Today, the United States Senate, which is controlled by the Democrats, voted down a bill by the Republicans. The Republicans have been trying to force a bill that would let employers choose to not give health care is they opposed to reform morally.

Supporters of the bill, which was shot down by a vote of 51-48, claimed that certain religious beliefs are violated by the health care reform and that those whose beliefs are violated should not have to adhere by the new policies.

The main issue at hand was the coverage of birth control, which is in fact against some religions. Churches were left out of the policy. But other religions companies were still in the plan.

There have been advocates for both sides of the debate. However, the extension of the coverage should not be limited to employees due to the decision of employers who personally disagree with parts of the plan.

The details of the health care reform of a few years ago are still being debated. It is unclear when, or if, the battle over health care will end.

CNN

After months of bickering and going back and forth on major issues, there is finally an agreement for the fiscal year 2011 budget. Even with President Obama overseeing the talks and working with both Republicans and Democrats, a final decision could not be reached last week.

However, now the two parties have come to terms on the budget that would be in effect until the end of September. In the United States House of Representatives, the first step towards a finalized budget took place.

Thursday, the House voted in approval of a deal on the budget that Obama, Harry Reid, who is the Senate Majority Leader from Nevada, and John Boehner, who is the Speaker of the House, agreed on one week ago.

Even with Republicans holding the majority in the House of Representatives, the bill passed by a vote of 260-167.

59 Republicans voted against the piece of legislature despite the fact that Republican John Boehner played a major role in putting together the budget.

On the other end of things, 81 Democrats approved the measure while the rest voted against it. Even Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader from California, voted against the proposed budget.

Thus, as Republicans are blocking the passage of necessary spending by the Democrats, more and more Democrats are becoming unwilling to give in to all of the Republican demands and unwilling to agree to compromises that favor the conservative mindset much more than the liberal mindset.

Democrats are especially not happy that a total of $38.5 billion has been cut for the rest of the fiscal year. There is also disapproval among Democrats for the Republican demand to vote on removing funding from the Health Care Reform and Planned Parenthood, even though it would never pass in the United States Senate.

The fiscal year 2011 seemed to be settled as far as the House was concerned early Thursday.

The battle then moved to the Senate.

The vote in the United States Senate on the budget for fiscal year 2011 took place on Thursday as well.

The Senate passed the budget for fiscal year 2011 not too long after the House did with a vote of 81 to 19.

Now the bill is going to the desk of President Obama to be finalized with his signature.

Even though it took months longer than it should have and took sacrifices that neither party wanted to allow, there is finally a decision for the budget for the rest of 2011 that will hopefully lead the way for more bipartisan cooperation for future legislature.

Getty

When President Barack Obama decided to take on the United States Health Care system, the Republicans were displeased to say the least. With the two major parties completely divided on the matter, Obama pressed on until a compromise was finally met where he was able to get a mild version of the reform he had in mind passed.

The reform allowed for children to stay under their parents’ health care insurance until they turn 26, which came as a blessing considering the rising health care rates and the low economy. Also under Obama’s health reform, individuals could not be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

But now the Republicans have the majority in the House of Representatives. As part of the campaign platforms of many congressmen and women, a repeal of the health care reform was promised.

Now, the new leaders of the House are announcing that they are soon planning to vote on the potential repeal of Obama’s reform.

The new Speaker of the House, John Boehner of Ohio, is planning to open the floor to debate on the matter on Tuesday and then bring about the voting on the issue on Wednesday.

Boehner said of his desire to repeal the reform, “Repealing the job crushing health care law is critical to boosting small business job creation and growing the economy.”

To discredit Boehner’s claims, the Congressional Budget Office conducted a study on the economy and concluded that if the reform is repealed, the result would actually be an increase of nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars to the national debt in the next decade.

While the majority in the House means that the repeal is more than likely to be successful in the House, the nearly evenly split Senate will prove to be a nearly indestructible obstacle.

With sixty votes needed in the Senate, Republicans would need to persuade thirteen of the fifty-three Democrats to abandon the reform that they pressed so hard for.

As a result, Boehner and his party will more than likely be forced to simply try to take back some of the funding allocated for the programs under the new health care system.

Some Democrats have come out and said that when it comes to certain programs that have shown to be too costly, they are willing to discuss a possible defunding.

While the repeal of the reform is more than likely going to prove to be impossible, Republicans can still hope to cut down some of the aspects of the system economically.

CNN

San Francisco (Obama.net)- It has been nearly two years since President Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44^th President of the United States of America. When he came into office, the stock market was in the worst shape it had been since the days of the Great Depression when Franklin D. Roosevelt was President.

Much like Roosevelt, Obama faced a long, slow climb back to economic stability.

Where Roosevelt had the New Deal and Bank Reforms among other new policies, Obama had stimulus packages, Wall Street Reforms, and others that were designed to better the economic landscape of the United States.

For the last two years, the stock market has slowly been creeping back up from the deep pit it was in. With Obama’s policies, new jobs were created and businesses were revitalized while others were created.

Wednesday, the results of Obama’s work became clear by the spikes in the stock market.

The Dow Jones rose seven-tenths of a percent, or eighty-three points. It closed at 11,755.44 points. The Dow Jones has not been that high since September of 2008.

JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, American Express, and Boeing all saw major gains on Wednesday to help the Dow Jones rise so much.

The S&P 500 jumped eleven points and nine-tenths of a percent to finish the day at 1,285.96 points. The S&P 500 has not seen numbers that high since August of 2008.

Nasdaq also saw favorable results on Wednesday. With an increase of eight-tenths of a percent or twenty points, Nasdaq saw its best numbers in three years with a closing at 2,737.33 points.

With the boost coming from Portugal auctioning off their debt, the European stock market also saw growth.

Overall, the stock markets of the world all saw notable rises that are making 2011 look very promising.

With the job growth increasing every month and the unemployment rate dropping little by little as more and more jobs are being made available about new industries and old industries that have seen reinvestment, it is hard to argue that the economy of the United States of America, as well as the world, is not well on its way to full recovery.

AP/Alex Brandon

San Francisco (Obama.net)- The people of the United States have been strongly divided on the matter of whether or not the Health Care Reform is the right way to go for the American people. The matter was also hotly contested in Congress as Democrats fought for its passage while Republicans wanted the bill to get rejected.

Now, those who were not happy with the passage of the reform can see a glimmer of hope that the bill will not be going through as planned.

Monday, Virginian judge Henry Hudson found a clause in the reform bill that he saw as unconstitutional. The United States District Judge said that making every American buy health insurance within the next three years goes against the civil rights laid out in the United States Constitution.

The ruling is more than likely going to be appealed by the United States Justice Department. That will in turn lead to what is most likely going to be a series of appeals until the Supreme Court makes a final verdict.

Hudson made the claim that “An individual’s personal decision to purchase, or decline purchase, of health insurance from a private provider is beyond historical reach of the U.S. Constitution. No specifically articulated constitutional authority exists to mandate the purchase of health insurance.”

Hudson’s decision is different from other judges ruling over the same matter. Another Virginian judge, as well as one from Michigan, have said that the aspect of the reform is constitutional.

Hudson and other Virginian elites have taken the stance that the Commerce Clause in the US Constitution should not give Congress the right to make people buy an optional insurance that may not be necessary for all Americans.

Virginia’s state constitution says that its citizens cannot be made to buy any form of insurance.

Obama has already been urged to appeal the decision and take the matter to a higher court.

The White House released a statement saying it was not happy with the ruling, but that it believed that after the appeals process goes through and the matter is resolved, the entire Health Care Reform will be ruled Constitutional.

While some may be happy that a shot has been taken at the hotly debated Health Care Reform, all legal precedents and an inspection of the Constitution shows that the Obama Administration and the United States Congress acted in their full authority and did nothing to go against the Constitution.

NY Times

San Francisco (Obama.net)- In Washington, D.C. today, hundreds of people waited outside the Harman Center for the Arts for four hours hoping to be one of the 550 people who would get a seat for the nights taping. The taping was for Wednesday’s episode of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” starring Jon Stewart.

This episode was a special one. One reason this taping was special is that it occurred just a few days before the Midterm Elections. Another reason is that it comes just a couple of days before Saturday’s “Rally to Restore Sanity,” which is going to be headlined by Stewart and his fellow Comedy Central political show host, Stephen Colbert. But the main reason this episode stands above all others had to do with its guest.

Stewart welcomed the President of the United States, Barack Obama to “The Daily Show” on Wednesday night. The entire episode consisted of the two men talking about the election and Obama’s term thus far.

When Stewart questioned the slow pace of both the Health Care Reform and the Economic Reform, Obama told the host that he didn’t promise change overnight. Obama said, “When we promised change you can believe in, it wasn’t in 18 months. It was change we were going to have to work on.”

CNN/Getty

Obama further explained the facets of the Health Care Reform. The President pointed out how 14 millions children who didn’t have health care before now do. He pointed out how in these hard economic times, parents can now help their children by keeping them on their health care until they’re 26. And he pointed out that the way the reform works, the deficit will actually be reduced by $1 trillion.

Obama was also questioned on the possibility that the Democrats may lose many seats in Congress on Tuesday. The President responded by pointing out that on every single measure the Democrats have presented, they have made positive progressions to the economy and the United States.

When asked about the unemployment rate and his stimulus packages, Obama cited some very important figures. Obama pointed out that before he entered office, 4 million jobs were lost and another 2 million were lost before he was even able to pass any of his economic legislature. Since then, the economy and job growth in the United States has been progressing.

Obama made it clear that when it comes to the change he is talking about, “it’s not going to happen overnight,” but it will happen. And as the statistics associated with his reforms and policies, the change that was promised is coming.

The amount that these groups will take responsibility for is reported to be 1.5%, which over the course of one decade will provide the government of the United States a total of two trillion dollars in savings.

Obama stated that this could result in the growth of health care spending being reduced by as much as 20%.

A total of six groups from the drug industry, hospitals, unions, and insurers are the current groups signed on.

Despite all of the commitments from these groups to provide money for health care, it may still not happen unless Congress passes the reforms.

In addition, it is not completely clear exactly how these savings will be made. Speculations include more quality care over quantity of care and even all of the components of health care billing combining into one bill so costs would be able to be cut.

With the plan set up the way it is, it is estimated that within five years, the average family could expect to save up to $2,500 yearly.

With the inclusion of the outside organizations working with the United States to get health care costs under control, Obama and his administration expect that the health care reform will pass in Congress this year.

After getting health care under control, the Obama Administration hopes to move attention to other programs such as education and the environment. All of this is being done with the overall goals of getting the current National Debt under control.