Media

Washington Post - Sean Sullivan

Call it open mic day in the House GOP conference.

Republicans are set to huddle behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon to discuss the politically complicated issue of immigration. What to expect in the meeting? Some pretty stark differences in opinion in a group that has mostly refused to march in lockstep on a variety of other fronts.

“I think the leadership will benefit very much from hearing from the members,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.

Roll Call - Steven T. Dennis

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney defended the president’s record on border security Wednesday and dismissed concerns raised by members of both parties over the legality of delaying the employer health care mandate of the Affordable Care Act for a year.

The Hill - Russell Berman, Molly K. Hooper and Erik Wasson

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) urged their House Republican colleagues to pass immigration reform legislation in a closed-door meeting Wednesday, with the Speaker arguing his conference would be “in a much weaker position” if it failed to act.

A divided House Republican conference met for more than two hours in the basement of the Capitol to begin hashing out a response to the sweeping immigration bill the Senate passed last month.

More than three years after Obamacare was jammed through Congress and a year after it was upheld by the Supreme Court, support across America for the law is weak and in decline. As we near implementation of the so-called affordable healthcare overhaul, it’s clear that it is anything but affordable. The recent White house decision to postpone requiring businesses to provide insurance to their employees or suffer a fine is yet another sign that even the Administration recognizes its failure.

Businessweek - Jonathan Nicholson

Congress is increasingly unlikely to start talks on getting a budget deal and forestalling a debt limit impasse before the next five-week break in August.

Several factors are at play: brightening deficit forecasts from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, a crowded July calendar dominated by potential action on immigration and the lack of an obvious starting point for bargaining between two sides that remain far apart, Bloomberg BNA reported.

The Oklahoman - Chris Casteel

Members of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation say they welcome the delay in the mandate on businesses with more than 50 workers to provide health insurance, though they continue to criticize the law as unworkable.

America’s story is one brimming with patriotism and hope. Independence Day begs us to remember that we were not always free. The freedoms we enjoy today were paid for at a high price by thousands of brave patriots who came before to establish and preserve liberty. Because of their desire and commitment to build a better future for coming generations, our patriotism should ring even truer, resound even louder and beat even harder in our hearts. For we live in truly the greatest nation on earth.