Healthcare payouts for 7 million unemployed latest stimulus part to kick in
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President Obama announced yesterday that another part of the $787 billion economic stimulus package kicked in: subsidies for those recently laid off so they can keep their healthcare coverage.
The program is known as COBRA, and Obama said the provision in the stimulus plan will help 7 million Americans.
"That's 7 million Americans who will have one less thing to worry about when they go to sleep at night," he said before unveiling his first budget blueprint. "Equally important, it prevents a further downward spiral in our economy by ensuring that these families don't fall further behind because of mounting healthcare bills. And it is a direct result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that I signed into law the other week - a recovery plan that has only just begun to yield benefits for the American people."
Since last week's bill signing, the states have also received $15 billion for Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor, and $10 billion for making homes more energy-efficient and for checking them for lead contamination.
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The former Massachusetts governor has won the closely watched presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference the past two years.
He prevailed last February when he used the conference to announce he was quitting the GOP nomination race, making Senator John McCain the presumptive nominee. Romney beat McCain 35 percent to 34.
In the formative stages of the presidential race, Romney won the 2007 straw poll with 21 percent, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani finishing second with 17 percent.
This year, the winner will be anointed the very early front-runner for 2012. Besides Romney and Giuliani, the ballot includes Florida Governor Charlie Crist, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Texas Representative Ron Paul, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.
There's also "Undecided" and a space on the ballot for write-ins.
In addition to coordinating the federal government's efforts to battle HIV, Crowley will also help "guide the administration's development of disability policies," according to the White House statement announcing the appointment.
The Office of National AIDS Policy is supposed to coordinate the federal government's efforts to stem the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through education programs and help coordinate the care and treatment of people with HIV and AIDS. The director also serves on the president's Domestic Policy Council.
"Jeffrey Crowley brings the experience and expertise that will help our nation address the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis and help my administration develop policies that will serve Americans with disabilities," Obama said. "In both of these key areas, we continue to face serious challenges, and we must take bold steps to meet them. I look forward to Jeffrey's leadership on these critical issues."
His primary areas of expertise are Medicaid policy, including Medicaid prescription drug policies; Medicare policy; and consumer education and training.
That viewership is higher than the 49.5 million for Obama's first prime-time press conference Feb. 9 and the record 38 million for his Democratic National convention acceptance speech.
But it is shy of the nearly 67 million who watched President Bill Clinton's first State of the Union in 1993, or President Bush's speech launching the Iraq war in 2003.
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