July 30, 2014

The United States House of Representatives passed a resolution yesterday to sue President Barack Obama for allegedly exceeding his constitutional powers. The vote–225 Republicans for and 196 Democrats joined by 5 Republicans against–authorized House lawyers to draft legal documents to launch a lawsuit in federal court.

Republicans in Congress have complained that the president has on numerous occasions exceeded his constitutional authority by issuing executive orders that purposely bypass the will of the legislative branch of government. In particular, House Republicans claim that President Obama exceeded his powers when he twice delayed requirements in the Affordable Care Act that businesses over a certain size provide workers with health insurance. They also object to presidential authorization of an exchange of Guantanamo detainees for Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier held captive for five years by the Taliban. Republicans also cite an executive order that eased deportations of some young illegal immigrants. Most recently, the president issued an executive order making it unlawful for businesses with government contracts to discriminate against members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community. “This isn’t about Republicans or Democrats. It’s about defending the Constitution we swore an oath to,” declared House Speaker John Boehner during the House debate.

President Barack Obama (The White House)

Speaker of the House John Boehner (United States House of Representatives)

President Obama has dismissed the law suite “as a political stunt” that will cost taxpayers million of dollars. He noted that he has been forced to issue executive orders to circumvent a gridlocked Congress. He cites the Republican-controlled House, under Speaker Boehner, for refusing to even to hold votes on such Senate-passed legislation as raising the minimum wage and much-needed immigration reform.

Democrats in Congress point out that every U.S. president since George Washington has issued executive orders and that President Obama has, in his six years in office, issued only 183. By comparison, George W. Bush issued 291 in his eight years in office; Bill Clinton issued 364; and Ronald Reagan issued 381.

Political experts note that the lawsuit–the first ever brought against a president by Congress–may be a maneuver by Speaker Boehner to tamp down a Tea Party move to impeach President Obama, an action that would likely prove highly unpopular with the electorate in the face of congressional elections in November. They also point to the irony of the House suing the president over not implementing parts of the Affordable Care Act after House Republicans voted 54 times in 4 years to repeal “Obamacare.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)
• Health 2013 (a Back in Time article)

October 17, 2013

Some 800,000 federal employees went back to work this morning after a 16-day shutdown of the United States government. The political stand-off between the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama ended just minutes before a midnight deadline after which the government’s ability to borrow money by selling bonds would have expired.

A bill brokered by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D., Nevada) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Kentucky) finances the operations of government until Jan. 15, 2014, and raises the nation’s debt limit through the middle of February. The Senate passed the measure last night by an 81-to-18 vote. The House followed suit, passing the bill by a vote of 285-to-144. Eighty-seven House Republicans broke ranks to join a united Democratic caucus in approving the measure.

An attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act by hardline conservatives in the House of Representatives collapsed on October 16, when both houses of Congress passed legislation financing the federal government and raising the debt limit.  (© Brooks Kraft, Corbis)

Passage of the measure ended a stalemate led by hardline conservatives, generally members of the House Tea Party caucus. The caucus pushed their Republican leaders to use the double threat of a shutdown and a default on the national debt to defund the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare.”

Political experts generally agree that pushing the federal government to the edge of a fiscal meltdown for political gain was a major misstep by Congressional Republicans. A Washington Post-ABC public opinion poll taken earlier this week found that 74 percent of Americans disapproved of the way Republicans in Congress were handling the negotiations. A Pew poll taken yesterday found that public approval of the Tea Party was in free fall. Only 20 percent of polled Republicans now support the Tea Party movement. The Wall Street credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s announced yesterday that the shutdown had drained at least $24 billion out of the already fragile U.S. economy.  Conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh described the Republican shutdown and subsequent surrender as “One of the greatest political disasters I’ve ever seen.”

Additional World Book articles:

• National budget
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

October 1, 2013

A central provision of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” went into effect today amid a general shutdown of the U.S. government. Federal and state-run insurance exchanges opened for business this morning. As many as 7 million uninsured Americans are eligible to buy affordable health insurance on these exchanges.

Condemning the Affordable Care act as an unprecedented intrusion into Americans’ private lives, Congressional Republicans waged a years-long campaign to undermine it. The latest effort led to today’s government shutdown. A number of Republicans in the House of Representatives, in particular the Tea Party caucus, demanded that the law be repealed or stripped of funding as a condition for continuing to fund the government. The Senate refused to pass the House bill, and House leaders refused to even bring the Senate-approved budget up for a vote. (Political experts note that the Senate bill would have passed in the House, largely with Democratic votes, if it had been brought to the House floor by Speaker John Boehner. They suggest, however, that if Boehner had brought the Senate bill up for a vote in defiance of the Tea Party caucus, his action would have cost him his position as speaker of the House.)

With no new budget or budget extension in place, the U.S. government shut down this morning at 12:01 a.m. At least 800,000 federal employees will likely be sent home without pay as many government agencies prepared to close their doors. More than 1 million others will be asked to work without pay. President Barack Obama signed legislation late on September 30 ensuring that uniformed members of the military will be paid during the shutdown. The 533 current members of Congress will also receive their paychecks.

The shut down of the U.S federal government on October 1 led to the closing of national parks and monuments across the nation (c George Goodwin, Monkmeyer).

Republicans in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals across the country, have battled to repeal the health care law since its passage in 2010. The House of Representatives took 40-some symbolic votes to nullify it or eliminate its funding. Legal challenges led by Republican governors ended in June 2012 when the Supreme Court validated its most controversial provision: the individual mandate, which specifies that Americans not receiving health coverage from their employers or from the government must purchase individual plans or pay a fine.

Several provisions of “Obamacare” went into effect prior to today: children can now remain on their parents’ insurance plans up to age 26; children with pre-existing health conditions can no longer be denied coverage; senior citizens now enjoy prescription drug discounts; and insurance companies can no longer place lifetime limits on health coverage. Another major provision—the employer mandate—requires employers with at least 50 full-time workers to provide insurance or incur a $2,000 per employee penalty. Implementation of that provision has been delayed until 2015.

Additional World Book articles:

• Congress of the United States 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Health Care Reform–What’s in it for You? (a special report)
• Medicaid in Distress (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

September 30, 2013
A shutdown of the U.S. federal government looms, as Democratic and Republican lawmakers remain deadlocked over stopgap legislation to fund government operations. Without passage of a finance bill by both houses of Congress, the government will be forced to close all nonessential federal services at midnight on October 1.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner (above), leads a Republican Party intent upon tying the U.S. budget bill to delaying or denying funding to the Affordable Healthcare Act, passed in 2010. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (above left) has vowed that the Senate will not vote for the House's version of the finance bill (United States House of Representatives).

(U.S. Senate)

The key point of contention in the political stalemate is the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s landmark health care legislation. A number of Republicans in the House of Representatives—in particular the Tea Party caucus—demand that the law be repealed or stripped of funding as a condition for keeping the government running. The House passed its latest version of a stopgap funding measure on September 28. The bill included a year-long delay in the implementation of what has come to be called “Obamacare.” It also included a measure that would permanently eliminate a medical-device tax that was designed to partially fund the new health care system. Legal experts point out that eliminating the tax would essentially cripple the act. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has vowed that his Democrat-led chamber will reject the House bill, and in fact, the Senate failed to go into session on September 29 despite the political crisis.

A government shutdown would place more than 700,000 federal employees on unpaid leave, with no guarantee of receiving back pay once the deadlock is over; Social Security, federal pension, and veterans’ benefit checks would be delayed; Medicare and Medicaid payments would be disrupted; and many government facilities, including immigration services  and passport and visa offices, would be shut down; the national parks and Smithsonian museums would also close.

President Obama emphasized today that the simple solution to the standoff is for House Republicans to pass the budget that was passed by the Senate on September 27. Of course, the Senate legislation does not gut the Affordable Care Act. Political experts note that the Senate bill, if brought to the House floor by Speaker John Boehner, would almost certainly pass, largely with Democratic votes. However, they suggest that if Boehner were to bring the Senate bill to a vote in defiance of the Tea Party caucus his action would likely cost him his position as speaker of the House.

Major portions of the Affordable Care Act, which a Democrat-controlled Congress passed in 2010, are due to go into effect tomorrow. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the act was constitutional in 2012.

Additional World Book articles:

• Congress of the United States 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Health Care Reform–What’s in it for You? (a special report)
• Medicaid in Distress (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

Aug. 13, 2012

Paul Ryan, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Wisconsin, has been named the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his choice of a running mate in Norfolk, Virginia, aboard the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin, on August 11. The two immediately took off on a campaign tour of Virginia and Wisconsin, both important swing states. “Hope and change has now become attack and blame,” Ryan said of Democratic President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. “President Obama is our president and he has put all his policies in place, and they’re just not working,” Ryan noted in his initial speech as the nominee.

Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, first gained national attention in 2011 for his controversial 2012 federal budget plan entitled “The Path to Prosperity.” The plan called for about $6 trillion in federal spending cuts over 10 years, reflecting the belief of many Republicans that taxes and government spending must shrink to revive the U.S. economy and avoid a national debt crisis. Ryan’s plan also included the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” a major health care reform bill signed into law in March 2010.

Paul Ryan (U.S. House of Representatives)

Democrats criticized Ryan’s plan, saying it favored the rich over the poor and the middle class. They argued that it would result in dismantling or drastically cutting key government programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. The Republican-controlled House passed Ryan’s plan on April 15, 2011. However, it died in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Paul Davis Ryan was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on Jan. 29, 1970. He graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 1992 with a bachelors degree in economics and political science. As a young man, Ryan became an advocate of the philosophy of novelist Ayn Rand and of various conservative economists, including Milton Friedman. Ryan first won election to the House in 1998, at the age of 28. He has become a favorite of supporters of the Tea party movement.

Additional World Book articles:

• Congressional Budget Office
• Congress of the United States 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Entitlements: Benefits of Doubt (a special report)
• Health Care Reform – What’s in It for You? (a special report)
• Medicaid in Distress (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

June 28, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court, in one of the most far-reaching decisions in years, upheld much of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law. In a 5-to-4 decision, the court confirmed that the individual health-insurance mandate is constitutional under Congress’s authority to tax citizens. The mandate requires nearly all Americans to buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine if they refuse.

The Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. (© Joe Sohm, Photo Researchers)

Legal and health care experts considered the individual mandate to be the most crucial issue before the court. Striking it down would have made it financially difficult for insurance companies to comply with other, more popular elements of the law without drastically raising premiums: Under the Affordable Care Act, for example, insurance companies can no longer limit or deny benefits to children because of a preexisting condition; and insurance companies must expand coverage to young adults up to age 26 under their parents’ plan. The act also provides subsidies to some lower middle-income households to buy insurance and to some businesses for insuring their employees.

A major provision of the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid to cover a much wider range of lower income citizens. (Medicaid is a U.S. government program that works in cooperation with state governments to partly finance medical assistance to needy people.) On the question of Medicaid, the court ruled that the expansion could move forward. However, it struck down a provision that threatens states with the loss of Medicaid funding if the states refused to comply with the expansion.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., joined Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor in voting to uphold the law. Associate justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas voted against it.

The nine judges of the Supreme Court of the United States include Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., (seated, center) and eight associate justices: Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, and Elena Kagan (back row, left to right); and Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (seated, left to right). (AP Photo)

Popularly known as Obamacare, the law is expected to eventually extend health care coverage to more than 30 million Americans who currently lack it. It was also designed to help rein in health care costs, one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the economy.

Political experts note that the health care debate is far from over. Republicans–including the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney–vow to overturn the act. Conservatives generally regard it as both unaffordable and an infringement on individual rights.

Additional World Book articles:

• Congress of the United States 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Health 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Entitlements–Benefit of Doubt (a special report)
• Health Care Reform–What’s In It for You? (a special report)
• Medicaid in Distress (a special report)