Politics

White House holds Obamacare background briefing with liberal reporters

Patrick Howley Political Reporter
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The White House held a background briefing Friday to discuss Obamacare implementation with a handful of journalists from liberal and progressive outlets.

Slate blogger Matthew Yglesias posted a photograph to Instagram Friday featuring himself and other liberal journalists at the White House, with the caption “#thistown.”

Yglesias’ photograph features American Prospect staff writer Jamelle Bouie and MSNBC’s Benjy Sarlin attending the briefing.

Yglesias, who publicly cheered the death of conservative activist Andrew Breitbart, is known as a member of a tight-knit circle of progressive bloggers that includes Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein and low-rated MSNBC host Chris Hayes.

Klein and Hayes garnered conservative criticism in 2011 for attending an off-the-record White House briefing at which Obama disclosed his strategy on the temporary payroll tax holiday. Klein also set off a round of controversy in November 2011 for briefing Senate Democratic staffers on the super committee.

BuzzFeed reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro first tweeted about the meeting Friday afternoon. Yglesias did not respond via email to a request for comment. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.

As The Daily Caller reported, Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor plans to introduce legislation before the August recess that would ban the scandal-plagued Internal Revenue Service from implementing Obamacare, which would pose a severe liability to the health care law’s full implementation.

The Daily Caller was not invited to Friday’s background briefing.

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Tags : obamacare
Patrick Howley