Members of Congress (particularly those of the Democrat variety) have a problem. Real people are starting to show up at their “Town Hall” meetings and (gasp!) ask questions! It’s really inconvenient for them. They would prefer the sheep stay home and watch American Idol for the most part and perhaps send them a thank-you note once in a while for the latest “program” or “service” they have voted for. Let’s face it – these folks really aren’t much for an honest exchange of ideas. And the last thing they want is the hoi polloi armed with actual facts about the legislation Nancy tells them to vote for. I mean, they don’t actually read these bills – why should you?!
So this presents us, the informed electorate, with a great opportunity. Congresspeople are on their way back home to hear from you. Let your voice be heard. Here’s a great list of questions for them as well as some pieces of the actual legislation being considered. Take it with you to a town hall meeting, call these folks, write a letter. Better yet – write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Unless you want an elitist bureaucrat (who is on a gold-plated private insurance plan) to decide whether you, your children, your parents and grandparents live or die, the time to stand up and be heard is NOW!
Archive for July, 2009
Health Care Questions for your Congressperson
Friday, July 31st, 2009Josiah Bartlett Reports on NH Budget
Saturday, July 25th, 2009The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy has come out with a report that outlines the State Budget featuring 38 new taxes and fees.
5 freedoms you’d lose in health care reform
Friday, July 24th, 2009July 24, 2009
CNN Money
NEW YORK (Fortune) — In promoting his health-care agenda, President Obama has repeatedly reassured Americans that they can keep their existing health plans — and that the benefits and access they prize will be enhanced through reform.
A close reading of the two main bills, one backed by Democrats in the House and the other issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Health committee, contradict the President’s assurances. To be sure, it isn’t easy to comb through their 2,000 pages of tortured legal language. But page by page, the bills reveal a web of restrictions, fines, and mandates that would radically change your health-care coverage.
If you prize choosing your own cardiologist or urologist under your company’s Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO), if your employer rewards your non-smoking, healthy lifestyle with reduced premiums, if you love the bargain Health Savings Account (HSA) that insures you just for the essentials, or if you simply take comfort in the freedom to spend your own money for a policy that covers the newest drugs and diagnostic tests — you may be shocked to learn that you could lose all of those good things under the rules proposed in the two bills that herald a health-care revolution.
In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage — including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money — but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can’t have. It’s a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.
Let’s explore the five freedoms that Americans would lose under Obamacare:
Lynch Administration Plunges Into Chaos
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009Lynch Administration Plunges Into Chaos
Embattled Governor Losing Control As Union Contract Negotiations Break Down, Investigation Launched Into Allegations Of Misconduct By His Administration, Lawsuits Threaten To Unravel His Budget, And His Poll Numbers Plummet
CONCORD – Governor John Lynch is quickly losing control of state government as charges of unethical tactics in contract negotiations, allegations of potential misconduct in the awarding of a no-bid railroad contract, and the filing of major lawsuits have rocked his Administration and threaten to unravel his disastrous budget. The Governor’s job approval ratings have plummeted in recent weeks and his disapproval ratings have skyrocketed as voters have become disillusioned with his failed leadership and fiscal mismanagement.
“After years of dodging the critical issues and the tough decisions, Governor Lynch finds himself in a crisis of his own making. Today, New Hampshire is facing enormous challenges that have been made worse by over four years of irresponsibility and inaction by the Lynch Administration.” said NHGOP Communications Director Ryan Williams. “John Lynch’s inability to address the serious problems facing New Hampshire and his failure to provide any leadership during these tough times proves that now, more than ever, this state needs a new governor.”
Yesterday, the Lynch Administration’s contract negotiations with the New Hampshire State Employees’ Association (SEA) collapsed after the union accused the Governor of unethical negotiation tactics. The SEA, which has been without a contract since the Governor missed a June 30th deadline to finalize a new one, is planning to file an unfair labor practice complaint against Lynch.
The Lynch Administration has also been at the center of an investigation into potential ethical misconduct committed during the awarding of a state railroad contract. The Attorney General’s office is investigating serious allegations that members of the Democrat House leadership team improperly pressured Transportation Commissioner George Campbell to award a no-bid state contract to the Milford-Bennington Railroad Company. This company is currently owned by Representative Peter Leishman (D-Peterborough), a member of the powerful House Finance Committee which has significant influence over Commissioner Campbell’s department budget. An article in the July 12, 2009 edition of the Nashua Telegraph reports that Governor Lynch personally intervened to make sure that “any kinks in the [contract] would be ironed out.”
Governor Lynch’s disastrous state budget is also on the brink of collapse as major lawsuits threaten to unravel his irresponsible revenue schemes. The Superior Court will soon rule on the ownership of the $110 million that Lynch has tried to steal from the New Hampshire Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association (JUA.) If the court rules against the Lynch Administration, the state will face another budget crisis as the FY 2010-2011 budget and the recently completed FY 2008-2009 budget will immediately be thrown out of balance. Local government leaders are also moving forward with a separate lawsuit to stop the Governor from reducing the state’s share of the retirement contribution rate for municipal employees and downshifting costs to local taxpayers.
As a result of his failed leadership and fiscal mismanagement, Governor Lynch’s poll numbers have plummeted in recent months. Recent surveys conducted by the University of New Hampshire, the American Research Group and National Research Inc. all confirm that Lynch’s approval ratings have dropped by double digits, while his disapproval ratings have skyrocketed to the highest levels ever recorded. National Research’s Granite Survey also reveals that 47% of New Hampshire citizens currently feel the state has “gotten off on the wrong track” under the Lynch Administration while only 41% believe it’s headed on the right track. In April 2009, only 33% of New Hampshire citizens thought the state was on the wrong track, while 55% believed it was on the right track.
Polls also show that more people are less likely to vote to re-elect Governor Lynch because of his decision to break his word and legalize same-sex marriage. Lynch had previously pledged to oppose same-sex marriage during his gubernatorial campaigns, but folded under pressure from the radical wing of his party and legalized it in June.
Governor Lynch’s problems only look to get worse in the future as he begins to make plans for the FY 2012-2013 budget. This budget will start off with an immediate $500 million deficit due to his irresponsible use of one-time money in the current budget, and will present the Governor with an unprecedented fiscal crisis.
A Reckless Congress – Euro-Style Obamacare
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009Ken… I am forwarding to you a copy of an email I received from Brad Dayspring. Brad is the PR guy for Rep. Cantor, VA. who is the GOP Whip. I was so mad after I read in this morning’s newspaper about the House and Senate Bills on Health Care, and how the President intends, once again to ram his bill through the House and Senate within the next 2 weeks, I called Brad. He emailed me this article. Please get the word out to our GOP committee members. We have to let the world know what is going on, also to call our Rep. Hodes to let him know we are against House Bill and our two Senators as well.
Please feel free to use my name.
Thanks and will see you at next months meeting.
Regards,
Bill Modis
A Reckless Congress
Democrats want to ram through one of the greatest raids on private income and business in American history.
Say this about the 1,018-page health-care bill that House Democrats unveiled this week and that President Obama heartily endorsed: It finally reveals at least some of the price of the reckless ambitions of our current government. With huge majorities and a President in a rush to outrun the declining popularity of his agenda, Democrats are bidding to impose an unrepealable European-style welfare state in a matter of weeks.
Mr. Obama’s February budget provided the outline, but the House bill now fills in the details. To wit, tax increases that would take U.S. rates higher even than most of Europe. Yet even those increases aren’t nearly enough to finance the $1 trillion in new spending, which itself is surely a low-ball estimate. Meanwhile, the bill would create a new government health entitlement that will kill private insurance and lead to a government-run system.
Hyperbole? That’s what people said when we warned about this last fall in “A Liberal Supermajority,” but even we underestimated the ideological willfulness of today’s national Democrats. Consider only a few of the details:
A huge new income surtax. The bill’s main financing comes from another tax increase on top of the increase already scheduled for 2011 under Mr. Obama’s budget. The surtax starts at one percentage point for adjusted gross income above $350,000 in 2011, rising to two points in 2013; a 1.5 point surtax at incomes above $500,000, rising to three in 2013; and a whopping 5.4 percentage points in 2011 and beyond on incomes above $1 million.
This would raise the top marginal federal tax rate back to roughly 47% or 48%, if you include the Medicare tax and the phase-out of certain deductions and exemptions. With the current top rate at 35%, this would be the largest rate increase outside the Great Depression or world wars.
The average U.S. top combined state-federal marginal tax rate would hit about 52%. This would be higher than in all but three (Denmark, Sweden, Belgium) of the 30 countries measured by the OECD. According to the nearby table compiled by the Heritage Foundation, taxpayers in at least five U.S. states would pay higher marginal rates even than Sweden. South Korea, which Democrats worry is stealing American jobs, would be able to grab even more as its highest rate is a far more competitive 38.5%.
House Democrats say they deserve credit for being honest about the tax increases needed to fund their ambitions. But then they also claim that this surtax would raise $544 billion in new revenue over 10 years.
America’s millionaires aren’t that stupid; far fewer of them will pay these rates for very long, if at all. They will find ways to shelter income, either by investing differently or simply working less. Small businesses that pay at the individual rate will shift to pay the 35% corporate rate.
When the revenue doesn’t materialize, Democrats will move to soak the middle class with a European-style value-added tax.
Phony numbers. Democrats will have to come up with something, because even the surtax puts their bill at least $300 billion short of honest financing.
The public insurance “option” doesn’t even begin until 2013 and the costs are heavily weighted toward the later years, but the tax hikes start in 2011. So under Congress’s 10-year budget window, the House bill is able to pay for seven years of spending with nine years of taxes. Andy Laperriere of the ISI Group estimates the bill would add $95 billion to the deficit in 2019 alone.
Then there’s yesterday’s testimony, from Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf, that ObamaCare’s cost “savings” are an illusion.
Mr. Obama claims government can cover more people and pay less to do it.
But Mr. Elmendorf told the Senate Finance Committee that “In the legislation that has been reported we don’t see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs.”
Further on the public plan: “It raises the amount of activity that is growing at this unsustainable rate.”
No matter, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is whisking the bill through House committees even before CBO has had a chance to score it in detail. As Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan put it to us, “We will not have read it, and we will not have a score of it, but we will have passed it out of committee.”
A new payroll tax
Unemployment is at 9.5% and rising, but Democrats will nonetheless impose a new eight percentage point payroll tax on employers who don’t provide health insurance for employees. This is on top of the current 15% payroll tax, and in addition to a new 2.5-percentage point tax on individuals who don’t buy health insurance. This means that any employer with more than $400,000 in payroll would have to pay at least 25% above the salary to hire someone. Result: Many fewer new jobs, with a higher structural jobless rate, much as Europe has experienced as its welfare states have expanded.
Other new taxes, including an as yet undetermined levy on private health plans. This tax, which Democrats say could raise $100 billion or so, would make it even harder for private plans to compete with the government plan, which would already benefit from government subsidies and lower capital costs. For good measure, the House bill also gets the ball rolling on tax increases on foreign-source corporate income.
We could go on, and we will in coming days. But the most remarkable quality of this health-care exercise is its reckless disregard for economic and fiscal reality. With the economy still far from a healthy recovery, and the federal fisc already nearly $2 trillion in deficit, Democrats want to ram through one of the greatest raids on private income and business in American history. The world is looking on, agog, and wondering why the United States seems intent on jumping off this cliff.
Higher than France?
Veronique de Rugy
The Wall Street Journal has a very good article about what America’s top marginal tax rates would end up being if Congress and president Obama have it their way with health-care reform.
Mr. Obama’s February budget provided the outline, but the House bill now fills in the details. To wit, tax increases that would take U.S. rates higher even than most of Europe. Yet even those increases aren’t nearly enough to finance the $1 trillion in new spending, which itself is surely a low-ball estimate. Meanwhile, the bill would create a new government health entitlement that will kill private insurance and lead to a government-run system.
And this is even confirmed by CBO:
Then there’s yesterday’s testimony, from Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf, that ObamaCare’s cost “savings” are an illusion.
Mr. Obama claims government can cover more people and pay less to do it.
But Mr. Elmendorf told the Senate Finance Committee that “In the legislation that has been reported we don’t see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs.
Further on the public plan: “It raises the amount of activity that is growing at this unsustainable rate.”
Brad Dayspring
Press Secretary
Office of the Republican Whip
Congressman Eric Cantor
(202) 225-2402
www.republicanwhip.gov