Free Republic

A federal judge Tuesday gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit challenging Obamacare insurance subsidies — but refused to immediately block them while the case proceeds. The latest legal challenge focuses on whether the controversial 2010 law allows for subsidies in all states — or only in states that have set up exchanges. Only 16 states and the District of Columbia chose to set up online marketplaces where people without private health insurance can shop for it. The federal government is running the exchanges in the remaining states. Subsidies, in the form of tax credits, are available to people with annual...

EUGENE, Ore. - Vicki Walker and 27,000 other federal workers in Oregon effectively lost their jobs during the government shutdown. Walker didn't apply for unemployment benefits, however, because state law requires applicants to seek other work. "I like what I do so I deferred not to take those benefits and wait and hope that Congress would repay the funding," she said. The budget bill approved by Congress on Wednesday states that all federal employees will receive back pay for the time they didn’t working during the partial government shut down. But Oregon state law mandates that the 1,300 Oregon federal...

University of Wyoming President Bob Sternberg says he will "find a way" to help students whose veterans' benefits may be delayed as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, so no veteran will need to leave their studies because of political gridlock. Federal agencies have provided enough money to cover veterans' benefits for the remainder of October, but delays are likely if the shutdown continues past Nov. 1, Marty Martinez, project coordinator for UW's Veterans Service Center, said Tuesday. If those delays should affect whether a student could continue paying for classes at UW, Sternberg said, the university will find...

For Immediate Release October 8, 2013 Federal Reserve Board Issues Redesigned $100 Note The Federal Reserve on Tuesday began supplying financial institutions with a redesigned $100 note that incorporates new security features to deter counterfeiters and help businesses and consumers tell whether a note is genuine. Distance, demand, and the policies of individual financial institutions will influence how quickly the redesigned notes reach businesses and consumers around the world. “The new design incorporates security features that make it easier to authenticate, but harder to replicate,” said Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome H. Powell. “As the new note transitions into daily...

I went to listen to Dallas Fed Reserve President Richard Fisher speak tonight on the Campus of SMU in Dallas sponsored by Texas Monthly. There are a few observations I wanted to make: 1. Fisher states that the Fed has two legislated missions: monetary policies to maintain price stability, and policy to attain maximum employment. Fisher says the latter is an impossible mission because the Fed can set the right conditions that would allow for full employment, but they cannot control the policy decisions that would allow for it. Three times he said this. His example: the Fed is pumping...

As Columbus Day weekend approaches and New England fall foliage reaches its peak, the U.S. Forest Service has decreed that 22 privately run campgrounds in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest will have to close because of the government shutdown. According to the Union Leader, while the campsites are situated on federally owned land, they are entirely run by a private company, which has a contract to operate the sites and which pays the federal government a cut of the fees it collects. That means the closure will not only prevent thousands of campers from using the facilities, it will...

In a letter sent to U.S. Government workers affected by the shutdown on October 1, President Obama told federal employees he will continue to work with Congress in order to get them back to work, thanked them for their service and blamed House Republicans for the government shutdown. "To the dedicated and hard-working employees of the United States Government: The Federal Government is America's largest employer, with more than 2 million civilian workers and 1.4 million active duty military who serve in all 50 States and around the world. But Congress has failed to meet its responsibility to pass a...

Harry Reid: Furlough back pay is ‘paid vacation’ By: Burgess Everett October 5, 2013 12:44 PM EDT By passing a bill providing federal workers back pay while the government is closed, House Republicans are giving them a “paid vacation,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday afternoon. Just a few minutes after the House passed its retroactive pay legislation for federal workers, Reid said the legislation is “uncontroversial” but said it is “cruel” to tell those employees they will get paid when the government reopens while at the same time refusing to open government.

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Don’t call the federal workers waiting to buy lunch from downtown Washington’s food trucks “nonessentials.” It’s like being branded with a scarlet letter N, or ending up the punchline of a late-night comedy bit that’s actually not that funny when there are bills to pay. Essential. Nonessential. These are the terms commonly, although not officially, used for employees who find themselves in one of two controversial categories: starting players or benched, during a partial government shutdown that is being threatened. **SNIP** “It’s like a stab in the back. Like being told in high school that you’re average and not in...

American incomes have tumbled over the last decade. But for many people in Washington, D.C., it’s been something of a party. The income of the typical D.C. household rose 23.3% between 2000 and 2012 to an inflation-adjusted $66,583, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, its most comprehensive snapshot of America’s demographic, social and economic trends. During this period, median household incomes for the nation as a whole dropped 6.6% — from $55,030 to $51,371. The state of Mississippi, which had one of the biggest declines, dropped 15% to $37,095: Nearly one in three people there have an income...

We have had Live Threads here at Freerepublic for the count for the last three Australian Federal elections - in 2004 which ended in conservative victory, then again in 2007 which ended in defeat for the conservatives and a Labor government, and then again in 2010 which gave us a hung Parliament, where Labor continued governing with the support of the Greens and independents. This is the live thread for 2013 - polls close and the count begins in about 10 minutes. Polls and exit polls indicate a victory for the conservative coalition under Tony Abbott is highly likely. A...

Cost of Federal Government's Benefits Expansion to Same-Sex Couples Unknown, Sources Say By Michael Gryboski The Christian Post As multiple federal government entities look towards expanding their benefits programs to include same-sex spouses, estimates as to the cost of such expansions have not been calculated. According to multiple sources The Christian Post has queried, no estimates exist for how much expanding federal government and military benefits to same-sex spouses will cost financially. This is the case even though certain benchmarks for implementation of the new policies for benefits have come and gone..... Read more @ http://www.christianpost.com/news/cost-of-federal-governments-benefits-expansion-to-same-sex-couples-unknown-sources-say-103848/

America is in a constitutional crisis as well as an economic crisis. The problem is not just Barack Obama. It is the entire Democrat party, which has been taken over by Marxists (that is a literal truth and not just hyperbole), and which caused and continues to perpetuate both crises.

The Federal Reserve’s holdings of publicly traded U.S. Treasury securities—federal government debt—pushed above $2 trillion for the first time last week, hitting approximately $2,001,093,000,000 as of Aug. 14, according to the Fed’s latest weekly accounting. The Fed’s accounting for the previous week showed that it had owned approximately $1,993,375,000,000 in U.S. Treasury securities as of Aug. 7. Back on Dec. 31, 2008, before the Fed began its strategy of “Quantitative Easing," the Fed owned only $475.9 billion in U.S. Treasury securities. Since then, the Fed’s holdings of U.S. government debt have more than quadrupled

Less than 3 percent of U.S. federal workers want to give up their current health plans and join Obamacare, according to a new poll. 92.3 percent of federal workers think that they should continue with their current health insurance program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), while just 2.8 percent think they should be required to join Obamacare exchanges and 4.9 percent are not sure, according to an August survey conducted by FedSmith.com, a website for federal employees. “There is apparently little debate among the federal workforce. Federal employees do not want to be part of the new system…...

BASALT, Colo. — Federal agents with the FBI, IRS and Bureau of Land Management have served a search warrant at the offices of Crystal River Oil and Gas in Basalt. IRS special agent Karen Gurgel said the action on Tuesday is part of a criminal investigation, but she did not elaborate. Crystal River Oil and Gas operates 300 oil-and-gas producing wells in six states, with a focus on Texas and Oklahoma. It also has offices in California.

<p>President Obama is calling on federal agencies to use volunteers to accomplish their tasks as part of a larger effort to boost community service throughout the country.</p> <p>The White House issued an executive order Friday -- Expanding National Service through Partnerships to Advance Government Priorities -- to establish a task force charged with improving national service and volunteering. The initiative seeks to align the American people’s commitment to service with the missions of federal agencies.</p>

THOMSON – Thomson prison is one small step closer to opening. Thursday, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved $166 million to reactivate Thomson and two other prisons, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, said in a news release. In October, the federal government paid $165 million for the prison in Thomson, a town along the Mississippi River in Carroll County. The state built the 1,600-cell, maximum-security prison a decade ago, then decided it couldn't afford to run it. It had been looking for a buyer for years. The prison is expected to bring 1,100 jobs and...

A landmark Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act has set up a stand-off between Republican-led states and the Obama administration over controversial voting laws that until now had been stalled. The 5-4 ruling on Tuesday addressed a 1960s-era provision that largely singled out states and districts in the South -- those with a history of discrimination -- and required them to seek federal permission to change their voting laws. The court ruled that the formula determining which states are affected was unconstitutional. ********************** Attorney General Eric Holder warned states against going too...