Obama Reaches Out To Boehner On Immigration
Obama signals immigration reform can be done with a series of bills to satisfy House, extends olive branch to Boehner: "...just this past week Speaker Boehner said that he is 'hopeful we can make progress' on immigration reform. And that is good news. I believe the Speaker is sincere. I think he genuinely wants to get it done ... I think there are a number of other House Republicans who also want to get this done. Some of them are hesitant to do it in one big bill, like the Senate did. That’s okay ... it’s Thanksgiving; we can carve that bird into multiple pieces ... as long as all the pieces get done -- soon -- and we actually deliver on the core values we’ve been talking about for so long, I think everybody is fine with it."
Obama tells protestor he can't stop deportations via executive order. LAT: "As the prospects for immigration legislation in Congress have faded, activists have been increasing pressure on Obama to take executive action to reduce the record number of deportations during his administration. Last year, Obama approved a step to shield one group of people from deportation ... The administration justified that action as an exercise in prosecutorial discretion, the legal basis being that the executive branch has authority to say that some cases for deportation are less urgent than others. That principle can't be extended to cover everyone, administration lawyers have said. Immigration advocacy groups say, however, that some additional groups could be covered if Obama was willing to act."
Obama address spotlights undocumented Asian immigrants. NYT: "...some in the Republican Party are warning their colleagues to express their objections carefully, and not just for fear of alienating Latino voters. Asia has passed Latin America in recent years as the largest source of immigrants to the United States. 'On the national level, at least on the presidential, you’ve seen throughout the years more and more support for the Democratic Party,' said Christine Chen, the executive director of the nonpartisan group Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote. But 'even a month before the election, 30 percent of our electorate that was polled was actually undecided.' Shawn Steel, a Republican committeeman from California who has pressed his party to reach out to Asian-American voters, said that many Asians were trapped in a bureaucratic backlog even though 'they followed the rules, they paid the fees, they had the interviews.'"
Steady Improvement For HealthCare.Gov
HHS says HealthCare.gov will be improved by Nov. 30, but more work to do. McClatchy: "A surge in signups is expected by Dec. 23 – the last day to enroll in health coverage that starts on Jan. 1, 2014. To handle the increased volume, the site will double its current capacity by Nov. 30 to handle 50,000 simultaneous users and 800,000 daily visitors. If user volume spikes too high and becomes unwieldy, a new 'queuing' feature will message users to leave the site and return when volume has decreased ... But additional problems persist. It remains unclear when the Spanish-language website and the online small business marketplace known as 'SHOP' will be up and running. And errors continue to show up in information sent to insurers about applicants."
Insurers prepare to boost Obamacare enrollment. Politico: "Insurance companies are ready to unleash an expensive PR blitz to get 7 million new customers once HealthCare.gov is fixed ... once the White House is sure its enrollment website is working, the companies will barrage the airwaves with messages encouraging people to join new health insurance exchanges, either by signing up directly with insurers or by giving the website another shot ... for the insurance industry, the new health care law isn’t about politics — it’s business."
Obamacare won't take your doctor, says TNR's Jonathan Cohn: "...according to nearly every source inside and outside the industry I've consulted, the primary reason carriers are offering so many small-network plans in the exchanges is that they believe consumers want them. Their marketing research suggests that, when forced to choose between paying higher premiums for wider networks or lower premiums for narrower networks, the majority of people will go for the cheaper insurance ... Market forces, not government, and the main reason insurers are introducing tighter networks. Yet the people objecting to the result are the same ones who say they love markets."
Obamacare is another Republican Benghazi, says Krugman: "...Obamacare already looks like one of those Republican obsessions — like Benghazi — where the party has convinced itself that there must be a pony winning issue hidden in there somewhere, and that if only it keeps flogging the thing, long after the public has moved on, it will eventually score big."
Federal Pensions In Congress Crosshairs
Federal worker pension cuts on budget table. The Hill: "[Negotiators] They are believed to be looking at hiking federal worker employee retirement contributions, which would effectively lower federal pay. The savings would be used to prevent sequester cuts to the Pentagon and non-defense discretionary spending. Unions representing workers are worried about the cuts already on the table."
Revenue raisers remain sticking point. National Journal: "Democrats insist that new revenues must be a part of any deal. While Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the panel's Republican cochairman, insists he will not consider any deal that raises taxes, he has shown an openness to increasing user fees and finding non-tax revenues as a potential area for compromise. But the proposals have drawn criticism almost from the start. Some say that raising user fees is just a tax increase by another name. Others say the fees won't be enough to make up for the kinds of deep spending cuts Republicans want."
Conservative millionaire funds effort to raise minimum wage in CA. NYT: "[Ron Unz] plans to pour his own money into a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage in California to $10 an hour in 2015 and $12 in 2016, which would make it by far the highest in the nation ... Unz argues that significantly raising the minimum wage would help curb government spending on social services, strengthen the economy and make more jobs attractive to American-born workers."
