In one of the most illuminating moments of the Obamacare debate, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi said “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Pelosi meant that we would learn the truth about the bill after the controversy had died down. However, her words apply to Obamacare more than she knew. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not really a law, and we still do not know its full affects. Laws set norms to regulate conduct. Obamacare, like most major laws, …
America is having a serious conversation on taxes and their impact on economic growth: The Obama administration is making the case for raising taxes by not extending the Bush tax cuts; Opponents counter that raising taxes in the midst of a weak economy would be disastrous. For the record, we agree with the latter group. But this important discussion should not depend on a willful distortion of the English language. Yet, such an Orwellian perversion takes place every time people repeat that when government does not raise taxes it incurs …
In 2009, Democrats chose to proceed with a health-care bill under the regular order – that is, they sought to pass the legislation under normal House and Senate rules. They did not put together a budget reconciliation bill with health care in it, something that could have passed the Senate with a simple majority vote. They conceded that such an approach would likely produce a flawed product, as many non-budgetary provisions in a health-care plan would not survive the reconciliation process. And so they decided to try and pass a …
The pressure is building on President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to open their closed-door health care negotiations to cameras, the media, and more importantly, the American public. Most notably, Brian Lamb, the chief executive of C-SPAN, wrote a letter to congressional leaders asking them to allow cameras into health care negotiations. The clarion call for transparency shouldn’t surprise President Obama. He promised to open health care negotiations when he campaigned for President and, in video included in a Fox News report, Obama couldn’t …
President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) are planning plenty of health care action in closed-door meetings at the White House today, but there are no lights or cameras. Now, C-SPAN is calling for the latter. In a letter to congressional leadership dated December 30, 2009, C-SPAN wrote: As your respective chambers work to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate health care bills, C-SPAN requests that you open all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage. C-SPAN noted …
With the event horizon of the vote on the Reid Health Care Bill approaching, it appears that passage of the legislation would, yet again, amount to President Barack Obama breaking his “no new middle class tax” pledge.
The health care bill passed by the House tonight took another step towards transferring power over personal health care decisions from individuals to bureaucrats in Washington. The Republican alternative was a good strong first step of targeted reforms that are necessary to improve health care financing and delivery. If it were to become law, the House bill would put the government in control of over half of all health care spending and would dramatically shift America’s health care system from one that is largely private to one that is subordinated to …
The heat is happening behind closed doors as the U.S. House prepares for a Saturday showdown vote on health care. Access is everything. By keeping Members of Congress in Washington, D.C., this weekend, Democratic leaders keep them away from angry constituents back in their home states, where the Members normally would depart from Friday to Monday. (Note: The tactics aren’t different from what Republicans sometimes used when they held the majority.) The first step is to keep Congress in town. The second is to keep them monitored and available for …
Just in time for Halloween, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Democrats gave birth to a giant, 1,990-page spawn of health care reform, lovingly titled the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Lurking within, though, are 13 new tax hikes (yes, 13) that will strike at the heart of the American people. Americans for Tax Reform laid them out in detail; The Foundry includes them below:
Earlier today, The Foundry wrote about Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-Mich) claim that he and like-minded, pro-life Democrats will work with Republicans to “torpedo healthcare reform unless he gets a vote to strip abortion-related provisions out of the House bill,” as reported by The Hill. That sounded like good news, but in an exclusive Foundry video of a town hall held in Cheboygan, Mich., on Saturday, it appears that Stupak intends to vote for the Democrats’ healthcare reform, even if it includes public funding for abortion. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URr68joWr1E[/youtube]
