Written on March 20th, 2010 by jo3 shouts
By Paul Ryan
Representing Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District
Congress stands at the brink of jamming through the largest entitlement expansion in 40 years, the largest tax increase in American history, and a consequential acceleration of our nation’s march toward bankruptcy. Through a cynical “deem-and-pass” procedural maneuver, the U.S. House of Representatives is set to send the Senate-passed health care overhaul to the President’s desk on Sunday, while voting on a “reconciliation” bill that includes an array of new tax hikes and back-room deals.
| If the consideration of the bill progresses as the Democratic Leadership intends, the House will send the 2700 page overhaul of one-sixth of the U.S. economy to the President’s desk without an up-or-down vote. The use of “deeming and passing”, employing the budget reconciliation process, and making deals with Members behind closed doors have all fueled resentment among the American people, further eroding our trust in Washington. The ugly process speaks to the even more troublesome policies that have been unable to stand on their own merits.
The entire architecture of this health care overhaul is designed to give the federal government control over what kind of insurance is available for patients, how much health care is enough, and which treatments are worth paying for. No longer will patients and doctors be in control of individual health care decisions, instead government boards and bureaucrats will be the primary deciders.
Let’s also take a quick look at the costs of this legislation. Much is made of the Congressional Budget Office scores on deficit reduction, but the reality of this bill violates the President’s promise that this legislation will “not add a dime to the deficit.” Rather than provide the CBO with an honest bill, the authors of this bill gamed the legislation to get the score they sought – 10 years of revenues, 6 years of spending; double counting savings from Medicare cuts, Social Security taxes and long-term care insurance premiums; shell games and smoke and mirrors.
Read the original article House.gov/Ryan
When you strip away the gimmicks and the faulty assumptions, it is clear this bill does not reduce the deficit and it does not contain costs. Instead, it creates a brand new open-ended entitlement at a time when we have no idea how to pay for our current unsustainable entitlement programs. This overhaul imposes job-killing tax hikes on all Americans at a time when we desperately need to get sustained job creation and economic growth going again. Most importantly, this legislation fails to improve the quality and affordability of health care in America.
Unfortunately, the Majority’s willingness to proceed with this bill, which fails to address the shortcomings of our health care system, shows that this debate is not, and never was, about health care – it’s about ideology. The Democratic Leaders in Congress saw the turnout at Townhall meetings in August, they saw the reaction of the American people when both parties were able to present their ideas at the Blair House Summit and instead of trying to reach a genuine consensus on reforms, they doubled down on this flawed legislation.
There are real problems that need to be fixed in health care and we could have done so in a bipartisan way. It did not have to be this way. Almost a year ago, I introduced the Patients’ Choice Act, which would fix what’s broken in health care, without breaking what’s working. This legislation shows it is possible to achieve universal access to quality, affordable health care with the patient and the doctor- not the government or insurance companies – as the nucleus of health care in America. Every American should have access to affordable health insurance, and the ability to acquire preventive health care and treatment, regardless of employment, health status, or income level.
We all agree that meaningful health care reform is long overdue, but it is increasingly clear that Washington’s trillion-dollar, two-thousand page overhaul will not only fail to address what’s broken in health care – but will actually make matters worse. If we are serious about reaching bipartisan solutions, we ought to scrap this massive overhaul and start over – working from a clean sheet of paper to advance common sense patient-centered reforms. |
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Written on March 8th, 2010 by joone shout
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — New York Rep. Eric Massa is blaming his resignation on a conspiracy led by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and House Democratic leaders to force him out before a crucial vote on healthcare.
Massa was one of 39 Democrats who voted against an earlier House version of the healthcare bill in November. Democratic leaders will “stop at nothing” to advance the healthcare overhaul, he said.
He also had some choice words for Emanuel during a recent radio interview in which he called the top Obama adviser “the son of the devil’s spawn.”
“He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive,” Massa said of Emanuel’s desire to lock up vital votes on healthcare reform.
“You think that somehow they didn’t come after me to get rid of me because my vote is the deciding vote in the healthcare bill? Then, ladies and gentlemen, you live today in a world that is so innocent as to not understand what’s going on in Washington, D.C.”
Massa spoke Sunday night on his weekly radio show on WKPQ-FM in Hornell, N.Y.
Facing a harassment complaint from a staffer, Massa said last week he’s stepping down from his seat Monday. He earlier announced he wouldn’t seek re-election because of health problems.
He said he learned he was the subject of an ethics complaint by a male staffer who felt “uncomfortable” during an exchange with Massa. The exchange reportedly had sexual overtones.
In his account, Massa said he and Emanuel have had many tense confrontations during the past year, including one incident in the shower of the Congressional gym.
“Let me tell you a story about Rahm Emanuel,” Massa continued. “I was a congressman in my first eight weeks, and I was in the congressional gym, and I went down and I worked out and I went into the showers…I’m sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird and here comes Rahm Emanuel not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn’t going to vote for the president’s budget. Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?
“By the way, what the heck is he doing in the Congressional gym,” Massa continued. “He goes there to intimidate members of Congress… He’s hated me since day one, and now he wins.”
In the same interview on WKPQ radio, Massa accuses Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of lying about the time line of the ethics inquiry, and more broadly of a conspiracy against him by House Democratic leaders to force him out ahead of a critical vote on healthcare.
Massa was a firm “no” vote against the bill, but with his resignation, the number of votes needed to pass the bill drops by one to 216.
“Mine is now the deciding vote on the healthcare bill, and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this healthcare bill, and now they’ve gotten rid of me and it will pass,” he said.
Read the original article and see video on NewsMax
Written on November 22nd, 2009 by jono shouts
By Dr. Jane Orient
Nobody outside the inner halls of Congress really knows what’s going on in the negotiations on health care “reform. Every now and then, someone emerges from the formerly smoke-filled rooms and throws another 2,000 or so page “bill” out into the public and then disappears to continue talks to carve up one-sixth of the nation’s economy.
But we do know some of the critical unforgiving numbers. And we have strong reason to suspect that radical changes to Medicare Part E (as in Medicare for Everybody) is the real endgame, whatever the interim steps are called: public option, cooperatives, or mandated Insurance Exchanges.
We have the unmentionable truth that Medicare is insolvent. And the common dogma that Medicare is efficient, popular, and impregnable. Is it a Hegelian thesis and antithesis? With the synthesis being to throw the whole rest of the system, which is also allegedly bankrupting the country, into Medicare?
Are our leaders stark, raving mad? Or diabolically clever?
Read more on Big Government.com
Written on November 19th, 2009 by jono shouts
by Warner Todd Huston
Either Thursday or later this week, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev) wants the Senate to vote on a “motion to proceed” on the Senate’s version of the healthcare bill. That wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that it has barely been seen by anyone in the Senate. At least not as far as most Senators are concerned. Why is that? Because the bill has not been shown to them with sufficient time to study it, that’s why.
What Reid wants is for the Senate to vote to proceed on a bill that has not been seen, not read, not studied by the very Senators from whom he wants to force a vote. If this bill is so important, why isn’t it imperative that our Senators actually get to see the thing they are expected to vote on?
Read the rest on BigGovernment.com
Written on October 18th, 2009 by Jono shouts
by Jill S. Sprik
Despite countless speeches and news conferences, did you ever hear President Obama express the following ideas?
- Not everything is a federal issue; some things are for the states to decide.
- I hear what you’re saying and you have a good point.
- One of the beautiful things about our constitution is the liberty given to individuals to pursue their dreams. There is great opportunity in our country to succeed.
- In an effort to stimulate job growth and despite the objections from my party, I am working with Congress to reduce taxes for small businesses.
- I am saddened by the cycle of poverty that exists in our major cities, and here is a way we can empower the next generation to break the cycle and fulfill their God-given potential….
- The folks at the town hall meetings and those who came to Washington on 9/12 were exercising one of the greatest rights we have as Americans, freedom of speech.
- Stop already with all forms of ‘cult of personality’ behavior. I am a public servant, just like all those who have served before and all who will come after my term is complete. It’s not about me, it’s about the country.
- I heard a great message Sunday morning at church.
- History teaches us that evil exists in the world; for this reason the United States must remain strong, ready to defend itself and its allies.
- I didn’t realize a communist was part of my administration. It won’t happen again.
- The billions siphoned out of health care into lawyers’ pockets never healed a single person.
- No other country on earth offers its citizens the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness as does the United States of America.
- The experts have looked at the proposed (fill-in-the-blank) program, and when it is extrapolated out beyond just the initial offering there is clear evidence it will cost too much money and will eventually fail.
- I disagree 100% with the Cloward-Piven strategy of increasing the welfare rolls and overwhelming the financial system, and I am not affiliated in any way with the implementation of such an idea.
- I don’t know the answer to your question but I will give it some thought.
- The goal of my presidency is not to implement a political ideology, but to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
- Every person has value regardless of age, gender, color, physical characteristics, or any other factor.
- Any healthcare bill I sign must include a provision to exclude the rationing of care, keep the door open for competition among insurers, and promote the opportunity for our young people to pursue an education in the medical fields to ensure future supply meets future demand.
- It is important for legislators to remember that what helps someone in the short-term may actually hurt them in the long-term, and we must avoid this kind of scenario.
- It has become clear to me after meeting with military experts that their recommendations should be implemented in our current situation; this is not an area in which politics can be allowed to interfere.
The list could continue, but you get the point: by not saying the kinds of things that show – read the rest of this great article at The American Thinker.com
Written on October 12th, 2009 by Jono shouts
by Jill S. Sprik
Despite countless speeches and news conferences, did you ever hear President Obama express the following ideas?
- Not everything is a federal issue; some things are for the states to decide.
- I hear what you’re saying and you have a good point.
- One of the beautiful things about our constitution is the liberty given to individuals to pursue their dreams. There is great opportunity in our country to succeed.
- In an effort to stimulate job growth and despite the objections from my party, I am working with Congress to reduce taxes for small businesses.
- I am saddened by the cycle of poverty that exists in our major cities, and here is a way we can empower the next generation to break the cycle and fulfill their God-given potential….
- The folks at the town hall meetings and those who came to Washington on 9/12 were exercising one of the greatest rights we have as Americans, freedom of speech.
- Stop already with all forms of ‘cult of personality’ behavior. I am a public servant, just like all those who have served before and all who will come after my term is complete. It’s not about me, it’s about the country.
- I heard a great message Sunday morning at church.
- History teaches us that evil exists in the world; for this reason the United States must remain strong, ready to defend itself and its allies.
- I didn’t realize a communist was part of my administration. It won’t happen again.
- The billions siphoned out of health care into lawyers’ pockets never healed a single person.
- No other country on earth offers its citizens the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness as does the United States of America.
- The experts have looked at the proposed (fill-in-the-blank) program, and when it is extrapolated out beyond just the initial offering there is clear evidence it will cost too much money and will eventually fail.
- I disagree 100% with the Cloward-Piven strategy of increasing the welfare rolls and overwhelming the financial system, and I am not affiliated in any way with the implementation of such an idea.
- I don’t know the answer to your question but I will give it some thought.
- The goal of my presidency is not to implement a political ideology, but to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
- Every person has value regardless of age, gender, color, physical characteristics, or any other factor.
- Any healthcare bill I sign must include a provision to exclude the rationing of care, keep the door open for competition among insurers, and promote the opportunity for our young people to pursue an education in the medical fields to ensure future supply meets future demand.
- It is important for legislators to remember that what helps someone in the short-term may actually hurt them in the long-term, and we must avoid this kind of scenario.
- It has become clear to me after meeting with military experts that their recommendations should be implemented in our current situation; this is not an area in which politics can be allowed to interfere.
The list could continue, but you get the point: by not saying the kinds of things that show – read the rest of this great article at The American Thinker.com
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