Viewpoints: Congress Back To Its Old Agenda; Problems With Health Law’s ‘Cadillac’ Tax

Los Angeles Times: New 'Productive' Congress Takes A Vote ... To Repeal Obamacare
Just the other day, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was telling Bret Baier of Fox News that the new Republican majority on Capitol Hill was "trying to get off to a fast start here." He explained, "The American people elected a new Congress. They want results." A couple of minutes later, he observed that among the first orders of business for the new results-oriented Congress would be a vote to repeal Obamacare. That vote is taking place Tuesday, as we write. It's unfolding strictly along party lines. It's the 56th repeal vote. It is preordained to pass in the results-oriented House but not in the results-oriented Senate. Even if it did, it would be vetoed by the results-oriented president. (Michael Hiltzik, 2/3)

The Washington Post: With Latest Obamacare Repeal Vote, GOP Sets ‘Record’ For Futility
It is unfair to say Republicans have achieved nothing in their dozens of attempts since 2010 to repeal Obamacare. In Tuesday’s repeal effort by House Republicans — their first of this Congress and their 56th overall — it became clear that they had succeeded at one thing: They had bored even themselves into a slumber. (Dana Milbank, 2/3)

Bloomberg: Jindal Shows How Not To Replace Obamacare
It's no secret that Republicans are divided both about how to replace Obamacare and about the urgency of coming up with an alternative plan. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has just escalated that internal debate -- and shown why his side should lose it. ... Jindal's key provision is to eliminate the tax break for employer-provided health coverage and instead offer a deduction with which people could buy insurance in the individual market. The great flaw in Jindal's plan is that it would cause millions of people to lose their coverage. (Ramesh Ponnuru, 2/3)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: How The ‘Cadillac Tax’ Could Drive Obamacare Over A Political Cliff
In its economic forecast last week, the Congressional Budget Office revealed a quandary about Obamacare’s “Cadillac tax”: To make the underlying law fiscally sustainable, the tax may end up increasing at a rate that becomes politically unsustainable. (Chris Jacobs, 2/3)

USA Today: Hoyer: Court Must Defend Obamacare Subsidies
Last week, I joined with federal and state legislators involved in passing the Affordable Care Act to file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the case of King v. Burwell. The plaintiffs in that case are suing to prevent millions of Americans from receiving tax credits to purchase quality, affordable coverage through the federal health insurance marketplace. Since the state and federal marketplaces first began offering coverage last year, tax credits and subsidies have saved thousands of dollars for individual, family and small business consumers. They have also saved lives for those who would not have been able to afford health care on their own. These reforms are central to ensuring that all Americans have access to health care coverage. (Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., 2/3)

Politico: High Court's Case On ACA Drastically Raises Stakes
In just over a month, the Supreme Court will hear the claim that tax credits are available only for health plans sold through marketplaces run by states — not for plans sold through a marketplace run by the federal government on behalf of states. As congressional staffers involved in drafting the law, we know that the legislative history, intent and text are clear that tax credits are available in all states. If the court blatantly disregards this evidence, the consequences would be immediate and far-reaching. (David Bowen, Topher Spiro, Yvette Fontenot and Jon Selib, 2/3)

The Wall Street Journal: A Budget Hemmed In by Reality
Beneath the aggregate spending levels, we find a slow-motion reordering of the nation’s priorities. Between 2015 and 2025, “mandatory” spending—principally Social Security and Medicare—increases from 12.5% to 14.2% of GDP. By contrast, “discretionary” spending—everything the federal government does through annual appropriations to defend the country, foster opportunity and invest in the future—falls from 6.5% of GDP to 5.1%, the lowest level since at least 1962 (the first year in which such data were reported). The president’s budget does little to alter these trends—and in some respects accelerates them. (William A. Galston, 2/3)

Bloomberg: Help The Disabled Back To Work
Since the late 1990s, the number of working-age Americans receiving disability payments from Social Security has doubled, to more than 8 million. The mounting costs of the program, running at almost $150 billion a year, are about to exhaust the fund that supports it. Something will have to be done, and soon -- but what? Republicans in Congress have ruled out the simplest and most traditional fix, which would be to channel funds from the main Social Security fund. They're calling for reform instead, and they're right. Better still, they have some good ideas about how this reform should be done. (2/3)

The Wall Street Journal: What Failed, The New Cancer Treatment Or Regulators?
Washington’s leaders rarely focus on how bureaucracy and outdated regulations handicap the efforts of America’s most innovative companies and researchers to bring new treatments to patients. But it’s happening. Last week the 21st Century Cures initiative — spearheaded by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R., Mich.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D., Colo.) — released a report offering bipartisan suggestions for streamlining clinical trials and reforming the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of emerging technologies. Sens. Lamar Alexande r (R., Tenn.) and Richard Burr (R., N.C.) issued their own call for reform, arguing that “too many patients with no treatment options wait while potential treatments languish in laboratories.” (Peter Huber and Paul Howard, 2/3)

USA Today: Satcher-Kennedy: How To Fix Mental Health System
What if we told you there was an issue that virtually everyone — Democrat, Republican and Independents — agreed on? Would it further surprise you that it's a subject on which we've been silent for generations? But now, an overwhelming majority (96%) of the public agrees that mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety and alcohol or drug abuse are serious public health problems, according to a new poll by Public Opinion Strategies. Almost as many (93%) believe that the current way we are handling mental health needs to change. (David Satcher and Patrick J. Kennedy, 2/4)

The Chicago Tribune: 'Infant Mortality' Means Nothing Until It Means Everything
As a journalist, I've attended too many funerals over the past two decades for infants who didn't make it to their first birthday, for various reasons. Low birth weight, smoking while pregnant, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and lack of prenatal care are the chronic culprits. Each baby's death left the family devastated, but especially the young mothers who felt responsible to a degree. ... I thought of them again on Tuesday afternoon when I received a press release from the state of Indiana on this complex issue. The governor's office released a new report detailing the findings of an advanced analytics study on the root causes of infant mortality in Indiana. (Jerry Davich, 2/3)