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To the editor: Is that the best Americans deserve, a president who wouldnt be too bad? (Should we wish for a President Pence? Opinion, May 21)

If that is the case, then this nation is in a downward spiral from which it cannot recover. I refuse to believe that the great American experiment, a representative democracy, is doomed to fail.

Those legislators who represent moderate and left-wing voters must work diligently and together to get this great ship of state sailing on the right course again.

Valerie Fields, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I started reading Doyle McManus column with the high expectation that he was onto something regarding Vice President Mike Pence versus Donald Trump as president. I was looking for the word compassion as I read.

I want compassion for the 20 million-plus Americans about to lose their health insurance under the Republicans healthcare bill; compassion for the families being needlessly broken up with immigration stings; compassion for the students being forced to rack up debt to get a college education.

I reached the end of the article without any such mention. I vote to stick with Trump, the best morally rotten apple out of an entire barrel of morally rotten apples.

Eddie Dawes, Hacienda Heights

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Originally posted here:
Americans should not settle for a 'good enough' president in Mike Pence - Los Angeles Times

Before our current service for President Donald Trump as his vice president and administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, we worked together at the state level: as governor of Indiana and as an adviser to the state on health care issues and Medicaid.

Our experience on health care at the state level taught us a clear lesson for policymaking in Washington: One size does not fit all.

Unfortunately, that is what Obamacare imposes across our entire country, and the results, particularly in Louisiana, are disastrous.

Earlier this year, President Trump predicted Obamacare will explode and have a very bad year.

He was correct.

Just look at the facts in Louisiana. President Obama promised Obamacare would cut premiums by $2,500 for the average family, yet since 2013, the average price of a plan on Louisianas individual insurance market has risen $3,648. From 2016 to 2017, the price of the standard Obamacare plan shot up by 17 percent.

Last year, 59 out of Louisianas 64 parishes had just one or two companies offering insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. Then in February, the insurer Humana announced that it is pulling out of the exchanges in Louisiana and across the entire country.

Speaking of national ramifications, Americas largest health insurer, Aetna, recently announced that it is leaving the laws exchanges entirely as well. Every other major insurer has expressed serious concerns about the viability of the exchanges. In the states where insurers have begun to propose rates for 2018, double-digit increases are the norm.

As President Trump said in his Joint Address to Congress earlier this year, we must repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and, at the same time, provide better health care.

That is what the bill passed this month by the House of Representatives does, and the Senate would do well to follow suit.

The principles for health reform that undergird the House bill would reverse the mistakes of Obamacare and set us on the path toward a state-led, patient-centered health care system.

The top priority is repealing Obamacares individual and employer mandate penalties, which force Americans and businesses to buy pricey Washington, D.C.-approved coverage. As President Trump has promised, we should provide a refundable tax credit for Americans who buy insurance on their own to buy coverage that works for them, rather than a plan that Washington dictates. Meanwhile, Obamacares hundreds of billions of dollars in crushing taxes on health insurance, investment, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, and more have to go.

It is also important to undo the deep cuts Obamacare is scheduled to make to hospitals that serve underprivileged populations, and protect conscience and life by redirecting federal funding from abortion providers to community health clinics.

Another priority is resetting the federal-state partnership that funds Medicaid. From our experience working together on Medicaid in Indiana, we know flexibility and reform are necessary to help the program focus on serving the most vulnerable.

Any bill passed by Congress ought to live up to President Trumps promise to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions, as the House-passed bill does. The approach taken by the House bill is innovative and state- and patient-centered: States that believe Obamacares existing thicket of regulations is sustainable can leave that system in place. But if states show they can do a better job of improving choices and lowering costs via more flexible regulations and well-funded high risk pools, they can do that instead.

In a country of more than 300 million people, we should not just tolerate this kind of state-level innovation we should welcome it. In just the first few months of this administration, President Trump has taken steps to encourage state-level innovation in Medicaid and in health care systems to alleviate some of Obamacares burdens. But truly unleashing state innovation requires passing a new law.

The Republican principles embodied in the Houses bill are not the only things we need to fix Americas health care system. But they would be a huge step toward a system that is finally patient-centered and lets states take the lead on ensuring patients have access to high-quality, affordable, innovative care.

The Senate has a huge opportunity before it.

We look forward to working with senators to deliver on President Trumps vision for real reform and a health care system in America that actually works.

Mike Pence is vice president of the United States. Seema Verma is administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. They are slated to visit Louisiana today.

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Mike Pence, health official: One-size-fits-all Obamacare a failing prescription for Louisiana - The Advocate

Actions speak louder than words. Today, Vice President Mike Pence is visiting Louisiana, where he will speak to the people of Baton Rouge. They are hardworking people, many of whom are still struggling to put their lives back together after historic flooding. Some may wonder what hes going to say, but not me. I wont be able to hear the words of his speech because the presidents budget speaks volumes and will render the vice presidents words hollow.

The president and vice president ran on standing up for the people of Louisiana, but they released a budget that goes out of its way to knock Louisianans down. To start with, the budget would cut expected revenue from offshore oil drilling happening off our coast. This is revenue that our state is rightfully owed, and that has already been pledged to coastal restoration and hurricane protection projects. So, this administration is choosing tax cuts for the rich over the physical security of the people of Louisiana. No words Pence could speak would be louder than that.

This disastrous budget gets much worse for our state. It cuts $800 billion from Medicaid, even though President Donald Trump promised several times throughout his campaign that he would protect it, and despite the fact that hospitals across this state rely on Medicaid payments to keep their doors open. It cuts the Childrens Health Insurance Program by almost 20 percent. It makes student loans more expensive for students trying to better themselves through education and makes it impossible for public servants like nurses, police officers, and teachers to have their student loans forgiven. It attacks farmers by eliminating commodity payments and making it impossible for many farmers to get crop insurance. It attacks families and workers struggling to put food on their tables by cutting food stamps by more than 25 percent. It cuts funding to programs that people who are disabled and cant work rely on to survive, and funding for programs that help first-generation college students obtain the education they need to support themselves and their families.

President Donald Trump's proposed budget would slash offshore oil and gas royalties to Louis

This budget also attacks the programs local governments rely on to make life better for their citizens. It eliminates programs that cities and parishes have used to pay for infrastructure like better sidewalks and streets. It eliminates programs that our ports have relied on to increase their security and improve their operations. And it doesnt only go after big programs. In fact, this administrations budget hunts out even the small programs that make a huge difference in peoples lives and targets them as well. It eliminates federal funding for programs that everyone agrees actually do good things like Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, and after-school programs.

The bottom line is simple: this budget will make life harder for the people of Louisiana. It will make important things in life, like health care and education, cost even more while hardworking Louisianans receive even less.

It hurts the young and the old, the poor and the middle class. The only people it doesnt hurt are those who are already doing well. They get even more tax cuts. The message from this administration is clear: if youre struggling, keep struggling.

I have said many times before that a budget is not merely numbers on a page; it is a moral document that reflects our values. The Trump administrations values are on full display in this document, and they are far different from the hollow promises the president made to Louisiana several times throughout the campaign.

The people of Baton Rouge are still working to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in our nations history. Instead of delivering the support from the federal government that was promised, the president has the audacity to bring us a budget that guts our state and puts us further in the red. This budget is a slap in the face to people everywhere in Louisiana. Pence can say what he wants on this trip, but the actions of this administration have already spoken for him.

Cedric Richmond of New Orleans represents Louisiana's 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He chairs the House Black Caucus.

More here:
Cedric Richmond: Mike Pence's words won't matter; damaging policies speak volumes - The Advocate

Hollywood hysteria over the election of President Donald Trump has not abated. The things that artists have done and said in the name of civil disobedience and then excused themselves for have been shocking, to say the least.

A Saturday Night Live writer cyberbullied one ofTrumps children, only to find celebs like Chelsea Handler around to defend her. And Handler herself mocked Melania Trump by saying the first lady would not be able to speak English well enough to talk to her.(In reality, Mrs. Trump speaks five languages.)

Related: Heres What Ariana Grande Had to Say About Concert Attack

Avengers director Joss Whedon has proven himself time and time again to be a thorough misogynist, untouched by the at-the-ready social-justice warriors of the world.

More recently, late-night host Stephen Colbert made a vulgar comment about the president that no conservatives career would be able to survive had he said something similar about a president like Barack Obama.

Now enter comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg, a co-host of The View. Sure, most people dont tune into The View for level-headed or intelligent discussion but Goldberg somehow managed to create a new low for the program by comparing Vice President Mike Pence to the Ku Klux Klan.

First she praised Notre Dame students who walked out of their own commencement ceremony when Pence began giving the address last weekend. She said they were patriotic and demonstrated prime examples of civil disobedience. Then her tone and language got much harsher.

"If there's a guy if there's a man because sometimes if you know what somebody has to say, you don't want to hear it. I don't you know, I think most of these folks made a very specific decision because what he was about affects them in such ways that they don't want to hear it, because really if you know, I shouldn't have to listen to a guy who's wearing a you know, wearing a hood, who I know wants to string me up," said Goldberg.

"I shouldn't have to listen to a guy who's wearing a you know, wearing a hood, who I know wants to string me up."

Whether an individual likes or agrees with the vice president or his politics or not is beside the point. Comparing him to a hate organization with a history of targeting minority groups is absolute fear-mongering. It's a statement that is not even close to reality it's ignorant of the freedoms this country possesses and of the current state of the world.

If Pence, a man who forcefully and sincerely argues for the right to life for the unborn, were a hood-wearing KKK member, we'd know about it. His speech had no hateful words in it at all. Goldberg's idea of the vice president is just that an idea, a concoction of her own imagination that has been fed by whatever liberal and elitist echo chamber she inhabits.

The notion of college students walking out of a speech by a person with whom they disagree speaks to a larger issue right now. Groups of people seem unwilling to coexist with each other. They're unwilling to listen to people who challenge their views, and they're unwilling to exist in an environment in which they're not always at the forefront or controlling the message. They don't want to accept a reality that is defined by anything other than their own beliefs and myopic viewpoints. College campus protests against conservative speakers and protests against free speech have proven this.

It was somethingthat "The View" co-host Jedediah Bila brought up during the Tuesday program, when she said: "It bothers me. They have a right to do it, but it bothers me because it seems like the younger generations have a hard time listening to stuff they disagree with and just listening. There's a lot of times I go into a room and someone is speaking I don't like their policies, I don't necessarily like what they advocate for, I don't necessarily agree with them. But I sit and listen, and sometimes I leave that room more passionate about how I feel and saying, 'Wow, I really don't like that guy,' and sometimes I learn something and say, 'There's another side or I hadn't thought about that.'"

When Bila challenged Goldberg's comparison of Pence to the KKK, Goldberg doubled down and sounded even zanier.

"Listen to me. 'Ism,' whether it's racism or you don't like gay people, when you say to somebody, I don't believe that you actually feel that way because I believe that God has told me forget what God has said to you. God told me that you shouldn't be who you are. When you're sitting with someone who is saying that to you, you don't want to sit and watch and you don't want to disrupt it. You don't want to scream, but you want to get up and say, 'I'm not going to take it.'"

Read more from the original source:
Whoopi's Out of Line: Compares Pro-Life Vice President Mike Pence to the KKK - LifeZette

New York Times

Amid Trump Turmoil, Some Begin Eyeing Mike Pence New York Times It's time to talk about Mike Pence, Emily Aden, the rapid response director of American Bridge, a liberal political group, said in a memo circulated on Thursday. Pence is just as complicit in this scandal as every other Republican in Washington, and ... Mike Pence's disappearing actCNN Mike Pence wants us to believe he's innocent. Don't buy it.Washington Post (blog) VP Mike Pence Was Never Informed About Flynn: SourceNBCNews.com HuffPost -USA TODAY -Politico -Bloomberg all 232 news articles »

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Amid Trump Turmoil, Some Begin Eyeing Mike Pence - New York Times