Because this blast is arriving in fast-succession [after the prior update], it is initiated by recalling the fact that the

bush-43 speech-at-ground-zero-on-9-11-2001-is-still-so-powerful and that George W Bushdelivered a -First Pitch strikein 2001 @ the World Series--When We Were Free. The impetus for it is, specifically, to recognize how [inch-by-inch] the working-hypothesis is mirroring the prior suggestion: HR 2009 [Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013] was passed by the House and could be appended to the CR covering the Treasury Department; HR 2300 [Empowering Patients First] could be appended to the CR covering the Health and Human Services Department; the remaining eight departments could then be amalgamated into one CR and passed [thereby envisioned to be passed by the Senate and signed by the POTUS]. In this fashion, the GOP would not be portrayed as the Party of NO! because it would have adopted [and funded] its alternative-plan, and the GOP would not be portrayed as having shut down government because it would have upheld its duties [per the Constitution, Article I, Section 7] to originate government-funding bills. Here is what just arrived [c/o Guzzardi, of course, who is avidly studying all of these blasts]: Morning Examiner: House leadership's latest plan to avoid shutdown House Republican leadership will attempt to sell House Republicans on a new plan to avoid a government shutdown Wednesday, and it includes a partial defunding of ObamaCare. Last week, House leadership unveiled a short-term continuing resolution that would have kept the entire federal government funded, including ObamaCare, through Dec. 15. That plan failed to win enough votes in the Republican caucus to guarantee victory, so a planned Thursday vote was cancelled. Let's Try This Again Now House GOP leadership is back with another short-term continuing resolution, this time funding everything but ObamaCare through Dec. 15. This is not a full embrace of the defund-ObamaCare supporters who want to fight with President Obama over a fullyear CR that zeroes-out ObamaCare. A separate bill introduced by Rep. Tom Graves, RGa., would have done exactly that. 'Repeal and replace' is back Also Wednesday, conservatives will unveil new legislation to "repeal and replace" ObamaCare. This is not a leadership plan, but instead is coming from the much more conservative Republican Study Committee. RSC Chairman Steve Scalise, R-La., will announce the plan, along with Tennessee Reps. Phil Roe and Marsha Blackburn. We've obviously fought very hard to repeal the bill, to unravel different pieces on it that are falling on its own weight, anyway, Scalise told Roll Call. But we've also been working to put together a true alternative that would lower market costs and fix some real problems that existed before ObamaCare that are made worse with it. No details of the plan have been released yet. What's next?

If the House GOP leadership is able to sell its caucus on the new short-term defundObamaCare CR, the entire House could vote on it as early as Thursday. After that, the bill would quickly be sent to the Senate, where House leaders areanxious to see what Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, can do with it. If Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sits on the bill, or brings it up for a vote to kill it, look for House Republicans to run out the clock before relaunching their original CR bill which funded everything, including ObamaCare, through Dec. 15. Either way, the CR-shutdown fight is still shaping up to be a minor undercard bout compared to the later mid-October fight over the debt limit. Public backing for shutdown growing? All of this happens as evidence appears of a major shift in public opinion. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds 51 percent of those questioned favor a government shutdown if ObamaCare is not at least partially defunded. The survey contacted 1,000 likely voters over the weekend and has a 3 percent margin of error, so it may suggest the congressional GOP leaders' temerity on defunding ObamaCare represents a mis-reading of public opinion. Here are the details [c/o Eastern MontCo, Philly Tea Party Patriots] of the GOPs alternate-plan, noting that one line therein [No overall cost estimates for the bill were available.] is reminiscent of [failed] efforts to prompt Mikes office to submit his bill to the Legislative Reference Bureau for a Fiscal Note: house-conservatives-back-obamacare-alternative By Associated Press September 18, 2013 6:50 am A large group of House conservatives intends to unveil legislation providing an expanded tax break for consumers who purchase their own health coverage and increasing the government funding for high-risk pools, according to lawmakers who said the plan marked the Republicans' first comprehensive alternative to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Under the proposal endorsed by the Republican Study Committee, individuals who purchase coverage approved for sale in their state could claim a deduction of $7,500 against their income and payroll taxes, regardless of the cost of the insurance. Families could deduct $20,000. The RSC claims a membership of 175 members, about three-quarters of the House Republican rank and file. The bill's introduction, expected Wednesday, comes at a time when the leadership has yet to advance any comprehensive alternative to the law Obama signed in 2010, even though lawmakers have voted more than 40 times on repealing part or all of it. The GOP vowed three years ago to "repeal and replace" the existing law.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the RSC chairman, said the group wanted an alternative "that actually lowered cost and increased access, and did it in a way that doesn't have the mandates and the taxes" that are part of what's come to be known as "Obamacare." "We're going to be pushing to have a vote on the House floor" after going through regular legislative procedures, he said of the measure, which includes a full repeal of the law that Republicans have opposed from the start. Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., who led a small group that drafted the measure, said the tax deduction would ensure that individuals and families enjoy "the same buying power" as employers who are permitted to deduct the cost of coverage they provide coverage to their workers. He also said the commitment of $25 billion over 10 years to defray the cost of coverage for high-risk patients would ease a problem caused when funding provided under Obama's plan ran out. Premiums in the high-risk pools would be capped at twice the average cost of insurance sold in the state. Individuals with pre-existing conditions who already have coverage would generally be permitted to shift existing insurance without fear of losing it. The legislation also includes expanded access to health savings accounts, which are taxpreferred accounts used to pay medical expenses by consumers enrolled in highdeductible coverage plans. The RSC legislation includes a number of proposals that Republicans long have backed to expand access and hold down the cost of health care, including features that permit companies to sell policies across state lines and that let small businesses join together to seek better rates from insurers. In addition, awards for pain and suffering, emotional distress and similar noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases would be capped at $250,000, unless a state had a higher cap. No overall cost estimates for the bill were available. Internal divisions have plagued Republicans this year as they struggle to produce alternatives to the Obama plan. Legislation backed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., to increase funding for high-risk pools was pulled without a vote after some conservatives objected to improving "Obamacare" at a time when they want to repeal it. Obama and Democrats frequently criticize Republicans for focusing so much attention on repeal efforts without coming up with an alternative. No update would be complete without noting how the WaPo is purposefully miscasting the situation [Government shutdown moves closer to reality], failing to report the GOPs lede that has been the constant-theme for weeks: the GOP funds all of government except ObamaCare. It prematurely places blame on the GOP [voters may well blame Republicans for a shutdown given that the repeal-or-bust crowd provoked the confrontation] without noting the alternate possibility [voters may well blame

Democrats for a shutdown, given that the maintain-or-bust crowd (House, Senate, POTUS) has refused consistently even to discuss the financing of ObamaCare and, thus, provoked the confrontation]. During conversation [with Guzzardi, of course, who is avidly fact-checking all of these blasts], he was reminded of a classic-jingle from a half-century ago that characterizes the uncertainties that abound; after he was told it was from TVs Mickey Mouse Club, he proclaimed the following to be Talmudic because, as per his Facebook entry [all of which, he knows, I avidly read], We plan; God laughs.: Today is the day that is filled with surprises; nobody knows whats going to happen! Mickey Mouse Club: "Anything Can Happen Day" - YouTube Throughout, it must be recognized that Emergency Department Use Could Surge Under ACA due to the concept that unlimited-demand will predictably overwhelm limited-supply. Awareness must also be maintained when the liberal-media attempts to numb the citizenry [e.g., the following is in todays Inqy: Cancer patients overtreated in final days]. Another iteration: The idiot's guide to de-funding ObamaCare.