Let me just clear this up.
Previewing an element of his State of the Union address, the president will gather a roundtable of working women as a backdrop for his challenge to the Republican-controlled Congress to pass legislation even Democrats couldn’t muscle off Capitol Hill when they held the majorities. Obama will ask lawmakers to pass the Healthy Families Act, a long-stalled measure that would grant workers up to seven days of paid leave annually when they or family members have medical needs.
Imagine this imaginary conversation, in fact:
Me: Will the President offset the costs incurred by this program by cutting funding elsewhere?
Somebody else: Well, that’s an interesting questi…
Me (Interrupting): Then the answer is ‘No.’
Somebody Else: …You guys and your War On Women.
Me: Gee. Haven’t heard that one before. How did that work for you guys in 2014, again? – Sorry, rhetorical question.
Seriously, if the Democrats wanted to do this so badly, they should have done it in 2009 instead of wasting all of our time with Obamacare. And get used to that observation, because you’ll be hearing a lot of variants of it. The bottom line is, elections have consequences.
Moe Lane
PS: I find it truly difficult to believe that Valerie Jarrett honestly thinks that the new Congress wishes to interact with her in any fashion that does not involve a subpoena.
PPS: Actually, no, Barack Obama can’t order private businesses to provide sick leave. He can more or less order government agencies to do so. But that’s just giving out goodies to a loyal faction of the Democratic party, not a statement of principle or anything.
Eh, this makes as much sense as “free junior college”.
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Mew
Somebody I think it was at “Hot Air” said that O’bama was going to propose things so the Republicans would look bad when they opposed them. But if stuff like this and the free Junior College thing are the best he can come up with for his going on offense schtick he’s not a lame duck he’s a gelded duck.
He’s kind of stuck, can’t expedite Keystone or the Greenies will be out for blood, can’t just kill it or what’s left of Big Labor may start voting their class interet, can’t go much further anti-war short of nuking Austin TX, so ….
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If the GOP want a cat’s advice, pass “The Free Community College Act”, making it free but only at for-profits with no tenure…
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Mew
Regarding your PPS, I believe most government agencies already provide more than 7 days of sick time per year. I know my state’s government employees get far more than that.