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More than almost anyone in Trumps circle, Pence is in demandAlex BrandonAP

Democratic Senators stayed late on the floor last night to lambast the health care bill being drafted by a small group of Republicans. A common refrain: the drafting process has been far too secretive, with some senators calling it shameful and absurd.

But in 2009-10, when the Affordable Care Act was up for vote, the tables were turned. Vice President Mike Pence, then a congressman from Indiana, leveled an identical criticism against the work on the bill that came to be known as Obamacare.

It's simply wrong for legislation that'll affect 100% of the American people to be negotiated behind closed doors, Pence tweeted on January 13, 2010.

While the criticisms closely mirror each other, there have been notable differences between the two processes. The Affordable Care Act was reviewed in a number of bipartisan public hearings and 25 days of floor debate, while its proposed replacement has been kept largely under wraps.

Continued here:
Mike Pence's Obamacare Tweet Came Back to Haunt Him - TIME

As security pressures mount, with new threats this week from Russia and heightened tensions with North Korea, Vice President Mike Pence saidTuesdaythat American manufacturers are the backbone of the United States' defense system.

In this time of widening challenges and unknowable threats We do not build Navy ships and aircraft and the weapons that defend our freedom, we do not fill the arsenal of democracy without [manufacturers], the vice president said during a speech before the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, D.C.

After a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane, Russia warned this week that U.S. planes flying over the same airspace would be considered air targets.

Pence also addressed the growing threat from North Korea after the death Monday of 22-year old college student Otto Wambier, who was returned to his family in a coma after being detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a half. While investigators are still trying to determine the exact cause of his death, his parents have cited awful, torturous mistreatment.

The United States of America condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn their latest victim, Pence said.

As Pence honored 7 American sailors killed when a Navy destroyer collided with a container ship off of the coast of Japan, the vice president said strong manufacturing remains essentialfor the country to produce products that will protect our citizens and soldiers.

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Together we will make American prosperous again, together we will make America safe again and to borrow a phrase, together we will make America great again, Vice President Pence said.

The vice president also said the administration will work with businesses to create new jobs and also to fill open positions with its newly announced apprenticeship expansion program. Pence said they will continue to eliminate job crushing regulations, while repealing and replacing the ObamaCare which is to be completed by the end of this summer.

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Pence: American manufacturing key to US defense amid Russia, North Korea threats - Fox Business

Vice President Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryanaimed toproject a united front on tax reform at a joint appearance Tuesday, and in a sense, they did.

The Internal Revenue Code is twice as long as the Bible, with none of the good news, Pence told aWashington conference of manufacturing magnates.An hour later, Ryan repeated the linenearly verbatim.

Indeed, the pair found plenty of common ground as they discussed GOP plans forchanging the U.S. tax code -- a Republican priority for more than adecade and a top item on President Trump's agenda. But despite sharingbroad principles and a punch line, the party leadersgive little indication they'd resolved the internal Republican divisionsthat have plagued the reformeffort from its inception.

Speaking first, Pence argued for the importance of tax reform for the economy, recapitulating the outline ofTrump's priorities on the issue that the administration published in April.The White House's goals,Pence said, include bringing down income tax ratesand getting rid of the estate tax, as well as eliminatingdeductions, credits, loopholes and other breaks that complicate filing taxes and reduce the amount of revenue the federal government collects.

Ryan called for many of the same changes,arguing the United States' corporate tax rate puts American companies at a disadvantage relative to their foreign rivals.

But the two men left important questions unanswered, including a fundamental question about what type of tax reform the party plans to pursue. Ryan has argued for a complete overhaul of the corporate tax system, one that would make basic and permanentchanges to the way American businesses pay taxes.If we're going to truly fix our tax code, then we've got to fix all of it, Ryan said.

Trump's deputies, however, have indicated support for less ambitious, temporary relief to stimulate the economy.Pence did not further clarify the administration's position on the issue, instead reiterating points that other executive-branch officials have made before.

We're going to pass the largest tax cut since the days of Ronald Reagan, Pence said. We will get tax cuts done, and we will get them done this year.

Top White House officials are trying to accelerate the tax effort, which has been slowed by disagreements over details and a prolonged effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn met Tuesday with technology industry officials and said they saw a narrowing window for when an overhaul of the tax code could occur this year.

At the meeting, Cohn said he wanted the tax bill to be on the floor of the House of Representatives in the early, early fall, but that all sticking points needed to be resolved before then.

We dont want to be negotiating the tax bill on the floor of the House or Senate, Cohn said.

He added that President Trump is constantly peppering Mnuchin and himself for updates on how the effort is going.

One of us gets a call every day, sometimes its both of us, Cohn said.

One point of contention among Republicans has been an idea that Ryan has supported a so-called "border adjustment," which would, on paper, levy a new tax on imports and exempt American exporters from taxation.

Ryan and other advocates of aborder adjustmentargue that the proposal would encourage companies to locate manufacturing in the United States while simplifying how multinational firms are taxed. Yet because a border adjustment could make everyday products more expensivefor consumers, many Republicans are skeptical of the idea.

Manufacturers who export many of their products to customers overseas have generally supported the idea. By contrast, retailers and other companies that rely on foreign imports have opposed the border adjustment.

Trump has so far declined to give the support of the White House to the proposal. It's not really what I'm considering, Trump told the Economist in an interview last month.

Speaking after Pence, Ryan took a more conciliatory stance on the border adjustment than he has in the past. He did not explicitly mention the idea in his speech, although he did seem to suggest that the border adjustment would be one method ofachieving Republicans' broader goals.

A border adjustment is one way of implementing what exports on taxation refer to as a territorial system. In this kind of system, companies pay taxes only on their activities in the United States, such as imports and sales to U.S. customers. Aterritorial code would be fundamentally different from the current one, in which U.S. companies can be liable for taxes on revenue they earn anywhere in the world.

In an interview after the speech with CNBC, Ryan said that the border adjustment was "not dead," but that the proposal would have to be revised to be feasible.

The need for some kind of territorial system is one point of agreement widely shared among Republicans in Congress and the White House. A territorial systemof some kind would satisfy many U.S. exporters, including some of the manufacturers gathered Tuesday to hear Ryan and Pence, by allowing them to sell products overseas without paying taxes.

Pence made that point in his speech as well, noting that if companies locate their headquartersin other countries with territorial systems, theywould no longer betaxed on their activities around theglobe. Our outdated system of worldwide taxation penalizes companies for being headquartered here in the United States of America, he said.

It is not clear, however, whether there is any consensus on the details.

There are so many different ways of achieving this, Ryan said, before apparently referring to the border adjustment.We in the House have our own idea, and that is one of the ways we're discussing with the administration.

Like a border adjustment, other kinds of territorial reform would also require a heavy lift from policymakers both in terms of the complexity of creating a new system and in terms of political opposition from companies jockeying to ensure that the new system favors them.

The idea may not be any more popular than border adjustment, said Jason Furman, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama. If its a genuine tax reform, its going to suffer from the same problems.

Aside from taxes, there was more common ground. Both Penceand Ryan also reviewed Republicans' othereconomic initiatives, which include scrapping regulations and rebuilding the country's physical infrastructure.

Meanwhile, policymakers are turning their attention to other issues. In the Senate, the debate over undoing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, continues slowly behind closed doors. Lawmakers will also have to increase the limit on how much the Treasury can borrow in the coming months, which could involve politically fraught negotiations. And a series of scandals in the White House related to connections between Trump's associates and Russian officials have kept Republicans busy.

With their televised speeches Tuesday, Pence and Ryan (R-Wis.) sought to put taxes a major GOP priority for nearly four decades back at the top of the Republican agenda. In essence, however, different groups of GOP policymakers are working on separate projects toward divergent aims.

A crucial question is whether policymakers would makea new, territorial system a permanent change. Because of the rules of the Senate, any permanent reform is unlikely to survive a Democratic filibuster if it would increase federal borrowing over the long term.

That fact makes a permanent reform more difficult. Republicans hoping to simplify taxes and reduce rates would have to find other sources of revenue to make up the difference, or propose reductions in federal spending that lawmakers would have to approve along with the tax legislation.

All the same, because it would be such a profound shift in how corporations are taxed, many advocates of territorial reform argue for making sure the new system lasts.

These reforms, these tax cuts they need to be permanent," Ryan said. "Temporary reforms will only have a negligible impact on wages and economic growth."

Proponents of permanent changeshave long hoped to win the support of the White House, with the idea that Trump's personal influence and political capital could help overcome some of these challenges.

The administration, however, has only been ambivalent. Pence did not call for permanent reform in his speech Tuesday.Other administration officials havenot committed to the idea.

The goal is to make it permanent, Mnuchin said in April. If we have them for 10 years, that is better than nothing.

Trump himself has talked about tax reform not in terms of lasting, structural changes to the system, but rather as a temporary stimulus to the economy.

It's called priming the pump, the president told the Economist, arguing for tax cuts even if they resulted in more federal borrowing. What you have to do is put something in before you can get something out, Trump said.

Damian Paletta contributed to this report.

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Paul Ryan and Mike Pence leave big questions unanswered on tax reform - Washington Post

If you havent gotten the opportunity to read Mike Pences 1998 review of Mulan in which he explains why women should not be allowed in the military, first of all, congratulations. Second of all, check it outits a bonechilling look into the mind of a man we knew was prejudiced and probably doesnt know how to use punctuation especially well, laid out for us in glorious pre-Y2K HTML from when our current vice president used to host a shouted right-wing radio show.

Fortunately, we at Paste managed to uncover some of Pences other haphazard reviews of childrens movies before and after Mulan, all seeming to use the same choppy template. Please enjoy the finest works of Mike Pence: Childrens Film Critic.

Finding Nemo

Just spent a memorable Fathers Day, just like so many other all American Hoosier dads (I hope one day I will be the Vice President of the United States and my devil-may-care attitude toward grammar and punctuation are mocked in the media accordingly), with my kids at the new Pixar film entitled Finding Nemo.

For those who have not yet been victimized by this subterranean assault on the nuclear American family, Finding Nemo is about a young, handicapped little boy fish named Nemo who is captured by scuba divers and brought to live in a dentists office in the terrestrial world. Despite his youth and clear need for regular, quality healthcare, Pixar expects us to believe that this mutant refugee is the hero of the story. I suspect that a liberal hidden within Disneys ranks (what happened to them being anti-Semitic?) assumes that creating an adorable, physically disabled protagonist will change the next generations attitude toward throwing bricks at people in wheelchairs, and they just might be right. (Just think about how often we cite The Brave Little Toaster every time the subject of whether we should send our household appliances to a good preschool comes into the mainstream media debate.)

The only problem with this liberal hope is the reality that, of course, children with disabilities are expensive and time-consuming to take care of and thats money Id rather see spent on bricks to throw at the handicapped and time Id rather see spent cornering an unsuspecting wheelchair-ridden child and beaning a brick at them without a second thought. While its necessary that we keep several handicapped people under close watch of the White House Press Department to haul out whenever we need to say, Hey, we dont throw bricks at all of themlook at Johnny here, hes been in captivity for twelve years and the Stockholm hasnt worn off yet!, this is hardly a case to give all Americans healthcare regardless of pre-existing conditions. While its completely reasonable to cover some Americans with health issues (I, for instance, have had a condition called being a chode for well over half a century), the expectation that Nemo would ever qualify for quality healthcare with a single parent and a blue aunt who is clearly suffering from the early stages of dementia is entirely unrealistic. You see, now stay with me, I hate handicapped people.

Moral of the story: I, Mike Pence, throw bricks at children in wheelchairs and I dont care who knows.

Ratatouille

Just spent a memorable Fathers Day, just like so many other all American Hoosier dads (as a right-wing radio host I will try my best to level with you, but once Im in the upper echelon of politics will distance myself from the everyman at all costs), with my kids at the new Pixar film entitled Ratatouille.

As Americans, I believe we have been victimized by the French, and their breadsticks, and their silly hats, and their movies no one understands enough, but Pixar has victimized us once again with a story of a rodent who manipulates a lowly chef into becoming one of the top talents in the Paris restaurant scene. Obviously, this is Pixars attempt to turn America into France, and while Im willing to accept that someone from a gutter can ascend to the highest officeId like to give a shout-out to my boss herethe idea that the American dream could take place in France is entirely ridiculous. (Just think about how often we think of French cinema when we think of something that is confusing to us, and therefore must be rejected instead of understood. Eat my ass, Truffaut!)

To distract from this harmful message, I found myself having to flog my children repeatedly every time I caught them enjoying the film. While the other American Hoosier dads in the audience seemed uncomfortable with this at first, I was able to use my skills learned as a politician and a radio host to gaslight them into believing that flogging their children was in their best interest. Take that, France! Were Americans and were hitting our kids for no reason!

The problem with Ratatouille, besides the obvious praise of France, a country that has never done anything good other than give us a big ugly statue that one time, is that meals with multiple courses are for leftist elites. We American Hoosier dads cannot and must not subscribe to the concept of an appetizer, main course and dessert, much less a happy hour beforehand. Our films should be teaching our children traditional valuesan appetizer of licking Fathers foot to show gratitude, a main course of a fistful of butter, and a dessert of a fistful of butter.

Moral of the story: a healthy diet and varied palate is letting the French win. My name is Mike Pence and I throw bricks at kids in wheelchairs.

Lilo and Stitch

Just spent a memorable Fathers Day, like so many other all American Hoosier dads (other all, I whisper to myself on the second and even the third read, other all, sounds good), with my kids at the new Disney film entitled Lilo and Stitch.

Like any American Hoosier dad, I have a long-standing belief that Hawaii is a place invented by the liberal media to distract from more important issues, such as why I should be allowed to throw bricks at children in wheelchairs without getting dirty looks from the nurse at the childrens hospital I am trespassing in. For those who have not yet been victimized by Lilo and Stitch, it is a movie that follows an alien from a fictional planet landing on the even more fictional islands of Hawaii. Obviously, this is a dual attempt by Disney to convince general audiences that not only is Hawaii a real place, but that we should welcome immigrants anywhere at any time. I suspect that some mischievous Disney crone (seriously! Why drop the anti-Semitism? What gives?) assumes that Stitchs story will change the next generations aversion to cultures foreign to them, and they just might be right. (Just think about how often we think about Beauty and the Beast every time we consider whether we should allow young women to be abducted by and forced to make out with large dogs in suits. This is the only movie that takes place in France I have ever agreed with. Let the teenage girls kiss the large dogs!)

The only problem with the liberal hope that Disney is peddling is that American politicians have spent decades upon decades convincing citizens that while we were once a nation of immigrants, that is no longer our thing and were kind of going in an exclusive, toxic, racist direction these days. The hard truth with our experiment with immigration is that it worked and so its hard for me, Mike Pence, a descendant of immigrants who throws bricks at children in wheelchairs, to explain exactly why we should keep immigrants out of the country when that was the point of the country existing in the first place. The closest Ive gotten to thinking of an excuse is 9/11, but if you think about the Bush administration for even forty-five seconds that falls apart pretty quickly. Ugh. Whatever. Anyways, immigration is over. You see, now stay with me, Stitch is a positive addition to the fictional island of Hawaii and is quickly accepted as a productive member of their completely made-up society, but he does not speak English and is blue so we cannot trust him. Once again, I was forced to flog my children any time they appeared to be enjoying him.

Moral of the story: I, Mike Pence, have been banned from my local movie theater.

Monsters Inc.

Just spent a memorable Fathers Day, just like so many other all American Hoosier dads (Hoosier roughly translates to chode), with my kids at the new Pixar film entitled Monsters Inc. For those who havent been victimized by these movies that I keep bringing my children to for some fucking reason, this film is about how John Goodman and Billy Crystalspent a summer after being rejected as the hosts for that years Oscars.

The harmful implication of Monsters Inc. is that those who look different to you arent always exactly what you think they are, and that one could somehow benefit from trying to see their point of view. This, of course, is liberal gibberish perpetrated by the same dangerous animators who would have you believe that the minions from Despicable Me arent a thinly veiled metaphor for socialism. I suspect that some liberal Disney maniac assumes that spreading a message of acceptance will cause a quiet change in the next generations attitude toward discouraging screaming in the faces of unsuspecting children, and they just might be right. (Just think about how often we talk about the Paris Agreement when we think about times American politicians have tried to meet those who they disagree with in the middle in the interest of global preservation. That was weird and I did not care for it.)

The only problem with this liberal hope is that more often than not in life, sometimes thing that look like monsters really are monsters, and it can be hard to tell who is a monster and who isnt depending on where youre getting your information from. Then, as I reminded my children as I flogged them for giggling at Mike Wazowski (Polack!!!!!), there are other kinds of monsters that dont look like monsters at all. You might not realize your own neighbor, or father, or the man who has a brick aimed at your handicapped body is a monster until its already too late. Youve been tricked into doing something thats bad for you, and its only going to help the monsters. What if I, Mike Pence, were a monster? If I were, the movie Monsters Inc. would not be helpful in identifying me. I am not large and furry. I am completely smooth, like a cue ball with a smooth gray top coat and a hard little johnson.

Moral of the story: I am a monster.

The Little Mermaid

Friends of the Mike Pence radio show, rejoiceI have finally seen a movie with my children that I like, even though I needed to drive forty miles to the nearest theater that Im legally allowed to be in to do so. The Little Mermaid is a delightful musical romp that hits all the right perverted pressure points.

I have always been a firm believer that a woman should actively change her appearance to better fit in with me and my fuckin crew and my boys and my men that I hang out with and sweat with. If it werent for this school of thought, how would I have ever convinced my wife to cut her legs off and replace them with hockey sticks because I think thats funny? Unfortunately, this did mean she had to use a wheelchair after I cut her legs off, and so I had to throw a brick at her. The moral code of man is complicated and vast!

Sorry, honey! I would tell her, and have as recently as the middle of this sentence. You know that I throw bricks at the handicapped! Its the rule.

Most importantly, lets not forget that Ariel the mermaid, who wisely sells out her family and her talents to impress a chode, makes my tiny johnson extremely hard, a quaking pebble I must keep under control while my children laugh at the crab who sounds like Bob Marley. There may have been some sinister liberal encoding in this movie, but I missed it. I, Mike Pence, a grown man who throws bricks at children in wheelchairs, was trying to stop myself from cumming for that underage, deeply compromised teen mermaid for the better part of eighty minutes.

Moral of the story: women being forced to alter their bodies to fit the expectation of a man is a good, good idea. Feeling inspired. Going home to write up some policy.

This is a work of satire.

Jamie Loftus is a comedian and writer. You can find her some of the time, most days at @hamburgerphone or jamieloftusisinnocent.com.

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Mike Pence's Other Disney Movie Reviews - Paste Magazine

In the wake of the dramatic, televised Senate testimonies of former FBI director James Comey and attorney general Jeff Sessions as part of ongoing investigation into potential collusion by Russia and Trumps presidential campaign, Democrats are increasingly pushing for the impeachment of President Trump.

Theres certainly evidence of obstruction of justice on Trumps part, which is reportedly being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller, and suspicious financial exchanges between Trump and foreign parties, too, but Democratic Sen. Al Franken has a warning for fellow Democrats leading the charge for impeachment prematurely.

Vice President Mike Pence, whom Franken called a zealot, would be worse for America, Franken told theInternational Business Times.

Pence ran the transition and some of the very worst nominees, I felt Pruitt, DeVos, [HHS Secretary Tom] Price, Mulvaney were Pence selections, clearly, I think, Franken said in an interview withIBT during a stop in his new book tour. Hes ideological, I consider him a zealot, and I think that in terms of a lot of domestic policy certainly would be worse than Trump.

And according to Franken, while Pence might be a bit more stable than Trump in terms of foreign policy, in domestic policy, he would be worse much worse.

If youre talking about how we handle North Korea or something like that, Id probably be more comfortable with Pence ultimately making those decisions than Trump, because of Trumps personality and character, he conceded, adding, I dont know what hes capable of, and that really does concern me.

In thestate of Indiana where Pence formerly served as governor, he famously supportedtransferring funding for HIV/AIDS relief to gay conversion therapy programs, and transferring welfare for low-income families to support anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.

As for whether Franken things impeachment is even a possibility, the senator toldIBT,I dont know if were there yet. I want to see, first, if they come up with something. And at any rate, even if they come up with something, whether or not the Republican-controlled senate will instigate an impeachment trial is questionable.

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Al Franken to Democrats Fighting for Impeachment: Mike Pence ... - Mediaite