Sylvia Burwell, director of the Office of Management and Budget, refused to guarantee that the Obamacare website will be fixed by December 15:
"If people can't sign up, they can't get affordable care," asked Bloomberg's Al Hunt. "And can you guarantee the public that by December 15, say, which is a little over 2 weeks before they can really join, that these problems will be largely rectified?"
The Obamacare rollout is going about as well as the introduction of New Coke or the merger of Time and AOL or … take your pick. Just how bad is it? Well, the administration won't tell. Just doesn't, it appears, want to talk about it.
He had a real name but nobody knew it. He was known universally as "Bum" Phillips and he was one of the best loved football coaches never to win a championship. Never, in fact, to play in one. His teams came close. They were one game from the Super Bowl in successive years. After the second loss, Phillips told fans of the Houston Oilers, “One year ago we knocked on the door. This year we beat on the door. Next year we’re gonna kick the sumbitch in.”
CNN reported last night that HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius will make time to attend a gala in Boston, but is too busy to testify on Capitol Hill about Obamacare:
"We have some breaking news, an official from the Department of Health and Human Services confirming to CNN that the glitch-filled Obamacare website will be coming down this weekend for maintenance," said CNN. "Now, this comes on the same day that new problems with the rollout were exposed.
The government re-opened, and there was no default. No surprise. This was the 18th shutdown since 1976, when the current budget procedure was established. The five shutdowns under Jimmy Carter were mostly over major policy issues such as abortion (he was for it) and the construction of a nuclear-fuelled aircraft carrier (he was against it). They averaged 11 days.
Janet Napolitano, who recently stepped down as head of the Department of Homeland Security, was noticeable absent today in the nominating of her replacement, Jeh Johnson, by President Obama at the White House:
The company responsible for the digital disaster of Obamacare is a Canadian outfit called CGI which, as Lydia DePillis of the Washington Post explains:
With just weeks left in the 2013 gubernatorial race in Virginia, Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli has a new TV ad that questions the seriousness of his Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe. "What's Terry McAuliffe offering Virginia families?" the voiceover asks. "False, misleading attacks; massive, wasteful spending; and $1,700 dollars in higher taxes every year."
"Terry McAuliffe," the voiceover continues. "Deeply unserious." Watch below:
In light of the beating the Obama administration is taking over the ignominious launch of the Obamacare insurance marketplaces, it makes sense that the White House would be looking for good news to share. The White House Twitter account attempted to provide a boost on Thursday with the following:
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