Water Over Gold
New member
Wouldn't they look MORE corrupt? They wouldn't really try to do this would they??
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjZlYzRkNDc2MjkwNTEwM2Q3NTNjNTY0NzZmYWUwOGI=
January 14, 2010 4:00 AM
The nation’s labor unions, according to Congress Daily, have cut a deal with House Democrats: Labor will drop its opposition to the so-called Cadillac tax — an excise tax on high-cost employer-provided health-care plans — if Congress will carve out an exemption for plans provided under collective-bargaining agreements. Even after all the unsavory bargains and rotten deals that have characterized the rush to get this thing passed (the “Louisiana Purchase,” the “Cornhusker Kickback,” etc.) the “Labor Loophole” surely takes the prize. A few Democrats in the Senate already tried this trick and were laughed out of the smoke-filled room, so nakedly obvious was the special-interest favoritism at work. That the Democratic party is seriously reconsidering this deal is a sign of how desperate it has become to pass a bill — any bill — that shoves the federal foot through the waiting-room door.
The story of the Cadillac tax is interesting in that it illustrates how hard it is to pass extremely unpopular legislation. After Obama pledged not to sign a health-care bill that added “one dime” to the deficit, Democrats in Congress needed to figure out a way to raise enough revenue to pay for hundreds of billions in new health-insurance subsidies and Medicaid extensions. An additional constraint was their need to do this without blatantly breaking Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on households making less than $250,000 a year.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjZlYzRkNDc2MjkwNTEwM2Q3NTNjNTY0NzZmYWUwOGI=
January 14, 2010 4:00 AM
The nation’s labor unions, according to Congress Daily, have cut a deal with House Democrats: Labor will drop its opposition to the so-called Cadillac tax — an excise tax on high-cost employer-provided health-care plans — if Congress will carve out an exemption for plans provided under collective-bargaining agreements. Even after all the unsavory bargains and rotten deals that have characterized the rush to get this thing passed (the “Louisiana Purchase,” the “Cornhusker Kickback,” etc.) the “Labor Loophole” surely takes the prize. A few Democrats in the Senate already tried this trick and were laughed out of the smoke-filled room, so nakedly obvious was the special-interest favoritism at work. That the Democratic party is seriously reconsidering this deal is a sign of how desperate it has become to pass a bill — any bill — that shoves the federal foot through the waiting-room door.
The story of the Cadillac tax is interesting in that it illustrates how hard it is to pass extremely unpopular legislation. After Obama pledged not to sign a health-care bill that added “one dime” to the deficit, Democrats in Congress needed to figure out a way to raise enough revenue to pay for hundreds of billions in new health-insurance subsidies and Medicaid extensions. An additional constraint was their need to do this without blatantly breaking Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on households making less than $250,000 a year.