1. House Leadership Let Obamacare Expansion Pass

2. The Wisconsin GOP has had enough.

3. Joe Manchin: The Cowardly Faux Moderate

4. White House to Union-Controlled NLRB: Shush now! Be quiet!

1. House Leadership Let Obamacare Expansion Pass

Yesterday, House Republican Leadership allowed a bill to come to the floor of the House to expand the scope of an Obamacare program. The bill passed by a vote of 280-138—with 95 Republican votes.The Veterinary Public Health Amendments Act (HR 525), introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), would increase the number of veterinarians with public health training via federal subsidies. One of the bill’s provisions expands the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program—a loan program created in Obamacare (Title V of Section 5204)—to include veterinarians in the definition of eligible public health officials.After Obamacare was enacted, Democrats recognized that the loan program would not cover veterinarians and so they passed legislation late last year to expand its scope. Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. The Wisconsin GOP has had enough.

The Wisconsin Republicans have been prevented from passing their financial reform package because they must have a super-majority quorum in the state legislature to pass financial matters. Part of the financial reform package was an end to collective bargaining on salary for public employees. Consequently, the Wisconsin legislature got tired of the Democrats hiding in Illinois. By an 18-1 vote, the Wisconsin Senate stripped collective bargaining from the financial package and passed it as a stand alone item. The portion of the financial package that the unions most objected to is now going to be the law without them present. They are, to say the least, upset.Oh well. At least the Republicans didn’t just “deem” it passed.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Joe Manchin: The Cowardly Faux Moderate

Perhaps no politician is more willing to engage in political acrobatics than Joe Manchin. There is no degree to which he will not contort his political statements and ideological alignment in order to obtain and retain power in West Virginia. Manchin aired an infamous TV ad depicting himself taking aim at the cap and trade bill while campaigning to join the anti-gun, pro-’cap and trade’ Democrat Party. Despite his previous support for ObamaCare, he campaigned against it. Now he is eliciting headlines by criticizing Obama on the budget. However, it is Manchin’s voting record that we must examine, not his contrived political stunts or meaningless rhetoric.Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. White House to Union-Controlled NLRB: Shush now! Be quiet!

A few weeks ago, as the debate over the FY 2011 budget was being debated, we raised the question as to why the union-controlled National Labor Relations Board wanted even more money from taxpayers, even as the NLRB’s case load has plummeted over the last ten years. Then, when the GOP-led House proposed cutting the NLRB’s budget by a mere $50 million (from $283 million to $233 million), the NLRB’s pro-union Chairman Wilma Liebman and the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon responded with an alarmist statement.Please click here for the rest of the post.