Obama, Harper stay apart on pipeline issue, ink other agreements
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The visiting Canadian leader and the American president on Wednesday remained noncommittal on a controversial oil pipeline linking the two countries but signed a border deal.
Addressing a joint press conference at the White House, with Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President Barack Obama said, “With respect to the politics, look, this is a big project with big consequences.”
Asking for a assessment for environmental impact, Obama said, “We’ve seen Democrats and Republicans express concerns about it. And it is my job as president of the United States to make sure that a process is followed that examines all the options.”
Harper, on the other hand refused to be drawn into any controversy saying, “You can appreciate that I would not comment on the domestic politics of this issue or any other issue here in the United States.”
Harper added that Obama had an “open mind” on the project, but wanted a full assessment carried out. “He’s indicated to me, as he’s indicated to you today, that he is following a proper (process) to eventually take that decision here in the United States, and that he has an open mind in regards to what the final decision may or may not be,” Canadian leader said about the 1,600-mile pipeline that would run from Canada to the Texas coast.
“My position, the position of the government of Canada on this issue, is very well known,” said Harper, hinting at his backing for the Keystone XL plan, which is projected to create jobs in the U.S. and in Canada and to enable oil from the Canadian province of Alberta to reach the world market.
The two leaders announced signing of a trade deal and perimeter security agreement, which would allow easier access to ports and increase harmonization of security checks and procedures at land borders.
“Together, they represent the most significant steps forward in Canada-U.S. cooperation since the North American Free Trade Agreement,” Harper said.
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Electoral reform, flood preparedness challenges facing president
Cotonou, Benin (IRIN) – Following weeks of disputed election results, Benin President Boni Yayi has re-settled into office, leading analysts and citizens to push him to address what they see as the country’s most pressing challenges: electoral and economic reform, forging links with opposition parties, and preparing the country to face the threat of floods as the rainy season approaches.
In late March, the constitutional court declared Yayi the winner of the elections, with 53 percent of the vote, while opposition leader Adrien Houngbedji was stated to have received 36 percent of the vote, leading Houngbedji to allege the results fraudulent. The president was sworn into office on 6 April.
Despite efforts to better organize elections, the results were unclear, and remained contested. Urban Amègbédji, secretary-general of the Africa Obota Centre (AOC), which aims to promote transparent elections, democracy and human rights in African states, said there was little consensus on the number of registered voters, of votes, or even the finally tally or whereabouts of polling stations.
“We found ourselves in a situation where we had two heads of state – this was due primarily to poor organization of the elections – and means we must ask how we can look at restructuring the institutions that helped organize these elections… The CENI [Independent National Electoral Commission] must transcend politics, rather than being taken over by it.”
CENI, which is widely viewed to be politically partial, must be depoliticized and professionalized, with a law passed to that effect, said Amègbédji,
Following the elections, many Beninois took to the streets to protest the results. But now it is time to move on, said analysts. “An independent arbiter [the constitutional court] has spoken and even if people do not agree with its decision, we need to accept the results and move on,” said Cotonou-based political analyst Francis Lalèyè.
To promote stability, the president must forge links with opposition leaders, Amègbédji stressed. “He must reach out to others… so that the pain of a flawed election does not turn into serious frustration and disillusionment for the population.”
Disaster preparedness
The president must also focus more on preparing for floods, as the rainy season – usually April to December – is nigh.
In 2010 the worst flooding in 50 years hit Benin, affecting about 680,000 people, and threatening progress on a push to boost agricultural production.
Agriculture accounts for 88 percent of Benin’s export revenues and employs 70 percent of the country’s workforce, according to the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
A Disaster Committee was set up in 2010 to mitigate the impact of future flooding and other disasters, by identifying people living in high-risk areas, and developing evacuation plans in case of heavy rain. The committee has made progress at the central level, said its director, Alfred Sohou, but not district by district.
“Each mayor must understand the risks that their populations face, understand where the risks are highest, and take appropriate measures to protect their people [including moving them to safer locations]… How many mayors are doing this right now? One could even say they are not aware of the problem.” Most are reluctant to upset their constituents, he pointed out.
The committee sent instructions several weeks ago to all district heads to start preparing shelter sites for potential displaced people, but thus far they have received little response, he said. Pressure to prepare for disasters must come from the very top, said analyst Lalèyè.
Some tents, mosquito nets and plastic sheeting remain from the international response to the floods in 2010, said Disaster Committee head Sohou, who pointed out that 21 communes (out of a countrywide total of 77) are still under water.
Long term, the government is in discussion with the World Bank on a proposal to extend irrigation canals in the flood-prone department of Mono in the southwest.
Over-reliance on cotton
On other fronts, while the government has undergone significant economic recovery since it transitioned into a democratic government in 1990, Benin’s business climate remains unfavorable, according to the World Bank’s poverty reduction strategy, with poor infrastructure, a lack of competitiveness, and over-reliance on one crop – cotton.
Cotton remains by far the most lucrative cash crop, accounting for 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), while maize, yams, sorghum, beans, cassava, and rice are also grown.
Despite US$460 million of debt having been struck off under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the economy remains fiscally weak, according to Lalèyè, and little of this money has been re-targeted to boost ailing basic services. Just 2.5 percent of GDP goes on health care, according to the UN Development Program.
One third of Beninois live below the poverty line, according to the UN, while Benin comes 134 out of 169 countries on the UN Development Index. Youth unemployment is strikingly high, says Lalèyè, though official figures are hard to come by.
Despite myriad challenges, some say the president is off to a good start, given his strong legal backing which shored up democratic rule, said Father Efore Penoukou, a prominent chaplain who advises politicians on ethics and governance issues. “We should be pleased on many levels. These were the most heavily scrutinized elections in Benin’s history… We expected some disagreements and hiccups [in these elections]… but I have been struck by the calls to peace… We must learn lessons from this, and look to the future.”
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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.
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Document: Obama’s Proposal On Deficit Reduction – Health Care Section
Washington, D.C., United States (KaiserHealth) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday shared his plans to cut the deficit by $4 trillion in 12 years, which, according to a fact sheet distributed by the White House, includes saving $480 billion in health care costs by 2023. Obama proposes holding Medicare cost growth down by strengthening the Independent Payment Advisory Board and making Medicaid more flexible without using block grants.
Here’s a look at the health care section of the fact sheet, as released by the White House:
DETAILS OF THE PRESIDENT’S FRAMEWORK FOR SHARED PROSPERITY AND SHARED FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
4. Health Care
Medicare and Medicaid Savings of $480 Billion by 2023 and At Least an Additional $1 Trillion over the Subsequent Decade, Providing Better Care at Lower Costs:
Building on the Affordable Care Act, the President is proposing additional reforms to Medicare and Medicaid designed to strengthen these critical programs by reducing waste, increasing accountability, promoting efficiency, and improving the quality of care, without shifting the cost of care to our seniors or people with disabilities.
The framework will save $340 billion over ten years and $480 billion by 2023 (including the proposals already included in the President’s Budget). This framework includes the same aggregate savings that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan proposed in his November 2010 plan with Alice Rivlin and an amount sufficient to fully pay to reform the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) physician payment formula while still reducing the deficit.
Over the subsequent decade, the President’s proposal will save well over $1 trillion by further bending the cost curve, doubling the savings from the Affordable Care Act.
The President’s framework offers a stark contrast with the House Republican plan that would increase seniors’ health costs by $6,400 annually starting in 2022, raise health insurance premiums for middle-class Americans and small businesses, cut Federal Medicaid spending by one-third by the end of the decade, and increase the number of uninsured by 50 million.
The President’s framework proposes specific reforms to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid over the long term, including:
Addressing the long-term drivers of Medicare cost growth: The President’s framework would strengthen the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) created by the Affordable Care Act. The IPAB has been highlighted by economists and health policy experts as a critical contributor to Medicare’s solvency and sound operations. Under the Affordable Care Act, IPAB analyzes the drivers of excessive and unnecessary Medicare cost growth. When Medicare growth per beneficiary exceeds growth in nominal GDP per capita plus 1 percent, IPAB recommends to Congress policies to reduce the rate of growth to meet that target, while not harming beneficiaries’ access to needed services. Congress must consider IPAB’s recommendations or, if it disagrees, enact policies that achieve equivalent savings. If neither acts, then the Secretary of Health and Human Services would have to develop and implement a proposal to achieve the savings target.
The President’s framework will strengthen IPAB to act as a backstop to the other Medicare reforms by ensuring that Medicare spending growth does not outpace our ability to pay for it over the long run, while improving the program and keeping Medicare beneficiaries’ premium growth under control. Specifically, it would:
Set a new target of Medicare growth per beneficiary growing with GDP per capita plus 0.5 percent. This is consistent both with the reductions in projected Medicare spending since the Affordable Care Act was passed and the additional reforms the President is proposing.
Give IPAB additional tools to improve the quality of care while reducing costs, including allowing it to promote value-based benefit designs that promote proven services like prevention without shifting costs to seniors.
Give IPAB additional enforcement mechanisms such as an automatic sequester as a backstop for IPAB, Congress, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Reforming the Federal-State partnerships to strengthen Medicaid and promote simplicity, efficiency, and accountability: Under current law, States face a patchwork of different Federal payment contributions for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The President’s framework would replace the current complicated Federal matching formulas with a single matching rate for all program spending that rewards States for efficiency and automatically increases if a recession forces enrollment and State costs to rise.
In addition, the President has called on the National Governors Association (NGA) to make recommendations for ways to reform and strengthen Medicaid, and the framework will consider the ideas that its Task Force produces. The President also supports reform of Medicaid to incentivize more efficient, higher quality, care for high-cost beneficiaries, including those who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. These nine million beneficiaries comprise 15 percent of Medicaid enrollment but consume nearly 40 percent of total Medicaid spending.
Improving patient safety: Together with employers, States, hospitals, physicians and nurses, the Administration has launched a new public-private partnership called Partnership for Patients that will help improve the quality, safety and affordability of health care for all Americans. The two goals of this new Partnership are: preventing patients from getting injured or sicker while they are in the hospital and helping patients heal without complication. Achieving the initiative’s goal would mean more than 1.6 million patients will recover from illness without a preventable complication, reducing costs by up to $50 billion in Medicare and billions more in Medicaid over the next 10 years.
Cutting unnecessary prescription drug spending: The framework would limit excessive payments for prescription drugs by leveraging Medicare’s purchasing power – similar to what was called for by the bipartisan Fiscal Commission. It would speed up the availability of generic biologics, and prohibit brand-name companies from entering into “pay for delay” agreements with generic companies. And, it would implement Medicaid management of high prescribers and users of prescription drugs.
Reducing abuse and increasing accountability in Medicaid and Medicare: The framework would clamp down on States’ use of provider taxes to lower their own spending while not providing additional health services through Medicaid; recover erroneous payments from Medicare Advantage; establish upper limits on Medicaid payments for durable medical equipment; and take other actions to improve program integrity.
A major contrast with the House Republican approach. The President’s framework rejects plans that would end Medicare as we know it or transform Medicaid into a dramatically underfunded block grant, putting at serious risk not only seniors but also the most vulnerable children and people with disabilities. Some of the major problems with the House Republican approach include:
The House Republican plan does nothing to reduce health costs. Instead it actually increases costs by doing nothing to reform the way health care is delivered in addition to putting a larger fraction of the burden on beneficiaries and States.
In the first year the Republican plan goes into effect, a typical 65-year-old who becomes eligible for Medicare would pay an extra $6,400 for health care, more than doubling what he or she would pay if the plan were not adopted.
States would get one-third less for Medicaid by 2021, potentially leaving 15 million people without coverage, including seniors in nursing homes, people with disabilities, children and pregnant women.
The House Republican plan would no longer guarantee the same level of benefits and choices that seniors have today in Medicare, because the proposal allows private health plans to determine benefits, raise cost sharing, and limit choice of doctors and hospitals.
– Provided by Kaiser Health News.
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Mubarak pledges new government
Hosni Mubarak resisted calls to step down as Egyptian president on Friday night but pledged to dismiss his cabinet and form a new government.
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President paints stark picture of state of the union
Barack Obama painted a stark and, at times, grim picture of the challenges facing the US, in education, infrastructure and politics, in an address to Congress leavened with an uplifting appeal to American traditions of innovation, risk-taking and public service
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President Obama appoints economy team, welcomes jobs report
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Jobs was the word to watch as President Barack Obama on Friday announced his economic team while touring a window manufacturing company that has benefited from his administration’s economic policies.
Addressing more than 100 workers at the Thompson Creek Window Co. in Landover, MD, Obama said, “Government can’t guarantee Thompson Creek or any business will be successful, but government can knock down barriers like a lack of affordable credit or high costs for investment or high costs for hiring.”
“Incentives like these are helping companies across America,” the president commented, adding “The jobs numbers released this morning reflect that growth. The economy added more than 100,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate fell sharply.”
According to the White House, the company has benefited from tax credits since 2009 and expanded. It also has plans for a major modernization and more new hiring, on top of a 40 percent growth in the workforce in 2010.
Defining his administration’s mission as “to accelerate hiring and to accelerate growth,” Obama added, “And that depends on making our economy more competitive so that we’re fostering new jobs in new industries, and training workers to fill them.”
Continuing the “‘major retooling” of his administration to reach these goals, the president announced his economy team, calling them “men and women who will help America fulfill in this mission.”
Obama announced appointment of Gene Sperling as director and Jason Furman as principal deputy at the National Economic Council while Heather Higginbottom got the post of deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
In addition, Katharine Abraham was named to the Council of Economic Advisers.
Earlier, during a tour of the window company, Obama stopped at a window framing station.
The president donned safety glasses, saying “so that I don’t violate the law” and watched four workers in blue company T-shirts emblazoned with “Home Sweet Thompson Creek,” frame windows.
Further along the way, Obama stopped at a fusion welder and watched a woman put the side frames for a window into the welder, which then did the rest.
Holding the finished product briefly, Obama smiled and laughed. The tour did not last more than six minutes in all.
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Traveling to Kenya, paternal home of President Obama? U.S. warns you!
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Department of State on Tuesday issued a travel warning to U.S. citizens cautioning of the risks of travel to Kenya.
“U.S. citizens in Kenya and those considering travel to Kenya should evaluate their personal security situation in light of continuing threats from terrorism and the high rate of violent crime,” said the warning note.
“This designation is based on reports of Somali-based armed groups known to have crossed into Kenya to stage attacks or to commit crimes,” the State Department stated.
Kenya, the homeland of U.S. President Barack Obama’s late father, is struggling to overcome political and tribal divisions laid bare after disputed December 2007 presidential elections.
Obama visited Kenya three times, most recently very briefly in 2006, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid an official visit in 2009 during her Africa trip.
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President Obama departs for vacation in Hawaii
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – President Barack Obama departed for his holidays in Hawaii on Wednesday evening after wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.
The First Family left for Hawaii left last week and the president stayed back to take care of the official business that lawmakers were considering.
At a hurriedly called press conference, Obama called the usually known “lame duck session” of the legislatures as “the most productive post-election period we’ve had in decades,” adding, “and it comes on the heels of the most productive two years that we’ve had in generations.”
Obama concluded his media rendezvous, saying, “I want to wish you all a merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Happy New Year. See you in 2011.”
President Obama shook hands and wished Merry Christmas to all journalists and cameramen, present at the departure point on the lawns of the White House.
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Congress Reconvenes For “Lame-Duck” Session On Bush Tax Cuts
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – With a new majority taking control of the House next year, lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill on Monday to tackle a backlog of bills during a “lame-duck” session. Their agenda includes whether to extend Bush administration tax cuts for all or only for the middle class and elections to new leadership posts for the coming 112th Congress.
Lawmakers this week will return to work on a dozen annual appropriations bills for the 2011 fiscal year. They passed a stopgap measure on their last day of session in September before the mid-term elections, temporarily funding government operations.
Debate will also focus on tax cuts implemented in 2001 and 2003 that are due to expire in January.
Democrats want a permanent extension of tax breaks for middle class families earning less than $250,000 a year. Republicans, however, want to extend tax cuts for all, including high-income earners.
The GOP proposal would cost the government $3.7 trillion over 10 years, while the Democratic plan would cost $3 trillion.
Together with the 9.6 percent unemployment rate, the issue has been a source of vitriol between Democrats and Republicans during the months before the mid-term elections. But leaders from both parties issued overtures in the past week.
“I’m going to meet with both the Republican and Democratic leaders… and we’re going to sit down and discuss how we move forward,” President Barack Obama said in South Korea on Friday, two days before he returned to the White House.
“My number one priority is making sure that we make the middle class tax cuts permanent, that we give certainty to the 98 percent of Americans who are affected by those tax breaks,” the president added. “I continue to believe that extending permanently the upper-income tax cuts would be a mistake and that we can’t afford it.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who earlier this month backtracked on his comment that the GOP’s overarching goal is to make Obama a one-term president, said in a statement on Thursday, “I’m willing to listen to what the president has in mind for protecting Americans from tax increases.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the fourth highest-ranking lawmaker in his chamber, wants a compromise that would extend tax cuts for families earning $1 million instead of $250,000.
“I hear Sen. McConnell talking about small business but under his plan, people like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates… would get a tax break,” Schumer said on “Face the Nation” on CBS on Sunday. “It would much, much better to raise the limit to $1 million rather than give it to people who are multibillionaires… the only group in America who’s had a gain in income.”
Lawmakers will also take up the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Moscow. The agreement was signed by President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart in April but still requires ratification by the U.S. Congress.
The United States and Russia hold more than 90 percent of nuclear weapons worldwide. The new START replaces a treaty that was signed in 1991 just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and that expired last year.
The old treaty limited warheads to 2,200 and launch vehicles to 1,600. The new START limits deployed warheads to 1,550 and launchers to 800.
Top Republicans who do not support the current treaty have raised concerns about modernization and missile defense.
“We need to modernize our nuclear force, the weapons that are left, to make sure they continue to be a deterrent,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “We need to make sure that we can employ — deploy missile defense systems that are apart from START.”
“[Sen.] Jon Kyl is working with the administration to get better modernization to make sure that missile defense is not connected to START,” added Graham.
The lame-duck session is scheduled until Friday. No votes were on the calendar on Monday and it is unclear if lawmakers will accomplish the items on their agenda, which could also include a bill in the Senate repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the law against openly gay members of the military.
Side-by-side their work on the floor, they will be electing new leaders for the coming Congress in January, when House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) takes the speakership and current Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) becomes the minority leader. In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will remain at the helm of a caucus made weaker by losses in the elections.
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President Barack Obama Says “It Gets Better” In New Anti-Bullying Video
Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – President Barack Obama submitted a video for the “It Gets Better” project, which has featured gay and gay-friendly celebrities speaking out to youths about the current bullying and gay suicide epidemic. President Obama wants to fight against discrimination, against LGBT Americans or anyone.
“Like all of you, I was shocked and saddened by the deaths of several young people who were bullied and taunted for being gay, and who ultimately took their own lives,” President Barack Obama said in the video. “As a parent of two daughters, it breaks my heart. It’s something that just shouldn’t happen in this country.”
“We’ve got to dispel the myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage—that it’s some inevitable part of growing up. It’s not,” President Obama continued. “We have an obligation to ensure that our schools are safe for all of our kids.”
Since the “It Gets Better” project launched, from “Savage Love” columnist Dan Savage, the award-winning project has received videos from celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, Tim Gunn, and Kathy Griffin. In their videos, they all encouraged young LGBT adults and anyone currently affected by bulling to stay strong.
President Obama’s video was posted both by Savage on his blog as well as on the White House website.
“I don’t know what it’s like to be picked on for being gay,” President Obama said.” But I do know what it’s like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don’t belong. It’s tough.”
“But what I want to say is this. You are not alone,” he continued.” You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t do anything to deserve being bullied. And there is a whole world waiting for you, filled with possibilities. There are people out there who love you and care about you just the way you are.”
But Savage also challenges President Obama to not just say it gets better, but to make things better. The video comes amidst the administration’s appealing of recent “don’t ask, don’t tell” efforts and the Defense of Marriage Act.
“The president of the United States has the power to do more than assure LGBT kids that it will get better,” Savage said on CNN Friday. “The president of the United States and his administration have the power to make it better.”
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