Politico‘s Carrie Budoff Brown reports:
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.
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?
