Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown reports:
Obama's 5 p.m. signing [of the children's health insurance bill] came barely three hours after the House approved the bill, breaching Obama's promise to have a five-day period of "sunlight before signing," as he detailed on the campaign trail and on his website.
Yesterday, the White House claimed that "Obama was committed to the pledge, and 'we will be implementing this policy in full soon.'"
Why do I have the feeling that the White House's pledge to implement the policy "soon" means "after we ram the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' bill through Congress"? Public opinion has now turned against the "stimulus" bill as it stands. Maybe Obama thinks the public will more easily swallow billions of dollars in pork and social welfare spending if they don't have a chance to look at the text of the bill online. But breaking a promise about transparency on a more controversial measure like the "stimulus" will surely create problems of its own.
Also, Americans for Tax Reform points out that during the campaign Obama pledged not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 per year.
"I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes" (Barack Obama, September 12, 2008, Dover, NH).
The children's health insurance bill is financed by a very regressive 61 cents per pack tax hike. Perhaps the Obama administration will provide a voucher to reimburse smokers making less than $250,000?
