30. September 2009 by admin.

The White House is open for business and as such the first lady, Michelle, has hired roughly 25 staff members that report directly to her. This is a break from the previous two first ladies’; Hillary Clinton managed three employees, while Laura Bush had just one employee.

The magnitude of the first lady’s staff comes at a staggering taxpayer cost of $1.75 million per year. This number doesn’t include federal benefits, this cost is undisclosed.

The salaries rage from $172,200 at the high end to $36,000 on the low end. While most Americans suffer from the global-sized recession, the White House doesn’t seem to be too frugal with its spending practices. Keep reading

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30. September 2009 by admin.

Score one for the good guys. Not only did the public option in the
health care bill fail in the Senate Finance Committee, but it failed
twice. It finally appears the lawmakers are listening to what Americans
have been saying loud and clear- no government-run option.

Looking
to give President Obama a bill to sign by the end of the year, Chairman
Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, will have to include a few less pages.

The victory is not the Republicans, but the American people. The August town halls and relentless emailing has finally paid off.

The
hope now is Washington takes a deep breath, and begins to put together
some real reform efforts in small doses. Now is the time to build upon
consensus and listen to what the collective voters are saying- not the
far right or the far left.

Once Washington counted the votes in
the Finance Committee and the public-option failed for a second time,
Baucus announced it was his job to garner 60 votes in the Senate to
present the White House with health care legislation worthy of a
signature.

“No one shows me how to get 60 votes with a public
option,” says Baucus. With a couple of Democrats voting against the
public option in committee it became a reality that the 100-member
Senate cannot withstand a filibuster by the Republicans.

In the
end, the Republican argument regarding a Trojan horse leading to a
single-payer system prevailed as three Democrats abandoned their public
option amendments.

Leading Democratic, centrist, Kent Conrad-ND,
criticized the public option and said, “The devil is in the details.”
He also pointed out that a government run plan would cause every major
hospital to go bankrupt.

“I can’t possibly support any amendment that does that,” Conrad explained.

It
remains to be seen if any meaningful health care reform will pass
anytime soon. However, Americans can expect much more dissent in both
houses in the coming weeks because the trouble-making tea party
movement and they show no signs of letting up.

For more stories;www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner

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