Chad’s Morning Brief: Obamacare Forcing Employers to Cut Employee Hours Though White House Doesn’t Believe It, Blame Game Over Shutdown, & More

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of August 15, 2013. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or on your iPhone/Android with the radioPup App.

1. Obamacare and Work (link)

This White House doesn't believe that employers are cutting employee hours. Even though everywhere you look we see evidence of it.

NBC News contacted around 20 small businesses and other entities for this report and found that employee hours are being cut to 29 hours because of Obamacare, despite the delay of the employer mandate. But the White House, NBC News reports, says that there is no systematic evidence that this is because of Obamacare and dismisses the report as anecdotal.

Check out the video for the rest of the story by clicking on the link above.

2. Blame Game (link)

If there is a government shutdown Republicans will be blamed. However, so will Democrats and President Obama.

The poll of likely voters in 10 Republican-leaning congressional districts shows that 28 percent would blame the GOP, 22 percent would blame Obama, 19 percent would blame congressional Democrats, 5 percent would blame the tea party and 17 percent would spread the blame around. About 60 percent said they would support a “slowdown” in nonessential services in response to carefully worded question that does not include the word “shutdown.”

“There’s a recognition that the president would be willing to force a budget showdown … in order to keep Obamacare in full force,” said Heritage Action pollster Jon Lerner. “There’s no doubt that some voters would blame Republicans for a government shutdown. There’s also no doubt some voters would blame President Obama’s uncompromising view.”

A majority of those polled said they’d be less likely to support the reelection efforts of House members who voted to continue Obamacare funding while 48 percent said they’d be more likely to support a member who did “everything” they could to slow down implementation of the law.

The numbers from The Heritage Foundation’s lobbying arm are an attempt to convince skeptical Republicans to sign on to letters to congressional leadership vowing to oppose spending bills that contain funding for Obamacare. A letter from Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) in the House has drawn 77 supporters, according to a tally kept by FreedomWorks, while the number of senators supporting Sen. Mike Lee’s letter is stuck at 13 after several senators withdrew their support, far short of the 41 “no” votes the GOP will need to stop a spending bill in the Senate.

Heritage Action for America CEO Michael Needham said he expects Heritage Action’s summer tour with The Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, a former GOP senator, and Rafael Cruz — the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — will help drive congressional support for the letters. Sen. Cruz will also appear at an Aug. 20 event at Dallas that Heritage says will be filled to capacity.

“We are well ahead of where we thought we’d be … this was always going to be about what happens in August,” Needham said. “When people come back in September, they’ll be rushing to get on the letter.”

Heritage Action’s polling is meant to put data up against warnings that a government shutdown over health care funding will cost Republicans control of the House and a shot at retaking the Senate. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has called the strategy a “good way” to lose the House, while Karl Rove said it’s “the one tactic that might be able to guarantee that the Democrats pick up seats in the Congress in 2014.”

But Needham said that voters will reward a united front from Republicans.

“There’s a myth out there that the American people won’t reward political parties,” Needham said. “In seven weeks, we will have the opportunity for Congress to inspire the American people by defunding the law.”

This news should be encouraging to lawmakers like Senator Ted Cruz. Republicans won't be the only ones impacted if the government shutdown happens. I say, continue to threaten it.

3. Citizen Task Force (link)

Councilman Todd Klein doesn't want to be seen as not doing anything about the LP&L controversy. Instead he is proposing more private citizens get involved.

District 3 Lubbock City Councilman Todd Klein released a statement Wednesday afternoon addressing what he believes would help some issues regarding high electric costs for Lubbockites under Lubbock Power and Light.

“I have previously called for a rate stabilization model, and I am doing so again today,” said Klein. “I firmly believe we need to have a sustainable rate model which incorporates stability and affordability.”

Klein continued, saying, “I am requesting that the LP&L Board form a Citizen Task Force, which would be primarily comprised of private citizens not currently serving on the board. This task force needs to focus on ideas for energy assistance for those on fixed or low incomes, as well as on how to improve customer communications.”

The Lubbock City Council was chided by a number of citizens at their August 8th meeting over their electric bills.

The Council may address these requests from Klein at their meeting next week.

What good will this task force do? Probably not much, but Klein wants to be see as doing something.

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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.