This evening, conservative activists from across the country got together in Atlanta to learn about online and offline activism at the RedState Gathering.
The Gathering heard from Congressman Pat Toomey, Congressman Roy Blunt, Senator Jim DeMint, and Governor Rick Perry. Then there was a special presentation of John Ziegler’s new movie "Media Malpractice."
Tomorrow, Congressman Tom Price, Marco Rubio -- former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and Candidate for the U.S. Senate -- and others will address the Gathering.
North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx announced her co-sponsorship of the Improving Health Care for All Americans Act (H.R. 3218) - which will dramatically expand Americans’ access to health insurance.
During the announcement, Foxx said the GOP health care reform legislation would "make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government":
H.R. 3218 will help make health care more affordable and
portable by creating tax credits for uninsured families and new Individual
Membership Associations
It creates a health insurance tax credit of up to $2,500 for
individuals and $5,000 for families.
It expands insurance options and access to health insurance by creating
Individual Membership Associations (IMAs). IMAs would expand insurance coverage
by allowing groups like trade associations, churches and other civic groups to
offer affordable insurance to their members.
It provides federal incentives for states to create high
risk insurance pools for Americans who have difficulty securing health
insurance.
Health care can be reformed and health insurance can be made more affordable without a government takeover.
In the following "infomercial," Jimmy Fallon and supermodel Carol Alt sell Obamacare, President Obama's "total health system: The HR-3200!":
A total health concept perfect for burning fat and building muscle! America's Affordable Health Choices Act, running at over 1,000 pages and weighing in at 13 pounds, means RESULTS for your body! For only 52 easy payments of $19,231,769,235, you can't miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime offer!
You have to put up with a real 30 second commercial, but the Fallon/Alt "infomercial" is worth it.
In Saturday's weekly Republican address, House Republican Conference vice-chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, called the reform efforts backed by President Obama and Congressional Democrats "a prescription for disaster:"
Unfortunately, the Democrats’ health care plan – crafted largely behind closed doors – isn’t the right thing. It’s a prescription for disaster – one that will put Washington bureaucrats in charge of your family's personal medical decisions.
Medical decisions that are some of the most personal decisions you’ll ever make. As a mother, I want to make those decisions for my son with a doctor we choose. Anything else is unacceptable.
Transcript of Representative Rodgers' remarks:
This is Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington state, vice-chair of the House Republican Conference.
Like millions of parents, the health of my young son is our family’s top priority. When he’s sick, my husband and I take him to the doctor and expect the doctor not to just do something, but to do the right thing to help our son get better.
This is the same philosophy I’ve brought to the ongoing health care debate in Washington, DC. Some politicians – including the President and Democratic leaders in Congress – are demanding that we do something to change our system.
I believe it’s much more important to do the right thing, which means reducing skyrocketing health care costs while protecting patients ability to choose the right treatments.
Unfortunately, the Democrats’ health care plan – crafted largely behind closed doors – isn’t the right thing. It’s a prescription for disaster – one that will put Washington bureaucrats in charge of your family's personal medical decisions.
Medical decisions that are some of the most personal decisions you’ll ever make. As a mother, I want to make those decisions for my son with a doctor we choose. Anything else is unacceptable.
Also unacceptable is how much this will cost you and your family. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Democrats’ proposal will drive health care costs higher than ever.
The agency also warns that millions will be forced off their current coverage under the Democrats’ plan, even though they continue making the discredited claim that if you like your plan, you can keep it.
Millions of seniors will lose their health care choices too, because the Democrats’ plan cuts Medicare, making it more difficult in rural areas across the country – like mine in eastern Washington – for seniors to obtain the coverage they need. The House Democrats’ plan also will add $239 billion to our deficit – $239 billion more tacked onto the tab we’re passing along to our children and grandchildren.
Families, seniors, and future generations will not be alone in struggling with this bill’s costs. America’s small businesses will pay a steep price as well. Because the Democrats’ plan is bankrolled by a small business tax, more jobs will evaporate.
We’ve lost more than three million jobs since the beginning of the year and Americans have every right to ask, “Where are the jobs?” According to the National Federation of Independent Business, the Democrats’ plan will destroy a million more small business jobs.
And according to a methodology developed by the President’s own senior economic advisor, the Democrats’ government takeover of health care will cost at least 4.7 million jobs over the next 10 years.
Because of these extraordinary costs to families, small businesses, and future generations, alarm bells are sounding across the country. One Democratic governor recently expressed concern with the bill’s cost—at a trillion dollars or more. Another called it ‘the mother of all unfunded mandates.
Republicans have offered to help make a truly bipartisan plan that will improve the health of Americans, but Democrats have not wanted our help.
Republicans want to seize this opportunity to make health care more affordable. In the House of Representatives, we’ve outlined an alternative that reduces costs by rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse and reining in junk lawsuits that cost families millions each year in higher premiums.
Our plan lets small businesses purchase health insurance for employees at a lower cost, and for those who are uninsured now, it offers affordable choices. It reforms regulations so insurance companies compete for your business and you can shop around for the best coverage and price.
And under our plan, if you like your current health care coverage, you can keep it – no questions asked.
Finally, our plan encourages Americans to take advantage of preventive medicine and wellness programs. In the end, our real goal isn’t just to have medical coverage, but to have healthy families.
Our reforms will lower health care costs for you and your family. They won’t increase taxes on small businesses, and they won’t saddle future generations with hundreds of billions more in debt.
Today, Rasmussen reports Obama's Presidential Approval Index fell to -11. Another record low. Today is the first Obama Approval Index based entirely upon polling conducted
after the press conference, during which Obama made his infamous "stupidly" remark. Likely voters obviously do not approve of the president's ObamaGates controversy - the number of likely voters who strongly disapprove of Obama's performance has gone up 5% since the press conference (from 35% on Wednesday morning to 40% today).
The tracking Poll shows that 29% of the nation's voters still strongly approve of Obama's performance, but 40% strongly disapprove. Rasmussen's Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve.
Rasmussen Reports presidential job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters, rather than samples of all adults. Obama’s numbers are always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters because some of Obama's most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote.
The more likely voters find out President Obama, the less they care for him and his extremely liberal policies. According to Rasmussen, Obama is now seen as politically liberal by 76% - up six points from a month ago and 11 points since he was elected. Forty-eight percent now see Obama as very liberal - up 20 points since he was elected.
"The last time the President made grand promises and demanded passage of a bill before it could be reviewed, we ended up with the colossal stimulus failure and unemployment near 10 percent." -- Senator Jim DeMint.
In a speech on the Senate floor South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint voiced his opposition to President Obama's planned government takeover of Americans' health care:
The last time the President made grand promises and demanded passage of a bill before it could be reviewed, or even read we ended up with the colossal stimulus failure and
unemployment near 10 percent.
[. . .]
Now the President
wants Americans to trust him again, but he can't back up the utopian promises
he's making about a government takeover of health care. He insists his health
care plan won't add to our nation's deficit despite the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office saying exactly the opposite. And today we learn that
the President is refusing to release a critical report on the state of our
economy, which contains facts essential to this debate. What is he hiding?
If the actual legislation came close to matching the President's
rhetoric, he would have no problem passing this bill with huge Democrat
majorities in both chambers. But Americans aren’t being fooled and we are
discovering the truth about his plan which includes rationed care, trillions in
new costs and high taxes, and penalties that will destroy jobs, and even
government-funded abortions.
[. . .]
Let’s be clear, there is no one in this
debate advocating that we do nothing despite the President's constant straw man
arguments. Republicans have offered comprehensive health care reform solutions
that cover millions of the uninsured without exploding costs, raising taxes, and
rationing care.
Senator DeMint has
authored the Health
Care Freedom Plan that gives patients more control instead of government and
reduces the uninsured by over 22 million without any new cost to taxpayers.
The Health Care Freedom Plan:
• Protects the right of
Americans to keep their employer-based plan without having to pay additional
taxes on those benefits. • Provides Americans without employer-based
coverage with vouchers of $2000 for individuals and $5000 for families to
purchase health insurance. The premium for the average private policy sold in
the individual market in 2007 was $1,896 for an individual and $4,392 for a
family (Source: eHealthInsurance) • Allows Americans with Health Savings
Accounts (HSAs) to use their HSA funds to pay for insurance premiums,
encouraging employers to contribute to their employees’ HSAs. • Creates a
nationwide market for health insurance by allowing individuals to purchase
health insurance plans in any state. • Provides block grants to states to
develop innovative models that ensure affordable health insurance coverage for
Americans with pre-existing health conditions. • Reduces predatory and
frivolous malpractice lawsuits against physicians and hospitals. • Assures
that every health care consumer has access to price information prior to
treatment so they can make informed decisions about their care. • Repeals
financial bailouts (TARP) to ensure that the plan does not add to the
deficit.
More bad news for Obama and the Liberal Democrat leaders.
Rasmussen reports 61 percent of voters say cost is the biggest health care problem facing the nation, while just 21% believe the lack of universal health insurance coverage is a bigger problem:
Given a choice between health care reform and a tax hike or no health care reform and no tax hike, 47% would prefer to avoid the tax hike and do without reform. Forty-one percent (41%) take the opposite view.
The opposition is stronger when asked about a choice between health care reform that would require changing existing health insurance coverage or no health care reform and no change from current coverage. In that case, voters oppose reform by a 54% to 32% margin.
Also, by a 50% to 35% margin, Americans oppose the creation of a government insurance company to compete with private insurers.
There is of course the usual partisan divide, but the Independents are with the Republicans:
On the question of the biggest health care problem, Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly say cost is number one. While Democrats lean in that direction, they are much more evenly divided. Fifty-two percent (52%) of those in President Obama’s party say cost is the top concern, but 35% think it’s the lack of universal coverage.
On the trade-off with taxes, 73% of Democrats would rather have reform and a tax hike while 79% of Republicans say the opposite. As for unaffiliateds, they side with the GOP by a 50% to 30% margin.
On the trade-off between reform and keeping your current insurance coverage, Democrats opt for reform by a two-to-one margin. Unaffiliated voters prefer keeping their existing insurance coverage by two-to-one. Republicans overwhelmingly prefer to maintain their current insurance.
Why do Obama and his Liberal Democrats think they can tax, borrow and spend without limit? The new Rasmussen polling makes it clear that most Americans do not agree with Obama's rush and spend change.
President Obama and some Democrats insist the Congress rush and tax on health care just like they rushed the so-called stimulus and cap and trade tax. Liberal Democrat leaders must rush to pass their change because
the more Americans find out about the Democrats' change, the more they oppose it.
In today's weekly Republican address, Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl contrasts the Democrats rush and tax change with the Republicans common sense ideas that do not require a government takeover of the health care
system, or massive new spending, job-killing taxes, or rationing of
care:
Full transcript of Senator Kyl's remarks:
Hello. I’m Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl, of Arizona.
Republicans believe all Americans should have access to quality health care and that we must find ways to reduce health care costs.
The debate in Washington is about how we can achieve these goals.
Republicans have put forward common-sense ideas, including rooting out Medicare and Medicaid fraud, reforming medical liability laws to discourage frivolous lawsuits, strengthening wellness and prevention programs that encourage healthy living, and allowing small businesses to band together and purchase health insurance like large corporations do.
These changes do not require government takeover of the healthcare system, or massive new spending, job-killing taxes, or rationing of care.
Democrats in Congress have a different approach. Their plan would increase spending by more than two trillion dollars when fully implemented, and would, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, ‘add additional costs onto an already unsustainable system.’
It would empower Washington, not doctors and patients, to make health care decisions and would impose a new tax on working families during a recession. A study by the respected Lewin Group shows it would also move millions of people who are happy with their current insurance to a new government plan.
They propose to pay for this new Washington-run health care system by dramatically raising taxes on small business owners. Small businesses create jobs — approximately two-thirds of new jobs in the last decade.
With a shaky economy and the need for new jobs, the last thing the President and the Congress should do is impose new taxes on America’s small businesses. New taxes on small business would cripple job creation, especially jobs for low-wage earners.
This week, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office told the Senate Budget Committee that the health care-reform measures drafted by Democrats would worsen our economic outlook by increasing deficits and driving our nation more deeply into debt. So, there’s good reason to be skeptical when the President tells us we need to pass the Democrats’ bill to help the economy.
The President and Congressional Democrats have even proposed cutting Medicare to pay for their plan.
How can we justify dipping into funds for seniors’ care to pay for a new government plan, especially since Medicare is already in financial trouble? This would ultimately lead to shortages, rationing, and the elimination of private-plan choices—something our seniors rightly fear.
These are not the right steps to achieving the reform Americans want.
But the President and some Democrats insist we must rush this plan through. Why? Because the more Americans know about it, the more they oppose it. Something this important needs to be done right, rather than done quickly.
We know Americans would prefer us to work together to ensure access to affordable quality health care for all. But Americans do not want a government takeover of health care that will jeopardize their current coverage, ration care, and create mountains of new debt and higher taxes.
“We urge Democrats to support a plan that would lead to real reform and include the innovative ideas Republicans have put forward that would cut costs, improve access, and preserve the kind of care that millions of Americans already have and like. That’s the kind of reform Americans would be sure to support.”
The House Republican Conference takes President Obama to task for failing to stimulate jobs and the economy as quickly as he promised:
Where are the jobs?
Under pressure for the failure failure of his stimulus to work as quickly as he promised, Obama tried to move the goal posts. Congress should remember this as the Democrats continue with the Obama rush and spend approach to Cap and trade tax and so-called health care reform.
Not satisfied with owning General Government Motors, controlling the financial industry, and pushing for cap and tax and to remake the health care industry in a redistributionist's image, the Obama administration considers having the
government making mortgage payments for borrowers who can't.
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