From the Washington Examiner

The Congressional Budget Office late Friday released some new figures pertaining to the health care reform bill that suggest Democrats were able to dodge creating a deficit by removing a section of the legislation that they will have to pass later.

The $940 billion health care bill excludes a provision that would prevent automatic, steep cuts in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients. Such a provision would cost $208 billion over the next decade and if it were included in the Democratic health care plan, would end up increasing the deficit by $59 billion over ten years.

Democrats left the provision out of the health care bill in order to keep the plan from costing money instead of saving money. As currently written, the bill would save $138 billion over the first ten years, the CBO determined.

But Republicans argue this does not provide a true cost for the bill, since everyone knows the costly “doc fix” will have to be paid for somehow.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who is the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, sent a request to the CBO to provide the cost of the bill that includes the fix. Ryan asked the CBO to produce cost estimates for other scenarios as well, including one in which Congress fails to implement an excise tax on expensive insurance plans or create a special Medicare advisory panel aimed at cutting the programs costs. These scenarios would also produce a deficit, the CBO found.

From Bloomberg

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are “nuts” to think tomorrow’s vote on health-care legislation will resolve the issue.

If the measure passes, Senate Republicans have enough votes on at least two points of order to alter the measure and send it back to the House for a second round of votes, Hatch said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

“If those people think they’re only going to vote on this once, they’re nuts,” Hatch said as House Democratic leaders rounded up support before the scheduled vote on President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

The senator from Utah also said the approach Democrats are using to pass the legislation in the House may be unconstitutional because the House and Senate aren’t voting on “exactly the same language.”

Read the rest of the column.

From BigGovernment.com

While America is distracted by Democrats’ attempts to unconstitutionally ram government-run healthcare down the throats of the American people, the Obama administration began preparing to resume funding to President Obama’s favorite community organizing group.

The fiscal floodgates are opening for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the president’s former employer and legal client, despite a congressional ban on funding the activist group that has long been a practitioner of election fraud.

In a March 16 memo Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Peter Orszag quietly ordered federal agencies to resume funding the group whose employees were caught on hidden camera videos last year condoning a variety of crimes including child prostitution and tax evasion.

The memo came a week after renegade federal judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York made permanent her temporary injunction prohibiting Congress from cutting off funding for ACORN.

The memo also came despite the fact that the Department of Justice is planning to appeal Gershon’s ruling and seek a stay pending appeal.

It’s unclear why the Obama administration isn’t doing the responsible thing and waiting for the case to work its way through the judicial system.

Could the OMB be moving at lightning speed to restore funding for ACORN, which is under indictment in Nevada for election fraud, because ACORN is in dire financial straits? Perhaps it’s a reward for ACORN’s loyal support in the ObamaCare battle.

Actor Jon Voight, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and Dr. Milton Wolf, President Obama’s second cousin, will speak at the “Code Red” rally to oppose Obamacare this Saturday at noon in Washington, DC. The rally will take place on Capitol Hill at Upper Senate Park, which is located at 200 New Jersey Avenue, NW, at the intersection of Constitution Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, and Delaware Avenue. 

The rally is the latest action of the “Take the Town Halls to Washington” project, and is hosted by the American Grassroots Coalition. It is sponsored by over two dozen grassroots Tea Party organizations, including the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition.

Featured speakers will include:
· Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN) 
· Congressman Tom Price (GA) 
· Congressman Joe Wilson (SC) 
· Congressman Phil Gingrey (GA) 
· State Senator Judson Hill (GA) 
· Actor & Activist Jon Voight 
· Dr. Milton Wolf, Barack Obama’s second cousin who opposes Obamacare 
· Colin Hanna, Let Freedom Ring 
· Jim Martin, 60 Plus 
· Phil Kerpen, Americans for Prosperity 
· Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity 
· Andrew Langer, Institute for Liberty 
· Kathryn Serkes, Doctor Patient Medical Association 
· Mark Skoda, Memphis Tea Party 
· Amy Kremer, Tea Party Express 
· Jennifer Hulsey, American Grassroots Coalition 
· Ken Emanuelson, Dallas Tea Party 
· Ben Cunningham, Founder of the Tennessee Tax Revolt 
· Darla Dawald, Grassfire / Resistnet

The coalition of Tea Party and grassroots organizations sponsoring this rally is committed to changing the dynamics of this legislative process. “The Democratic led Congress is using procedural and legislative rules to ignore the overwhelming opposition to this proposed legislation,” said Mark Skoda of Memphis Tea Party, co-organizer of the “Take The Town Halls to Washington” project. “The will of the American people is being subverted by these actions and the grass roots activists who make up this coalition are focusing their energy to kill the bill.”

Michael Patrick Leahy, co-organizer of the “Take the Town Halls to Washington” project, encouraged everyone to make the effort to attend the rally. “We encourage every American citizen who defends the Constitution to drop everything they’re doing and come to Washington tomorrow to join us in this rally. If you arrive early, you can stop by the project’s war room, which is located at the Capitol Hill Suites at 200 C St, SE in Washington.”

The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, sponsor of the “Take the Town Halls to Washington” project, is an informal federation of thirty local tea party leaders from around the country. It is the group that organized the very first nationwide tea parties on February 27, 2009 and April 15, 2009. 

Additional information can be found at the project’s website: http://www.takethetownhallstowashington.com

Rep. Paul Ryan (R, Wisconsin) offers his opening comments in the Reconciliation Markup House Budget Committee on March 15, 2010.  He exposes the mockery that the Democrats are making of our legislative process in order to ram a government takeover of health care through Congress.

TAKE ACTION: A vote on this health care bill is expected to occur on Sunday.  Call your Representative NOW and tell them to vote “NO” on this sham of a bill.

Mark R. Levin, president of Landmark Legal Foundation, today issued a warning to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives about the possible use of the so-called “deem and pass,” “self-executing,” or “Slaughter Rule” to enact H.R. 3590, the legislative version of President Obama’s healthcare proposal that has been previously approved by the Senate. If this tactic is employed, Landmark will immediately sue the President, Attorney General Eric Holder and other relevant cabinet members to prevent them from instituting this unconstitutional contrivance.  A copy of the complaint can be found here: Landmark’s Draft “Slaughter Rule” Complaint. 

By a vote of 222 to 203, House Democrats voted today to uphold the usage of the “self-executing rule,” also known as the Slaughter Solution.  This further validates that Obama, Pelosi and the Democrats will to anything to pass this health care bill, even if it is unconstitutional and just plain shady.  The undocumented President Obama has made it clear time and again that he doesn’t care about the process – he just wants it passed, no matter the consequences.  And there will be consequences.

The Slaughter Solution “deems” the Senate bill passed without the House ever having cast a vote, while they vote separately on a reconciliation measure.  Pelosi wants this done so the American people wont’ be able to see who actually voted for the bill – she wants to shield her Congressional allies from their constituents who are mad as hell about their representatives not listening to the people.

From the Boston Herald

Even one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s floor whips, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, says a proposed parliamentary move to pass health-care reform would be “disingenuous” and harm the credibility of Congress.

In a sign of how tough it’s been for Pelosi to round up votes for the massive bill, Lynch – a South Boston Democrat who supported a House reform package last year – said he’ll probably vote against a key Senate version of the legislation, unless unexpected major changes are made soon.

Lynch, who serves as one of Pelosi’s key vote counters, said he also can’t support a proposed “deem and pass” procedure that would allow Democrats to vote to strip out controversial portions of the Senate bill and then “deem” that the entire package has passed without a second, direct vote.

“It’s disingenuous,” said Lynch, who considers unfair a Senate provision to tack a surcharge on higher-end health plans. “It would really call into question the credibility of the House.”

Read the rest of the story.

From the Wall Street Journal

By Fred Barnes: 

On Dec. 7, 1941, an announcement was made during the football game between the hometown Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. All the generals and admirals at Griffith Stadium were instructed to report to their duty stations. Little did they know their lives would be changed forever and America would be at war, or on war footing, for the next half-century. Pearl Harbor had been attacked.

America will be in a constant health-care war if ObamaCare is enacted. Passage wouldn’t end the health-care debate. Rather, it would perpetuate ObamaCare as the dominant issue for decades to come, reshape politics, create an annual funding crisis in Congress, and generate a spate of angry lawsuits. Yet few in Washington seem aware of what lies ahead.

We only have to look at Great Britain to get a glimpse of the future. The National Health Service—socialized medicine—was created in 1946 and touted as the envy of the world. It’s been a contentious issue ever since. Its cost and coverage are perennial subjects of debate. The press, especially England’s most popular newspaper, The Daily Mail, feasts on reports of long waiting periods, dirty hospitals, botched care and denied access to treatments.

A Conservative member of the European Parliament, Daniel Hannan, last year in an interview on Fox News denounced the NHS as a “60-year mistake,” declaring he “wouldn’t wish it on anybody.” As prime minister, Margaret Thatcher bravely cut NHS spending in the 1980s, but current Tory leaders regard criticism of the NHS as too risky. “The Conservative Party stands four square behind the NHS,” its leader, David Cameron, said in response to Mr. Hannan.

Read the rest of the column.

From the New York Post

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will ram the unpopular Senate health bill through the House without a vote. Article 1, Sect. 7 of the Constitution says she can’t.

Many House Democrats are reluctant to go on record in support of the Senate bill. Pelosi’s strategy is to “deem” it passed, go straight to a vote on a package of reconciliation “fixes” and then present both the Senate bill and reconciliation package to the president for signing.

In recent years, the US Supreme Court has twice struck down attempts to abbreviate the lawmaking process required by Article 1, Sect 7. Though it’s been used before on less controversial legislation, Pelosi’s tactic won’t survive a constitutional challenge.

* In INS v. Chadha (1982), the high court ruled 7-2 that lawmaking must follow the steps laid out in the Constitution. Foreign student J.R. Chadha (from Kenya, ironically) convinced the Immigration and Naturalization Service to suspend his deportation. The House, acting without the Senate or president, voted to overturn the INS suspension via a “legislative veto” — a device created by prior law to give either house of Congress the means to overturn certain executive decisions.

Chadha challenged the constitutionality of that arrangement and won. The Supreme Court ruled that the House’s action was “legislative” in nature — and declared that lawmaking is “subject to the procedural requirements of Art. 1, Sect. 7 for legislative action: passage by a majority of both houses and presentation to the president.” Anything less is unconstitutional.

Article 1 states: “The votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively.”

The Chadha ruling applies to the pending health-care vote because the justices did more than strike down the “legislative veto.” They broadly stated that all lawmaking must adhere to the “single, finely wrought and exhaustively considered procedure” laid out by the framers. No short cuts.

Read the rest of the column

From the Heartland Institute

1. You Can’t Keep Your Plan Even if You Like It: The president promises you can keep your plan and doctor if you like them—polls show the overwhelming majority of Americans do—but independent analysts found Obamacare would cause a change of plan or doctor for as many as 56 percent of currently covered employees. Additionally, your doctor may not want to keep you. (See Point No. 8.)

2. Your Insurance Premiums Will Go Up:The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found Obamacare will increase the average family’s premiums by as much as 13 percent by 2016, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers found an increase of $4,000 by 2019.

3. You May Be Among the Hundreds of Thousands Who Lose Their Jobs: The nonpartisan Lewin Group predicts the massive new employer mandates would cause as many as 600,000 workers to lose their jobs under Obamacare. Other sources predict even more.

4. Your Tax Burden Will Increase: The Senate bill contains as many as 19 new taxes. The entire proposal functions as a massive regressive tax falling on the young and lowerincome workers, making them beholden to subsidies and punishing success.

5. You Will Be Forced to Pay for Abortions: The president promised no taxpayer dollars would go toward funding abortions. But the Senate bill specifically allows for such funding, and House leaders acknowledge they will not attempt to restrict abortion funding in the final bill.

6. Your Health Care Will Cost More: Obamacare’s attempt to “bend the cost curve” and slow the pace of rising health care costs is a sham. In reality, the only reductions in cost come through reduced government reimbursements to hospitals and doctors, who will be forced to lower the quality of care and pass more costs on to the taxpayers.

7. Your Employer Will Have to Pay More to the Government: Forget that raise you were hoping for. It makes economic sense for small employers facing burdensome new requirements to stay small, and for large businesses to fire permanent employees and hire contractors.

8. Your Doctor May Quit: A survey by Investor’s Business Daily found 45 percent of doctors said they “would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement” if Obamacare passes. Seventy-two percent of doctors oppose Obama’s health care plan.

9. You Will Be Forced to Purchase Insurance Approved by Bureaucrats: Do you like Medicare Advantage? Gone. Like your high-deductible HSA plan? Forget it. The bureaucrats in Washington will tell you what you can buy, and you will be required to buy something.

10. You and Your Children Will Pay for Trillions in Added Debt: Democrat Sen. Max Baucus admits the cost of Obamacare is more than $2.5 trillion over 10 years. Claims that the bill is deficit-neutral are based on budgetary gimmicks. We will pay the tab for generations to come.

From CNS News

Nearly one-third of all practicing physicians may leave the medical profession if President Obama signs current versions of health-care reform legislation into law, according to a survey published in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
 
The survey, which was conducted by the Medicus Firm, a leading physician search and consulting firm based in Atlanta and Dallas, found that a majority of physicians said health-care reform would cause the quality of American medical care to “deteriorate” and it could be the “final straw” that sends a sizeable number of doctors out of medicine.
 
More than 29 percent (29.2) percent of the nearly 1,200 doctors who responded to the survey said they would quit the profession or retire early if health reform legislation becomes law. If a public option were included in the legislation, as several liberal Senators have indicated they would like, the number would jump to 45.7 percent.
 
The medical journal published the results in its March and April edition, saying: “While a sudden loss of half of the nations physicians seems unlikely, a very dramatic decrease in the physician workforce could become a reality as an unexpected side effect of health reform.”

Read the rest of the story.

From the Washington Post

WE UNDERSTAND the administration’s sense of urgency on health-care reform. But what is intended as a final sprint threatens to turn into something unseemly and, more important, contrary to Democrats’ promises of transparency and time for deliberation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Monday that she is leaning toward a parliamentary maneuver under which the House would vote on a package of changes to the Senate-approved reform bill, and the underlying Senate bill would then be “deemed” to have passed, even though the House had never voted on it. That may help some House members dodge a politically difficult decision, but it strikes us as a dodgy way to reform the health-care system. Democrats who vote for the package will be tagged with supporting the Senate bill in any event. Why not be straightforward about it?

More worrying is that Congress and the country have yet to see the changes, for which Democrats hope to win quick House approval and which they then hope to speed through the Senate under a procedure that would bar filibusters. These changes — the so-called reconciliation bill — are not all minor “fixes”; some could have far-reaching consequences. Such changes deserve to be fully understood and debated before they are voted on. The speaker’s office says the week-long “conversation” that Nancy Pelosi promised to have with members is taking place and that they are waiting for the final word from the Congressional Budget Office before releasing the package; in any event, they say, lawmakers and the public will have 72 hours to consider the changes. But why be so secretive about it? Any number of measures — including versions of the health-care bill itself — have been unveiled without CBO scores.

The health-care debate has been going on longer than a year, and House members want to get it over with. They don’t want it hanging over them during the Easter recess. President Obama wants progress to have been made before he leaves for Indonesia on Sunday. These are understandable desires, but they don’t outweigh the need for a reasonable process on a matter of such importance.

From Washington Examiner

From the Washington Examiner

By Mark Styen: So there was President Obama, giving his bazillionth speech on health care, droning yet again that “now is the hour when we must seize the moment,” the same moment he’s been seizing every day of the week for the past year, only this time his genius photo-op guys thought it would look good to have him surrounded by men in white coats.

Why is he doing this? Why let “health care reform” stagger on like the rotting husk in a low-grade creature feature who refuses to stay dead no matter how many stakes you pound through his chest?

Because it’s worth it. Big time. I’ve been saying in this space for two years that the governmentalization of health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture. It redefines the relationship between the citizen and the state in fundamental ways that make limited government all but impossible. In most of the rest of the Western world, there are still nominally “conservative” parties, and they even win elections occasionally, but not to any great effect. (Let’s not forget that Jacques Chirac was, in French terms, a “conservative.”) The result is a kind of two-party-one-party state: Right-of-center parties once in a while will be in office, but never in power, merely presiding over vast leftist bureaucracies that cruise on regardless.

Read the rest of the column.