Capitol Hill Update, March 11-15, 2013

“Every Republican officeholder and candidate in the country should have two words tattooed on their hands; growth and opportunity.”

Urgent Alert!  Help spread the word! FreedomWorks has learned that the US Senate will to vote on the Cruz amendment to DEFUND OBAMACARE as soon as Monday, March 11th. 

Lessons For Republican Politicians and Political Operatives

In 2008, a group of liberty-minded citizens filed a lawsuit, Hall v. Sebelius, to disconnect Medicare Part A membership from their Social Security benefits. Last February, the D.C. Court of Appeals narrowly ruled in favor of the government, and the case seemed destined to reach the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court recently announced that it would refuse to hear the case, thereby rendering the lower court’s decision final.

Today marked what was to be the final deadline for states to submit their plans for a state-federal partnership to set up a health insurance exchange in order to comply with ObamaCare.  However, with 27 states currently refusing to set up their own exchange, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) now finds itself needing to set up its own exchange in each of these states before the statutorily mandated October 1st deadline.

In the final part of my three part interview with Governor Nikki Haley, we discussed how the subject of gun control found it's way into the health care debate and the question of South Carolina's role going forward in the fight against Obamacare.

Ohio Governor John Kasich announced his surrender to Washington spending gimmicks on February 4, calling for the expansion of Medicaid eligibility as part of his biennial budget proposal. Kasich, a Republican elected in 2010 and known as a fiscal hawk from his time in Congress, seeks to sell a key component of Obamacare as the pragmatic choice for Ohio.