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Washington — Consumers saved nearly $1.5 billion in 2011 as a result of rules in President Obama´s healthcare law that limit what insurance companies can spend on expenses unrelated to medical care, including profit, a new analysis shows. Much of those savings — an estimated $1.1 billion — came in rebates to consumers required because insurers had exceeded the required limits. The study by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund also suggests that the Affordable Care Act forced insurers to become more efficient by limiting their administrative expenses, a key goal of the 2010 law. In some cases, insurers passed savings...

U.S. Republicans say, "No way" to ceding debt limit power Photo 7:36pm EST By Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers took a firm stand on Wednesday against an Obama administration proposal that would make it easier for the president to increase the nation's debt limit, worried it would undercut their leverage to cut government spending. Republicans introduced a non-binding resolution in the House of Representatives that, if approved, would put the chamber on record opposing the plan, and a Senate Republican began circulating a letter to President Barack Obama saying it was critical that Congress' role in setting the...

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned his conference on Wednesday that leaders are "watching" how the rank-and-file vote to determine committee assignments, according to sources in the closed-door meeting. Boehner addressed the firestorm over the removal of four lawmakers from plum committee assignments at the weekly GOP conference meeting.

Video At a Business Roundtable meeting today, President Obama warned Republicans to not use the debt ceiling as leverage in talks over spending cuts or entitlement cuts. Obama told business leaders they "should not accept going through" that "game" which would be a "catastrophe" for the country. "That is a bad strategy for America, it's a bad strategy for your businesses and it's not a game that I will play," Obama said. "I will not play that game, because we've got to break that habit before it starts," Obama later added.

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) took a public shot at House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) Tuesday night, in the wake of a shake-up that knocked a small group of conservatives off prominent committees. Justin Amash ✔ @repjustinamash Still waiting for call from GOP leadership. Are they too embarrassed to explain they booted me for working to reduce debt? 4 Dec 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite Amash, a libertarian-leaning conservative, was taken off the House Budget Committee. Tea party-backed Rep. Tim Huelskamp (Kan.) was taken off Budget and Agriculture. Reps. Walter Jones (N.C.), a rare moderate, and David Schweikert (Ariz.) lost their spots on the...

<p>Citigroup announced on Wednesday that it would cut 11,000 jobs, reducing its work force by roughly 4 percent in an effort to cut costs.</p> <p>Under the reduction, 1,900 jobs will be eliminated in the institutional clients division. Another 6,200 positions will be removed from the bank’s consumer banking business, along with 2,600 jobs in the operations and technology group.</p>

Taxes on the wealthy are going up, House Speaker John Boehner conceded on Wednesday in challenging President Barack Obama to sit down with him to hammer out a deal for avoiding the fiscal cliff. The statement to reporters reflected how negotiations on reducing the nation's chronic federal deficits and debt have evolved since Obama's re-election last month. Republicans once opposed to any new revenue in their quest to shrink government now realize Obama's victory and public support for the president's campaign theme of higher taxes on the wealthy leave them with little negotiating leverage. Less than four weeks from the...

A bill to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain an Illinois driver’s license passed the Illinois Senate today by a vote of 41 to 14. One Democrat voted “present.” The bill is SB957. The 10 Republicans who joined the Democrats in rewarding non-citizens who are already breaking our laws, were: Bill Brady (Sponsor), Kirk Dillard, Tom Johnson, John Millner (Sponsor), Matt Murphy, Carole Pankau, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (Sponsor), Sue Rezin, Ron Sandack (Sponsor), and Suzi Schmidt. Two Republicans, Pamela Althoff and Dale Righter, took the ultimate lily-livered approach and just didn’t vote on the bill. That’s as bad as...

(Reuters) - Egyptian police battled thousands of protesters outside President Mohamed Mursi's palace in Cairo on Tuesday, prompting the Islamist leader to leave the building, two presidential sources said. Police fired teargas at demonstrators angered by Mursi's drive to hold a referendum on a new constitution on December 15. Some broke through police lines around his palace and protested next to the perimeter wall. Several thousand people had gathered nearby in what they dubbed "last warning" protests against Mursi, who infuriated opponents with a November 22 decree that expanded his powers. "The people want the downfall of the regime," the...

House Speaker John Boehner and GOP leadership have removed several conservative House members from their respective powerful committee positions, Breitbart News has learned. Effective next Congress, leadership pulled Kansas Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp, Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash and Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert off committees from which they could exert conservative pressure on fiscal matters. Amash and Huelskamp were pulled from the Budget Committee and Schweikert from the Financial Services Committee. Huelskamp, a freshman elected during the 2010 tea party wave, thinks the leadership move to pull him from the powerful committee is revenge for him standing up for...

<p>U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly contracted in November, falling to its lowest in over three years in a sign the sector may be struggling to gain traction, according to an industry report released on Monday.</p> <p>The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity fell to 49.5 in November from 51.7 the month before. The reading was shy of expectations of 51.3, according to a Reuters poll of economists.</p>

Israel has asked Jordan twice in the last two months for a green light to attack chemical weapons facilities in Syria, according to a report by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent representatives of the Mossad intelligence agency to Amman twice already, to coordinate the matter with the Jordanians and receive their "permission" for the operation, Goldberg wrote.

The Talk Shows December 2nd, 2012 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Geithner; Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn.; Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Geithner; Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.THIS WEEK (ABC): Geithner; Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Geithner; Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Gov. Brian Schweitzer, D-Mont.

Video at link (CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that Congress should hand over to President Barack Obama personal, unilateral authority to increase the limit on the U.S. government's debt. At a Friday press conference, a reporter asked Pelosi if she agreed with a proposal made by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that Congress give Obama the power to unilaterally increase the debt limit. "Yes," she said. When he met with members of Congress on Thursday to discuss a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff that is set to occur at the end of this year,...

House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, made it clear that any bill that came to the House from the upper chamber as a result of Senate Democrats changing the rules on the filibuster would be "dead on arrival." In a statement released from Speaker Boehner's office, the Ohio GOP'er remarked: “Senate Democrats’ attempt to break Senate rules in order to change Senate rules is clearly designed to marginalize Senate Republicans and their constituents while greasing the skids for controversial partisan measures. I question the wisdom of this maneuver, especially at a time when cooperation on Capitol Hill is critical, and...

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, says he “burst into laughter” Thursday when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner outlined the administration proposal for averting the fiscal cliff. He wasn’t trying to embarrass Geithner, McConnell says, only responding candidly to his one-sided plan, explicit on tax increases, vague on spending cuts. Geithner’s visit to his office left McConnell discouraged about reaching a “balanced” deal on tax hikes and spending reductions designed to prevent a shock to the economy in January. “Nothing good is happening” in the negotiations, McConnell says, because of Obama’s insistence on tax rate hikes for the wealthy but unwillingness...

In a 1986 book by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, the future diplomat argued for the aggressive inclusion of a black history curriculum in American schools, claiming that its omission had “crippling effects” by “providing a child with no more than … a white interpretation of reality.” The 86-page book, “A History Deferred,” served as a guide for secondary and elementary school teachers wanting to teach “Black Studies,” and was published by the Black Student Fund, an advocacy group where Rice had an internship. “Susan’s interest in the study of Black history evolved from her desire to...

<p>Last week I was told by very knowledgeable sources in the State Capitol that Obama Care was a lock to be implemented in Michigan because of the heavy handed pressure by Governerd Rick " Jennifer" Snyder, his bought and paid for minion Speaker of the House Jase Bolger and the Godzilla of health care insurance companies, Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Michigan. I was told they were demanding the passage of Health Care Exchanges so Obama Care can be implemented ASAP.</p>

House Republicans said on Thursday that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner presented the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a detailed proposal to avert the year-end fiscal crisis with $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, an immediate new round of stimulus spending, home mortgage refinancing and a permanent end to Congressional control over statutory borrowing limits. The proposal, loaded with Democratic priorities and short on detailed spending cuts, was likely to meet strong Republican resistance. In exchange for locking in the $1.6 trillion in added revenues, President Obama embraced $400 billion in savings from Medicare and other entitlements, to...

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday there will be no deficit deal unless Republicans agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest households.[snip]The president wants tax rates extended on all households below that threshold, but says rates above it should be phased out.