Obama S Plan

WASHINGTON - Elderly Americans on Medicare are substantially happier with their insurance coverage than their younger counterparts who rely on commercial insurance, according to a new national survey . Only 8% of Medicare beneficiaries 65 or over rated their coverage “fair” or “poor,” the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund found. By comparison, 20% of those with employer-based coverage gave their insurance plan low marks. And 33% of people who bought insurance on their own reported unhappiness with their coverage.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's proposed mix of tax hikes and spending cuts would reduce future budget deficits more quickly than under current laws, according to a report issued Friday that could rekindle the dormant budget wars in Washington. The outlook from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office comes as the government is set to reach its debt limit on Saturday, forcing the White House and Congress back to the negotiating table to work out a long-term budget plan that raises taxes, cuts spending -- or some combination of the two. Already, Washington is on track to have a substantially lower deficit -- $642 billion -- this fiscal year than experts had expected, the budget office reported earlier this week.

The Senate continues to make its way through popular provisions of President Obama's jobs package -- taking up a proposal this week to give tax credits to companies that hire jobless veterans -- in an otherwise quiet week that belies the looming deadlines facing Congress. With just weeks remaining to find agreement to fund the government and avert a shutdown, as well the Thanksgiving deadline for the bipartisan super committee to approve a deficit-reduction plan, this week's schedule shows little hint of movement on either front.

After taking months of heat from both political parties for its decision to assist in a NATO-led mission in Libya, the Obama administration was not only pleased with the results but also eager to tout the strategy, crediting it with weakening Moammar Kadafi's forces over time while giving rebel forces time to regroup. And the administration offered a response to criticism that Obama's plan lacked an endgame in Libya: “Six months is not a long time to bring down a 42-year dictatorship,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, in a telephone interview.    “Over time, all the pressure on Kadafi built up because we were destroying his forces on the ground while denying him ability to replenish them, so he was getting steadily weaker and at the same time the opposition was getting better organized,” Rhodes said.

At least one part of the government will probably be gathered in Washington until a solution is reached in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Wednesday that there would be no adjournment “until a credible solution to the fiscal cliff has been found.” Citing a “number of outstanding legislative items that we must revolve,” Cantor said on the House floor that “members are advised that the House will now be in session the week of December 17.” The House had previously been schedule to adjourn Dec. 14. The extension, Cantor said, was first and foremost due to the fiscal cliff.

Mitt Romney and John McCain have a history of tense relations dating back to their vicious battle for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, but any hard feelings appear to have been put aside as McCain endorsed Romney on Wednesday to be the party's nominee to take on President Obama. “It's with some nostalgia that I return to this place that I love so well,” said McCain, a popular figure in New Hampshire who twice won GOP presidential primaries here. “I'm really here for one reason and one reason only and that is to make sure we make Mitt Romney the next president of the United States of America.

Mitt Romney's campaign can be congratulated on fulfilling a summer campaign promise - to speak its mind in campaign ads, regardless of what outsiders said. Or as Romney pollster Neil Newhouse put it in August: "We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” With a new ad out Tuesday, the Romney camp, sure fire, renews its previously discredited charge that President Obama “gutted the work requirement for welfare.” It's an allegation that many media already showed ignores the real intent of an Obama administration rule that lets states begin to try new ways to get the poor to fulfill the work requirement that goes with their welfare payments.

Before the presidential campaign hurtles off to the next skirmish, take a moment to notice what happened this week: Mitt Romney vowed to increase the national debt by $716 billion, and no one so much as blinked. Romney's handling of the $716 billion in Medicare cost cuts comes close to being a perfect example of why federal spending so seldom gets cut - everyone favors restraining government spending in theory, but voters seldom love it in practice. To recap: As part of the Obama health reform law, Congress voted to reduce payments to certain hospitals, insurance companies and other healthcare providers by about $716 billion over the next 10 years.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Mitt Romney brought his presidential campaign to the West Slope of Colorado on Tuesday, looking to energize his base here in a heavily Republican part of the state and highlight the continuing struggle to bring back jobs in a region where unemployment is higher than other parts of the nation. In a question-and-answer session with voters at Central High School, the unofficial Republican nominee took aim at President Obama's tax plans - stating that his rival's proposal to extend the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for those making up to $250,000 - but not upper-income Americans - would harm “job creators.” The tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year.

WASHINGTON - President Obama said Wednesday that he would reject any Republican effort to tie a long-term budget deal to a vote to increase the debt ceiling, saying such a strategy would be a threat to the recovering economy. “That is a bad strategy for America, it's a bad strategy for your businesses, and it is not a game that I will play,” Obama told a group of business leaders gathered for a meeting of the Business Roundtable. The president was reacting to reports that Republicans on the Hill are considering a new way out of their standoff with the president over a massive set of tax rates and spending cuts set to take effect in the new year.