THE DIGEST: Politics, Debates and Health Care

President Obama delivers his State of the Union address on January 24, 2012 in Congress. (AFP PHOTO Saul LOEB / POOL)

By Zachariah Weaver, staff writer | English and Journalism major 

If you’re worried about how to discuss any of the major issues going on in America and even in the state of Calif., then fear no further. You can digest at least some of it here.

Here are some ways that you, as college students, can gather some quick re-briefs in the midst of your studious lives:

STATE OF THE UNION

If you watched the State of the Union, then you heard plenty of the words Obama used to define our economic troubles as not “Democratic” or “Republican” values, but as “American values” that “we have to reclaim.”

These words may not impact you as college students, as much as someone who works full-time and/or is raising a family, but there are many words he said that do directly affect you.

Obama stated that the most daunting reality for college students is the time after graduation.

“At a time when Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt, this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July,” Obama said. “So let me put colleges and universities on notice:  If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down.”

The Obama administration is also going to double the work-study jobs for college students over the next five years. The work-study plan could be a “game changer,” Jose Rico, the director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Rico says the work-study proposal would give Latinos more opportunities to find jobs on campus that are related to their studies. The federal government spends nearly $1 billion on work-study jobs.

GOP DEBATE

One of the main issues that created a buzz in Thursday evening’s GOP debate was the issue of immigration. The four candidates—Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum—are somewhat split on the issue (most notably, Romney and Gingrich).

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Gingrich ridiculed his rival on his support for self-deportation of illegal immigrants. He labeled it as an “Obama-level fantasy.”

Romney’s self-deportation approach argues that illegal immigration can be stopped when public benefits are denied, and after that illegal immigrants will leave the United States and head back to their own country.

The Associated Press reported that Gingrich at one point has backed the idea of that same self-deportation policy. However, currently, it is reported in the same Associated Press story that Gingrich has proposed to allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. That is, if they’ve lived here for more than 25 years and have a local sponsor.

CHURCH-BASED HEALTHCARE

Last Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that The Obama administration is giving church-affiliated institutions one extra year to comply with a new rule stating employers must cover birth control without charge through their own health plans.

According to The Associated Press, church-affiliated institutions/hospitals, universities and social service organizations are affected by this extension. Houses of worship, churches, synagogues and mosques are already exempt from the new requirement in President Obama’s health overhaul.

“Access to important preventive care and respecting religious freedoms are the key issues this extension strikes a balance between,” Sebelius told The Associated Press.

For more quick digests of the latest news, check back here on THE DIGEST blog every Friday. (This article was compiled with Associated Press sources.)