Tag Archives: Nancy Pelosi

ACA Has Helped Create Nearly 1 Million Jobs

Honestly this shouldn’t be too surprising, but the Affordable Care Act isn’t just giving people more access to quality healthcare.  It’s also putting Americans to work and saving many of our nation’s hospitals, as reported by Dan Diamond of Forbes magazine

Obamacare was once called “The Job-Killing Health Care Law.” But the latest jobs report suggests that the broader economy—and the health care sector, specifically—is adding jobs at a healthy rate.

  • Since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March 2010, the health care industry has gained nearly 1 million jobs—982,300, to be more precise—according to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates released on Friday.
  • Meanwhile, the rest of the economy has added 7.7 million jobs since March 2010, and for the first time, more people are working since the recession began five years ago.
  • Private-sector jobs also grew for the 51st straight month, Justin Wolfers observes at The Upshot, which ties the longest consecutive streak on record and overlaps with the passage of Obamacare 50 months ago. But that streak is piddling compared to health care, which just reported its 131st straight month of job gains.

Booming growth in the heath care industry shouldn’t come as a surprise. The health care sector was gaining about 25,000 jobs per month in the years before the Affordable Care Act, and the law’s infusion of newly insured patients will help bolster providers’ bottom lines.

Besides the obvious job creation needed to handle millions of additional patients and insurance plans, the ACA has also created jobs by upping compensation for hospitals, especially in states that took some form of Medicaid expansion.  Hospitals and doctors have previously had to shoulder the cost for any patient that was treated and then could not pay for their care.  But now thanks to the ACA, those hospitals are able to provide a better quality of service because more of their overall care is compensated.  As previously discussed in this blog, the Medicaid expansion has often proven a necessary life line for our nation’s rural hospitals, some of which were forced into debt for seeing so many patients that couldn’t pay.

The healthcare needs of the United States will only continue to grow as a larger and larger share of the population ages.  But thankfully because of actions taken back in 2010, we’ll be much better prepared for them with more people working, and more avenues to quality care.

 

Dear Nancy

To: Current House Minority Leader, Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

From: A Concerned Texan

Dear Nancy,

As a man and proud American, I wanted to take this opportunity to write you a letter of gratitude to you.

Thank you for your dedicated service as Speaker of the House… an historic post for political leadership in this country. It was historic not only because you were the first woman to ever hold this post, but also because you were inarguably led one of the hardest working, most prolific Houses of Congress in American history. Under your leadership, the House of Representatives passed record amounts of legislation… healthcare reform (originally containing a public option), raising the minimum wage, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the DREAM ACT, and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Your Congress was a group of lawmakers that got things done, instead of voting on the same bill 33 times and wasting tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. Thank you for using your office, and the time and money of the American people, in more a more responsible fashion than House Speaker John Boehner and current Congressional leaders.

But as we are learning today, what you didn’t do is perhaps just as important. I also want to thank you and House Democrats for not endangering and infringing upon my rights as a male. Thank you for not forcing me to go through mandatory medical procedures. Thank you for not forcing me to spend ridiculous amounts of money on additional tests that I don’t need. Thank you for allowing me to make my own choices about my health care as a man, and not making those decisions for me. Thank you for sparing the men of America all of the atrocities that Congressional Republicans have tried to force upon American women. As controversial as the “debates” over Contraception as a part of women’s health have become, you somehow never sought to politicize the issues regarding reproductive health for men. You even supported Viagra to be covered as part of the Affordable Care Act!! No surprise, it is part of the law today, without any uproar.

When you did have to make decisions about men’s health, thank you for allowing male members of Congress to participate in those Congressional hearings. As men it is important that we get a say in critical legislation that affects our health care.

Lastly, thank you for representing a political party that doesn’t support ‘nonsense’ views like those recently expressed by Republican Congressman Todd Akin. Thank you for never once giving voice to those views in the Democratic Party, and thank you for calling them out at every turn. I’m greatful that the Democratic party leaders are ones that “don’t understand” the differences between how one is raped. They see all rape as a heinous crime that the victims shouldn’t be blamed for in any way. It’s clear from your legislative record on laws such as the Violence Against Women Act that you support women and families 100 percent, without having to question or doubt them in their time of need.

I am forever grateful for your service and dedication to our country.

Sincerely,

Concerned Texan

The ABCs of the GOP: G is for

Game Plan

Say what you want about the Republican Party, but there are a whole host of things that they are VERY good at. The level of cohesion and consistency with which they execute their directives is admirable, if not enviable. Often times in interviews and speeches, GOP politicians sound like a “broken record” because they rarely deviate from the script, and this script comes from the party leadership. They’re also extremely sore losers.

After their decisive defeat in 2008, Republicans crafted a plan of historic proportions to make Obama a “one-term President”. The 2010 elections marked the halfway point to that conquest, and boy did it work. The approach was comprehensive, passionate, and delivered to the most minute detail.

Remember the “Fire Pelosi” bus tour? “Fire Pelosi” bumper stickers, campaign signs, pins and hats? It was a bold calculation by then RNC chairman Michael Steele to go after the Speaker of the House, and it was marvelously orchestrated. Rep. Nancy Pelosi became more hated than anyone else in Washington, and, perhaps most importantly, she bacame a house-hold name that left a bad taste in one’s mouth. The general public, even those that didn’t follow politics, knew that in order to “Fire Pelosi” you had to vote the Democrats out of the House. The phrase was everywhere in 2010, and the campaign was so successful in fact that it helped raise millions of dollars for the RNC. Even back in March of 2010, “Fire Nancy Pelosi” was trending on Google!! It’s a testament to the effectiveness with which the GOP apparatus operates. Who cares if the message wasn’t predicated in truth or facts? It WORKED.

Seen any “Fire Boehner” materials this year? That’s because that campaign doesn’t exist. Do we need to be reminded who won in 2010??

Of course even Nancy Pelosi was not Grand Ole Enemy No. 1… that will always be President Obama. Their pledge to obstruct, weaken and destroy his policies has been the main objective, even when it hurts their damages their credibility by having to abandon previous positions. As the GOP is well aware, President Obama isn’t the far-left socialist they proclaim him to be. Many of the ideas and policies he supports were started by Republicans. This is true for the Dream Act, Cap and Trade legislation, and even the individual mandate. As journalist Ezra Klein points out in a recent New Yorker column, “Indeed, with the exception of raising taxes on the rich, virtually every major policy currently associated with the Obama Administration was, within the past decade, a Republican idea in good standing.” What they know very well is that in order for Obama to be the enemy, they must oppose him at every turn. They have placed party loyalty above our struggling economy, governing our nation, and even their own moral character. The GOP game plan is above all… especially in an election year.

Hopefully the President is starting to figure this out. But what about the rest of the Democratic Party? Dems are making a big mistake by hoping that the GOP will suddenly grow a conscience and play fair. So it’s high time that they play dirty. Liberals and Democrats should be calling out GOP hypocrisy at every turn. They should encourage left-leaning media sources to give equal treatment to their fallacies. But most importantly, the left has got to fight the money, ad and social media wars. At any given time of day, it’s apparent that Twitter has “more Conservatives than liberals”. But is this really the case? Probably not… but the Conservatives are more disciplined and tweet in concert so that their arguments dominate the Twittersphere. The GOP’s game plan is effective because they have put the time and effort in to perfect it. In the age of 24-hr news and a barrage of information, Liberals can no longer rely on facts and better argument to carry them through to election day. They need to get some real skin in the political game. Just remember Dems… the game clock is ticking, and pretty soon it will run out.

Time to DREAM: Obama’s new move on immigration

In yet another historic and bold action, the Obama administration announced bold reforms on its immigration policy. The administration will now grant work VISAs to certain eligible youth and will cease deportations for those who qualify. Most persons affected by this policy change are younger illegal immigrants without a criminal record… those who have already lived in the US for most of their lives and were brought here by no fault of their own… commonly referred to as “DREAMers” because they are the ones who would benefit most from the DREAM Act.

The President gave a short and “impassioned” speech on the issue today, but was rudely interrupted by Neil Munro of the Daily Caller. Immediately, you could see President Obama become rife with anger at Munro’s lack of professionalism. The President pointed directly at him to make sure everyone present saw the interaction. This is next to unheard of in the press corps for a Rose Garden speech (here’s a link to the full remarks).

As you can see, Obama’s bold move has already ignited backlash from the right. Here’s the part of the official statement from Rep. Peter King

The Administration is overstepping its authority by weakening immigration laws without Congressional approval,” King said in an email. “I am very concerned about efforts to administratively implement amnesty for countless illegal aliens under the age of 30. It is vital that US borders are secure prior to any consideration of amnesty proposals.”

I find it interesting how Mr. King has phrased this, “without Congressional approval”. Here’s what is really important for anyone that supports the DREAM Act to know….

Simply put, Mr. King is lying. Congress did approve the DREAM Act back in 2010. It passed the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi 216-198. The bill also garnered a majority of votes in the Senate, 55-41 including Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Dick Lugar and Bob Bennett. Included in those “no” votes?? Senator John McCain, who actually co-sponsored the DREAM Act in 2001. The majority of Congress passed this bill, but because of the GOP filibuster, it died in the Senate. So if they want to accuse the President of “going too far” with this executive order, they should go right ahead. Republicans have been going too far since they decided to filibuster every major initiative of the Obama administration. It’s high time Obama and the Democrats fought fire with fire.

The ABCs of the GOP: B is for…

BULLYING

As the American people, we vote for our government officials, and we elect them to go to Washington to work on our behalf. The primary responsibility of of Congress is to make the nation’s laws. But from the current philosophy of the GOP, you wouldn’t know this. Their primary objective in Washington is to defeat President Obama at all costs.

Since the day President Obama was elected, Republican lawmakers have decided to use tactics of belligerence to get what they want. Eventhough the 2008 election came with sweeping majorities in the House and Senate, the GOP already had a plan to shut down the government in place using the Senate Filibuster, and you better believe it worked. With Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress, the Senate became a place of ultimate gridlock. Billions of dollars of government assistance that could have kept people in their jobs, helped states at a time of their most dire need, and spurred further economic development were kept from the American people because of a greedy few in the Senate GOP. Bills such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights Act, the National Defense Authorization Act, and even the DREAM Act were all passed by the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi.

Yes, the United States of America came within one breath of passing the DREAM Act. On December 8th, 2010 the US House passed the bill on a 216-198 vote. But thanks to Senate Republicans, it DIED.

It’s one thing to vote against a bill on principle… if you disagree strongly with something becoming a law, that is what the Filibuster is for. But bullying is entirely different. Take the 2010 Filibuster of Barbara Milano Keenan… an Obama nominee to the Federal Court in Virginia. GOP members of the Senate filibustered her nomination for 5 months, and what was their objection? Absolutely nothing. No one spoke against her qualifications, no one gave any reason why they couldn’t vote for her. She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate after their cry-baby move. 99-0 confirmation vote. This is more than typical bullying, but was a complete WASTE of taxpayer money.

Basically, the tactic back then was to obstruct government (and the President) from being able to accomplish anything. This slowed our pace of recovery sharply and resulted in millions of public sector job losses, just to make President Obama and Democrats look bad. We’re still feeling the effects of this today. Here’s a graph showing the history of the filibuster. Notice how its use doubles right after Obama is elected…

But the bullying and belligerence hasn’t stopped yet.

Remember Richard Grenell, Mitt Romney’s openly gay Foriegn Policy Spokesman who resigned after mounting pressure from the Far Right? No doubt that he was forced from his position solely because he was gay. But here’s the question… Mr. Grenell didn’t appear out of thin air to the GOP. He comes with a long list of foriegn policy accomplishments, and was appointed by President George W. Bush to a United Nations advisory role. He served as a spokesperson to four U.N. Ambassadors. This man was a real asset to the Romney campaign, and has been a faithful member of the GOP, but he was bullied from his position. Funny how Grenell was a Bush appointment, yet no one staged a hell-fire protest against him at the time. Maybe because they didn’t care if W supported gay people? But for some reason, if Mitt Romney does anything outside of their comfort zone, it’s unacceptable.

I have no personal dislike of Mitt Romney. Truthfully, I don’t think he would be a bad President. But it’s not Romney we should fear, it’s all the bullies that get elected with him, and his inability to stand up to them. He is now the leader of the Republican Party, yet he shows no courage to combat the wild extreme hate and rage within it. Bryan Fischer… leader of the American Family Association and a legendary bigot… says it best:

“If Mitt Romney can be pushed around, intimidated, coerced, co-opted by a conservative radio talk show host in Middle America, then how is he going to stand up to the Chinese? How is he going to stand up to Putin? How is he going to stand up to North Korea if he can be pushed around by a yokel like me? I don’t think Romney is realizing the doubts that this begins to raise about his leadership.”

The Rick Grenell scenario should tell us all we need to know about the current GOP. The party continues to put their own self interests ahead of the American People, and will stop at nothing to bully their way into total control.