House Votes To Add Hundreds Of Billions To Debt
The House passed a healthcare bill that could add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit Thursday, just a day after getting a balanced budget through the chamber.
The “doc-fix” bill passed overwhelmingly, and is a rare example of meaningful compromise between House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. It would solve a problem in the way Medicare payments are made to doctors, extend a children’s health insurance program and require higher-income seniors to pay higher premiums.
But the Congressional Budget Office estimates it will add $141 billion to the federal deficits over the next decade, and by 2035 it will add half a trillion dollars to the federal debt, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
All but 33 House Republicans voted for the bill, almost immediately after many lauded the passage of a budget that balances in 10 years. ”It is a budget that credibly addresses our fiscal and economic challenges so we can deliver real results for the American people,” House Budget chairman Tom Price said in a statement Wednesday.
The Senate is expected to vote on the bill Friday, and it seems likely to pass, although the bill faces opposition from fiscal conservatives and from some Democrats over abortion funding language and the cost-saving reforms. (RELATED: Reid, Pelosi At Odds In Latest Iteration Of Abortion Fight)
Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions said fixing the Medicare payment system is one of his highest priorities, but slammed Congress for failing to figure out a way to pay for the fix. “This is what brings this Congress in disrepute,” he said on the Senate floor Thursday.
“The same day we assert that we want to have a balanced budget, and we’ve laid out a plan that will get that in ten years, we’re now considering pass an unpaid for increase in spending that would add $170 billion to the debt.”
Boehner justified the votes Thursday, saying the healthcare bill will lead to long-term savings. “Our record on fiscal responsibility, I think, is rock solid,” he said at his weekly press conference. “When you look at the fact that we have not been able to make any changes to our entitlement programs for two decades, and we find a way to do it that produces long term savings, trust me it’s the right thing to do.”
The CBO estimate acknowledges savings will grow rapidly over the long-term, but predicts costs will grow faster. And in the short-term, the cost-saving reforms will offset just a third of the cost of the bill.
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Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): Global Warming Will Turn Women Into Prostitutes For Food
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Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): Global Warming Will Turn Women Into Prostitutes For Food
I used to be skeptical about claims of anthropogenic global warmingclimate changeglobal weirding bad stuff happening because of Republicans.
Yeah, I realize that’s not very scientific of me, but I admit it. I was foolish enough to believe that the people shrieking at me to shut up about it only wanted, y’know, silence. Submission. I let my pride trick me into thinking for myself and questioning their infallibility.
Now I feel ashamed, though. Now I know just how much is at stake. Now I realize that climate denial is yet another weapon in the evil Republican War on Women.
A senior House Democrat has once again issued an apocalyptic warning that climate change will hit women harder than men, and that it could drive millions of poor women to engage in “transactional sex” in order to provide food and water for their families.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) proposed a resolution on Wednesday that said as the climate changes, it will cause food and water scarcity around the world. That will create pressures on poor women in particular, since they are often charged with growing food and collecting water for their families…
“[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health,” it read.
It’s like that old joke headline: World Ends, Women Hardest Hit.
Except this is no laughing matter, you creeps. Oh, you don’t think it can happen? No? Well, Barbara Lee knows what’s up. She’s done the research:
If you’re not panicking yet, that’s only because you hate women.
We can still prevent this apocalyptic future, people. All you have to do is give up your money. Give up your liberty. Give up your freedom of speech.
Or we’re all gonna DIE.
Update:
@RepBarbaraLee Where do I find those people willing to give me food for sex?
— Margie Jones (@maggiefor) March 26, 2015
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VA Official Paid $288K In ‘Relocation Payments’ To Move 140 Miles
The director of the Philadelphia VA regional benefits office was paid $288,000 in “relocation payments” to move the 140 miles from Washington, D.C. to her new home last year.
Diana Rubens was tapped last June to take over the Philadelphia regional benefits office, which is one of many VA hospitals and benefits offices currently being investigated over benefits claims.
Rubens, who previously served as the D.C.-based deputy undersecretary for field operations, where she oversaw 57 regional offices, was brought in to help fix the embattled Philadelphia facility.
A breakdown of Rubens’ “relocation payments” was not immediately available, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, but a VA spokesman said that there was nothing inappropriate with the spending.
Federal regulations allow for the reimbursement of relocation expenses including the “costs of house-hunting, moving, terminating leases, and a per-diem rate for meals and temporary housing for an employee and his or her family,” the spokesman said.
But that hefty repayment is nearly 160 percent of what Rubens earned in base pay all of last year, raising questions over what exactly that money could have gone towards.
Rubens was paid more than $181,000 in 2014, according to the website FedSmith.com, which maintains a database of federal employee compensation.
“The government shouldn’t be in the business of doling out hundreds of thousands in cash to extremely well-compensated executives just to move less than three hours down the road,” Florida Rep. Jeff Miller, the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, told the Inquirer.
“For VA to pay such an outrageous amount in relocation expenses at a time when the department is continually telling Congress and taxpayers it needs more money raises questions about VA’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, transparency and true reform.”
Rubens has been mentioned before in articles criticizing other money she’s been paid by the VA. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, in 2011, she received a bonus of more than $23,000 even though patient backlogs — one area Rubens was in charge of managing — increased by 300,000.
The Washington Examiner reported last year that Rubens received more than $97,000 in bonuses between 2007 and 2011 even though the average time to process veterans’ claims doubled to 325 days on her watch. The ratio of backlogged cases nearly doubled as well, from 37 percent in 2009 to 71 percent in 2013.
Update: This article originally stated that Rubens was the director of the Philadelphia VA hospital. She is actually the director of Philadelphia’s VA regional benefits office.
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