Boehner vs. His Party: Republicans Still Holding Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage

Posted by White House

Over the weekend House Republican Leader John Boehner changed his position and came out in support of the President’s plan to provide middle class tax cuts, even without additional tax cuts worth about $100,000 to millionaires and paid for by borrowing $700 billion that we don’t have. Time will tell whether this change will lead to anything but continued support for the failed economic policies that got us into this mess, but for now we are certainly pleased to have his support.

However, shortly after his original statement, it became clear that Republicans remain intent on holding tax relief for middle class families hostage. As the Washington Post reported:

Even as Boehner shows voters that he is willing to be flexible, he has created some confusion within his party on the issue. Many GOP lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), believe it's a big mistake to raise taxes on anyone during an economic downturn. They want all the Bush cuts extended, no exceptions, a position McConnell vigorously reasserted Monday by introducing legislation for full extension.

According to McConnell, he will try to lead Republicans to block the continuation of middle class tax cuts – which would result in every single middle class family paying more taxes next year – unless large additional tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are also added. Instead of working to pass middle class tax cuts that everyone should agree upon, McConnell is urging his Republican Senate colleagues to continue to follow his strategy of obstruction and gridlock that hurts American families. McConnell even boasted "That's a debate we're happy to have," adding, "That's the kind of debate that unifies my caucus." It’s also noteworthy that even after Boehner’s concession that blocking middle class tax relief would be the wrong thing to do, other House Republicans, including Boehner’s second-in-command Eric Cantor and House Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence, continued to say they would do their best to do so.

If Republican Leader Boehner took his position in order to show that he was not “holding middle-class tax cuts hostage,” then clearly the implication is that Senate Republicans are prepared to do exactly that.

Perhaps they have some things to talk through.

A Bad Road for Seniors

Posted by White House

As we know from last week’s Medicare Trustees report, the Affordable Care Act will strengthen Medicare by extending the Trust Fund for 12 years -- the largest extension in history -- and cut costs for seniors. The new law will also save Medicare $575 billion over the next ten years and provisions of the law that are already being implemented will save $8 billion for Medicare in just the next two years alone. At the same time, the new law protects seniors’ guaranteed benefits and helps bring costs down. By 2018, seniors will save on average almost $200 per year in premiums compared to what they would have paid without the new law and the law ultimately will completely close the prescription drug donut hole.

But as we’re moving forward, cutting health care costs and protecting seniors, some in Congress want to take us back and tell seniors they are on their own. Today, Rep. Paul Ryan published an op-ed in the Washington Post on his plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program.

Under the Ryan plan, the Medicare seniors know and trust would disappear. In its place, seniors would receive a voucher to buy insurance on the private market. Last month, former OMB Director Peter Orszag spoke about Rep. Ryan’s voucher plan and its impact on our seniors and the cost of health care:

Over time, the voucher would increase far more slowly than projected increases in health care costs, and seniors would be asked to cover the widening difference in costs… Proponents envision seniors buying high-deductible health insurance plans—insurance plans in which seniors would pay out-of-pocket for ‘regular’ medical expenses and in which insurance only covers catastrophic costs.

Unfortunately, these plans would do little if anything bring down health care costs and would leave seniors with bigger bills. As Orszag noted:

For such high-cost patients, high-deductible plans would do little to change the delivery of health care—since these patients would rapidly run through their deductibles and most of their costs are above the deductibles.

Indeed, in the context of traditional health plans, CBO concluded that universal high-deductible plans would reduce costs by only about 5 percent relative to conventionally designed PPOs—and may not reduce costs at all relative to HMOs.

And Orszag discussed how the Ryan plan would cut Medicare and put seniors at risk:

…The plan simply mechanically cuts Medicare by increasing its vouchers more slowly than health care costs.

The result is that most of the budget savings would come from simply by shifting more and more cost and risk—ultimately including catastrophic risks—onto seniors without substantially altering the course of overall health costs.

The bottom line under the Ryan plan: Costs would continue to rise, the value of benefits provided to seniors would continue to fall, and seniors would be stuck with fewer benefits and bigger bills. And, according to outside analysts, his plan would substantially increase the deficit in the medium-term.

We won’t go down Rep. Ryan’s road.

The President has stated repeatedly that we have a solemn vow to protect and strengthen Medicare. Under President Obama’s leadership we have taken historic steps to do just that. There’s more work to be done, but the President and his team are committed to protecting Medicare and ensuring seniors have the high-quality care they expect and deserve.

Taking America from #12 to #1

Posted by White House

As the Washington Post and New York Times report, the United States has fallen from first to 12th in terms of 25 to 34-year-olds with postsecondary degrees. The finding comes from a report conducted by the College Board and confirms what we’ve known for too long: that United States’ graduation rate is lagging behind our global competitors.

We know that economic security and educational progress go hand in hand. That’s one of the reasons why the President outlined a new national goal last year: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Already we’ve taken crucial steps to help our nation meet this goal.

We’re making sure our high schools adequately prepare students for college and careers

• Building on the reforms begun last year under the Recovery Act, and the efforts of states applying for Race to the Top grant funds, America’s K-12 education system will better prepare students by holding them to higher, clearer college- and career-ready standards, assessing their progress with improved tests and with data systems to measure student growth, and by better preparing and supporting teachers and school leaders.
• As part of these reform efforts, this year we launched a national effort to help turn around America’s persistently low-performing schools.
• We’re committed to investing in innovative dropout recovery and prevention strategies to better engage youth in their learning and to help them catch-up academically.
• And the President’s FY 2011 budget supports a new $100 million College Pathways Program to increase access to college-level, dual credit, and other accelerated courses in high-need high schools, and to support college-going strategies and models that will help students succeed.

We’re making college more affordable

• We have more than doubled our investment in the Pell Grant program to help unlock and hold open the doors of higher education opportunity for more Americans.
• We’ve tripled the largest college tax credit to ease college costs for nearly 8 million students and families.
• And to ensure that Americans can afford their student loan payments, we have expanded the income-based student loan repayment program so that new borrowers after 2014 will be eligible to cap their monthly payments at reasonable share of their income.

And we’re also strengthening our community colleges

• We’ve also made an historic investment -- $2 billion over the next four years – in community college and career training. These resources will help community colleges and other institutions develop, improve, and provide education and training.

Working together with parents, teachers, and local communities across the country, we’re committed to bringing America back to #1 in postsecondary graduation rates.