“Medicare” on The Daily Caller

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Rick Santorum called Mitt Romney “too timid” on his plan to reform Social Security, and compared the former Massachusetts governor with President Obama’s positions on the issue. (more)

So much for “hope and change”; “Yes, we can”; and the grammatically questionable “change we can believe in.” After three years of Barack Obama, the verdict is in. The official slogan for the era of Obama should be: “Dude, where’s my welfare?” (more)

Newt Gingrich personally urged members of Congress to vote for a controversial Medicare expansion bill in 2003, two Republicans who were in the room said this week. (more)

Key features of payroll tax and jobless benefits bill passed Friday by the House and Senate: (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says congressional bargainers are preparing a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and expiring jobless benefits as a fallback plan in case negotiations on a yearlong package don’t succeed. (more)

The main components of the House Republican plan to extend the Social Security payroll tax cut through 2012: (more)

A major supporter of the president’s health care reform law will be relinquishing his post as head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid to his number two in command after Republicans successfully prevented his confirmation to the post. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The point man for carrying out President Barack Obama’s health care law will be stepping down after Republicans succeeded in blocking his confirmation by the Senate, the White House announced Wednesday. (more)

Since leaving office in 1999, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has spent much of his time convincing conservatives to support government subsidies for large corporations, reports the Washington Examiner. (more)

Registered voters say President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill “has been bad for America” and half say their costs have gone up since its passage, according to a new poll set to be released Tuesday. (more)

Last week, lion of the left Rep. John Conyers led a protest on Capitol Hill where he sang a familiar tune: “No cuts” to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The target of his protest was the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, a.k.a. the “supercommittee.” (more)

Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York joined a group of House Democrats and progressive organizations in a rally on Capitol Hill to urge the super committee not to recommend Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefit cuts, arguing that the nation’s $14.9 trillion debt is “not as big a crisis” as the 9.1 percent unemployment rate. (more)

The Obama administration finally deserves some credit on Obamacare. On the heels of pulling the plug on the unworkable long-term care program known as the CLASS Act, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) actually listened to those who know best when it comes to delivering health care: doctors, hospitals and nurses. (more)

The Obama administration has asked the deficit-reduction “super committee” to consider several major health care reforms. These reforms need to be designed so that they improve — not compromise — health and innovation in the United States. (more)

The first rule of horror movies is that the villain is nearly impossible to kill. It would appear the same is true in public policy, where the worst proposals are dismissed — only to rise again like zombies. (more)

President Barack Obama will use a Rose Garden appearance Monday morning to broadcast his call for a deficit reduction package that would combine $1.5 trillion in various tax increases, $1.1 trillion in savings from the withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and a $320 billion cut from federal medical spending. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is expected to seek a new base tax rate for the wealthy to ensure that millionaires pay at least at the same percentage as middle income taxpayers. (more)

Last May, the Democratic Party ran a TV ad with the man that looked similar to Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair off a cliff. It was meant to send the message that the GOP had its sights set on cutting entitlements, a message that proved effective Democratic Rep. Kathy Hochul in the New York 26^th congressional district special election later that month. (more)

(Reuters) – The powerful healthcare industry hopes a congressional “super committee” tasked with slashing America’s debt will fail and is lobbying instead for automatic spending cuts that will kick in if the panel deadlocks. (more)

The next step in the process of addressing the government’s long-term fiscal imbalance will be taken by a bipartisan budget “super-committee.” The White House has publicly expressed the hope that this committee will “seek a balanced approach to larger deficit reduction.” (more)