Proof Obamacare Can Work
California proves Obamacare can work, says NYT's Paul Krugman: "...California isn’t the only place where Obamacare is looking pretty good ... [But is] is, however, an especially useful test case. First of all, it’s huge: if a system can work for 38 million people, it can work for America as a whole ..."
Hope that Medicaid expansion will alleviate homelessness. NYT: "Housing advocates say they believe that the Medicaid expansion has the potential to reduce rates of homelessness significantly, both by preventing low-income Americans from becoming homeless as a result of illness or medical debt and by helping homeless people become eligible for and remain in housing ... But signing up homeless people for Medicaid is a huge logistical challenge ... Housing advocates and social workers across the country are now on a major push to inform impoverished and homeless people that they are eligible for Medicaid in the 25 states that are expanding the program and in the District of Columbia, and to enroll them."
Obama Steps Up Pressure For Immigration Reform
Obama to press immigration reform today. AP: "Obama's first event Monday is a stop at a San Francisco recreation center that serves a primarily Chinese community. He will renew his call for the House to pass new immigration measures ... According to administration data, 25 percent of the foreign-born population in the United States in 2011 came from Asian countries ..."
Top Republican sounds hopeful note. The Hill: "House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Sunday that immigration reform 'is going to happen,' but declined to lay out a timeline for a House vote on the matter."
Huge public support for pathway to citizenship. NYT: "A consistent and solid majority of Americans — 63 percent — crossing party and religious lines favors legislation to create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the United States illegally, while only 14 percent support legal residency with no option for citizenship, according a report published Monday by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute ... The report is based on results from four national surveys, one in Ohio and focus groups in Arizona, Florida and Ohio."
Narrow Climate Deal Raises Global Hopes
International climate talks achieve small victory. The Hill: "...fast-growing economies like China and India won more lenient climate change guidelines than the U.S. and European countries originally wanted. Countries will now make 'contributions' toward reducing emissions over the next two years, instead of “commitments,' ... But even a narrow agreement at Warsaw, where close to 200 countries took part, could help lay the groundwork for a longer-term agreement in 2015. Negotiators are scheduled to meet in Paris that year to discuss a potential global climate change agreement."
Kofi Annan warns more action is needed by 2015, in NYT oped: "It is essential that governments start phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, which currently account for about $485 billion a year, and are far greater than the global investment in renewable energy ... If governments are unwilling to lead when leadership is required, people must ... citizens need to press their governments to come up with ambitious sustainable solutions, not just makeshift ones."
Breakfast Sides
"Presidential nominations are still no slam dunks" after filibuster reform, reports Politico: "...the filibuster remains in place as a delay tactic, requiring the Senate to burn hours of floor time unless the two parties can agree to speed up procedural votes ... Republicans haven’t decided whether they will use their remaining options in the procedural toolbox to slow down the approval of Obama’s high-profile nominees but are expected to discuss internal party strategy in detail when the Senate returns on Dec. 9 ... More likely, McConnell indicated, is a continued Republican push to keep the spotlight on the botched Obamacare implementation."
Heritage Action's new CEO is dividing the conservative movement, reports TNR: "Increasingly in Washington, 'Heritage' has come to denote not the foundation or the think tank, but Heritage Action ... Instead of fleshing out conservative positions, says one Republican Senate staffer, 'now they’re running around trying to get Republicans voted out of office...' ... As a result, the Heritage Foundation has gone from august conservative think tank revered by Washington’s Republicans to the party’s loathed ideological commissar."
