By Rachel Goldfarb, originally published on Next New Deal
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‘Obamacare Bailout’ Does Not Exist, Confirms Government; House Republicans Demand Its Repeal Anyway (NY Mag)
Jonathan Chait writes that the GOP insists that an Affordable Care Act provision that taxes and reimburses insurers based on the health of their customers must be another big government bailout, but the Congressional Budget Office and Roosevelt Institute Fellow Mike Konczal's definition of bailouts contradict them.
Obamacare Is Not a Job Killer (TNR)
Jonathan Cohn notes that while the CBO's analysis shows the Affordable Care Act will cause a decrease in labor output, that is actually a good thing. The reduction in hours won't be due to fewer jobs, but will primarily be people who are choosing to work less, retire earlier, or start their own businesses.
Can Marriage Cure Poverty? (NYT)
Annie Lowrey writes that Republicans like Marco Rubio have it backwards when they suggest that pushing marriage would solve all other social ills. In fact, she says, it's poverty that is getting in the way of stable, lasting marriages.
Congress Passes $8.7 Billion Food Stamp Cut (MSNBC)
Ned Resnikoff reports that the Senate has joined the House in passing a version of the Farm Bill that makes significant cuts to food stamps. The president is expected to sign this bill, which will cut about $90 a month in benefits for 850,000 households.
AOL is Leading the Way to Make 401(k)s Worse for Everyone (WaPo)
Jia Lynn Yang explains that by changing 401(k) matches to lump sums at the end of each year, AOL punishes employees who leave their job mid-year. That saves the company plenty of money, and if implemented more broadly, would be a major financial loss for workers.
New on Next New Deal
In 'Nuestro Texas,' A Call for Human Rights in Reproductive Health Care
Roosevelt Institute Fellow Andrea Flynn looks at a new report on access to reproductive health care in the Rio Grande Valley. New laws have turned circumstances in that region so dire that according to international standards, it's a human rights violation.