Congress will take up debate on the dreaded Death Tax once again in the coming weeks. It will do so because the Death Tax expires for one year starting January 1, 2010. But like the villain in a horror movie, it will rise from the dead with its full power in tact on January 1, 2011. The one-year expiration will likely incite Congressional debate because some would like to keep it from expiring this year all together. The one year abolition of the tax is the end of a years-long …
It has been one week since the Senate Majority Leader announced he sent his health care bill to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the American people are still not allowed to see Sen. Reid’s (D-NV) version of Obamacare. Late last week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) authored a letter to Reid demanding that Senators be given the opportunity to read the same bill that Reid sent to CBO. The American people have a constitutional right pursuant to the First Amendment to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” In …
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) health care plan presumes that about 8-to-14-million American workers will pay fines rather than buy health insurance. Unless they do, there’s a $167-billion hole in her financing plan and everything falls apart. Like the rest of us, this group would face higher-than-ever insurance prices under Pelosi’s proposed bill. Speaker Pelosi, President Obama and others claim they will make coverage cheaper, yet the official projection relies upon millions who would prefer to pay fines rather than join their system. In some cases the individuals would pay the …
On June 26th of this year, the House of Representatives narrowly passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. More commonly known as the Waxman-Markey bill (named after bill sponsors Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), the 1,427-page bill tries to control global temperatures by creating a “cap” on greenhouse gas emissions, and then hoping that greenhouse emitters would “trade” emissions permits meet the cap. Under the scheme, the government would issue fewer allowances each year, causing the cost of the permits to rise. The cost …
Now that the Baucus Plan has been introduced as actual legislative language, it is clear more time is necessary to have a full understanding of the massive 1,500 page bill. As members get the opportunity to read the bill, more problems are likely to emerge on a daily basis. For example, the Baucus Plan either puts states into fiscal jeopardy or provides another budget gimmick to avoid paying the full cost of the legislation through the treatment of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The SCHIP provisions have significant …
The Washington Post reports: Congressional budget analysts have given House leaders cost estimates for two competing versions of their plan to overhaul the health-care system … The report from the Congressional Budget Office, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, puts the cost of one plan at $859 billion over the next decade and the other at $905 billion. … The cheaper version would rely heavily on a more dramatic expansion of Medicaid, the government health plan for the poor that is funded partly by the states …
When President Obama spoke to Congress on his health care plan, I was thinking about the 16-day stretch in July during which his bill was being assembled on Capitol Hill. That’s because so much of what he told us, whether about deficits, illegal aliens or abortions, seemed at odds with what the Congress is doing in his name. “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future,” the president said. He was unequivocal, and I applaud his promise, but …
On Friday, the last day before a long weekend due to Columbus Day and on the eve of the Finance Committee vote, the Congressional Budget Office revealed some new information about the affect of the Baucus plan on premiums for health insurance. Surprise! After the Senate Finance Committee worked on the bill, health insurance will now cost individuals and families even more than the Congressional Budget Office originally estimated. On September 22, 2009, the CBO estimated that the average premium for a single plan was $4,700 to purchase the Silver …
Lost in the glowing coverage of the Congressional Budget Office’s “favorable” estimate of Sen. Max Baucus’ health care bill is an astounding fact: it doesn’t lower health care costs. Although the Congressional Budget Office estimates says the bill will reduce the deficit by $81 billion, CBO also says, “Cost is growing at about 8% per year toward the end of the 10-year budget window.” If you take that 8% inflation rate and compound it over 10 years, it means that health care costs will MORE than double every decade. This …
Looking beyond the media hype, taxpayers should remember a few crucial facts about the recent CBO/JCT analysis of the Finance Committee’s provisions for the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. As former CBO Director Donald Marron has pointed out, there is more to CBO’s analysis than short term budget estimates. The analysis is preliminary. As the letter points out, the analysis is still not based on legislative language. Moreover, Senate Leaders have to merge the bill with the HELP Committee bill before the bill comes to the floor. Therefore, it …
