Bunning Blockade Leads To 21% Pay Cut To Doctors

By GottaLaff

Not only did Jim Bunning block the (temporary) extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits for the unemployed, scream at reporters, and flip them off, he was also is responsible for cutting pay to doctors:

[I]ncluded in that package is legislation to prevent a mandatory pay cut for doctors--and by standing in it's way, he's triggered a 21 percent fee reduction to doctors seeing Medicare patients starting today.

Attaboy. Keep up the good work. Stay classy.

President Obama doing what Bush wouldn't

By GottaLaff

Let's compare and contrast. Here's what President Obama is doing today:

Expand the Veterans Administration's number of "centers of excellence" in specialty care:

The Obama administration's proposed 2010 budget outlines a plan to increase funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs by $25 billion over the next five years, starting with an 11 percent increase in discretionary funding next year.

According to a fact sheet prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the president's Veterans Affairs budget "enables VA to create Centers of Excellence and provides additional veteran-oriented specialty care in areas including prosthetics, vision and spinal cord injury, aging, and women’s health."

Of course the Rushpublics will rant about socialism and government takeovers. They're such Compassionate Carls and Carols.

Here's something else they can scream about. Their bffs are now only going to make a measly $200K-plus a year. Waaah!

U.S. to Order Steep Pay Cuts at Firms That Got Most Aid:

Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailouts, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives, an official involved in the decision said on Wednesday.

Under the plan, which will be announced in the next few days by the Treasury Department, the seven companies that received the most assistance will have to cut the cash payouts to their 25 best-paid executives by an average of about 90 percent from last year. For many of the executives, the cash they would have received will be replaced by stock that they will be restricted from selling immediately.

And for the 25 best-paid executives, the total compensation, which includes bonuses, will drop, on average, by about 50 percent.

The companies are Citigroup, Bank of America, the American International Group, General Motors, Chrysler and the financing arms of the two automakers.

Obama: The UnBush. Suh-weet!

H/t: DAKGirl

Obama speaks: Transparency

By GottaLaff

President Obama is at a swearing-in ceremony for his White House staff. He's speaking, but I could only catch some of it... he was going quickly:

Public service is a privilege, not for advancing friends and corporate clients, and agenda.... it's about advancing the interests of Americans.

All of you are here to build a more responsible, more accountable America....

I will be freezing the salaries of some of my staff... It's what's required of you at this moment, to mark your commitment to public service...

The people deserve a government of, by, and for the people. Close the door to lobbyists... Today we will fulfill a promise: A clean break... as of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than any administration in history. [He sets out rules, and I can't type that fast]. A ban on gifts to anyone in the administration.

The rules are not tough enough. So, there will be new rules for lobbyists and all those serving in my administration. [lists rules... we'll post more later]

The government must be transparent... the directives I'm giving today on how to interpret the Freedom Of Information Act will do just that.... Starting today, every agency should know that this administration stands on the side to make information known. Of course, privacy and national security will be treated with care.

Anytime the American people want to know something I want to withhold, we will have to meet with counsel. A separate authority will have to agree.

Our commitment to openness goes further: Recognizing that gov't officials have to draw on the public for what they need to know.

Involve Americans to shape policy... This doesn't go as far as it needs to go, but they mark a new era of openness. I hope to do something to make government trustworthy... that's a pretty good place to start.

As Paddy and I were just saying, that screeching sound you hear is the lobbyists ... going out of their minds.

He just told his staff how proud he is of them, of their sacrifices to be there, their families' sacrifices. "What a moment we're in, what an opportunity we have to change this country. These kinds of moment come around just so often. The American people are counting on us now. Let's not let them down [paraphrased]."

Joe Biden: "My memory's not as good as Justice Roberts'. " Suh-nap!