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Minnesota rejects Obamacare money
From the Editors
"Minnesota's Republican governor on Tuesday blocked the state from tapping certain federal funds under the new health-care law, a declaration with political overtones for a possible presidential candidate.
The executive order by Gov. Tim Pawlenty made Minnesota the first state to formally restrict itself from taking some federal dollars under the law.
The order isn't likely to significantly affect how the law is applied in Minnesota. It says the state can't seek further discretionary money for demonstration projects and grant funding unless the governor approves it. In some cases, Minnesota's legislature has already put in place plans to seek federal money under those programs. The order lasts only until Mr. Pawlenty's term ends around the end of this year.
Minnesota won't be restricted from participating in the biggest pieces of the overhaul, including the expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor and new tax credits to offset the cost of insurance for lower earners. Those steps take effect in 2014.
The political implications could be greater, with Mr. Pawlenty considered a potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
So far, most state challenges to the legislation have targeted unpopular provisions. More than 20 state attorneys general, almost all of them Republicans, have filed lawsuits contending that the law's requirement that most Americans carry insurance or pay a fine is unconstitutional. Minnesota is not in that group.
Mr. Pawlenty, by contrast, is challenging uncontroversial parts of the law on the grounds that they burden states and encroach on personal liberties."
| If anyone else finds the statement by Shirley above a bit over the top and would like it removed, please click remove comment at the end of her comment and it will be removed. It takes two people to make that choice and I have already done so. Thank you. |
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| Bill - Sep 10, 2010 02:36:11 PM | Remove Comment |
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| The Republican Party and Tea Party is funded to stop progress, however, the Koch brothers and various Koch funded organizations have also been actively trying to roll back existing clean air and clean energy laws both at the state and national levels. David Koch, who lives in New York City and whose company is based in Kansas, is secretly bankrolling the Proposition 23 effort to roll back California’s landmark clean energy law. Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity helped make opposition to “cap and trade a Tea Party talking point and then launched its socalled “Regulation Reality tour to attack Supreme Court mandated Clean Air Act regulations being finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Today, a new Koch-backed national effort to protect the energy industry, dubbed Rally for Jobs,begins with rallies in Texas and will continue next week with events in New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, and Ohio. While the American Petroleum Institute, Big Oil’s Washington lobbying arm, is the presenting sponsor of the Rally for Jobs tour, several Koch-backed groups are also involved.
Koch Industries, for those of you who don’t know, is the second largest privately held company in the country, with annual revenues estimated at one hundred billion dollars per year. Koch Industries, while owning familiar companies like Georgia Pacific lumber and Brawny paper towels, makes most of its money in oil, operating refineries in Alaska and Texas, and owning thousands of miles of pipeline. So, you know they must love those angry, red-faced crowds screaming, Drill Baby, Drill. |
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| Shirley Gallagher - Sep 04, 2010 05:30:34 PM | Remove Comment |
