What We're Reading - June 27
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Good morning, everyone! It’s a busy (and ridiculously hot) day here in the District, so we’ll head straight to the clips…
Ahead of the Supreme Court decision on health care, Obama speaks out. “Obama Defends Health Care Law: ‘It’s the Right Thing to Do’” – “Ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act, President Obama today offered impassioned support for the law’s most popular provisions and warned that Mitt Romney opposes them, regardless of how the court rules. Obama told a crowd of donors at a campaign fundraiser in Atlanta, Ga., that the presumptive GOP nominee would kick ’tens of millions of people’ off of health insurance rolls, among other steps, to help pay for $5 trillion in new tax cuts for upper-income earners. ‘He’d roll back the Affordable Care Act, and he’d block-grant Medicaid in such a way where vulnerable people all across the country, folks who may be disabled, folks — seniors who are relying on those services — that would be eliminated,’ Obama said. ‘But that doesn’t pay for $5 trillion. That’s not enough,’ he added, launching into a litany of other tax benefits and services targeting the middle class that he said Romney would slash. ‘It ain’t right,’ Obama said. He spoke at the Westin Peachtree Plaza before a crowd of roughly 500 guests, each paying between $250 to $10,000 to attend, a campaign official said. It was Obama’s 168th re-election fundraiser since he announced a bid for a second term in April 2011.”
If the health care law is upheld, Mitt Romney pledges to repeal Obamacare on day one. “Mitt Romney previews health-care response” – “With the Supreme Court set to render a decision Thursday on the health-care law, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney previewed how he will respond and frame the issue. Speaking to a crowd of about 1,500 people at the Carter Machinery Co. in Salem, Va., Romney said that instead of focussing [sic] on jobs and the economy, President Obama focused on pushing for the health-care law. ‘As you know, the Supreme Court is gonna be dealing with whether or not Obamacare’s constitutional. If it’s not, if Obamacare is not deemed constitutional, then the first three and a half years of this president’s term will have been wasted on something that has not helped the American people,’ Romney said as the crowd applauded. ‘If it is deemed to stand, then I’ll tell you one thing. Then, we’ll have to have a president, and I’m that one, that’s gonna get rid of Obamacare. We’re gonna stop it on day one.’”
In the middle of hurricane season, Senator Rand Paul is prioritizing “personhood” over flood insurance. “Flood insurance bill snag: Abortion” – “The Senate’s flood insurance program looked like it was headed toward smooth passage – but now, there appears to be an abortion-related wrinkle. Yes, abortion. That’s at least according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said Tuesday that a Republican senator is insisting on a vote on an amendment defining ‘when life begins.’ Reid didn’t name the senator, but it was Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who had offered the amendment. ‘I think some of this stuff is just – I have been very patient working with my Republican colleagues in allowing relevant amendments on issues, and sometimes we even do non-relevant amendments,’ Reid said. ‘But really, on flood insurance?’ ‘After all the work that’s been put on this bill, this is ridiculous that somebody says ‘I’m not going to let this bill go forward unless I have a vote on when life begins,’ Reid continued. ‘I am not going to do that, and I think I speak for the majority of senators.’… Paul responded to reporters Tuesday: ‘I think the people who believe in protecting life would like to see a vote.’”
