All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

The House Republicans' health care bill would cost significantly less than the Democrats' plans and possibly lower the average cost of premiums, but it would leave millions uninsured, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The 230-page GOP bill would reduce the number of uninsured in the United States by 3 million by 2019, according the CBO analysis (PDF). That would leave about 52 million nonelderly residents uninsured. The share of residents with insurance coverage would be about 83 percent, roughly what it is now.

The GOP bill insures about 33 million fewer people than the Democrats' bill.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

House Republican Leader John Boehner (pictured above) has said the his party is more interested in reducing costs than insuring all Americans. The GOP bill does come to a price tag of around $61 billion, according to the CBO -- nearly $1 trillion less than the Democrats' bill. The legislation could also result in lower average premiums for Americans in private plans; however, it adds that its estimates are "subject to an unusually high degree of uncertainty."

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House Republican leader John Boehner released a statement Monday saying that President Obama has "no more excuses" for not announcing a decision on his strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan now that presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah (left) has pulled out of the Afghan runoff election, guaranteeing that Hamid Karzai will continue as the country's president.

"Now that it is clear that President Karzai will remain in office, the White House has no further pretext for delaying the decision on giving General McChrystal the resources he needs to achieve our goals in Afghanistan," said Boehner. "Delaying the decision puts our men and women fighting there in greater danger every single day."

The House minority leader went on to back General Stanley McChrystal's request for tens of thousands of more troops.

"There are no more excuses," he said. "It’s time for the Obama Administration to give our commander on the ground the resources he needs to protect our troops and achieve the goals the President has said he supports."

Republicans have been arguing that Mr. Obama's protracted decision-making process, which has involved closed-door meetings with military and civilian leaders over the past few weeks, has gone on too long – some with stronger language than others.

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Last week, House Republican Leader John Boehner objected to House passage of a bill that would expand hate crime laws and make it a federal crime to assault people on the basis of their sexual orientation.

"All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance," he said. "The Democrats' 'thought crimes' legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others. Republicans believe that all lives are created equal, and should be defended with equal vigilance."

Based on that statement, CBSNews.com contacted Boehner's office to find out if the minority leader opposes all hate crimes legislation. The law as it now stands offers protections based on race, color, religion and national origin.

In an email, Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner "supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics."

It should be noted that the current law does not include gender, though the expanded legislation would cover gender as well as sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

"He does not support adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes," Smith continued.

Boehner's position, then, appears to be grounded in the notion that immutable characteristics should be protected under hate crimes laws. And while religion is an immutable characteristic, his office suggests, sexual orientation is not.

Northeastern University professor Jack Levin, who co-authored the first book written about hate crimes, told Hotsheet that "to use immutability as a criterion doesn't make any sense at all."

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Since President Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus package in February, more than two million jobs have been lost and unemployment has hit its highest rate in a quarter century, 9.5 percent.

For Republicans, who have been seeking a message that will help the party regain some momentum, that's the sort of bad news that comes with a silver lining. Members of the GOP have been harshly attacking the opposition party as wasteful spenders whose expensive programs have had little positive impact.

"The administration promised the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8 percent, and they promised the stimulus would create jobs immediately," House Minority leader John Boehner said Thursday. (Officials actually predicted it would stay below 8.5 percent.)

"It's pretty clear now that the administration was wrong. The bottom line is this: The stimulus isn't creating enough jobs," Boehner said.

Defenders of the stimulus package say the situation would have been even worse without the legislation – and they note that nearly 90 percent of the stimulus money has not yet been spent. (The latter fact cuts both ways, of course: Stimulus defenders can point to it as evidence that the bill should be given more time to work, while critics can raise questions about why the money hasn't gone out faster.)

The Obama administration has dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to try to convince Americans that the stimulus is indeed making a difference. On Thursday, he went to Ohio and upstate New York to say he sees its impact everywhere he goes.

"Communities being rebuilt, factories being reopened, workers rehired — teachers in their classrooms, cops on the streets, families better able to live a quality life," he said in New York.

But voters are skeptical. In that crucial swing state of Ohio, one poll has puts the president's approval rating below 50 percent. And an important voting bloc appears to be shying away from the president – independents, who, Politico reports, "seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control."

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House Minority Leader John Boehner teed off with Tiger Woods and Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo, at left, yesterday, during a pro-am ahead of the AT&T National golf tournament, hosted by Woods.

According to The Hill, Boehner played a pretty good game, being under and making par on many holes. He sunk a 35-foot putt for birdie on the eigth hole, according to CNN

Although Boehner is known as an avid golfer with a reported 7.5 handicap, he tried to lower expectations before he hit the green.

"Well, listen — I can be the Republican leader of the House, and we'll know about the golf course at the end of 18 holes," he told CNN.

The pro-am based the final score on the lowest score of an individual team member on every hole. Boehner's team finished eight under par.

And although Boehner may not have been the most famous face on his team, he still managed to draw a few fans to the Congressional Country Club outside of Washington.

"Oh my gosh, that was awesome,” a fan said, The Hill reports, after asking Boehner to sign his shirt.

House Republicans unveiled a plan today that they say would solve the nation's health care crisis.

Rather than the complete health care overhaul that five different congressional committees are writing, Minority Leader John Boehner, left, said they would take the current system and improve it by reforming Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

How much the Republican plan would cost and how many uninsured Americans would gain coverage remains unclear. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said "we believe we can come up with a plan where every person in the uninsured has access to insurance."

Blunt made clear, however, that there would not be a mandate that individuals purchase insurance or that employers offer it. He also claimed that the overall price tag would be significantly lower than Democrat's proposals.

The four-page Republican health care outline lays out a plan that would allow states, associations and small businesses to pool together to offer health insurance. It would give tax credits to low and modest income Americans to help them buy health insurance. It would also let dependents under twenty-five stay on their parent's health insurance.

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the top Republican on the House tax-writing committee, said that provision alone would "cover seven million people in America."

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Top House Leadership drew lines in the sand on health care reform today as President Obama traveled to Green Bay, Wisconsin, for his own health care town hall meeting.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear in her weekly press conference that the centerpiece of House Democrat's plan to reform health care is a public option. When asked if the speaker would support a proposal gaining momentum in the Senate to create a non-profit insurance entity instead of a government plan Pelosi said "not instead of a public option, no."

The insistence on a government health insurance option means any hope for Republicans and Democrats to finally work together on an issue of great importance to the country is waning rapidly.

In his own weekly media availability, House Minority Leader John Boehner said he's "opposed to a government option. Period." Boehner said a government-run healthcare plan would make going to the doctor like going to the DMV.

Republicans in both the House and Senate oppose a government option on the grounds that it would drive out private insurers. Republican have made their case for months that any time the government competes with business, government, with its endless resources and ability to change the rules, wins.

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With the first Guantanamo detainee being relocated to New York today to face trial, Republican members of Congress are expressing strong opinions against bringing the prisoners to American soil.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) issued a statement today condemning the transfer of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a suspect in the 1998 bombings of United States embassies in Africa, to the United States.

"This is the first step in the Democrats' plan to import terrorists into America. Without a plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, the Administration has made the decision to begin transferring these terrorists into the United States, in spite of the overwhelming opposition of the American people and serious questions from Members of Congress of both parties," he stated.

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Republicans continued over the weekend to hammer House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her allegation that the CIA misled her about the use of torture, with House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) calling for the speaker to either provide further proof or apologize.

"Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime," Boehner said on CNN's "State of the Union." "If the speaker is accusing the CIA and other intelligence officials of lying or misleading the Congress, then she should come forward with evidence and turn that over to the Justice Department so they be prosecuted. And if that's not the case, I think she ought to apologize to our intelligence professionals around the world."

On Thursday, Pelosi said the CIA in a fall 2002 briefing misleadingly told her that detainees in the war on terror had not been subject to waterboarding.

The speaker tried to stay out of the spotlight over the weekend, opting to spend time with family instead of appearing on the Sunday morning talk shows.

She also released a statement on Friday that said her criticism was directed at the Bush administration, not employees of the CIA.

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For the first time in years, the majority of Americans believe the country is heading in the right direction, according to an Associated Press poll released today. Their spirits have apparently been bolstered by President Barack Obama's whirlwind first 100 days in office. But House Minority Leader John Boehner, as can be expected, does not share their view.

Where others see cause for hope and optimism, the top House Republican sees only taxes and spending.

Boehner held a press conference today prior to a White House meeting with the president and Democratic and Republican leaders from the House and Senate. Boehner's bleak assessment of Mr. Obama's performance comes on the cusp of the president's 100th day.

Boehner also made a point of emphasizing the upcoming "Debt Day" -- the moment when all of the revenue that the federal government generated for this fiscal year will be used up.

"Every new program, everything that happens after Sunday, through September 30th, the balance of this fiscal year, is going to have to be borrowed from our kids and grandkids," said Boehner. "This is the earliest Debt Day in history."

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