A national business group fighting Obamacare remains hopeful that the law will be overturned, but says spiraling health insurance costs are inflicting fiscal pain in the meantime.

"What's killing them now are the direct mandates on insurers. We are seeing 30-60 percent increases in premiums now, and more cancellations," said Karen Harned, executive directorof theNational Federation of Independent Business Small-Business Legal Center.

A day after a "civil justice" group asked why Florida needed new immigration laws, a Washington think tank offered a dollars-and-cents answer.

The Center for Immigration Studies on Tuesday reported that U.S. immigrants -- legal and illegal -- use welfare programs at a higher rate than the native population.

While conventional wisdom contends that immigrants cross the border to work, 57 percent of households headed by immigrants collect at least one welfare check, compared to 39 percent for native households.