Media

Washington Times - Tom Howell Jr.

Republicans are scratching their heads over the White House’s decision this month to announce a major change to President Obama’s health care law through a pair of blog posts.

The Treasury and White House announced on July 2 that it would delay by one year, to 2015, the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that requires companies with the equivalent of 50 or more full-time workers to provide health coverage or pay fines.

In times of economic uncertainty and mounting national security issues, it is critical that each branch of government is allowed to play its constitutional role. We must protect the uniquely-American system of checks and balances set forth by our forefathers, which helps prevent abuse or overreach of power. Stepping outside of the roles intended and defined only leads to unfortunate, harmful decisions that affect the entire country.

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.