Free Republic

Democratic leaders have given the White House space to work out the problems with the Obamacare website, but if it isn’t right this time around, vulnerable Senate Democrats could distance themselves even more from the law they voted to pass. … Earlier this month, 39 Democrats joined ranks with Republicans to vote for a bill allowing people to remain on their current health insurance plans, and are signaling they’re ready to make a stronger push about the bill should the site still not work correctly after Sunday’s deadline comes and goes, said The National Journal. But with Obama’s poll numbers...

As the state Senate finished voting Saturday on a bill to extend a tax on managed care plans, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters at the back of the room, "That is what's called a supermajority." Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the spending plan before the next fiscal year begins July 1.

School plans to layoff 25 faculty and staff members The University of the District of Columbia is asking the city for $4 million to pay for the severance packages of dozens of professors and staff members it wants to lay off. UDC plans to lay off 25 faculty and staff members, and eliminate seven departments and two dozen majors. School officials say it's expensive to eliminate positions because of a strong union presence. The school already eliminated 30 positions. A university spokesperson said the school expects the city to pay for the severance packages because the city ordered UDC to...

From the time he entered the White House, President Obama frequently has spoken about having “inherited” an economic mess, and he has been criticized for it. But the expression arguably has been used even more often by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Nine months later, it is a theme she returns to regularly at home and abroad. During her most recent trip, a six-day visit to Western Europe and Russia earlier this month, Clinton used the phrase publicly at least four times on three occasions. At a joint press conference with her British counterpart David Miliband in London on October...