With the House vote on the Affordable Health Care for All Americans Act expected within hours, President Barack Obama came to Capitol Hill Saturday to secure votes from Congressional Democrats.

The president spoke for approximately 15 minutes, veering away from controversial topics such as the public option and abortion funding.

“[It was] higher level,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) told reporters. “[Obama] talked about the imperative of the country, talked about the tough decisions, acknowledged that it was hard.”

Instead, the President focused on his desire to lower health costs for families and small businesses, casting the impending vote as a historic opportunity.

Obama acknowledged the heated opposition to the bill being waged by Conservative activists, telling the caucus that Democrats could not win them over simply by opposing the legislation.

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who served in the House from 2002-2008, accompanied the President. Emanuel reportedly worked the room, talking to his former colleagues on an individual basis.

The president’s remarks were received warmly, with some members spontaneously bursting out with calls of “fired up, ready to go,” a popular slogan from Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) says that the latest unemployement numbers – the national rate jumped to 10.2% in October – prove that President Barack Obama was wrong when he said earlier this year that the stimulus package would prevent unemployment from rising above 8%. (:34)

 

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Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) says that the fact that the national unemployment rate is now at 10.2% shows that President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, passed earlier this year, is still not working to create jobs. (:17)

 

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Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) tells reporters during a conference call on Friday that when he went home during the August recess, his constituents told him that they want Congress to focus on creating jobs before anything else. Latta says that one person told him that he doesn’t care about having access to healthcare if he doesn’t have the means of providing for his family. (:35)

 

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Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) explains that each job created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the stimulus plan, has cost the average American taxpayer over $248,000. (:26)

 

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Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) lists ten things that he would like to see included in any major piece of healthcare reform legislation. Led by House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), Republicans are expected to unveil a healthcare plan of their own by the end of this week. (:53)

 

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Rep. Steve King (R-(Iowa) says that he is not surprised that President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan will cost so much to implement. King recalls hearing the President say that he believes FDR’s New Deal would have been more successful if more money had been spent on it. King calls Obama a “Keynesian economist on steroids.” (:25)

 

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By Leah Valencia – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pointed her finger at the Bush administration Thursday, blaming it for the current conditions in Afghanistan.

“Our troops in Afghanistan are at risk because… the entire Bush administration looked the other way on Afghanistan, there was never a plan,” Pelosi said during her weekly press conference.

The Speaker said that during President Bush’s time as Commander in Chief the Taliban gained strength because there was not a policy that indicated to the Afghan government that the U.S. would not tolerate corruption.

“We have missed opportunities over the years and made matters worse…for President Obama,” Pelosi said.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Barack Obama Wednesday night of being weak in his strategy for Afghanistan, saying that his indecision “hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.”

“The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger,” Cheney said while making remarks at a function held by the Center for Security Policy.

Pelosi defended the current President, saying that he should take the appropriate time needed to make sound decisions.

“The President should not make a decision any sooner than he has the right information to do so,” she said. “Matters are so much worse because of the missed opportunities for seven and a half years, it is really tragic.”

At a speech he delivered Wednesday afternoon, President Barack Obama made clear that “it is essential to make more credit available to smaller banks and community financial institutions that these businesses depend on”. (0:21)

 

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John DuBois, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

A new policy introduced by the Obama administration Monday restricts the federal government’s authority to prosecute medicinal marijuana patients and sanctioned suppliers. Instead, federal resources will be diverted toward apprehending larger criminal operations.

Mondays decision was praised by medical marijuana activists.

“This is an important step forward today. The federal government said, that they will respect state laws regards to medical marijuana,” said Mike Meno, Assistant Director of Communication for the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization based on reforming existing marijuana laws. “We think this is great and more [reforms] should follow.”

However, the responses to the decision have not all been optimistic. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) charged in a statement Monday that “the Administration is tacitly condoning the use of marijuana in the U.S.” The statement goes on to read “If we want to win the war on drugs, federal prosecutors have a responsibility to investigate and prosecute all medical marijuana dispensaries and not just those that are merely fronts for illegal marijuana distribution.”

The new policy states that those who use or provide marijuana without medical clearance will still be prosecuted. Fourteen states currently permit marijuana for medical use; Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.