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Some Republicans see new scandal in crook Sebelius Obama fundraising
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Leroy N. Soetoro
May 25, 2013, 1:01:59 AM5/25/13
to
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-usa-healthcare-scandals-
analysis-idUSBRE94K08420130521
(Reuters) - With the White House already reeling from three major
controversies, some Republican lawmakers are zeroing in on what they
perceive is another possible scandal tied to President Barack Obama's
landmark health reform law just as it nears implementation.
On top of the troubles the administration is facing over its handling of
the attack on the Benghazi mission, the Internal Revenue Service's
targeting of conservative groups, and the Justice Department's seizure of
Associated Press phone records, Republicans hope to target Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
They are questioning her soliciting of funds on behalf of a non-profit
group, called Enroll America, from two private entities, a practice which
if not unprecedented is at the very least unusual. Federal law bars
officials from soliciting any organization or individual with whom they do
business or regulate.
Enroll America is run by the president's former campaign backers to do
something Congress refused to fund: sell "Obamacare" to the public.
An HHS statement last week said that since March Sebelius solicited
financial donations for Enroll America from H&R Block Inc, the tax
preparation company, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a
philanthropic entity devoted to public health issues. Asked Monday for a
list of all solicitations before or after March, an HHS spokesman referred
Reuters to the department's original statement.
Neither H&R Block nor the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are regulated by
HHS, the department's spokesman said, so there was nothing improper or
illegal about soliciting them.
Enroll America is intended to serve as the private sector flagship for a
massive public outreach campaign intended to get millions of uninsured
Americans to sign up for subsidized insurance coverage through new online
marketplaces, or exchanges, that will begin open enrollment on October 1.
NO COMMITMENT
H&R Block said it has made no commitment to Enroll America. "We received a
phone call from the Secretary during which the Secretary discussed
supporting Enroll America," the company said in a statement. "While we
took her suggestion under consideration, we have made no commitment," it
said.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said in a statement that it had
"recently approved new funding" for Enroll America, bringing its total
contributions to the group to nearly $14 million since 2010. It did not
say how much of that, if any, came in response to Sebelius' solicitation.
It's the second controversy over the novel method used by the Obama
administration to promote its agenda: using campaign-style organizations
staffed with loyalists and former campaign or White House aides to
mobilize grassroots support for government policies. The first involved
Organizing for Action, an independent non-profit group seeking to harness
both the energy and personnel from Obama's re-election campaign in support
of the president's legislative agenda.
The Enroll America issue is complicated by the fact that Republicans in
Congress have succeeded in blocking proposed government spending that
otherwise could have been used to achieve the ends pursued by the
independent group.
That has given lawmakers, such as Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander,
an opening to allege a violation of the federal "anti-deficiency" act,
which bars agencies from accepting "voluntary" services except when
authorized by law.
In defense of the help the department is getting from Enroll America, an
HHS spokesman said it is permitted by a section of the Public Health
Service Act that allows the secretary to encourage support for new and
innovative health programs.
Some conservative legal experts say finding a clear-cut violation of the
law is a long shot. "I would be skeptical of the claim that it's illegal,
unless someone made a really compelling case. However, the appearance is
such that it at least raises questions," said Jonathan Adler, a law
professor at Case Western University who opposes healthcare reform.
But legal issues may be the least of the concerns for supporters of the
healthcare law.
They worry that a political storm over Obamacare, with congressional
hearings likely, could discourage private donors to Enroll America and
jeopardize the administration's ability to find the funds needed to reach
a public that is already largely unaware of the healthcare reforms.
One of the biggest concerns is that younger, healthier people will not
sign up for health plans on the exchanges, driving the costs up for
coverage of the people who do sign up.
"The danger" to the health program, said former Obama healthcare adviser
Nancy-Ann DeParle, "is that people don't come and enroll and get insured.
That leaves the health plans in the exchanges trying to cover people
without any young, healthy people, and it drives the price up."
REPUBLICANS PROMISE PROBES
Republicans certainly see an opportunity.
"Our guys on the Hill think this is the fourth scandal," said Republican
strategist Matt Mackowiak. "It fits into that narrative Republicans are
building not only about incompetence in the executive branch but also
dishonesty."
"This is a good issue for Republicans," Mackowiak added. "We want to
maximize it."
The Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee has launched
an investigation into the fundraising to determine whether it involved
regulated companies and has asked nearly a dozen healthcare firms
including major insurers such as Aetna Inc, a member of Enroll America's
advisory council, to say whether they have received solicitations.
Republicans in the House and Senate have also called on the non-partisan
Government Accountability Office to investigate.
"People are watching it very closely. We're hearing about it from
constituents, people who are incredibly concerned," said Republican
Representative Marsha Blackburn.
Enroll America was launched in September 2011 in part by leaders of
Families USA, a key backer of the healthcare reform effort as it moved
through Congress in 2009 and 2010. It is led by Anne Filipic, who worked
on public engagement projects in the Obama White House. It's managing
director, Chris Wyant, directed Obama's eastern Ohio field operation
during the 2012 election campaign.
It includes on its boards of directors and advisers, executives of Teva
Pharmaceuticals USA, Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente, and CVS
Caremark as well as officials of major health-related trade associations,
such as the American Hospital Association and the National Association of
Health Underwriters.
Filipic said she is confident that Enroll America will get the funds it
needs for the outreach campaign. "We feel really good that we'll have the
resources we need," she said.
--
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America.
Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still
has his job.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptness.
Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 200% and leaves millions without health care.
Obama helped bankrupt Illinois. Democrat run Chicago closes 54 public
schools.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ne...@netfront.net ---
analysis-idUSBRE94K08420130521
(Reuters) - With the White House already reeling from three major
controversies, some Republican lawmakers are zeroing in on what they
perceive is another possible scandal tied to President Barack Obama's
landmark health reform law just as it nears implementation.
On top of the troubles the administration is facing over its handling of
the attack on the Benghazi mission, the Internal Revenue Service's
targeting of conservative groups, and the Justice Department's seizure of
Associated Press phone records, Republicans hope to target Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
They are questioning her soliciting of funds on behalf of a non-profit
group, called Enroll America, from two private entities, a practice which
if not unprecedented is at the very least unusual. Federal law bars
officials from soliciting any organization or individual with whom they do
business or regulate.
Enroll America is run by the president's former campaign backers to do
something Congress refused to fund: sell "Obamacare" to the public.
An HHS statement last week said that since March Sebelius solicited
financial donations for Enroll America from H&R Block Inc, the tax
preparation company, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a
philanthropic entity devoted to public health issues. Asked Monday for a
list of all solicitations before or after March, an HHS spokesman referred
Reuters to the department's original statement.
Neither H&R Block nor the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are regulated by
HHS, the department's spokesman said, so there was nothing improper or
illegal about soliciting them.
Enroll America is intended to serve as the private sector flagship for a
massive public outreach campaign intended to get millions of uninsured
Americans to sign up for subsidized insurance coverage through new online
marketplaces, or exchanges, that will begin open enrollment on October 1.
NO COMMITMENT
H&R Block said it has made no commitment to Enroll America. "We received a
phone call from the Secretary during which the Secretary discussed
supporting Enroll America," the company said in a statement. "While we
took her suggestion under consideration, we have made no commitment," it
said.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said in a statement that it had
"recently approved new funding" for Enroll America, bringing its total
contributions to the group to nearly $14 million since 2010. It did not
say how much of that, if any, came in response to Sebelius' solicitation.
It's the second controversy over the novel method used by the Obama
administration to promote its agenda: using campaign-style organizations
staffed with loyalists and former campaign or White House aides to
mobilize grassroots support for government policies. The first involved
Organizing for Action, an independent non-profit group seeking to harness
both the energy and personnel from Obama's re-election campaign in support
of the president's legislative agenda.
The Enroll America issue is complicated by the fact that Republicans in
Congress have succeeded in blocking proposed government spending that
otherwise could have been used to achieve the ends pursued by the
independent group.
That has given lawmakers, such as Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander,
an opening to allege a violation of the federal "anti-deficiency" act,
which bars agencies from accepting "voluntary" services except when
authorized by law.
In defense of the help the department is getting from Enroll America, an
HHS spokesman said it is permitted by a section of the Public Health
Service Act that allows the secretary to encourage support for new and
innovative health programs.
Some conservative legal experts say finding a clear-cut violation of the
law is a long shot. "I would be skeptical of the claim that it's illegal,
unless someone made a really compelling case. However, the appearance is
such that it at least raises questions," said Jonathan Adler, a law
professor at Case Western University who opposes healthcare reform.
But legal issues may be the least of the concerns for supporters of the
healthcare law.
They worry that a political storm over Obamacare, with congressional
hearings likely, could discourage private donors to Enroll America and
jeopardize the administration's ability to find the funds needed to reach
a public that is already largely unaware of the healthcare reforms.
One of the biggest concerns is that younger, healthier people will not
sign up for health plans on the exchanges, driving the costs up for
coverage of the people who do sign up.
"The danger" to the health program, said former Obama healthcare adviser
Nancy-Ann DeParle, "is that people don't come and enroll and get insured.
That leaves the health plans in the exchanges trying to cover people
without any young, healthy people, and it drives the price up."
REPUBLICANS PROMISE PROBES
Republicans certainly see an opportunity.
"Our guys on the Hill think this is the fourth scandal," said Republican
strategist Matt Mackowiak. "It fits into that narrative Republicans are
building not only about incompetence in the executive branch but also
dishonesty."
"This is a good issue for Republicans," Mackowiak added. "We want to
maximize it."
The Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee has launched
an investigation into the fundraising to determine whether it involved
regulated companies and has asked nearly a dozen healthcare firms
including major insurers such as Aetna Inc, a member of Enroll America's
advisory council, to say whether they have received solicitations.
Republicans in the House and Senate have also called on the non-partisan
Government Accountability Office to investigate.
"People are watching it very closely. We're hearing about it from
constituents, people who are incredibly concerned," said Republican
Representative Marsha Blackburn.
Enroll America was launched in September 2011 in part by leaders of
Families USA, a key backer of the healthcare reform effort as it moved
through Congress in 2009 and 2010. It is led by Anne Filipic, who worked
on public engagement projects in the Obama White House. It's managing
director, Chris Wyant, directed Obama's eastern Ohio field operation
during the 2012 election campaign.
It includes on its boards of directors and advisers, executives of Teva
Pharmaceuticals USA, Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente, and CVS
Caremark as well as officials of major health-related trade associations,
such as the American Hospital Association and the National Association of
Health Underwriters.
Filipic said she is confident that Enroll America will get the funds it
needs for the outreach campaign. "We feel really good that we'll have the
resources we need," she said.
--
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America.
Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still
has his job.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptness.
Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 200% and leaves millions without health care.
Obama helped bankrupt Illinois. Democrat run Chicago closes 54 public
schools.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ne...@netfront.net ---
Freedom Dude
May 25, 2013, 11:26:31 AM5/25/13
to
"Leroy N. Soetoro" wrote in message
news:XnsA1CAE01D0C...@202.177.16.121...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-usa-healthcare-scandals-
analysis-idUSBRE94K08420130521
(Reuters) - With the White House already reeling from three major
controversies, some Republican lawmakers are zeroing in on what they
perceive is another possible scandal tied to President Barack Obama's
landmark health reform law just as it nears implementation.
And when are the republicans in the House going to do something
about the economy that they run on? If they only knew how fed up
the American people are with their blockings, filibusters, investigations,
their extremism, creating crisis, sequestration, and on, and on, and on
endlessly, they would start doing something that really matters.
TELL THEM OBAMA IS NOT RUNNING ANYMORE BUT THE COUNTRY IS
STILL HERE AND THE PEOPLE ARE HURTING.
Enraged Apostate, World Citizen
May 25, 2013, 1:10:43 PM5/25/13
to
"Freedom Dude" <don'tbo...@spamfree.com> wrote on Sat 25 May 2013
08:26:31a
> And when are the republicans in the House going to do something
> about the economy that they run on? If they only knew how fed up
> the American people are with their blockings, filibusters,
> investigations, their extremism, creating crisis, sequestration, and on,
> and on, and on endlessly, they would start doing something that really
> matters. TELL THEM OBAMA IS NOT RUNNING ANYMORE BUT THE COUNTRY IS
> STILL HERE AND THE PEOPLE ARE HURTING.
The 1% rich and filthy rich have had no better friend in the White House.
The Great Recession produced no prosecutions from Holder's office.
The DOW only recently crossed 15,000 and is already looking at 16,000.
A couple of indices of wealth/income disparity, the ratio of total incomes of
the CEO and the lowest paid peon in the company, and the total number and
percent of the lowest paid peons whose summed incomes is less than or equal
to the CEO of the company, have values that keep getting higher in a nation
where there is nearly 25% unemployment if the standard of employment is full-
time with health care. Long-term unemployment among the mid-aged is a
catastrophe. Ask yourself what has happened to property crime rates and
those crimes against persons that deal with property crime. What about
suicide rates?
Yes, the Republicans are GREATLY RESPONSIBLE much of this misery, but Obama
could have made an example of some of these CEOs by jailing them instead of
falling for the line that they are "job creators."
--
The Enraged Apostate
Right-wing talking points show a popular appeal in
the same way that trainwrecks are morbidly fascinating.
But soon after the desire to be horrified at the spectacle passes,
the realization soon follows that it is all an ugly, bloody mess,
and it will only be cleaned up with leftist methods and a liberal in charge.
08:26:31a
> And when are the republicans in the House going to do something
> about the economy that they run on? If they only knew how fed up
> the American people are with their blockings, filibusters,
> investigations, their extremism, creating crisis, sequestration, and on,
> and on, and on endlessly, they would start doing something that really
> matters. TELL THEM OBAMA IS NOT RUNNING ANYMORE BUT THE COUNTRY IS
> STILL HERE AND THE PEOPLE ARE HURTING.
The Great Recession produced no prosecutions from Holder's office.
The DOW only recently crossed 15,000 and is already looking at 16,000.
A couple of indices of wealth/income disparity, the ratio of total incomes of
the CEO and the lowest paid peon in the company, and the total number and
percent of the lowest paid peons whose summed incomes is less than or equal
to the CEO of the company, have values that keep getting higher in a nation
where there is nearly 25% unemployment if the standard of employment is full-
time with health care. Long-term unemployment among the mid-aged is a
catastrophe. Ask yourself what has happened to property crime rates and
those crimes against persons that deal with property crime. What about
suicide rates?
Yes, the Republicans are GREATLY RESPONSIBLE much of this misery, but Obama
could have made an example of some of these CEOs by jailing them instead of
falling for the line that they are "job creators."
--
The Enraged Apostate
Right-wing talking points show a popular appeal in
the same way that trainwrecks are morbidly fascinating.
But soon after the desire to be horrified at the spectacle passes,
the realization soon follows that it is all an ugly, bloody mess,
and it will only be cleaned up with leftist methods and a liberal in charge.
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