Today is Ash Wednesday — the first day of Lent — the beginning of 40 days of prayer and fasting observed by Christians across the country, culminating in the Easter feast. Likewise in April, Jews will gather to celebrate Passover, one of many traditions observed under the religious freedom that the U.S. Constitution was designed to preserve. Now, though, that freedom is under direct attack by the very government that purports to represent the people, and that is but the first step in Obamacare’s re-writing of America’s blueprint. This week, …
Two years ago, everything about Obamacare was in the future. Recall the revealing comment at the time by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) that Congress had to pass the legislation to see what was in it. Now that the disputed law is in its implementation stage, Americans are beginning to see what is in it and what it means for them. Welcome to the future. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is the centerpiece of the current progressive agenda. At its core is the requirement for …
In Obamacare’s collision course with Americans’ freedom, one of the first casualties is religious liberty. Despite the Administration’s obfuscating press comments, the finalized preventive services mandate changed nothing from the interim rule. It put into law the requirement that many religious employers violate their deeply held beliefs by paying for abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and sterilization. Many recognize the religious liberty violations in the mandate—and Obamacare’s broader threats to individual liberty—will not be rectified unless the health care law is repealed. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explains that the President’s …
An examination of “administrative earmarks” around the time of congressional votes on key pieces of President Obama’s agenda suggests the White House used its power to fund local projects as a means to “buy” votes for major legislative efforts. Administrative earmarking refers to the federal government’s allocation of funds from its discretionary budget for specific projects. The practice is less transparent than legislative earmarking, since, according to the Congressional Research Service, “[t]here is no source that defines and comprehensively identifies Administrative earmarks.” But an analysis of grants from agencies during …
Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, was among a number of experts who recently convened at The Heritage Foundation on a panel entitled “Beyond the Individual Mandate: Why Obamacare Must Be Repealed.” Turner is one of the authors of Why Obamacare Is Wrong for America, along with James Capretta, Thomas Miller, and Heritage expert Robert Moffit. At the panel, Turner highlighted a number of the law’s problems, including its constitutionality. Never before has the federal government required individuals to purchase a product, which as she says in her book, …
As a Canadian and firsthand witness of Canada’s government-run health care system, Sally Pipes is warning that Obamacare will exacerbate the existing problems of rising costs and lack of access in the American health care system. At a recent Heritage event, Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, joined other health policy experts to speak on the need to repeal Obamacare. Pipes is the author of two books on the new health care law, The Truth about Obamacare and The Pipes Plan. At the panel and in her …
Since the Obamacare anti-conscience mandate was proposed in August, the Obama Administration has come under intense scrutiny for the rule’s violation of religious liberty. In the wake of the final rule’s publication in the Federal Register yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a full committee hearing yesterday to further investigate those claims, highlighting the law’s serious threat to freedom. Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, began the panel testimony by telling …
Senators Richard Burr (R–NC) and Tom Coburn (R–OK) have just unveiled a bold Medicare reform proposal based on the free-market forces of choice and competition. The Senators’ proposal adds further momentum to the effort to reform and improve America’s largest and most challenging entitlement program. “Premium support” is at the heart of the Burr–Coburn proposal: a financing arrangement where Medicare would make a generous contribution to health plans chosen by Medicare beneficiaries. The result would be an intense competition among health plans for enrollees’ business, just as there is today …
President Obama talked the talk but then blatantly refused to walk the walk on the freedom of religious institutions from the Obamacare statute’s mandate for group health insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and sterilization. The Obama Administration continues to trample on religious liberty by issuing rules that require many religious hospitals, charities, and schools to abandon the tenets of their faiths and comply with that mandate. Many voices came together in objection to the interim final regulations of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Treasury …
President Obama’s recent assault on the U.S. Constitution — first with his illegal “recess” appointments and then Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate — demonstrates a lack of respect for America’s founding principles, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) said Tuesday. “Loud and proud, I’m talking all over my district and any forum I have, saying this is a constitutional crisis,” Walberg said during a visit to The Bloggers Briefing at Heritage. Obama has touted recent administration actions as part of the White House’s “We Can’t Wait” campaign. From that stemmed the president’s decision on …
