Obama agenda: Rx drugs, tobacco
Posted: Monday, June 22, 2009 9:14 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
White House, Economy, Barack Obama
"President Barack Obama will make a formal announcement Monday welcoming the weekend agreement by the pharmaceutical industry to help close a gap in prescription drug coverage under Medicare," the AP says. "The president has invited Barry Rand, head of the senior citizens' advocacy group AARP, to appear with him."
He will also "sign the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The law allows the Food and Drug Administration to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block labels such as 'low tar' and 'light.'"
USA Today looks at the idea of a health-care exchange, which would offer a wide range of health insurance plans. “Options include one national exchange or many on a state or regional basis. An exchange could be operated by the government or an independent agency. It could administer federal subsidies to low-income people. It could collect fees required from employers who don't provide health insurance to their workers. It could be open to all comers or exclude large employers and others with insurance already. Those are the details being debated, but proponents say one thing is certain: An exchange, coupled with changes in the insurance market, would increase availability and cut costs for people who don't get health insurance through their employers.”
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Video: Team Obama has suffered through a tough week with criticism from the left and the right; a drop in the polls and new questions surrounding whether the president’s health care plan can get done. A Hardball panel discusses.
The
Washington Post front-pages the political-economic situation for Obama if unemployment reaches 10% by the end of the year. “The likelihood of severe unemployment extending into the 2010 midterm elections and beyond poses a significant political hurdle to President Obama and congressional Democrats, who are already under fire for what critics label profligate spending. Continuing high unemployment rates would undercut the fundamental argument behind much of that spending: the promise that it will create new jobs and improve the prospects of working Americans, which Obama has called the ultimate measure of a healthy economy.”
Video: NBC's Chuck Todd and Fortune magazine's Nina Easton discuss the size of President Obama’s political agenda with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.”
Big-city mayors are complaining that the stimulus is disproportionately helping smaller communities at the expense of bigger ones, the
L.A. Times notes. “Mayors contend the stimulus relies too heavily on long-standing government formulas that make states the primary conduit for the cash. Once the money is funneled to states, governors and legislatures dole it out disproportionately to rural areas that have amassed political clout.”
The New York Times looks at how the Obama White House hasn’t lived up to its pledge about posting legislation five days before he would sign it into law. “Now, in a tacit acknowledgment that the campaign pledge was easier to make than to fulfill, the White House is changing its terms. Instead of starting the five-day clock when Congress passes a bill, administration officials say they intend to start it earlier and post the bills sooner.”
