This New State Data Shows the Real Story Behind King v. Burwell

Every day there seems to be another article focused on how many individuals might lose their subsidies if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs in the King v. Burwell case.

Yet, an even bigger group of individuals harmed by Obamacare has an equally good claim for relief that hasn’t gotten as much attention—the people who, thanks to Obamacare, must pay more for health insurance but who never got subsidies.
The Obamacare subsidies were intended, in part, to hide the law’s unpopular effects. At their root, Obamacare’s costly regulations, dictating what insurers can sell and what individuals and employer can buy, have resulted in premium costs going up, not down. In the 34 states potentially affected by the Court’s ruling, those regulations have driven up costs not only for...

Read More HERE

Judicial Watch Uncovers HHS Documents Detailing “High Risk” Security Problems with Obamacare Internet Site

Less than one month before Healthcare.gov rollout, top Obama
administration official highlights risks of malicious code being uploaded into the system through Excel macros; other “high risk” findings

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released 94 pages of documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealing that in the days leading up to the rollout of Obamacare, top Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officials knew of massive security risks with Healthcare.gov and chose to roll out the website without resolving the problems. Detailed information regarding the security flaws, previously withheld from public disclosure, was released to Judicial Watch. Also released to Judicial Watch were “Sensitive Information – Special Handling” memos sent from CMS to Mitre Corporation, the Healthcare.gov security testing company, in which CMS rated “political … damage” and “public embarrassment to CMS” as factors in defining “Risk Rating” priorities.

The HHS documents were released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch on March 18, 2014, Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 1:14-cv-00430), after HHS failed to respond to a December 20, 2013, FOIA request seeking the following information:

Any and all records related to, regarding or in connection with the security of the healthcare.gov web portal including, but not limited to, studies, memoranda, correspondence, electronic communications (e-mails), and slide presentations from January 1, 2012 to the present.

The existence of a security flaw in the Healthcare.gov web portal, in which “[T]he threat and risk potential is limitless,” had been previously revealed in a redacted version of a September 3, 2013, memo published by the House Government Oversight Committee. However, the details of that flaw and others found in the Healthcare.gov website were omitted from the House-issued memo “for security reasons,” according to a CBS News report by Sharyl Attkisson. Judicial Watch can now reveal exactly what those security flaws entailed.

These details are especially significant in light of the revelation by federal officials that the Healthcare.gov web portal was hacked last July, as reported on September 4, 2014. The documents obtained by Judicial Watch also show that top CMS officials, including CMS Chief Information Officer Tony Trenkle and CMS Director Marilynn Tavenner, were aware of the gaping security flaws, yet Tavenner chose to launch the website anyway. Trenkle himself resigned before the site’s launch date.

In a September 3, 2013, “Authorization Decision” memo, Trenkle reveals a flaw involving Excel macros that could risk malicious code being uploaded into the system. According to a “Finding” in the just released unredacted memo, “FFM [Federally Facilitated Marketplaces] has an open high finding: Macros enabled on uploaded files allow code to execute automatically.”

In the “Finding Description” alongside that finding, the memo continues: “An excel file with a macro which executes when the spreadsheet is opened was uploaded for review by another user. The macro only opened up a command prompt window on the local user’s machine; however, the threat and risk potential is limitless. Keeping macros enabled relies on the local machine of the user who downloads to detect and stop malicious activity.”

Among the “Recommended Corrective Actions” to fix this problem, the memo says, “Implement a method for scanning uploaded documents for malicious macros.” Remarkably, the due date provided for the corrective actions to remedy this “limitless” risk problem is May 31, 2014 – eight months after the launch of Healthcare.gov.

The above revelation about the potential for malicious code being uploaded into Healthcare.gov is especially noteworthy, in light of the September 4, 2014, Wall Street Journal article, which reported, “A hacker broke into part of the Healthcare.gov insurance enrollment website in July and uploaded malicious software, according to federal officials.”

In the same September 3, 2013 memo, details of another “high risk” finding were disclosed: “FFM has an open high finding: No evidence of functional testing processes and procedures being adequate to identify functional problems resulting in non-functional code being deployed.”

The “Finding Description” for this flaw elaborates: “Software is being deployed into implementation and production that contains functional errors. Untested software may produce functional errors that cause unintentional Denial of Service and information errors.” The due date provided to correct this high risk flaw was listed as February 26, 2015, nearly a year and a half following Obamacare’s launch.

Another security flaw identified in the September 3 memo is: “Many FFM controls are described in CFACTS as ‘Not Satisfied.’” (CFACTS stands for CMS FISMA Controls Tracking System. It is CMS’ database used to keep track of security problems and fixes in the agency’s information systems.) The “Risk” that this problem poses is described as follows: “There is the possibility that the FFM security controls are ineffective. Ineffective controls do not appropriately protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data and present a risk to the CMS enterprise.” Officials provide a due date to correct this problem of February 7, 2014 – more than four months after Healthcare.gov was to launch.

The September 3 memo also reveals that “FFM appears to have selected an inappropriate E-Authentication level.” The risk significance of this problem is ...

Obamacare Is Redistribution Of Income...

New York Times and the redistributionist scheme of Obamacare

Thomas Lifson



As I write, I am glancing out the window, looking for airborne swine, for the New York Times today published an op-ed, revealing to its readers for the first time that redistribution of wealth is the engine that powers Obamacare. John Harwood, who works for the Times and CNBC, began by pointing out the Obama administration's aversion to the term "redistribution."

"Redistribution is a loaded word that conjures up all sorts of unfairness in people's minds," said William M. Daley, who was Mr. Obama's chief of staff at the time. Republicans wield it "as a hammer" against Democrats, he said, adding, "It's a word that, in the political world, you just don't use."

These days the word is particularly toxic at the White House, where it has been hidden away to make the Affordable Care Act more palatable to the public and less a target for Republicans, who have long accused Democrats of seeking "socialized medicine." But the redistribution of wealth has always been a central feature of the law and lies at the heart of the insurance market disruptions driving political attacks this fall. (snip)

Hiding in plain sight behind that pledge - visible to health policy experts but not the general public - was the redistribution required to extend health coverage to those who had been either locked out or priced out of the market.

Now some of that redistribution has come clearly into view.

How on earth did this get through? Is the Times editorial board smarting from the well-deserved ridicule it has received for making excuses for President Obama's lies?

We'll keep an eye on the Times so you don't have to. It remains, for the moment at least, the most influential media outlet in the United States, signalling the rest of the media what views are acceptable to the establishment left.
more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/11/new_york_times_and_the_redistributionist_scheme_of_obamacare.html#ixzz2lj9Ehwc7

House Democrats Ready Vote to Undercut Health Care Innovation

House Democrats this week will vote on HR 986, a bill that would harm Americans by leading to fewer health care choices and higher health care costs. It also would undercut what polls tell us 64% of Americans say they want in health care: to build on what is working and fix what isn’t.

The bill would undo the Trump administration’s regulatory relief efforts designed to allow more innovative health care solutions, which provided a small escape hatch from Obamacare’s one-size-fits-all solution. Innovation is key to addressing Obamacare’s failure to offer affordable health care that helps people access the doctors they want to see.

Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, provides states with limited authority to escape the law’s mandates (through a “waiver process”) and test new approaches to undoing some of this damage.

To make incremental progress toward the goal of expanding affordable choices in health coverage, the Trump administration rightly simplified the unnecessarily restrictive waiver process established by the Obama administration.

This change has been critical to helping provide consumers near-term relief—without new federal spending. Heritage Foundation research shows that several states successfully have used a waiver to change market conditions sufficiently that premiums fell for individual health insurance and enrollment expanded—all while protecting the ability of people with high health care costs to...

ObamaCare Psychological Test For Gun Ownership

90Ninety Miles From Tyranny : ObamaCare Psychological Test For Gun Ownership: OBAMACARE - Curing Mental Instability In The United Socialist States



Re-post from an ever so slightly less dystopian past.

Incompetence, Mismanagement Plague California’s Obamacare Insurance Exchange

California’s health insurance exchange, established under the Affordable Care Act, has been held out as a national model for Obamacare. In some ways—not all of them good—it is. Whether it’s falling far short of 2015 enrollment goals or sending out 100,000 inaccurate tax forms, Covered California is struggling with its share of challenges.

Now, several senior-level officials integral to the launch of Covered California—who enthusiastically support the Affordable Care Act—are speaking about what they view as gross incompetence and mismanagement involving some of the $1 billion federal tax dollars poured into the state effort.

‘Somebody Must Have Been Smoking Something’

Consultant Aiden Hill became a “foxhole convert” to Obamacare in July of 2010 when he lost his insurance, had a serious medical issue and couldn’t get a new policy.

“I lived through a health care nightmare. That’s one reason why I took a cut in my pay rate to work for Covered California.”

In March 2013, Hill was hired as project manager over Covered California’s massive $120 million call center effort. In just six short months, it would face an avalanche of customers seeking insurance mandated under the new law.

But five months on the job converted Hill from avid supporter to disenchanted whistleblower. He says the secretive and dysfunctional culture was...

Trump, Paul Forge Alliance on ‘Biggest Free-Market Reform of Health Care in Generation’

Unable so far to achieve even a partial rollback of Obamacare from Congress, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that could make it easier for some consumers to buy insurance across state lines—potentially increasing competition.

“The competition will be staggering,” Trump said before signing the order. “Insurance companies will be fighting to get every single person signed up, and you will be hopefully negotiating, negotiating, negotiating, and you’ll get such low prices for such great care.”

“Should have been done a long time ago, and it could have been done a long time ago,” he said.

Trump’s executive order primarily does three things:

• Allows more small businesses to form associations to buy insurance plans, with the goal of creating more competition and expanding options across state lines.\

• Reviews establishment of “short-term limited duration insurance,” which would not be subject to Obamacare’s expensive and comprehensive coverage regulations.

• Makes it easier for businesses to offer health reimbursement accounts, to allow more employees of small businesses to get coverage through work.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who opposed the recent Graham-Cassidy measure in the Senate to roll back Obamacare, heralded the executive order during the White House ceremony.

“President Trump is doing what I believe is the biggest free-market reform of health care in a generation. This reform, if it works and goes as planned, will allow millions of people to...

John McCain stabbed us in the back

Dan’s and Rob’s reactions to what Senator McCain did last week were not an overreaction. Why? Because the more I tried not to think about what he did in casting the deciding vote to keep ObamaCare, the angrier I got. Dan and Robert’s titles of their commentaries sum it up ...

Dan: “It’s John McCain’s America, so Washington is thrilled and you’re screwed”

Rob: “John McCain, venomous hypocrite and liar, dooms ObamaCare repeal - here’s what he said about it for the last 8 years”

When I listened to what he said about repeal and replace ObamaCare for the last eight years, the more disgusted and betrayed I felt.

Senator McCain has four-and-a-half years left before he is up for re-election. He loves the spotlight, and he has openly criticized President Trump at every opportunity, even if it was not deserved criticism. So this was his opportunity to make sure President Trump did not partially fulfill a campaign promise.

When he said last week on the floor of the U.S. Senate that people should stop listening to...

HHS PROMOTES CASH ASSISTANCE AND OBAMACARE FOR FOREIGN REFUGEES

HOUSTON, Texas -- Tens of thousands of Central Americans have entered the country illegally since

October 2013; most of them will be likely considered "refugees" and ultimately be allowed to remain in the U.S. Consequently, many of the migrants will receive welfare from the federal government, funded by taxpayers. Health and Human Services (HHS) documents, obtained by Breitbart Texas, show that significant federal funds go towards encouraging refugees to enroll in long term welfare programs, and towards administering such benefits directly.

HHS' Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR) provides funding and grants to various organizations that help refugees collect welfare.

One such organization is ICF International, which claims that it helps foreign refugees develop "partnerships" with federal, state, and community-based programs--"especially related to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program."

TANF is a mammoth federal welfare program that gives cash assistance to needy U.S. families. But refugees can collect the benefits as well. "Refugees qualify for mainstream federal public benefit programs, including TANF," HHS states on its website.

In 2014 alone, taxpayer shelled out about $17.35 billion on TANF payments.

In addition to promoting TANF assistance, HHS has also rolled out multiple initiatives to encourage foreign refugees to sign up for Obamacare (or the Affordable Care Act, "ACA"). ICF International is also involved in this effort, using tax dollars for the "translation of documents related to the Affordable Care Act into languages commonly spoken by refugees."

Breitbart Texas obtained an HHS document for Fiscal Year 2014 that further states, "ORR populations are covered by the ACA to the same extent as US citizens." Many refugees " will be
able to purchase health insurance through a Marketplace at a discounted price."

HHS also expands welfare for foreigners through its Matching Grant (MG) program. The program administers "but is not limited to, case management, employment services, maintenance assistance, cash allowance, and administration." The goal of the MG program is for recipients to become self-sufficient within 120-180 days of program eligibility. But an HHS document reveals that  the program is not successful.
During Fiscal Year 2012, 109,073 foreigners received benefits from the MG program--but only 7,903 were self sufficient after 180 days. In other words, only about seven percent of the programs recipients achieved the intended results.

It is easy to imagine that U.S. taxpayers are frustrated that their funds are being spent to provide long term welfare to individuals who entered the country illegally. Further disenchantment may be fueled by the fact that a significant number of U.S. citizens remain homeless and hungry.

So far tens of thousands of.. read more below..

Obamacare offers firms $3,000 incentive to hire illegals over native-born workers

Under the president’s new amnesty, businesses will have a $3,000-per-employee incentive to hire illegal immigrants over native-born workers because of a quirk of Obamacare.

President Obama’s temporary amnesty, which lasts three years, declares up to 5 million illegal immigrants to be lawfully in the country and eligible for work permits, but it still deems them ineligible for public benefits such as buying insurance on Obamacare’s health exchanges.

Under the Affordable Care Act, that means businesses who hire them won’t have to pay a penalty for not providing them health coverage — making them $3,000 more attractive than a similar native-born worker, whom the business by law would have to cover.

The loophole was confirmed by congressional aides and drew condemnation from those who said it put illegal immigrants ahead of Americans in the job market.

“If it is true that the president’s actions give employers a $3,000 incentive to hire those who came here illegally, he has added insult to...

OBAMA UNDONE: Trump DESTROYS Barack’s Legacy

Piece by piece, this first year of the Trump presidency has been about largely one mission: undoing Barack Obama.

As promised, President Trump is unraveling the unilateral – and largely unconstitutional – orders that were set in place by the previous eight years, to the delight of his supporters.

Anyone surprised at this should take a second look. During the campaign, Trump labeled Obama a “disaster,” a “catastrophe,” and “the most ignorant president in our history.”

Obamacare

President Trump promised to “repeal and replace” Obamacare as soon as “day one.” With a recalcitrant Congress, that proved impossible, but President Trump managed to knock out one of the three legs of the Affordable Care Act.

Within the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Trump and Congress managed to do away with the so-called “individual mandate,” which required Americans to get health insurance or pay a penalty.

The president also used his executive power to end cost sharing-reduction payments, government payments under Obamacare that helped insurers offset the cost of providing healthcare to some of the poorest Americans.

Paris Climate Agreement

Ted Cruz And Mike Lee Expose The Fillthy Lying Republicans That Will Allow Obamacare To Survive

The Replblicans Who Voted For Cloture Are TRAITORS.  I am going to list each or your names in a future post and I will not Allow you to get re-elected.  Punks.

Ted Cruz and Mike Lee will not get the forty-one votes they need to sustain their filibuster. They will be betrayed by Republican senators who are willing to fund Obamacare while claiming to vote against it. But in this filibuster and in their brilliant strategy, they have exposed Republicans who will not fight. They have exposed Republicans who are so desperate for their own reelection they will say or do anything when they could not bother in off years. They have shown Republicans that there are Republicans who are willing to stand up to Barack Obama and to the cowards within their own party.

They have also exposed a lot of people on the outside as frauds. To be sure, there are conservatives who have legitimate reasons to disagree with this strategy. But there are a whole lot who have been exposed as finger lickin’ frauds — willing to put their finger to the wind of beltway opinion to chart their course.

The Beltway Republican pundits bellyaching over Cruz and Lee fighting the fight others promised to fight is just a fart in the maelstrom of conservatives united against both Democrats and the finger lickin’ frauds within the Republican Party who talk a good game then fold like cheap suits.

Many of the Republicans who told conservatives to be good team players for Romney have shown that they will say and do anything to cut deals to undermine conservatives during this fight. Cruz and Lee are exposing them.

Cruz and Lee have brought anticeptic sunlight to the fight within the Republican Party. They are the men in the arena. If Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and with them Marco Rubio and others win this fight, they will be triumphant. But if they lose, at least they “shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Had Cruz and Lee not done this, the ending position for the Republicans would be far worse than what it would otherwise be. Had conservatives not pushed Congress to the brink on the debt ceiling, sequestration would never have happened. Because Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, and their House counterparts have shown just how far conservatives are willing to go now, House and Senate Republicans know they cannot cave for table scraps.

But they have, in this, been exposed as willing to otherwise settle or table scaps.

http://www.redstate.com/2013/09/24/finger-lickin-frauds-2/

Followup article is Here:

The 25 GOP Senators that Voted to Give Reid Cloture, Allowing Simple Majority to Restore Obamacare Funding

Why 6 Government-Funded Insurance Companies Created Under Obamacare Collapsed

A government watchdog overseeing the Department of Health and Human Services delivered the grim financial state of nearly all of the co-ops—that collectively received $2.4 billion—created under Obamacare several months ago.

Now, following the collapse of six of the 23 that launched in 2013, the co-ops, or consumer oriented and operated plans, face an uphill battle to solidify themselves as competitors in the health insurance market.

To assist the co-ops in getting off the ground, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services disbursed $2.4 billion in start-up and solvency loans to the 23 co-ops created under Obamacare.

However, over the last 10 months, six co-ops, which collectively received nearly $762 million from the federal government, announced they’re closing their doors and...

West Wing Reads

The Time has come for Republicans to Repeal and Replace

Larry Elder in Real Clear Politics acknowledges Republicans have a tough path forward in repealing and replacing Obamacare, but he also reminds us of the Democrats’ ultimate goal: a single-payer system. During the 2008 presidential campaign, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s healthcare proposals: “I think while someday we may end up with a single-payer system, it's clear that we're not going to do it all at once, so I think both candidates' health care plans are a big step forward." As Mr. Elder points out: “In other words, Obamacare was just a steppingstone along the path,” noting it “was intended to fail.” It’s now up to Republicans to chart a new course.
Click here to read more.

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In The Washington Post, health care expert Avik Roy writes that the beginning of debate on Obamacare repeal in the Senate “is a critical milestone in the effort to make American health care more sustainable and affordable.”

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CNBC reports on Wednesday’s announcement at the White House that Foxconn “will invest $10 billion to create a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Wisconsin,” creating 3,000 jobs that could eventually grow to 13,000 jobs.

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Greg Ip at The Wall Street Journal writes on the insidious “myth of Trump’s do-nothing presidency.” As Ip notes, “(t)o gauge a president’s impact you have to go beyond the laws he signs to the vast authority he wields through departments and agencies that apply the law. On that score, Mr. Trump is on track to do a lot.” According to Sofie Miller of George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, “(t)he latest update on regulatory actions released last week by the White House Office of Management and Budget contained 1,731 preliminary, proposed or final rules, down 40% from its peak under Mr. Obama in 2011 and a 17-year low.”

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In USA Today, Joseph Murray argues President Trump’s military transgender ban helps protect military readiness – that with “North Korea, Syria and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria posing serious threats, the U.S. military needs to be focused on defeating these enemies and not locker rooms, restrooms and re-assignment surgeries.”

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Emily Jashinsky in the Washington Examiner looks at a Military Times/Institute for Veterans and Military Families poll, which reported more than three-to-one service members were against an Obama-era policy to allow transgender individuals from serving openly in the military, with 41 percent saying it hurt military readiness, and only 12 percent saying it helped.

Report: Obamacare killed 300,000 jobs, 10,200 companies, $19B in wages

A new report certain to spur quicker GOP action to kill Obamacare finds that it has crushed small businesses forced to participate and robbed employees of $19 billion in wages in 2015.

What's more, the American Action Forum analysis found that Affordable Care Act regulations have cost 295,030 jobs and killed 10,130 small businesses that year.

A similar report on Obamacare's regulatory impact in 2014 put the price at $22 billion in lost wages.

Based on federal data, the report said, "We found that since the ACA became law, among small businesses, the rise in premiums has been associated with $19 billion in lost wages, 10,130 fewer business establishments, and nearly 300,000 lost jobs, with seven states losing more than 10,000 jobs, all results consistent with our previous research. Given the premium spikes in some states, 17 percent to 47 percent, it is not difficult to understand how the labor market reacts to the significant increase in health care costs. In fact, regulators predicted many of these increases when they....

CBS’s Bob Schieffer Interviews Dem. Elijah Cummings, Ignores His Relationship With Lois Lerner

Earlier this week, Town Hall revealed that former IRS official Lois Lerner fed tax information from the conservative group “True the Vote” to Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD).  Cummings is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and recently made headlines for his confrontation with Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) over Lois Lerner’s recent testimony before the committee. 

Despite this new report, CBS’ Bob Schieffer failed to bring up the IRS scandal at all during his interview with Cummings on Face the Nation on Sunday April 13. Instead, Schieffer found time to discuss liberals’ newest talking point, that women get paid less than their male counterparts. 

According to Town Hall: 

New IRS emails released by the House Oversight Committee show staff working for Democratic Ranking Member Elijah Cummings communicated with the IRS multiple times between 2012 and 2013 about voter fraud prevention group True the Vote. True the Vote was targeted by the IRS after applying for tax exempt status more than two years ago. 

Further, information shows the IRS and Cummings' staff asked for nearly identical information from True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht about her organization, indicating coordination and improper sharing of confidential taxpayer information.

Instead of asking Congressman Cummings about this damaging new report surrounding the IRS scandal, Schieffer ignored the entire issue, and focused on ObamaCare and equal pay for women for the entirety of the interview. 

The CBS host even falsely claimed that the GOP did not support equal pay for women: “Marsha Blackburn says Republicans are actually for equal pay for women. But yet, it was blocked in the Senate by Republicans…What is going on here?” 

Given that Schieffer had the opportunity to interview the ranking Democrat on the committee leading the IRS investigation, it would have made sense to ask Cummings about the scandal, or the Democrats' questionable relationship with IRS agents.  

See relevant transcript below.

Info-Babe Michelle Malkin lays Out The History Of Technology Failures In The Obama Administration

What happened to all of Obama’s technology czars?
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2013

Why does the White House need a private-sector “tech surge” to repair its wretched Obamacare website failures? Weren’t all of the president’s myriad IT czars and their underlings supposed to ensure that taxpayers got the most effective, innovative, cutting-edge and secure technology for their money?

Now is the perfect time for an update on Obama’s top government titans of information technology. As usual, “screw up, move up” is standard bureaucratic operating procedure.

Let’s start with the “federal chief information officer.” In 2009, Obama named then 34-year-old “whiz kid” Vivek Kundra to the post overseeing $80 billion in government IT spending. At 21, Kundra was convicted of misdemeanor theft. He stole a handful of men’s shirts from a J.C. Penney’s department store and ran from police in a failed attempt to evade arrest. Whitewashing the petty thief’s crimes, Obama instead effused about his technology czar’s “depth of experience in the technology arena.”

Just as he was preparing to take the federal job, an FBI search warrant was issued at Kundra’s workplace. He was serving as the chief technology officer of the District of Columbia. Two of Kundra’s underlings, Yusuf Acar and Sushil Bansal, were charged in an alleged scheme of bribery, kickbacks, ghost employees and forged timesheets. Kundra went on leave for five days and was then reinstated after the feds informed him that he was neither a subject nor a target of the investigation.

As I noted in my 2009 book, “Culture of Corruption,” city and federal watchdogs had identified a systemic lack of controls in Kundra’s office. Veteran D.C. newspaper columnist Jonetta Rose Barras reported that Acar “was consistently promoted by his boss, Vivek Kundra, receiving with each move increasing authority over sensitive information and operating with little supervision.” Yet, Team Obama emphasized that Kundra had no idea what was going on in his workplace, which employed about 300 workers.

A mere 29 months after taking the White House job, Kundra left for a cushy fellowship at Harvard University. In January 2012, he snagged an executive position at Salesforce.com, which touted his “demonstrated track record of driving innovation.”

In 2011, Obama appointed former Microsoft executive and FCC managing director Steven VanRoekel to succeed Kundra. At the time, he promised “to make sure that the pace of innovation in the private sector can be applied to the model that is government.” Mission not accomplished.

Next up: Obama’s “U.S. chief technology officer.” In May 2009, the president appointed Aneesh Chopra “to promote technological innovation to help the country meet its goals such as job creation, reducing health care costs and protecting the homeland. Together with Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, their jobs are to make the government more effective, efficient and transparent.”

Chopra’s biggest accomplishment? A humiliating cameo in December 2009 on “The Daily Show” with liberal comedian Jon Stewart, who mocked the administration’s pie-in-the-sky Open Government Initiative. Chopra resigned three years later, ran unsuccessfully for Virginia lieutenant governor and now works as a “senior fellow” at the far-left Center for American Progress, which is run by former Clinton administration hit man turned Obama helpmate John Podesta.

Obama replaced Chopra with Todd Park, the former “chief technology officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” The White House described him as a “change agent and ‘entrepreneur-in-residence,’ helping HHS harness the power of data, technology and innovation to improve the health of the nation.” Park oversees the “Presidential Innovation Fellows” program and is also a “senior fellow” in health IT and health reform policy at Podesta’s Center for American Progress. CAP has tirelessly defended Obamacare and its global joke of an IT infrastructure.

In 2010, when President Obama first rolled out a dog-and-pony demonstration of Healthcare.gov, Park basked in the glow of positive media coverage. He bragged to TechCrunch.com about working “24/7 … in a very, very nimble hyper consumer focused way … all fused in this kind ofmaelstrom of pizza, Mountain Dew and all-nighters, and you know, idealism.”

It was, as you all now know, all hype and glory. So who has Obama called in to oversee the HealthCare.gov rescue mission? None other than the administration’s “change agent and entrepreneur-in-residence,” CTO Todd Park, who helped build the broken system in the first place!

Obamacare also created the “Bureau of Health Information” and a new “assistant secretary of health information,” who coordinates with a separate“national coordinator for health information technology” overseeing the equally disastrous electronic medical records mandate. Harvard University’s David Blumenthal held the post from 2009 to 2011 before returning to his Ivy League home.

Then came Farzad Mostashari, who was “at the forefront of the administration’s health IT efforts and is a resource to the entire health system to support the adoption of health information technology and the promotion of nationwide health information exchange to improve health care.” In August 2013, Mostashari announced his resignation, and earlier this month, he became a “visiting fellow” at the Brookings Institution’s Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform.

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, waste our money screwing things up and then run back to academia to train the next generation of incompetent technocrats.

...and when I say "Info-Babe" (yes I got that from you know who), I mean smart and beautiful....

http://michellemalkin.com/2013/10/25/what-happened-to-all-of-obamas-technology-czars/

A Short List Of Some Of Trump's Accomplishments...

Economic Growth

• 4.2 percent growth in the second quarter of 2018.
• For the first time in more than a decade, growth is projected to exceed 3 percent over the calendar year.

Jobs

• 4 million new jobs have been created since the election, and more than 3.5 million since Trump took office.
• More Americans are employed now than ever before in our history.
• Jobless claims at lowest level in nearly five decades.
• The economy has achieved the longest positive job-growth streak on record.
• Job openings are at an all-time high and outnumber job seekers for the first time on record.
• Unemployment claims at 50 year low
• African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American unemployment rates have all recently reached record lows.
• Women’s unemployment recently at lowest rate in nearly 65 years.
• Youth unemployment recently reached its lowest level in more than 50 years.
• Veterans’ unemployment recently hit its lowest level in nearly two decades.
• Unemployment rate for Americans without a high school diploma recently reached a record low.
• Rate for disabled Americans recently hit a record low.
• Blue-collar jobs recently grew at the fastest rate in more than three decades.
• Poll found that 85 percent of blue-collar workers believe their lives are headed “in the right direction.”
• Last year, job satisfaction among American workers hit its highest level since 2005.
• Nearly two-thirds of Americans rate now as a good time to find a quality job.
• Added more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the election.
• 100,000 new jobs supporting the production & transport of oil & natural gas.
• African-American unemployment hit a record low of 5.9 percent in May 2018.
• Hispanic unemployment at 4.5 percent.
• Asian-American unemployment at record low of 2 percent.
• Female unemployment dropped to 3.6 percent in May 2018, the lowest since October 1953.
• July 2018’s youth unemployment rate of 9.2 percent was the lowest since July 1966.
• July 2018’s veterans’ unemployment rate of 3.0 percent matched the lowest rate since May 2001.
• 68 percent reported receiving a pay increase in the past year.
• Optimism about the availability of good jobs has grown by 25 percent.
• Manufacturing employment is growing at its fastest pace in more than two decades.

American Income

• Median household income rose to $61,372 in 2017, a post-recession high.
• Wages up in August by their fastest rate since June 2009.
• Paychecks rose by 3.3 percent between 2016 and 2017, the most in a decade.
• Council of Economic Advisers found that real wage compensation has grown by 1.4 percent over the past year.
• Some 3.9 million Americans off food stamps since the election.
• Median income for Hispanic-Americans rose by 3.7 percent and surpassed $50,000 for the first time ever in history.
• Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels ever recorded.
• Home-ownership among Hispanics is at the highest rate in nearly a decade.
• American Optimism
• Small business optimism has hit historic highs.
• Manufacturers are more confident than ever.
• Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high.
• 12 percent of Americans rate the economy as the most significant problem facing our country, the lowest level on record.
• Confidence in the economy is near a two-decade high, with 51 percent rating the economy as good or excellent.
• NFIB’s small business optimism index broke a 35 year-old record in August.
• SurveyMonkey/CNBC’s small business confidence survey for Q3 of 2018 matched its all-time high.
• 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future, the highest ever.
• American Business
• Investment is flooding back into the United States due to the tax cuts.
• Retail sales have surged. Commerce Department figures from August show that retail sales increased 0.5 percent in July 2018, an increase of 6.4 percent from July 2017.
• ISM’s index of manufacturing scored its highest reading in 14 years.
• Worker productivity is the highest it has been in more than three years.
• Steel and aluminum producers are re-opening.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and NASDAQ have all notched record highs.
• Over $450 billion dollars has already poured back into the U.S., including more than $300 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
• Dow hit record highs 70 times in 2017 alone, the most ever recorded in one year.
• Deregulation
• Achieved massive deregulation at a rapid pace, completing 22 deregulatory actions to every one regulatory action during his first year in office.
• Signed legislation to roll back costly and harmful provisions of Dodd-Frank, providing relief to credit unions, and community and regional banks.
• Federal agencies achieved more than $8 billion in lifetime net regulatory cost savings.
• Rolled back Obama’s burdensome Waters of the U.S. rule.
• Used the Congressional Review Act to repeal regulations more times than in history.

Tax Cuts

• Biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history by signing the Tax Cuts and Jobs act into law
• 9 in 10 American workers are expected see an increase in their paychecks thanks to the tax cuts, according to the Treasury Department.
• More than 6 million of American workers have received wage increases, bonuses, and increased benefits thanks to tax cuts.
• Over 100 utility companies have lowered electric, gas, or water rates thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
• Ernst & Young found 89 percent of companies planned to increase worker compensation thanks to the Trump tax cuts.
• Established opportunity zones to spur investment in left behind communities.
• Provided more than $5.5 trillion in gross tax cuts, nearly 60 percent of which will go to families.
• Increased the exemption for the death tax to help save Family Farms & Small Business.
• Nearly doubled the standard deduction for individuals and families.
• Enabled vast majority of American families will be able to file their taxes on a single page by claiming the standard deduction.
• Doubled the child tax credit to help lessen the financial burden of raising a family.
• Lowered America’s corporate tax rate from the highest in the developed world to allow American businesses to compete and win.
• Small businesses can now deduct 20 percent of their business income.
• Cut dozens of special interest tax breaks and closed loopholes for the wealthy.

Worker Development

• Established a National Council for the American Worker to develop a national strategy for training and retraining America’s workers for high-demand industries.
• Employers have signed Trump’s “Pledge to America’s Workers,” committing to train or retrain more than 4.2 million workers and students.
• Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.
• Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.

Domestic Infrastructure

• Proposed infrastructure plan would utilize $200 billion in Federal funds to spur at least $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investment across the country.
• Executive order expediting environmental reviews and approvals for high priority infrastructure projects.
• Federal agencies have signed the One Federal Decision Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) streamlining the federal permitting process for infrastructure projects.
• Rural prosperity task force and signed an executive order to help expand broadband access in rural areas.

Health Care

• Signed an executive order to help minimize the financial burden felt by American households Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.
• Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.
• Signed Right-to-Try legislation, expanding health care options for terminally ill patients.
• Enacted changes to the Medicare 340B program, saving seniors an estimated $320 million on drugs in 2018 alone.
• FDA set a new record for generic drug approvals in 2017, saving consumers nearly $9 billion.
• Released a blueprint to drive down drug prices for American patients, leading multiple major drug companies to announce they will freeze or reverse price increases.
• Expanded short-term, limited-duration health plans.
• Let more employers to form Association Health Plans, enabling more small businesses to join together and affordably provide health insurance to their employees.
• Cut Obamacare’s burdensome individual mandate penalty.
• Signed legislation repealing Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board, also known as the “death panels.”
• USDA invested more than $1 billion in rural health care in 2017, improving access to health care for 2.5 million people in rural communities across 41 states
• Proposed Title X rule to help ensure taxpayers do not fund the abortion industry in violation of the law.
• Reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy to keep foreign aid from supporting the global abortion industry.
• HHS formed a new division over protecting the rights of conscience and religious freedom.
• Overturned Obama administration’s midnight regulation prohibiting states from defunding certain abortion facilities.
• Signed executive order to help ensure that religious organizations are not forced to choose between violating their religious beliefs by complying with Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate or shutting their doors.

Combating Opioids

• Chaired meeting the 73rd General Session of the United Nations discussing the worldwide drug problem with international leaders.
• Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand, introducing new measures to keep dangerous drugs out of our communities.
• $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
• DEA conducted a surge in April 2018 that arrested 28 medical professions and revoked 147 registrations for prescribing too many opioids.
• Brought the “Prescribed to Death” memorial to President’s Park near the White House, helping raise awareness about the human toll of the opioid crisis.
• Helped reduce high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent in 2017.
• Opioid Summit on the administration-wide efforts to combat the opioid crisis.
• Launched a national public awareness campaign about the dangers of opioid addiction.
• Created a Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis which recommended a number of pathways to tackle the opioid crisis.
• Led two National Prescription Drug Take Back Days in 2017 and 2018, collecting a record number of expired and unneeded prescription drugs each time.
• $485 million targeted grants in FY 2017 to help areas hit hardest by the opioid crisis.
• Signed INTERDICT Act, strengthening efforts to detect and intercept synthetic opioids before they reach our communities.
• DOJ secured its first-ever indictments against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers.
• Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team, aimed at disrupting online illicit opioid sales.
• Declared the opioid crisis a Nationwide Public Health Emergency in October 2017.

Law and Order

• More U.S. Circuit Court judges confirmed in the first year in office than ever.
• Confirmed more than two dozen U. S. Circuit Court judges.
• Followed through on the promise to nominate judges to the Supreme Court who will adhere to the Constitution
• Signed an executive order directing the Attorney General to develop a strategy to more effectively prosecute people who commit crimes against law enforcement officers.
• Launched an evaluation of grant programs to make sure they prioritize the protection and safety of law enforcement officers.
• Established a task force to reduce crime and restore public safety in communities across Signed an executive order to focus more federal resources on dismantling transnational criminal organizations such as drug cartels.
• Signed an executive order to focus more federal resources on dismantling transnational criminal organizations such as drug cartels.
• Violent crime decreased in 2017 according to FBI statistics.
• $137 million in grants through the COPS Hiring Program to preserve jobs, increase community policing capacities, and support crime prevention efforts.
• Enhanced and updated the Project Safe Neighborhoods to help reduce violent crime.
• Signed legislation making it easier to target websites that enable sex trafficking and strengthened penalties for people who promote or facilitate prostitution.
• Created an interagency task force working around the clock to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent human trafficking.
• Conducted Operation Cross Country XI to combat human trafficking, rescuing 84 children and arresting 120 human traffickers.
• Encouraged federal prosecutors to use the death penalty when possible in the fight against the trafficking of deadly drugs.
• New rule effectively banning bump stock sales in the United States.
• Nominated and confirmed Justice Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Border Security and Immigration

• Secured $1.6 billion for border wall construction in the March 2018 omnibus bill.
• Construction of a 14-mile section of border wall began near San Diego.
• Worked to protect American communities from the threat posed by the vile MS-13 gang.
• Fighting to stop the scourge of illegal drugs at our border.
• Released an immigration framework that includes the resources required to secure our borders and close legal loopholes, and repeatedly called on Congress to fix our broken immigration laws.
• Authorized the deployment of the National Guard to help secure the border.
• Enhanced vetting of individuals entering the U.S. from countries that don’t meet security standards, helping to ensure individuals who pose a threat to our country are identified before they enter.
• ICE removed over 226,000 illegal aliens from the United States in 2017.
• In 2017, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested more than 127,000 aliens with criminal convictions or charges, responsible for
• Created the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office in order to support the victims and families affected by illegal alien crime.
• More than doubled the number of counties participating in the 287(g) program, which allows jails to detain criminal aliens until they are transferred to ICE custody.
• ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division arrested 796 MS-13 members and associates in FY 2017, an 83 percent increase from the prior year.
• Justice worked with partners in Central America to secure criminal charges against more than 4,000 MS-13 members.
• Border Patrol agents arrested 228 illegal aliens affiliated with MS-13 in FY 2017.
• ICE HSI seized more than 980,000 pounds of narcotics in FY 2017, including 2,370 pounds of fentanyl and 6,967 pounds of heroin.
• ICE HSI dedicated nearly 630,000 investigative hours towards halting the illegal import of fentanyl.
• ICE HSI made 11,691 narcotics-related arrests in FY 2017.
• Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand introduced new measures to keep dangerous drugs out the United States.
• Signed the INTERDICT Act into law, enhancing efforts to detect and intercept synthetic opioids.
• DOJ secured its first-ever indictments against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers.
• DOJ launched their Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team, aimed at disrupting online illicit opioid sales.
• These procedures were upheld in a June 2018 Supreme Court hearing.
• ICE rescued or identified over 500 human trafficking victims and over 900 child exploitation victims in 2017 alone.
• Over 76,000 with dangerous drug offenses.
• More than 48,000 with assault offenses.
• More than 11,000 with weapons offenses.
• More than 5,000 with sexual assault offenses.
• More than 2,000 with kidnapping offenses.
• Over 1,800 with homicide offenses.

Trade

• Negotiating and renegotiating better trade deals, achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade for the United States.
• Enacted steel and aluminum tariffs to protect our vital steel and aluminum producers and strengthen our national security.
• Conducted 82 anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations in 2017 alone.
• Confronting China’s unfair trade practices after years of Washington looking the other way.
• Withdrew from the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
• Secured access to new markets for America’s farmers.
• OK’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.
• Agreed to work with the European Union towards zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsides.
• Deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.
• Litigated multiple WTO disputes targeting unfair trade practices and upholding our right to enact fair trade laws.
• Finalized a revised trade agreement with South Korea, which includes provisions to increase American automobile exports.
• Negotiated an historic U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement to replace NAFTA.
• Agreement to begin trade negotiations for a U.S.-Japan trade agreement.
• Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.
• Established a Trade and Investment Working Group with the United Kingdom, laying the groundwork for post-Brexit trade.
• 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods imported from China and later imposed an additional 10% tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods.
• Conducted an investigation into Chinese forced technology transfers, unfair licensing practices, and intellectual property theft.
• Imposed safeguard tariffs to protect domestic washing machines and solar products manufacturers hurt by China’s trade policies
• Recent deal with Mexico included new improvements enabling food and agriculture to trade more fairly.
• Recent agreement with the E.U. will reduce barriers and increase trade of American soybeans to Europe.
• Won a WTO dispute regarding Indonesia’s unfair restriction of U.S. agricultural exports.
• Defended American Tuna fisherman and packagers before the WTO
• Opened up Argentina to American pork experts for the first time in a quarter-century
• American beef exports have returned to china for the first time in more than a decade

Energy

• Presidential Memorandum to clear roadblocks to construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
• Presidential Memorandum declaring that the Dakota Access Pipeline serves the national interest and initiating the process to complete construction.
• Opened up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration.
• Coal exports up over 60 percent in 2017.
• Rolled back the “stream protection rule” to prevent it from harming America’s coal industry.
• Cancelled Obama’s anti-coal Clean Power Plan and proposed the Affordable Clean Energy Rule as a replacement.
• Withdrew from the job-killing Paris climate agreement, which would have cost the U.S. nearly $3 trillion and led to 6.5 million fewer industrial sector jobs by 2040.
• U.S. oil production has achieved its highest level in American history
• United States is now the largest crude oil producer in the world.
• U.S. has become a net natural gas exporter for the first time in six decades.
• Action to expedite the identification and extraction of critical minerals that are vital to the nation’s security and economic prosperity.
• Took action to reform National Ambient Air Quality Standards, benefitting American manufacturers.
• Rescinded Obama’s hydraulic fracturing rule, which was expected to cost the industry $32 million per year.
• Proposed an expansion of offshore drilling as part of an all-of-the above energy strategy
• Got EU to increase its imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States.
• Issued permits for the New Burgos Pipeline that will cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
• Held a lease sale for offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico in August 2018.

Foreign Policy

• Moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
• Withdrew from Iran deal and immediately began the process of re-imposing sanctions that had been lifted or waived.
• Historic summit with North Korean President Kim Jong-Un, bringing beginnings of peace and denuclearization to the Korean Peninsula.
• Imposed strong sanctions on Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro and his inner circle.
• Executive order preventing those in the U.S. from carrying out certain transactions with the Venezuelan regime, including prohibiting the purchase of the regime’s debt.
• Responded to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.
• New Cuba policy that enhanced compliance with U.S. law and held the Cuban regime accountable for political oppression and human rights abuses.
• Changed the rules of engagement, empowering commanders to take the fight to ISIS.
• More than a dozen American hostages have been freed from captivity all of the world.
• Action to combat Russia’s malign activities, including their efforts to undermine the sanctity of United States elections.
• Helped win U.S. bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
• Helped win U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup.
• Treasury has issued sanctions targeting Iranian activities and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force
• Since enacting sanctions, Iran’s crude exports have fallen off, the value of Iran’s currency has plummeted, and international companies have pulled out of the country.
• All nuclear-related sanctions will be back in full force by early November 2018.
• The two leaders have exchanged letters and high-level officials from both sides have met resulting in tremendous progress.
• North Korea has halted nuclear and missile tests.
• Negotiated the return of the remains of missing-in-action soldiers from the Korean War.
• Rolled out sanctions targeting individuals and entities tied to Syria’s chemical weapons program.
• Directed strikes in April 2017 against a Syrian airfield used in a chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians.
• Joined allies in launching airstrikes in April 2018 against targets associated with Syria’s chemical weapons use.
• Treasury and State are working to channel economic activity away from the Cuban regime, particularly the military.
• ISIS has lost virtually all of its territory, more than half of which has been lost under Trump.
• ISIS’ self-proclaimed capital city, Raqqah, was liberated in October 2017.
• All Iraqi territory had been liberated from ISIS.
• Expelled dozens of Russian intelligence officers from the United States and ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle, WA.
• Banned the use of Kaspersky Labs software on government computers, due to the company’s ties to Russian intelligence.
• Imposed sanctions against five Russian entities and three individuals for enabling Russia’s military and intelligence units to increase Russia’s offensive cyber capabilities.
• Sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs, and 12 companies they own or control, who profit from Russia’s destabilizing activities.
• Sanctioned 100 targets in response to Russia’s occupation of Crimea and aggression in Eastern Ukraine.
• Enhanced support for Ukraine’s Armed Forces to help Ukraine better defend itself.

Defense

• Executive order keeping the detention facilities at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay open.
• $700 billion in military funding for FY 2018 and $716 billion for FY 2019.
• Largest military pay raise in nearly a decade.
• Ordered a Nuclear Posture Review to ensure America’s nuclear forces are up to date and serve as a credible deterrent.
• Released America’s first fully articulated cyber strategy in 15 years.
• New strategy on national biodefense, which better prepares the nation to defend against biological threats.
• Administration has announced that it will use whatever means necessary to protect American citizens and servicemen from unjust prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
• Released an America first National Security Strategy.
• Put in motion the launch of a Space Force as a new branch of the military and relaunched the National Space Council.
• Encouraged North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies to increase defense spending to their agree-upon levels.
• Executive order to help military spouses find employment as their families deploy domestically and abroad.
• In 2017 alone, there was an increase of more than 4.8 percent in defense spending amongst NATO allies.
• Every member state has increased defense spending.
• Eight NATO allies will reach the 2 percent benchmark by the end of 2018 and 15 allies are on trade to do so by 2024.
• NATO allies spent over $42 billion dollars more on defense since 2016.

Veterans affairs

• Signed the VA Accountability Act and expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
• Delivered more appeals decisions – 81,000 – to veterans in a single year than ever before.
• Strengthened protections for individuals who come forward and identify programs occurring within the VA.
• Signed legislation that provided $86.5 billion in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the largest dollar amount in history for the VA.
• VA MISSION Act, enacting sweeping reform to the VA system that:
• Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act in 2017, which authorized $2.1 billion in addition funds for the Veterans Choice Program.
• Worked to shift veterans’ electronic medical records to the same system used by the Department of Defense, a decades old priority.
• Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.
• Increased transparency and accountability at the VA by launching an online “Access and Quality Tool,” providing veterans with access to wait time and quality of care data.
• Signed legislation to modernize the claims and appeal process at the VA.
• Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, providing enhanced educational benefits to veterans, service members, and their family members.
• Created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.
• VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.
• Signed the Veterans Treatment Court Improvement Act, increasing the number of VA employees that can assist justice-involved veterans.
• Consolidated and strengthened VA community care programs.
• Funding for the Veterans Choice program.
• Expanded eligibility for the Family Caregivers Program.
• Gave veterans more access to walk-in care.
• Strengthened the VA’s ability to recruit and retain quality healthcare professionals.
• Enabled the VA to modernize its assets and infrastructure.
• Lifted a 15-year limit on veterans’ access to their educational benefits.