'OFFER' REJECTED: Iran says it won't help Obama in fight against ISIS

Bailey: "Can you believe the Obama Administration asked one of our Biggest Enemy Iran to help us fight ISIS?  What a bunch of Idiots we elected to run our government!"

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S EFFORT to build broad international support to destroy the Islamic State has become a long-distance dispute between the US and Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said on Twitter he rejected a US offer to help thwart the group.

Hurdles for ObamaCare in 2nd sign-up season

Potential complications await consumers as President Barack Obama's health care law approaches its second open enrollment season, just two months away.
Don't expect a repeat of last year's website meltdown, but the new sign-up period could expose underlying problems with the law itself that are less easily fixed than a computer system.
Getting those who signed up this year enrolled again for 2015 won't be as easy as it might seem. And the law's interaction between insurance and taxes looks like a sure-fire formula for confusion.
For example:
-- For the roughly 8 million people who signed up this year, the administration has set up automatic renewal. But consumers who go that route may regret it. They risk sticker shock by missing out on lower-premium options. And they could get stuck with an outdated and possibly incorrect government subsidy. Automatic renewal should be a last resort, consumer advocates say.
--An additional 5 million people or so will be signing up for the first time on HealthCare.gov and state exchange websites. But the Nov. 15-Feb. 15 open enrollment season will be half as long the 2013-2014 sign-up period, and it overlaps with the holiday season.
-- Of those enrolled this year, the overwhelming majority received tax credits to help pay their premiums. Because those subsidies are tied to income, those 6.7 million consumers will have to file new forms with their 2014 tax returns to prove they got the right amount. Too much subsidy and their tax refunds will be reduced. Too little, and the government owes them.
--Tens of millions of people who remained uninsured this year face tax penalties for the first time, unless they can secure an exemption.
"It's the second open enrollment, but the first renewal and the first tax season where the requirements of the Affordable Care Act are in place," said Judy Solomon, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income people, and supports the law.
"The fact that it is all going to be occurring within an overlapping and relatively short time frame ... means that there will be many issues," she added.
At Foundation Communities, an Austin, Texas, nonprofit serving low-income people, Elizabeth Colvin says more volunteers will be needed this year to help new customers as well as those re-enrolling. Last time, her organization's health insurance campaign lined up 100 volunteers. She figures she will need a minimum of 50 more.
"We have less than half the time than last year, and it's over the holidays," she said. "We have a concern about trying to get more people through the system without shortchanging education, so that consumers know how to use the insurance they're enrolling in,"
Some congressional supporters of the law are worried about more political fallout, particularly because of the law's convoluted connections with the tax system.
"It seems to me there ought to be some way to better educate folks on what they may face in this process," Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., told Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen at a hearing last week.
Thompson wasn't impressed when Koskinen said the IRS has put information on its website and is using social media to get out the word.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., said in an interview that he disagrees with making people pay back part of their premium subsidy. That would happen if someone made more money during the year and failed to report it to HealthCare.gov.
"Why should individuals be punished if they got a bump in salary?" said Pascrell. "To me, this was not the ACA I voted on."
Last year the federal website that serves most states crashed the day it went live, and it took the better part of two months to get things working reasonably well. This year, the Obama administration is promising a better consumer experience, but officials have released few details. It's unclear how well system tests are going.
"This coming year will be one of visible and continued improvement, but not perfection," said Andy Slavitt, a tech executive brought in by the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee the operation.
Insurers say they continue to worry about connections not fully straightened out between their computer systems and the government's.
They also are concerned about retaining customers. One quirk troubling the industry is that policyholders who want to update their subsidies and stay in the same plan will have to type in a 14-character plan identifier when they re-enroll online. That's longer than a phone number or a Social Security number, and customers may not know where to find it.
Administration spokesman Aaron Albright says consumers will have several ways to do that. The number will be mailed to them by their insurer as part of their renewal notice, they can get it from a HealthCare.gov call center or they can select the same plan while browsing other options online.
Alex Stevens, a dishwasher at an Austin pizzeria, got covered this year and said he's planning to re-enroll. A skateboarding enthusiast in his late 20s, Stevens broke a leg skating with friends this summer. It was a bad break and he had major surgery the next day.  But his insurance paid most of the $55,000 bill, and he only owed $750.
"My mom said she was glad that I have insurance," said Stevens.
As the share of Americans remaining uninsured declines, it's clear the health care law has filled a need for millions of people like Stevens, who work but don't have coverage on the job.
That demand was strong enough to overcome a dysfunctional website the first year of the coverage expansion. The second year will show whether the full program is workable for the people it was intended to serve, or if major retooling will be needed.

Hillary Clinton in Iowa stirs 2016 speculation

INDIANOLA, Iowa –  Hillary Clinton returned to Iowa on Sunday for the first time since her 2008 Democratic presidential primary loss in the state, telling the crowd at the 37^th annual Harkin Steak Fry -- “I’m back.”
Clinton, the clear Democratic frontrunner should she make a 2016 White House bid, was greeted with loud cheers at the fundraising event. The event was held in honor of Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is retiring from Congress this year.
The former secretary of state told the crowd of several hundred that her immediate focus is helping fellow Democrats in the midterm elections but that she also thinks about “that other thing,” hinting at a 2016 run.
"It's true, I've been thinking about it," she said. “People get excited about presidential campaigns, look I get excited about presidential campaigns, too.”
Missing in her speech were remarks on President Obama's recent efforts to destroy the Islamic State militant group and on other pressing foreign policy issues.
However, she praised Obama for his attempts to bring the country out of the recession, saying the country is on its way to recovery.
She was joined at the event by husband and former President Bill Clinton, who also spoke.  Clinton urged guests to vote for Democrats on Nov. 4 to "pull this country together, to push this country forward.”
The last time Hillary Clinton was in Iowa she finished third in the state's first-in-the-nation caucus in 2008, behind now-President Obama and John Edwards.    
On Sunday, Clinton delivered a keynote speech that focused on such issues as equal pay for women and increasing the minimum wage. She also thanked Harkin for all of his hard work and talked about the changes he had made during his time in the Senate, particularly his efforts to help people with disabilities.  
Harkin was critical of Clinton in a recent ABC News interview, saying he still had questions about her foreign and economic policies.
However, on Sunday, Harkin stood side by side with the Clintons, then introduced Hillary by talking about her accomplishments in the Senate and as secretary of state.  
Though Clinton has not officially made a decision about a run for the White House, many are already building a network for her run. The Super PAC Ready for Hillary has been drumming up support across Iowa and other key voting states.
Clinton finished her speech by telling the crowd she would not “let another seven years go by.”
“It’s time to write a new chapters in the American dream,” she said.

White House claims Arab nations offer to join airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, Syria

White House officials have claimed that Arab nations have offered to join the U.S. in airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria, though no countries were specifically named. 
The New York Times reported that Secretary of State John Kerry had declined to say which states had offered to contribute air power, with White House officials saying that any announcement of specifics could wait until later this week. Kerry is scheduled to testify before congressional committees Wednesday and Thursday. 
Led by Kerry, U.S. diplomatic officials have raced to secure commitments from allies in Europe and the Middle East, as well as nations like Australia, since President Obama authorized expanded action against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, in a televised address last Wednesday. On Monday, Kerry attended international talks in Paris seeking to finalize a strategy against ISIS, which rocketed to prominence over the summer by seizing broad swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq. 
The Times reported late Sunday that any effort on the ground against ISIS would be dependent upon regular Iraqi troops, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in that country's north, and moderate Syrian rebels who have battled the forces of that country's President, Bashar al-Assad, in a bloody civil war since 2011. The paper said that the U.S. strategy calls for the Iraqi army to be guided by 12-man teams of advisers, with arms and other assistance going to the Peshmerga. The Obama administration has called on Congress to approve a $500 million arms package for the Syrian opposition, meant to serve as a prelude for the expansion of the U.S. effort against ISIS. 
According to the Times, State Department officials say that Arab nations could participate in non-lethal ways against an air campaign against ISIS, possibly by making reconnaissance flights or by flying arms to Iraqi or Kurdish forces. 
Reuters reported Monday that France has offered to take part in airstrikes against Iraq, and the Associated Press reported, citing a French official, that jets from that country were prepared to carry out reconnaissance flights beginning Monday. 
"The terrorist threat is global and the response must be global," French President Francois Hollande said in opening Monday's conference. "There is no time to lose." French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius acknowledged that a number of the countries at the table Monday had "very probably" financed ISIS's advances.
Muslim-majority countries are considered vital to any operation to prevent the militants from gaining more territory in Iraq and Syria. Western officials have made clear they consider Assad to be part of the problem, and U.S. officials opposed France's attempt to invite Iran.
In an exclusive interview on Sunday with The Associated Press in Paris, Iraq's President Fouad Massoum — a Kurd, whose role in the government is largely ceremonial — expressed regret that Iran was not attending the conference.
Massoum noted "sensitivities between some countries and Iran."
He also seemed not to welcome the possible participation Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in air strikes in Iraqi territory.
"It is not necessary that they participate in air strikes; what is important is that they participate in the decisions of this conference," he said, underscoring Baghdad's closeness to Iran and how tensions among the regional powers could complicate the process of forming a Sunni alliance.
Speaking in his first interview since becoming Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi told state-run al-Iraqiyya in comments aired Sunday that he had given approvals to France to use Iraqi airspace and said all such authorizations would have to come from Baghdad.
Earlier, Fabius said quick action was vital, insisting there was no comparison with the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which France vocally opposed.
"It's the same geographic area but that's the only similarity," Fabius told France Info radio on Monday. "When you are a political leader you have to measure the cost of inaction."
U.S. Central Command has carried out more than 150 airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq since August 8. The militant group has responded by beheading three Western hostages, most recently British aid worker David Haines, whose killing was shown in a graphic video released Saturday.