The Wall Street Journal blasts Gov. Kasich

The Wall Street Journal blasts Gov. Kasich’s end-run around the legislature to expand Medicaid in Ohio

Believe it or not, there are still a few disciples with faith in an ObamaCare higher power, and one of them happens to run Ohio. Governor John Kasich is so fervent a believer that he is even abusing his executive power to join the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.

Not to be sacrilegious, but the Republican used to know better. Now Mr. Kasich seems to view signing up for this part of ObamaCare as an act of Christian charity and has literally all but claimed that God told him to do so.

The problem is that his evangelizing failed to convert the Ohio legislature, which is run by Republicans who understand the brutal budget and regulatory realities of participating in new Medicaid. So Mr. Kasich simply decided to cut out Ohio's elected representatives and expand Medicaid by himself.

This week he appealed to an obscure seven-member state panel called the Controlling Board, which oversees certain state capital expenditures and can receive or make grants. Because the feds are paying for 100% of new enrollees for the next three years, Mr. Kasich asked the panel to approve $2.56 billion in federal funding, and then he'll lift eligibility levels via executive fiat.

It's a gambit worthy of President Obama, who also asserts unilateral powers to suspend laws that displease him and bypass Congress. The Controlling Board, which Mr. Kasich and his allies in the GOP leadership stacked with pro-expansion appointees, approved the request 5-2 on Monday.

Mr. Kasich's action is all the more flagrant considering the state legislature did not merely refuse to appropriate or authorize spending the federal money. The GOP majority passed a budget with specific language prohibiting the Governor from expanding Medicaid without its consent. Mr. Kasich used a line-item veto to remove that provision, but he's still violating the spirit of the law.

. . .

Thirty-nine House Republicans signed a formal protest and some of them are threatening to sue, and well they should. They argue that circumventing the legislature subverts the Ohio constitution's separation of powers and exceeds the statutory legal authorities of the Controlling Board, which is supposed to "take no action which does not carry out the legislative intent of the General Assembly."

Ohio is now the 25th state to buckle under pressure from Washington and the hospital lobby to join new Medicaid. His behavior doesn't speak well for Mr. Kasich's governing judgment as he prepares to run for a higher office in 2016. . . . [emphasis added]

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The Definitive Guide to How Obamacare is Destroying American Lives

Edvard Munch's 'The Scream'

The Matt Walsh blog asked readers for their real life stories describing how they are affected personally by Obamacare. His website was overwhelmed with responses. Below is part of his introductory overview; then click on the link here and scroll down to read some real life horror stories.

The Definitive Guide to How Obamacare is Destroying American Lives

Every time some Statist nincompoop extols the virtues of Obamacare; every time they insist that the “Affordable Care Act” has done nothing but “help” low and middle income families; every time they babble incoherently about how Obamacare isn’t “perfect” but it’s still “better” than what we had before — show them this. Challenge them to read what is happening out there. This isn’t abstract. It isn’t academic. It isn’t a matter of ideology. It isn’t even an issue of constitutionality (although it’s that, also). This is about people. People with kids, and bills, and health problems. This is about people who can no longer afford their health coverage, their mortgages, their lifesaving medication. This is about doctors and nurses leaving medicine behind, driven away by destructive bureaucratic interference. This is about moms and dads losing their jobs so that their employers can compensate for the financial burden of Obamacare. This is about people without insurance because of Obamacare, now being fined for not having insurance because of Obamacare. This is about business owners driven to the edge of bankruptcy. This is real. We heard a lot of fantasies about what Obamacare was “supposed” to accomplish, now it’s time to talk about what it’s actually doing. 

So when they say you are “heartless” for opposing Obamacare, show them why it’s heartless to support it.

The real life stories that Walsh is collecting are heart-rending, infuriating .. and just beginning. 

Ohio Controlling Board approves $2.5 billion Medicaid expansion

From The Plain Dealer report: 

Medicaid expansion OK

marks a long-awaited victory for supporters, grounds for a fight among critics

[Oct 21, 2013] COLUMBUS, Ohio — Depending on who you talk to, Monday’s vote by the Ohio Controlling Board to approve $2.5 billion for Medicaid expansion was either a landmark victory for thousands in need of health care or an unconstitutional and unaffordable ballooning of big government. 

Either way, the fight over whether Ohio should accept billions of federal dollars to extend health care to low-income residents is likely to continue, either in court or at the polls. 

The 5-2 Controlling Board vote marked a culmination of a months-long push, led by Gov. John Kasich, to have the state accept the first chunk of an estimated $13 billion offered to it for Medicaid expansion under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. 

When GOP lawmakers resisted taking the funding, Kasich instead turned to the little-known board to appropriate the money – at least, until legislators draw up a new state budget in two years. By accepting the money, 275,000 additional Ohioans will be eligible for Medicaid benefits starting Jan. 1, 2014, according to administration estimates. Currently 2.35 million people -- or about one out of every five Ohioans – are enrolled in Medicaid. 

Crucial support for expansion came from the business community, including traditionally GOP-friendly groups such as the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. 

Hospitals also aggressively pushed for the measure, worried that, among other things, that without Medicaid expansion, they would be left on the hook as federal aid for uninsured patients is decreased. 

. . .However, critics said following the vote that passing expansion was hardly a mutual decision. At least one opponent is preparing to fight the expansion in court, while others vowed to make the issue a political liability for Kasich. 

Maurice Thompson, executive director of the conservative 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, said his group hopes to quickly file a legal challenge with the Ohio Supreme Court, perhaps within 24 hours of the Controlling Board vote. 

The suit will contend that the Controlling Board overstepped its authority by not adhering to the intent of the legislature, as required by Ohio law, Thompson said. He said he hadn’t yet nailed down who his plaintiffs would be in the case. 

Ralph King, state co-coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots for Ohio, said tea party voters will also remember Monday’s vote when next year’s gubernatorial election comes around. 

Kasich, he said, is “rolling the dice” that he’ll win over enough Democrats and independents to both re-elect him in 2014. 

“It’s going to be huge. They thought people stayed at home for Mitt Romney…” King said, in reference to the failed 2012 GOP presidential nominee’s lackluster support among his party base. 

In addition, he said, tea party groups around the country would fight "kicking and screaming" to destroy any dream Kasich might have about one day winning the presidency. 

“If we have any say-so, maybe -- if there’s no shutdown at the time -- he’ll be lucky if he could be a tourist down at the White House,” King said. 

Ohio House Speaker Bill Batchelder, a Medina Republican who's opposed expansion, said the Controlling Board vote wasn't about favoring or opposing the federal health-care law. 

"Existing law gives the director of Medicaid the ability to set Medicaid eligibility levels without legislative involvement," the speaker said in a statement. "This has already been done by Governor Kasich's administration, and today's meeting of the Controlling Board is to ensure the solvency of the state's Medicaid program."

Read the rest here.  Tea Party Patriots' phone calls to Columbus were ignored by Gov. Kasich and his cronies. Thanks to all who dialed and dialed. 

Conservative Groups Unite to Stop GOP Push for Weak Immigration Laws

Seeing there are GOP leaders like, Speaker Boehner, Rep Eric Cantor, Rep. Paul Ryan, and Senator Rubio, along with some so-called conservative groups like the Koch Brothers (AFP) and National Federation of Republican Women, that are actually joining with the Democrats in pushing for weaker immigration laws, many Tea Party, liberty and conservative grassroots groups are gearing up for the soon to come fight over illegal immigration.

From The Daily Caller --

Tea party groups and small-government activists are applying grassroots pressure to stop the House from approving the Senate immigration bill, which would triple immigration to roughly 33 million people over 10 years.

An Oct. 17 letter from more than 100 conservative leaders and tea party activists to the Republican Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner, says the Senate bill is so flawed that it would create a “disaster” for Americans, even if it is merged with a perfect House immigration bill.

“We ask you to make a public commitment that the House of Representatives will not conference any House immigration bill with any version of the Senate immigration, or engage in any informal negotiations to do so,” reads the one-page letter, which is accompanied by three pages of signatures from conservatives, tea party leaders and immigration reform groups.

“In the absence of such a commitment, we, and the millions of Americans our organizations represent, will have no choice but to oppose all efforts to bring any immigration legislation before the House of Representatives,” the letter concludes.

The signers include Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party Patriots, Mike Needham from Heritage Action, and Phyllis Schlafly from the Eagle Forum. The immigration groups who signed the letter include NumbersUSA and the Federation for American Immigration Reform. (Read More....)

To read the letter click here.

The groups from Ohio signing onto this letter are as follows;

Cleveland Tea Party Patriots - Co-Founder Ralph King
Grassroots Rally Team of Ohio - Coordinator Arzella Melnyk
Greater Buckeye Lake Patriots - Coordinator Chuck Nichols
Knox County 9-12 Project - Coordinator Robert Lloyd
Mansfield Tea Party - Coordinator Marianne Gasiecki
Medina Tea Party Patriots - Co-Founder Amy Brighton
New American Patriots - Blogger Diane Greenwood
Totally Engaged Americans - Organizer Kirsten Hill
Zainesville Patriots - Coordinator Kay Clymer

Why Trust any Budget Deal after 2011's $2.1 Trillion Debt Hike Ripoff?

From former Congressman Ernest Istook via Washington Times -- 

WASHINGTON—October 18, 201 – This is Obama’s Nirvana!

The new budget deal passed by the government this week breaks an enormous promise to the public, destroys long-time safeguards over spending, and grants the President almost total control over the full faith and credit of the United States.

It breaches the trillion-dollar promises to control spending made only two years ago.

Why should anybody trust today’s promises when those 2011 promises had such a short shelf life? The issues and threats were the same as they were this year, namely prospects of a government shutdown and of defaulting on the federal debt.

Agreement came sooner that time, as President Obama and Congress raised the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion. They also promised to match the increase dollar-for-dollar by reducing spending by $2.1 trillion.

This week’s budget deal becomes the means to dissolve that spending restraint. President Obama and Democrats are openly pushing and succeeding they say in ending the limits from the 2011 agreement. And too few Republicans are resisting.

Those spending cuts, known as the sequester, were already gimmicky.

In the first place, while the $2.1 trillion was borrowed and spent right away, the spending reductions were to be spread out over 10 years. That’s not a genuine one-to-one; it’s one-to-ten.

In the second place, the sequester was not spending cuts as everyday people define them. It’s actually spending increases, but at a lower rate than was planned. It’s like only driving 20 mph over the speed limit rather than 30 mph over.

There’s even a third place: The sequester was back-loaded. It presumed that elected officials of the future would be more disciplined at controlling spending than today’s politicians. The first year of the 10-year sequester plan—last year—didn’t produce 10% of the savings, namely $210-billion. Instead, it produced only $85-billion in “savings,” which is only 4%.

Even though the sequester concept originated with his White House, President Obama now routinely denounces it, as do most Democrats. Republicans are mixed in their approach to the sequester, although House leaders have mostly come to embrace it as the only thing that helps hold spending in check even though it doesn’t reduce spending.

Once they cashed in and spent that $2.1 trillion increase in debt, President Obama and a host of Senators and Congressmen developed amnesia. They got what they wanted so now they don’t even remember promising any fiscal restraint. They spent the money and want no part of the discipline.

We can expect a repeat performance once they spend this year’s increase in the debt limit. All promises of future restraint will evaporate. That’s why it’s so dangerous to give Obama expanded authority to borrow money without needing approval from Congress. Checks and balance require that Congress must have the ability to negotiate and extract concessions as a condition to that approval. But they won’t have it under the new plan.

National debt has risen more than $6 trillion so far during Barack Obama’s Presidency, even before he gets unchecked borrowing power.

This 2013 agreement allows unlimited borrowing for the next few months. That will include money for the Treasury Department to pay back the money it’s taken out of federal retirement funds since May—probably over $250 billion—because it couldn’t go out and borrow it.

Obama gets his wish of not having to negotiate conditions in order to borrow. The historic safeguard requires Congress to approve a credit limit in advance. The new protocol lets a President borrow unless Congress passes legislation to disapprove. Simply by vetoing that legislation, a President can borrow whatever he wants unless two-thirds of Congress then votes to stop him.

These details are only now coming to light. The details of the 2011 agreement have been known, but amazingly there’s been little public talk about whether it would be thrown overboard. That’s because a great many politicians want to escape any tough decisions of holding the line on spending.

Only in Washington, DC can a $2 trillion promise be treated as something that’s easy to ignore.

There were 269 House members who voted for that $2.1 trillion package in 2011: 174 Republicans and 95 Democrats. In the Senate it received 74 votes: 45 Democrats and 28 Republicans. Most of them are still in Congress. And of course President Obama is still around.

We should ask them, press them and demand of them that they keep their commitments. They already got the money and they already spent the $2.1 trillion. Why should we trust them with any more borrowed money? Especially since it’s borrowed from our children!

Political promises evaporate quickly. It’s borrow and spend now—or tax and spend now—and we promise to make spending cuts starting tomorrow. That tomorrow never comes, but the tomorrow when the bills arrive will get here eventually.

Tune into 60 Minutes tonight on CBS at 7:30

From Breitbart:

CONGRESS ON RED ALERT FOR 60 MINUTES 

EXPOSÉ OF D.C. CORRUPTION

Members of Congress and their staffs are on red alert tonight for a CBS 60 Minutes investigation by veteran CBS reporter Steve Kroft and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer exposing how lawmakers convert campaign donations into lavish lifestyle upgrades for themselves and their family members.

Sources say top CBS executives thought the report was so explosive that they made it the show’s lead story and delayed airing it for another week in order to capture tonight’s much larger NFL-viewing audience. The report features selected revelations from Schweizer’s forthcoming book, Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets. 

“I’m under a publisher embargo right now and can’t say much,” Schweizer told Breitbart News. “But suffice it to say, President Obama and some members of Washington’s Permanent Political Class are not going to like what we uncovered and the kinds of personal enrichment and self-dealing exposed in Extortion.”

If you read Schweizer's Throw Them All Out, you will know that he exposes corrupt politicians of all stripes. Speaker John Boehner included. (If the episode is available on video or other feed, we'll post an updated link for any who miss it on Sunday evening.)

UPDATE Oct-21: Go here for access to video.

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Obamacare: the last step before single-payer socialized "healthcare"

Gov. Sarah Palin has an excellent piece on Obamacare, the related corrupt ruling class, and the administration's end game, on Breitbart today. There are talking points of interest to Tea Party Patriots who are still trying to convince a brother-in-law or former classmate:

 Americans, if you’re faced with a 300% increase (or even a 65% increase like my family) in your health care premiums for crappier coverage, doesn’t “free” socialized medicine all of a sudden sound appealing? 

And that’s how Americans will be led down the primrose path to a single-payer system. People will be frustrated, worn out, and broke under this new government burden. Many will end up concluding they’ll settle for – then demand – full socialized medicine because they’ll see how the unworkable Obamacare will break our health care system (where, presently, no one is turned away from emergency rooms and we have many public and private safety nets for people in need), along with busting our personal bank accounts. 

The cry will go out, “Can’t you just put us all in a sort of Medicaid-like system? It’ll be much less confusing than these awful exchange websites and a lot less expensive!” As things stand, many who are getting slammed by Obamacare will inevitably settle for less out of necessity. And that’s the left’s declared plan: a single-payer system. They said it. I didn't.

. . . 

The broken websites and botched Obamacare rollout help push things to that inevitable conclusion by causing frustration and confusion that only the government can “fix.” In fact, these unusable Obamacare websites make a reasonable person wonder how this administration could have made such a colossal bungle of the rollout when they are, after all, the same savvy experts who had the most sophisticated and precise campaign websites ever built. They could pinpoint voters down to a city block, but they messed up a website that cost the government over $200 million more than it cost Apple to develop the first iPhone. Purposeful?

Lots more here. 

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