Judicial Watch Files Suit Against HHS to Obtain Documents Regarding Obamacare Waivers

From Judicial Watch --

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a lawsuit on December 30, 2010, against the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to obtain records regarding the agency’s decision to grant “waivers” to companies and unions seeking to be exempt from requirements of Public Health Services Act Section 2711, President Obama’s healthcare reform law. According to HHS’s own estimate, at least 222 companies and unions have received waivers from the law, commonly known as Obamacare.

With its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, Judicial Watch seeks the following information:

A. All records concerning the decision to grant waivers of the Annual Limits Requirements of PHS Act Section 2711; and
B. All communications between McDonald’s Corp. and HHS concerning Annual Limits Requirements.
The time frame for this request is from March 2010 to the present.

Judicial Watch filed its original FOIA request on October 7, 2010. HHS was required by law to respond by November 8, 2010. However, to date, HHS has failed to produce any records or to provide a justification for withholding responsive records. Nor has the agency indicated when a response is forthcoming.

In September 2010, McDonald’s corporation announced it would have to eliminate a health insurance program for nearly 30,000 low wage employees due to an Obamacare requirement that 80 to 85% of all insurance premium revenue be spent on patient care. Due to the high administrative costs associated with this type of health coverage program (known as a mini-med plan), McDonald’s insurer indicated it could not possibly meet the Obamacare requirement. HHS provided McDonald’s a one-year waiver concerning the Obamacare mandate and has been deluged with waiver requests from hundreds of other companies and unions since.

The Wall Street Journal deemed the McDonald’s waiver request, “one of the clearest indications that new [Obamacare] rules may disrupt workers' health plans as the law ripples through the real world.”

President Obama’s healthcare reform law does not specify which companies or unions should receive waivers for its requirements and under what circumstances. Critics of how HHS has chosen to handle these waiver requests highlight the haphazard nature of the approval process and the fact that companies able to secure these coveted Obamacare exemptions are given an unfair competitive advantage over their rivals.

“The Obama administration is the most secretive in modern times. The Obamacare waiver fiasco is exactly the type of chaos that ensues when the federal government attempts to seize control of a large sector of the private economy. And Kathleen Sebelius’s HHS is willing to violate the Freedom of Information Act to keep Americans in the dark about this Obamacare failure. Secretary Sebelius might want to begin her implementation of Obamacare by obeying federal law regarding public records. The Obama administration’s slapdash handling of these waiver requests has created an enormous potential for political favoritism and influence peddling. The Obama administration must make this waivers completely transparent to the American people so they can be assured, in the least, that the process is not infected by corruption,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

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Who Regulates Whom? An Overview of U.S. Financial Supervision

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released a report giving an overview on -- "the current U.S. financial regulations

Click here to read the full report in pdf format.

and which agencies are responsible for which institutions, activities, and markets, and what kinds of authority they have." 

Repealing Obama Care; Tea Party Patriot Style

Acting on a promise many of them made during their election campaigns, the House Republicans are vowing to repeal the new healthcare bill. According to Reuters, a vote to repeal the bill is scheduled for January 12^th.

While the measure will pass the House, it will face an uphill battle in the Senate since Democrats still hold the majority. Even if the “repeal vote” does not pass the Senate, there is still a chance to “kill the bill” by defunding it, which Republicans in the House plan to do. (To view the proposed repeal bill, visit: http://rules-republicans.house.gov/Media/PDF/HR__-Repeal.pdf.) 

The repeal vote is only the first step in a multi-pronged approach to reverse the government takeover of our healthcare system. Many groups within Tea Party Patriots (TPP) (www.teapartypatriots.org) organization have been diligently working on various efforts to attack this bureaucratic beast – one of those efforts is the Health Care Compact.

Since November, TPP coordinators have been working with Eric O’Keefe of the Sam Adams Alliance to make these compacts become a reality. Once the language is finalized, we will be calling on you to help us urge our state legislature to join the compact. (See the Weekly Standard article for more information on the Compacts: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/nullifying-obamacare_524862.html.)

TPP Coordinators from across the U.S. will be meeting in TX next week for a detailed training seminar on the Compacts.  We will then have local conference calls and training sessions here sp we can get started on passing the Health Care Compact in OH. The CTPP Compact Committee will be chaired by member Dan Brass.  Please keep an eye out for email updates and more info on the Health Care Compacts.

States have $1 Trillion Debt

The Census Bureau said state government revenues declined 30.8% in 2009, from $1.9 trillion to $1.1 trillion. Although they took in less money, the states spent a total of $1.8 trillion and, at year's end, were collectively holding a $1.0 trillion debt.

The 2009 Annual Survey of State Government Finances provides key financial statistics for each of the 50 states.  Click here for Ohio.

The Federal Government is broke and the State's are in hock -- isn't it just grand our country wants to spend money we don't have on helping other countries?

Make a Public Comment on the NEORSD Sewer Rate Increase

 ACTION ALERT

The next step for the imposing of the proposed sewer rate increase in 63 communities in Cuyahoga and parts of Summit, Lorain & Lake County is the filing or formalizing of the proposed Consent Decree recently approved by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

The proposed Consent Decree between the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) and the EPA has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of OH.  This Consent Decree is for the $3 billion in upgrades to reduce Combined Sewer Overflow's (CSO's) as mandated by the EPA under the Project Clean Lake initiative and the Clean Water Act.  (United States and the State of Ohio v. Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Civil Action No. 10-cv-02895).

The Notice of Lodging of a Consent Decree Under the Clean Water Act can be read by clicking here.

With the filing of this Consent Decree the Justice Dept has a 30 day period for public comment on the the proposed rate increases and mandated repairs.  Please take the time to make a public comment by email, U.S. Mail, fax and phone. 

Comments should be addressed to;

Assistant Attorney General  (Please note below RE: on envelope if mailing)

Environment and Natural Resources Division

P.O. Box 7611

U.S. Department of Justice

Washington, DC 20044-7611

Fax: (202)514-0097 

Email: pubcomment-ees.enrd@usdoj.gov

AND

Tonia Fleetwood / Legal Information Specialist

PH: (202)514-1547

FX: (202)514-0097

Email; tonia.fleetwood@usdoj.gov

PLEASE NOTE: For all correspondence & comments to be considered you must reference; 

United States v. Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, D.J. Ref. 90-5-1-1-08177/1

You can also approach the elected officials in your community and request that they pass a resolution against these arbitrary increases mandated by the EPA on an already economically distressed area.  Ask your elected official to forward the Resolution to the above contact information.

The Consent Decree and the $3 Billion EPA mandate to reduce CSO"s are the only sewer/infrastructure addressed in this proposed agreement. The combined sewer overflow is not the same and is seperate from a Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) and storm water management.  In the near future we can expect the EPA will also mandate upgrades for SSO's due to the failing sanitary infrastructure throught this region/watershed.

What is a CSO? (Click here for map)

What is a SSO?

What is Storm Water Management?

All three of the above fall under the Clean Water Act and are regulated by the EPA. To sum this up, the sewer rate increase for the $3 billion in repairs will only address the issues with CSO's and NOT SSO's or Storm Water Management issues. That means -- after the rate increase for the CSO' problem, they will soon be asking for MORE of your money to make EPA mandated upgrades on the SSO's and Storm Water issues.

Previous Sewer Rate Increase Posts;

1.) http://clevelandteapartypatriots.blogspot.com/2010/11/action-alert-stop-sewer-rate-increase.html

2.) http://clevelandteapartypatriots.blogspot.com/2010/11/action-alert-stop-sewer-rate-increase_22.html

3.) http://clevelandteapartypatriots.blogspot.com/2010/11/neorsd-public-meeting-for-sewer-rate.html

Happy New Year 2011

The Cleveland Tea Party Patriots wish you and your loved ones a healthy, prosperous and...
 

 
Could you imagine where our country would be today had it not been for your hard efforts and dedication over the past year?  What has been accomplished this past year is nothing short of remarkable.  And none of this could have been done without YOU -- the heart & soul of the Tea Party Patriots!

The Cleveland Tea Party Patriots looks forward to working with you as we roll out the new year and continue cleaning up the crap in D.C. and the rest of the political cesspools in this country.

Our Children or Theirs?

Earlier this year, President Barack "help others with our money" Obama gave $400 Million that we don't have to a known terrorist group -- Hamas, and another $124 Million for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative to combat illegal drug trafficking, strengthen regional defense and provide employment training & educational opportunities for the general public and at-risk youth in Caribbean states. 

As we know the above is only a fraction of the money we give to other countries and only small percentage of overall spending, but we are again opening the checkbook to help Bolivia, Egypt & Jordan...

From United States Dept. of Labor --

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced nearly $20 million in grants awarded to combat exploitive child labor in Bolivia, Egypt and Jordan.

The grants will fund projects that provide children with education and training opportunities, and help improve the livelihoods of families so they no longer need to rely on children's labor. These projects will work with countries that have shown strong political will to address abusive child labor and tackle its root causes. They will collaborate with national partners to scale up and sustain these efforts, and will conduct rigorous evaluations of the impact of project interventions.

"Eradicating child labor is a necessary task that binds us all together and has global benefits for everyone," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "Our experience shows it is important to forge partnerships with countries to ensure that children are educated and not exploited."

In Bolivia, the department awarded a $6 million grant to Desarrollo y Autogestion for a project that will work closely with indigenous leaders, urban and rural communities, and the government of Bolivia. The project will raise awareness of health and occupational hazards inflicted by the worst forms of child labor. The grant also will combat forced labor, and support Bolivia's new education law by helping to provide children with basic and accelerated education. In addition, it will develop technical secondary school programs, offering economic empowerment to communities and support to small enterprises that raise household incomes.

The department awarded $9.5 million to the World Food Program to address child labor in Egypt's agriculture sector. It will encourage school attendance by offering school meal programs for children and food rations for their families. It will also provide entrepreneurial skills training to improve household livelihoods and access to microfinance opportunities such as village savings and loan programs, with a special focus on women.

Save the Children Federation was awarded $4 million under the department's grant to Jordan. The project will address child labor within identified pockets of poverty. It will reintegrate children into formal or nonformal education systems, and transition older children of legal working age to vocational training programs or ensure their employment under safe and legal working conditions. The project will also provide vulnerable households with linkages to livelihood opportunities, improve vocational training centers, establish community protection committees and work with community leaders to raise awareness of exploitive child labor.

Since 1995, Congress has appropriated approximately $780 million to the Labor Department to support global efforts to combat exploitive child labor. As a result, the department has rescued approximately 1.4 million children from exploitive child labor. More information on the department's efforts to combat exploitive child labor is available at http://www.dol.gov/ilab/highlights/if-20101215.htm.

While nobody should condone exploitation of children in any form anywhere in the world, is it not abusive and exploitive of the children of this country who are being saddled with unsustainable entitlement programs and future debt because of these types of U.S. "do-gooder" dollar give-a-ways?

Should we continue helping the children of other countries at the expense of our own children's future?