Throughout the health care debate, Republicans pointed to the unavoidable consequences of Democrats' attempts to insert more government into the health care system. In fact, the very week the unpopular health care bill passed, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warned of "all the unintended consequences that will inevitably result from a 2,800-page bill that sets up dozens of federal boards and a thicket of new rules and regulations — regulations that we know won't withstand their first contact with reality." He continued, "When the White House was questioned about the glitches in the bill, they said the Secretary of Human Services was on the case. They said she'd issue a new regulation to correct the problem. But this is precisely what Americans are afraid of. This bill hadn't even been law for 24 hours, and already they're proposing regulations to cover over mistakes and errors. And we haven't even seen the last of it."
And this past week was the latest example. The Wall Street Journal reported last Thursday that "McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul." It was obvious all along that the new mandates, regulations, and additional expenses in Democrats' health care legislation could result in companies dropping their health coverage. And the WSJ story just confirmed those fears.
But the Obama administration treated the story as a PR challenge, rather than a flaw in the law itself. The Weekly Standard's John McCormack reported that Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, "The McDonald's story is flat out wrong. . . . I'm sorry they weren't more accurate in their reporting." McCormack noted, "Sebelius suggested that McDonald's may in fact get a waiver from HHS that would enable the fast-food giant to continue offering limited benefits plans to its employees." And today, the NYT reports that the Obama administration has now granted these waivers.
The American Spectator's Philip Klein makes an important point about this. He writes today, "[B]y granting waivers to avert PR nightmares, like the news of McDonald's dropping coverage, it also adds another disturbing element to the ObamaCare regime. Those companies with the best access and lobbyists are in the best position to be granted a waiver. Bureaucrats can choose to apply a different set of rules to different businesses, and in some cases those rules can determine whether a given business survives. Thus, the waivers themselves are another example of the arbitrary nature of government power."
So not only are the poorly thought out regulations and mandates in Democrats' bill leading to the prospect of some Americans losing their health care coverage, the increased powers given to the government under this bill are now allowing the Obama administration to respond to play PR games with health coverage, picking winners and losers as it suits them.
As Sen. McConnell said back in May, "They called us alarmists for saying businesses would dump employees from their insurance plan. Yet now it's being reported that some of the nation's biggest employers are seriously considering cutting employee health care and paying the lower-cost penalties instead, just like we predicted. There goes the President's vow that 'if you like the plan you have, you can keep it.' . . . So when Speaker Pelosi said we'd have to pass this health care bill for people to find out what was in it, she knew what she was talking about. And what they're finding out is that Republicans were right all along." This flawed legislation needs to be repealed and replaced.
On The Floor
The Senate is in recess until a scheduled pro forma session on Friday. The Senate will hold a series of these sessions throughout the recess to prevent President Obama from making recess appointments, on the insistence of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
The Senate will next reconvene for legislative business on Monday, November 15th.
The Senate will also hold pro forma sessions on: October 8 at 11:30 AM, October 12 at 10:00 AM, October 15 at 10:00 AM, October 19 at 12:00 PM, October 22 at 1:00 PM, October 26 at 12:00 PM, October 29 at 11:30 AM, November 1 at 9:00 AM, November 4 at 9:00 AM, November 8 at 12:00 PM, November 10 at 9:30 AM, and November 12 at 10:00 AM.
Before leaving, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed cloture on the motions to proceed to 3 bills: a bill to promote natural gas and electric vehicles (S. 3815), a bill Democrats named the "Paycheck Fairness Act" (recall that they named "card check" the "Employee Free Choice Act") (S. 3772), and a food safety bill that expands the FDA's regulatory powers (S. 510).
Around the Hill
The New York Times: Waivers Address Talk of Dropping Health Coverage
Philip Klein: Administration to Grant ObamaCare Waivers to Some Lucky Businesses
The Washington Post: Health-care law's guidelines on premiums' use take shape
AP: Panel: Gov't blocked scientists on spill estimate
The New York Times: Report Slams Administration for Underestimating Gulf Spill
The Wall Street Journal: Spill Panel Finds U.S. Was Slow to React
The Washington Post: Administration's response to gulf spill ill-managed, report says
The Washington Post: Ruling in '98 East Africa embassy bombings is setback for U.S.
The Hill: Study: Expiration of Bush tax cuts will hit poorest hardest
Bloomberg News: White House Adviser Goolsbee's Comment on Koch Taxes Reviewed by Treasury
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