion that you need to spend an additional trillion dollars doesn't make sense. If the program is supposed to save money, why does it cost anything at all?
On top of that, most voters expect that passage of the congressional plan will increase the cost of care at the same time it drives up government spending. Only 17% now believe it will reduce the cost of care.
The final piece of the puzzle is that the overwhelming majority of voters have insurance coverage, and 76% rate their own coverage as good or excellent. Half of these voters say it's likely that if the congressional health bill becomes law, they would be forced to switch insurance coverage—a prospect hardly anyone ever relishes. These numbers have barely moved for months: Nothing the president has said has reassured people on this point.
The reason President Obama can't move the numbers and build public support is because the fundamentals are stacked against him. Most voters believe the current plan will harm the economy, cost more than projected, raise the cost of care, and lead to higher middle-class taxes.
That's a tough sell when the economy is hurting and people want reform to lower the cost of care. It's also a tough sell for a president who won an election by promising tax cuts for 95% of all Americans.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Morning Must Reads
The Drudge Report: More Jobs Lost
The Los Angeles Times: “President Obama and congressional Democrats are rethinking their healthcare strategy in the wake of a Republican victory in the Massachusetts Senate race, giving serious consideration to abandoning the comprehensive approach in favor of incremental steps that might salvage key elements of the package.”
The Hill: “President Barack Obama on Wednesday asked lawmakers to focus on the core elements of healthcare reform, with some interpreting his remarks as a call to scale back his top legislative priority.”
The Washington Post: “A day after their embarrassing loss in Massachusetts, splintered Democrats pledged to refocus their attention on jobs and the economy, and to draw sharper contrasts with Republicans, as they scramble to find a strategy to quell the populist anger that threatens the party's standing in the November elections.”
The Washington Post: “President Obama on Wednesday blamed the Democrats' stunning loss of their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate on his administration's failure to give voice to the economic frustrations of the middle class, a disconnect that White House aides vowed to quickly address as they continue to work to advance the president's agenda.”
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Morning Must Reads
Penn State Live: Lawmakers seek recognition for volleyball teamChambersburg Public Opinion: Rails to trails money now available
Chambersburg Public Opinion: Shuster staff available for office hours
Hey Johnstown: Shuster staff to hold office hours
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Morning Must Reads
Congressman Shuster announces Fulton County office hours for Friday. The Chambersburg Public Opinion.
Construction on the Martin's Mill Bridge in Antrim Township, Franklin County is moving forward. The Herald-Mail.
$787 Billion Dollars Later … Stimulus Report Acknowledges It Is Impossible To Know What Might Have Happened Without Stimulus. The report acknowledged the difficulty of accurately gauging the stimulus program’s economic impact when it is impossible to know what would have happened without such action. The New York Times
The Stimulus Has Failed To Create An Environment That Promotes Job Creation. Even with the stimulus, the U.S. economy lost more than 4 million jobs last year, including 85,000 in December, according to the Labor Department. And the unemployment rate last month was 10% -- a figure that is widely expected to inch higher in the months ahead. … Even so, employers have been reluctant to create jobs. And economists widely expect GDP growth to slow this year… The Los Angeles Times
Friday, December 18, 2009
Morning Must Reads
Altoona Mirror: Shuster gets $6 million for contracts: Last summer when employees of a Bedford defense contractor were in Oklahoma testing an experimental weapons control program, a soldier spoke of a battlefield dilemma he'd faced in Iraq.
He wanted to launch a rocket toward the enemy but couldn't put down his rifle to work the command keyboard because he was under fire.
Szanca Solutions' program for voice-activated control of systems like rocket launchers could have helped him then, and a $2 million earmark from U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster may ensure the firm can finish its development, so future soldiers won't face a similar dilemma.
ChambersburgPublic Opinion: Defense bill earmarks go to Letterkenny Army Depot
Chambersburg Public Opinion: Specter, Casey, Shuster support local road work
Somerset Daily American: Congressmen push for 219 funding
Somerset Daily American: Flight 93 Memorial to get $4 million
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Morning Must Reads
Politico: Congress Punts Problems to 2010: “The House, anxious to go home, is to begin voting Wednesday on four year-end bills, most of which share one thing in common: a two-month punt on every tough issue, from managing the federal debt to helping the nation’s growing ranks of long-term unemployed… It makes for a remarkable February, when President Barack Obama’s 2011 budget is also due. And all this will be sandwiched between January’s Senate debate on the Federal Reserve’s management and what promises to be a painful March fight in the House over new war funding for Afghanistan.”
Roll Call: GOP Promises Consequences for GITMO Move: “Congressional Republicans expressed outrage Tuesday over President Barack Obama’s plan to transfer detainees from the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, prison facility to Thomson, Ill., and warned that Democrats in the House and Senate will pay a stiff price if they agree to the proposal. Ownership of the Thomson prison could be transferred to the Justice Department by January, but the first vote on whether to allow detainees to be held indefinitely on U.S. soil — a key aspect of the proposal — might not occur until next September at the earliest, right as the 2010 elections enter the home stretch…But Republicans said broader efforts in the House and Senate appeared unlikely for now. Instead, Republican aides said GOP lawmakers are content to continue their rhetorical war on the administration and Congressional Democrats.”
Wall Street Journal: Obama's Push on Jobs Gets a Slow Start: “President Barack Obama used the backdrop of a suburban Virginia Home Depot Tuesday to press his plans for job creation, the third event in four days in which the president has tried to show his concern for economic woes on Main Street.
But political realities are clouding Mr. Obama's efforts. On Tuesday, House Democratic leaders unveiled a $75 billion job-creation package that doesn't include the two new ideas the president proposed last week: tax rebates for home energy-efficiency renovations -- dubbed "cash for caulkers" -- and tax credits for small businesses that hire new employees.
A presidential push to loosen lending to small business has been weakened by the big banks' repayment of federal bailout money to get out from under government control. And looming over all of Mr. Obama's efforts on the jobs front is an annual budget deficit running at a projected $1.4 trillion that White House aides promise to address in the fiscal 2011 budget release in February.”
Monday, December 7, 2009
Morning Must Reads
Wall Street Journal: Business fumes over carbon dioxide rule
Wall Street Journal: Abortion emerges as top bill threat
Washington Post: Obama presses Democrats on health-care bill
London Telegraph: Copenhagen summit: 1,200 limos 140 private planes and caviar wedges
Colombia Daily Tribune: Supplies with Obama logo surprise schools
NY Post: Denmark's 'warm and fuzzy facts'
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Post Thanksgiving Must Reads
Washington Post: 34,000 troops will be sent to Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal: Some health premiums to rise
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Morning Must Reads
Wall Street Journal: Signs of recovery don't extend to jobs
NY Post: Cost of healthcare bill soars
The Hill: "Doc fix" collapses
The Hill: Obama takes partisan tone
Roll Call: Leaders confident on healthcare vote
Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:
“Temporary Beltway Sanity” (The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board)
Yesterday saw some rare good news on the health-care front, with the stealth Democratic plan to move $247 billion in ObamaCare costs off the books collapsing in the Senate on a procedural vote of 47 to 53. Maybe there's more anxiety among Democrats about a huge permanent increase in government health spending than the White House is willing to let on.
A dozen Democrats (plus independent Joe Lieberman) voted against Majority Leader Harry Reid's gambit, which would have superseded automatic cuts in Medicare payments to doctors scheduled for 21% next year and higher after that. Democrats had included this fix as part of "comprehensive" reform but that pushed costs too high, while President Obama is insisting on a bill that doesn't increase the deficit on paper.
So Mr. Reid's inspiration was to decouple these payments from ObamaCare as stand-alone legislation, while hoping everyone ignored the phony budget math. The media did mostly ignore this subterfuge. But enough Republicans developed enough backbone that they spooked Democrats like North Dakota's Kent Conrad, who for once stood by their supposed deficit-hawk convictions. Notwithstanding the anesthetizing effect of Congress's now-routine trillion-dollar cost estimates, more than a few Democrats are still capable of sticker shock.
Mr. Reid said yesterday that he expects the Senate to "pick this up again" after it dispenses with ObamaCare, perhaps by correcting the doctor-payment formula for only two years at a cost of $24 billion. No doubt that too would be deficit-financed, though the new problem is that Democrats wouldn't be meeting the American Medical Association's price for backing ObamaCare.
The doctors lobby said in a statement that it was "deeply disappointed" by the vote, and that "Congress created the Medicare physician payment system, and Congress needs to fix this problem once and for all." If the AMA has any sense at all they'll see that they're being played for fools. (We recognize that this is a rhetorical "if.")
As for the Democrats who are worried about spending, or claim to be worried, we trust they understand that the entire premise of ObamaCare rests on automatic future spending cuts like the doctor payments that will never happen in practice, among other budget gimmicks. If they can't eat a mere $247 billion, then they shouldn't eat ObamaCare's other future trillions.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Morning Must Reads
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Morning Must Reads
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Morning Must Reads
National News:
The Washington Post - Sarah Palin: "The 'cap and tax' dead end
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