The Daily Dish

August 5th Edition

Since Obamacare was passed, Democrats contended that people would like the health care program once they learned more about it. According to a new survey by Kaiser, more than half of Americans have unfavorable ratings of the law. Only 15 percent of Americans have said that Obamacare has helped them while 28 percent claim direct harm. As the public becomes more educated on the law, less appear to approve of the details.

With fewer than 100 days until November, an oped in the Washington Post says Republicans can’t talk enough about the economy. Even with this past quarter’s growth, the “GDP growth for the year is now an anemic 0.9 percent…The Democrats’ overspending is indefensible, so they mostly don’t even try to defend it.  Instead, they change the subject – or worse, they suggest our increasing debt is not a problem.”

A dozen states that rely on coal as a major source of jobs and economic health have sued the EPA to block the new greenhouse gas regulations. Indiana's Governor Mike Pence, who's state is a plaintiff in the suit, said, “Congress has already rejected legislation that would put limits on carbon dioxide emissions, and a law of this significance should be passed by the legislative branch.”

Eakinomics: The President is Lonely By Choice– Guest Authored by Laura Collins, AAF Director of Immigration Policy

In a speech in Austin, Texas last month, President Obama said, “You know, it is lonely, me just doing stuff. I'd love it if the Republicans did stuff too.” But on the border crisis, House Republicans are the lonely ones.

With the long August recess looming late last week, House Republicans stayed an extra day to craft a bill to provide additional funding for the agencies dealing with the crisis. The $694 million funding measure includes key changes to a 2008 human trafficking law. House Republicans see these changes as vital to addressing the processing backlog for the unaccompanied children from Central America.

The president and congressional Democrats criticized the measure, but their own plans failed. The Senate’s border bill failed on a procedural vote. The president’s plan, a massive $3.7 billion request, did not win support from anyone, even members of his own party. Despite this, Obama refused to negotiate with Republicans intent on solving the crisis, doubling down on his funding request and abandoning an earlier openness to changes in the 2008 law.

Now reports are heating up that President Obama will make good on his threats to act unilaterally on immigration reform. He reportedly will receive recommendations from Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson as early as next week. Executive action on the border crisis is rumored to be at the top of the list—action that could have been avoided if Obama was willing to work with a Congress that demonstrated it wants to solve this problem.

More executive action is likely, possibly extending deferred action to family members of the DREAMers who qualified for the administration’s previous program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It is difficult to predict what these actions will be, and the administration has been cautious about revealing any details. Regardless, it seems the president is committed to acting unilaterally. Obama complains about how lonely executive action is, but he declines chances to work with Congress. The president is lonely by choice.

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