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(Continued from page 29)
• Then Friday's numbers materialized and stunned the prognosticators. Employers appeared to have ignored the shutdown and hired away to the tune of 204,000 jobs in October.
• The shutdown, it seemed, had had no effect.
• Not so fast. In the height of irony, the 16 days of federal worker furloughs and government disruptions may have helped, not hurt, the improved jobs picture.
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Obama wants to help people losing insurance, but legal and practical obstacles loom
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he'll do everything he can to help people coping with health insurance cancellations, but legally and practically his options appear limited.
• That means the latest political problem engulfing Obama's health care overhaul may not be resolved quickly, cleanly or completely.
• White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that the president has asked his team to look at administrative fixes to help people whose plans are being canceled as a result of new federal coverage rules. Obama, in an NBC interview Thursday, said "I am sorry" to people who are losing coverage and had relied on his assurances that if they liked their plan, they could keep it.
• The focus appears to be on easing the impact for a specific group: people whose policies have been canceled and who don't qualify for tax credits to offset higher premiums. The administration has not settled on a particular fix and it's possible the final decision would apply to a broader group.
• Still, a president can't just pick up the phone and order the Treasury to cut checks for people suffering from insurance premium sticker shock. Spending would have to be authorized by law.
• ___
Award-winning SCOTUSblog is all things Supreme Court but lacks recognition at courthouse
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of the most influential news outlets covering the Supreme Court sets up shop on big decision days not in the pressroom with other reporters, but in the court's cafeteria.
• The justices themselves read the award-winning SCOTUSblog, but unlike other media it has no official status in the marble courthouse.
• This curious situation is attributable almost entirely to the unusual, if not unique, (Continued on page 31)
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