Today’s Agenda
Today, Senator Lee will be meeting with representatives of farm credit institutions and the Utah Association of Health Underwriters before attending the State of the Union address. He will also appear on Fox Business Network’s Cavuto at 6:00 PM EST (4:00 PM MST), and he will be doing multiple post-State of the Union interviews.
From the Senator’s Desk
Appearing on The Daily Show last night, Secretary Sebelius answered a series of questions from host Jon Stewart about employers dropping coverage that can best be described as awkward. In the extended interview posted online, Stewart asked whether or not there would be a “big dump” of employees into Exchanges under the law. The full exchange occurs beginning at around 3:15 of the second segment; here are the highlights:
STEWART: “Can they [i.e., employers] dump you into the exchange?”
SEBELIUS: “Well, at the end of the day, there is no mandate now. In 2014, if employers don’t cover health insurance, they will pay a penalty, and they’ll pay for every employee who goes into the Exchange.”
STEWART: “Is the penalty more than the [cost of] insurance?”
SEBELIUS: [Long pause] “The penalty will help pay for the tax credit that the employee will get in the insurance [sic]….”
STEWART: “Is there a consequence other than a fine or shame – cause I know the shame thing’s not gonna work. [Laughter.]”
STEWART: “Let’s say I’m paying, for a family plan, $1200 a month. And my employer says, oh, we’ve got these exchanges now, I’m going to dump you into that. And you’re going to get a tax credit. Will my tax credit be the equivalent of the money that the employer was paying, or is that now going to come out of [unintelligible]”
SEBELIUS: “It’s really…it’s hard to tell because employers are all over the board….”
STEWART: “Do you think ultimately this is, a bunch of people dump to the Exchange, and it becomes sort of, a back door, of government, not a takeover necessarily, but of a government responsibility for the health care, employees, and it decouples it – I’m not saying that’s a bad thing – but decouples it from employment, and people will get it through the government – through tax credits, rather than through their employers – and then suddenly, obviously then, we’re Sweden. Do you think that’s the case?”
Sebelius claimed that the law is “filling in the gaps in the private market.” But the reality, as Stewart laid out and other studies have confirmed, is that it’s much cheaper for employers to drop their workers’ health plans and dump them into the Exchanges – costing the federal government trillions of dollars and turning us into Sweden (or Greece). It also raises an obvious question: If even liberals like Jon Stewart believe the health law will cause Americans to lose their health plans, who actually believes they will be able to keep their current coverage under Obamacare?
From the Whip
The Senate will convene at 10:00am and will be in morning business until 4:00pm.
The Senate will recess from 12:30 – 2:15pm for the weekly policy lunches.
The President will deliver the State of the Union Address tonight at 9:00pm.
Senators will gather in the Senate Chamber at 8:20pm.
Monday’s Session:
Roll Call Vote:
-Confirmation of John Gerrard, US District Judge, Nebraska (74-16) confirmed
UC Items:
HR 3237 (SOAR Technical Corrections)
S. 1134 (St. Croix River Crossing)
H. Con. Res. 96 (Joint Session for State of the Union)
On Twitter
Read my op-ed that I wrote with @MikeNeedham about the payroll tax. ow.ly/8CQl7
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) January 23, 2012
LEE: @SenateDems “can’t publicly reveal what they would like to spend bc people would reject it out-of-hand” bit.ly/wsWHwB #1000days
— Brian Phillips (@SenLeeComs) January 23, 2012
RELEASE: @SenMikeLee Highlights Democrats’ 1000 Days of Failure: bit.ly/ADEvE2 #1000days #utpol
— Emily Bennion (@SenLeePressSec) January 23, 2012
A likely date for Greek default, and how the bailouts made things worse: onforb.es/wuhAGc #AmericanFuture? #euro #eu #tcot #tlot #debt
— Joe Tauke (@SenLeeResearch) January 18, 2012
Around the Water Cooler
War of words over Greek debt heats up
The war of words between Europe and private investors heated up Tuesday as talks to reduce Greece’s massive debt burden hit an impasse.
State of the Union Key to Obama Election Re-Branding
President Obama retakes center stage tonight with his third State of the Union address, his sixth speech to a joint session of Congress in three years.
Looking Ahead
Tomorrow, Senator Lee will appear on Fox & Friends at 8:15 AM EST (6:15 MST) before attending the Senate Republican Conference annual meeting.