Obamalog: A Brief History of the

Obama Administration

 

WEEK SEVENTY-FOUR

June 14, 2010

        The Obama administration announced new regulations to discourage companies from scaling back their health benefits, a goal Democrats described as a top priority of the new healthcare law—these rules may have a profound effect on the health coverage more than 160 million Americans get from an employer:

a.     The rules affect plans that were in operation when the president signed the new healthcare law March 23^rd;

b.     Employers would be able to raise premiums and still retain grandfathered status, but the rules limit how much companies could raise co-pay, deductibles and other employee contributions;

c.      Employers would be able to adjust benefits but not cut them altogether;

d.     Any company can choose to forego grandfathered status and still offer health benefits, but the company health plan would then be considered a new plan and would be subject to an escalating series of new mandates.

 

June 15, 2010

1.     Seeking to reassure Americans that his administration can handle the growing Gulf Coast oil crisis, President Obama, in his first address from the Oval Office, vowed to hold BP accountable for all costs and to marshal all available resources for a federal response to the calamity:

·                    Recent developments include:

a.     A new estimate by scientists of the amount of oil gushing from the ruptured well indicates that the well is leaking between 1.47 million and 2.52 million gallons of oil daily;

b.     The Discovery Enterprise, a drill ship siphoning off oil gushing from the blown out well resumed processing oil about five hours after an emergency shutdown caused when a bolt of lightning struck the vessel and ignited a fire that halted containment efforts—engineers on the ship have been siphoning about 630,000 gallons of oil a day through a cap on top of the well;

c.      The Senate has killed an attempt to repeal lucrative tax breaks enjoyed by the oil and gas industry—the move by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) would have raised $35 billion over ten years by limiting the ability of oil companies to write off drilling expenses, but the proposed measure lost on a 61-35 vote;

d.     President Obama has selected a former federal prosecutor, Michael Bromwich, to take over the troubled government agency that oversees oil and gas development and that has been accused of lax oversight.

2.     The Federal Reserve adopted new rules aimed at protecting credit-card customers from getting socked by hefty late-payment charges and other penalty fees—the rules respond to public and congressional outrage over practices by credit-card companies:

·                    The new rules, which take effect August 22^nd:

a.     Bar credit-card companies from charging a penalty fee of more than $25 for paying a bill late;

b.     Prohibit credit-card companies from charging penalty fees that are higher than the dollar amount associated with the customer’s violation;

c.      Ban so-called inactivity fees when customers do not use the account to make new purchases;

d.     Prevent multiple penalty fees on a single late payment.

 

June 16, 2010

1.     Senior administration officials said that BP will set aside $20 billion to pay the victims of the massive oil spill in the Gulf, a move made under pressure by the White House as the company copes with causing the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history:

·                    Lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw payments to families of victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks will lead the independent fund.

 

2.     President Obama’s plea for more stimulus spending as insurance against a double-dip recession hit a roadblock in the Senate, the victim of election-year anxiety over huge federal deficits:

a.     A dozen Democrats joined Republicans on a key 52-45 test vote (both Oregon senators voted yes), rejecting anObama-endorsed $140 billion package of unemployment benefits, aid to states, family tax breaks, and Medicare payments for doctors because it would swell the federal debt by $80 billion;

b.     The swing toward frugality runs counter to the advice of economists who support the funding for additional jobless benefits and help to states to avoid layoffs of public-service jobs, fearing that the economy could slip back into recession just after emerging from the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

3.     The Obama administration, seeking to build on the momentum of the Iranian resolution passed last week by the U.N., announced that it had imposed sanctions on dozens of Iranian firms and individuals with links to the country’s nuclear and missile programs:

·                    The list includes two top commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a major Iranian bank, and five front companies for the Iranian state shipping line, as well as 71 ships with names that had been changed to skirt previous sanctions.

 

June 17, 2010

1.     In another setback for President Obama and Democrats controlling Congress, the Senate rejected long-sought legislation to provide stimulus spending and a reprieve for doctors about to get hit with a big cut in their Medicare payments:

 

·                    The failed measure, killed by a GOP filibuster, would have provided further jobless aid for the long-term unemployed, $24 billion in aid to cash-strapped state governments, and the renewal of dozens of proposed tax breaks for businesses and individuals.

2.     Rep. Joe Barton created a political furor by first apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward at a morning hearing on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill—for what the Texas Republican called a White House “shakedown” that created a $20 billion escrow fund—and then being forced to retract it after coming under intense GOP pressure that almost stripped him of his position as ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee:

·                    In a highly unusual joint statement, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Minority Whip Eric Cantor ofVirginia, and Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence ofIndiana said, “Congressman Barton’s statements this morning were wrong.  BP itself has acknowledged that responsibility for the economic damages lie with them and has offered an initial pledge of $20 billion for that purpose.”

3.     The latest Associated Press GfK poll on President Obama’s top domestic achievement, the healthcare bill, finds support for the new overhaul has risen to its highest point since the survey started asking people about it in September—six months before it became law:

·                    Poll results now: 45% in favor, 42% opposed, a significant shift in public sentiment considering that opposition hit 50% after Obama signed the health plan into law in March and that in May, supporters were outnumbered 39% to 46%.

4.     Bankers would retain some say over the operations of the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks but would lose their ability to vote for regional bank presidents under a House-Senate deal on a broad financial regulation bill:

·                    The compromise by the House and Senate negotiators diluted a Senate plan that would have made the Fed far more independent of the banking industry, and separately, House members sought to soften a Senate requirement that would have toughened standards on how much banks should hold in reserve to guard against losses.

5.     The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $11.4 million to 18 public housing authorities in Oregonfor major capital improvements:

·                    HUD officials said the funding is aimed at stimulating the economy and creating jobs—the largest grant in Oregonwas $5.1 million for the Housing Authority of Portland, and about $1.2 million each went to Lane and Clackamas counties.

 

June 18, 2010

1.     Signaling a shift in strategy to fight against BP’s ruptured well in the Gulf, the Coast Guard is ramping up efforts to capture oil closer to shore:

·                    Admiral Thad Allen said that an estimated 2,000 private boats in the so-called “vessels of opportunity” program will be more closely linked through a tighter command and control structure to direct them to locations less than 50 miles offshore to skim the oil—estimates of the oil being siphoned from the well a mile below the Gulf are growing with more than 1.2 million gallons sucked up to containment vessels on June 17^th, according to Allen.

2.     After a week of partisan wrangling, the Senate passed legislation to spare doctors a 21% cut in Medicare payments looming for months, but the last-ditch effort came too late because moments after the Senate acted, Medicare announced it would begin processing claims it has received for June at the lower rate:

·                    Because the House cannot act on the fix until next week, doctors, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, and other providers who bill Medicare’s physician fee schedule will have to resubmit their claims if they want to be made whole, with added paperwork costs for both the providers and for taxpayers.