GOP Leader Blog
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Posted by
Kevin Boland
on
September 02, 2010
A new study out today from the Kaiser Family Foundation confirms what millions of families and small businesses already know: health care costs have continued to spiral upwards, despite promises by Washington Democrats that their government takeover of health care would “make health care more affordable…stabilizing family budgets, the Federal budget, and the economy,” as the White House website touts. The study found that “workers on average are paying nearly $4,000 this year toward the cost of family health coverage – an increase of 14 percent, or $482, above what they paid last year.”
The following chart, included in the Kaiser Foundation’s “Employer Health Benefits 2010 Annual Survey,” illustrates that ObamaCare has failed to “bend the cost curve,” as the President promised:
During the 2008 campaign, then-Senator Obama said time and time again that any health care plan he signed would “bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the typical family,” but the Obama Administration’s own actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rebuffed that claim shortly after ObamaCare was jammed down the throats of the American people, finding that the Democrats’ new law will actually increase national health care costs over the next 10 years by $311 billion. Now even Washington Democrats and their special interest allies are “abandoning claims” that ObamaCare will lower costs, as POLITICO reported recently: “Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit… The presentation also concedes that the fiscal and economic arguments that were the White House’s first and most aggressive sales pitch have essentially failed.” These revelations followed the release of a national survey showing that “employers are bracing for more health care cost increases over the next few years as the new health care law unfolds…” All told, employers expect costs to go up nearly nine percent and “plan to share some of that burden with employees via higher premiums and higher out-of-pocket limits.” It didn’t have to be this way. House Republicans proposed the only health care reform plan that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said would actually lower health care premiums by up to 10 percent and reduce the deficit by $68 billion over 10 years without imposing tax increases on families and small businesses. But instead of working with Republicans, out-of-touch Washington Democrats jammed their government takeover of health care through Congress, thumbing their noses at the American people who were – and remain – vehemently opposed to ObamaCare.
Posted by
Kevin Boland
on
September 01, 2010
Yesterday, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) delivered a speech on national security to the American Legion National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in advance of President Obama’s Oval Office Address to the nation on Iraq. Leader Boehner touched on Iraq, Afghanistan, the global war on terrorism, the broader Middle East, and the economy. Following is the full video of his remarks: For a full transcript of Leader Boehner’s speech as prepared for delivery, click here.
Posted by
GOP Leader Press Office
on
August 31, 2010
The Obama White House is in a hurry to claim credit for our troops’ success in Iraq – success made possible by the surge strategy then-Sen. Obama opposed as a candidate for president. The President has taken ownership of the flagging economy, but when will he get serious about creating jobs and cutting spending, and specifically address the unemployment rate among American veterans, which now stands at 11 percent, above the already-high national rate of 9.5 percent?
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) addressed the subject in a speech to the American Legion National Convention today in Milwaukee. An excerpt from the Leader’s remarks as prepared:
MSNBC today previewed Boehner’s remarks about the troubling job situation facing America’s veterans and the workforce in general.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has expressed concern about the unemployment rate among veterans, and recently urged employers to “take a chance on veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and offer them jobs and mentorship,” according to the Associated Press.
Problem is, those employers in most cases don’t have jobs to offer – thanks in no small part to the job-killing policies of the Obama Administration, which have forced small business owners and private-sector job creators to operate in a state of near-constant uncertainty over the past 19 months, freezing many in their tracks and preventing the creation of millions of jobs. And now President Obama wants to raise small businesses’ taxes. The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation says the tax hike recently endorsed by President Obama and his economic team will result in higher taxes for 50 percent of the small business income in America – a policy shift certain to result in diminished opportunities for even more Americans, including veterans returning home on success from Iraq.
A full breakdown of the troubling unemployment situation facing America’s veterans is available here.
As America’s heroes return from Iraq, too many are being forced to ask: where are the jobs? Instead of blaming others for the situation, President Obama should take responsibility, replace his economic team, and work to build bipartisan support for aggressive spending reductions and other policies that will help our economy get back to creating the jobs that veterans and other Americans deserve. (In an economic address last week, Leader Boehner detailed the five steps the president needs to take immediately to help small businesses get back to creating jobs. And in a letter sent earlier this year on ways to boost private sector job creation, more than 100 economists urged President Obama to take immediate action to rein in government spending, stop the coming tax hike, and end the barrage of new federal rules that are causing uncertainty for small businesses under the current administration.)
Posted by
Katie Boyd
on
August 31, 2010
Today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs appeared on several morning news shows claiming that President Obama always said that adding a surge of additional troops to Iraq would improve the security situation there. On NBC’s “The Today Show,” Gibbs said, “What is certainly not up for question is that President Obama, then-candidate Obama, said that adding those 20,000 troops into Iraq would, indeed, improve the security situation, and it did.” But in truth, then-candidate Obama said quite the opposite. At the time the surge was announced, then-Sen. Obama said, “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.” Even after the new strategy had been implemented and was beginning to improve the security situation, then-Sen. Obama declared that “the surge has not worked.” (NBC’s “The Today Show,” 7/18/07) More than a year later, in the face of undeniable proof that the surge had increased security in Iraq, then-Sen. Obama finally conceded that “the surge succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated.” Gibbs also sought to give credit for progress in Iraq to the political progress that was made, ignoring the fact that the troop surge and security gains that resulted gave the Iraqi leaders more time to make the political progress he cites. This was the essence of the strategy that General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker put in place – a strategy that then-Senator Obama opposed. As the President prepares to tout the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq this evening, it is imperative that the White House focus its attention on crediting the troops for all that they have done to achieve progress in Iraq. Today is not a day to try and re-write history, but rather to reflect honestly and thoughtfully on the courage and commitment our troops demonstrated during the most difficult days in Iraq - despite the skepticism they faced from those who opposed the strategy they were sent to carry out. Last week, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) released a video thanking our troops and their families for their service and their sacrifice: As our brave troops continue their missions in both Iraq and Afghanistan, we extend to them our profound gratitude and assure them of our unwavering support.
Posted by
Kevin Boland
on
August 31, 2010
Yesterday, CNN’s Situation Room highlighted a web video released by House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) which credited our troops with the success of the surge in Iraq. CNN also offered a preview of an address Leader Boehner will deliver at the American Legion National Convention later today at 2:10pm EST, as Wolf Blitzer noted: “President Obama won't be the only one publicly addressing this milestone in Iraq tomorrow. Republicans will have a voice as well. The House Minority Leader John Boehner is planning a major speech ahead of the President's.”
The American people owe a debt of gratitude to the courage and sacrifice of our troops for all they have done to advance freedom abroad and strengthen our security here at home.
Posted by
Kevin Boland
on
August 30, 2010
Liberal special interest groups, who helped to ram ObamaCare through the Democratic-controlled Congress over the objections of the American people, are now sprinting away from their government takeover of health care, “abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and the deficit,” and urging Democrats to “talk about something else.” As POLITICO reported this morning:
The progressive coalition Health Care for America Now fought hard to pass health care reform. Now it’s fighting hard to help reelect lawmakers who voted for the bill – even if it means not talking about it...HCAN’s field crews are finding that the best way to support reform-friendly lawmakers is to talk about something else: jobs, the economy or other issues likely to resonate with voters more....A recent CNN survey found that a majority of Americans opposed ObamaCare, while a full “58 percent favor repeal of the new national health care law,” according to a Rasmussen survey out this morning. That’s hardly changed from earlier this year, when an Associated Press-GfK survey found that: “Americans oppose the health care remake 50 percent to 39 percent.” Back then, the Associated Press noted that “Democrats hope to change public opinion by calling attention to benefits available this year for seniors, families with children transitioning to work and people shut out of coverage because of medical problems.” Now, liberals are simply running from it. When it comes to liberals and ObamaCare, the first rule is ‘don’t talk about ObamaCare.’ Republicans remain focused on listening to the American people and “deliberately reaching out to the grass roots” through America Speaking Out and offering better solutions to get people working again, like repealing and replacing ObamaCare with reforms focused on lower costs.
Posted by
Kevin Boland
on
August 25, 2010
Yesterday, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) delivered a major speech on jobs & the economy before the City Club of Cleveland. With the American people asking ‘where are the jobs?,’ Boehner discussed the America Speaking Out listening project and better solutions to end ongoing economic uncertainty, cut Washington spending, and get people working again. For a full transcript of Leader Boehner’s speech as prepared for delivery, click here.
Posted by
GOP Leader Press Office
on
August 24, 2010
Instead of responding substantively to Leader Boehner’s call for “aggressive spending reduction” and other steps to help our economy get back to creating jobs, the White House today will reportedly dispatch the Chief Executive Officer of its failed “stimulus” spending scheme, Vice President Joe Biden, to attack Republicans and defend the Obama Administration’s failure to deliver on the job creation it promised. But the Vice President’s track record isn’t much better than that of President Obama’s other economic advisors when it comes to making predictions about the performance of the administration’s “stimulus” spending adventures. Cases in point:
Rather than the advertised summer of recovery, now is the summer of discontent, with first-time claims for unemployment insurance reaching 500,000, the highest level in nine months. Over 14 million Americans are out of work, almost half of them for six months or more. Since April, more than a million Americans have left the labor force due to lack of opportunities.A link to Leader Boehner’s full economic address is available here.
Posted by
Kevin Boland
on
August 19, 2010
President Obama and Washington Democrats have repeatedly made false claims that ObamaCare will “strengthen” Medicare for America’s seniors. In fact, just two weeks ago, the President said that “seniors are starting to see that because of health reform, their benefits are getting better all the time.” And this past June, President Obama declared “what you need to know is that the guaranteed Medicare benefits that you've earned will not change, regardless of whether you receive them through Medicare or Medicare Advantage.” But according to a report in today’s Florida Times-Union, “about 11 million Medicare Advantage beneficiaries will see their benefits reduced by about $67 a month, according to a Congressional Budget Office report in March.”
To support their false claims, Democrats have even dragged out Andy Griffith, who recorded a web video touting the supposed “benefits” for seniors under ObamaCare. But as the Times-Union report noted, “Andy told Opie to always tell the truth. But this time, the sheriff of Mayberry from the 1960s television series isn't practicing what he preached.” FactCheck.Org confirmed recently that “[c]urrently, about 1 in every 4 Medicare beneficiary is enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. For many of them, the words in this ad ring hollow, and the promise that "benefits will remain the same" is just as fictional as the town of Mayberry was when Griffith played the local sheriff.” Here’s what ObamaCare has in store for you if you’re a senior currently on Medicare Advantage:
Using government data, the insurer trade group AHIP estimates that Advantage beneficiaries in California spend 30% fewer days in the hospital than fee for service, 23% fewer days in Nevada. These successes and others have come about because Advantage allowed insurers and providers to collaborate, pay for value and coordinate care.Republicans have been sounding the alarm about what the Democrats have in store for Medicare for months – and are committed to repealing the Democrats' unconstitutional government takeover of health care and replacing it with reforms focused on lower costs.
Posted by
Kevin Boland
on
August 18, 2010
Earlier this month, Democrats rushed back to Washington to pass a “stimulus” payoff for union bosses that the Washington Post dubbed “more of an election-year favor for teachers unions than an optimal use of public resources.” President Obama claimed that this $26 billion “stimulus” plan “will save hundreds of thousands of additional jobs” while the Chicago Sun-Times reported that “Democrats said [it] would save 300,000 teachers, police and others from election-year layoffs,” – all “paid for” with a job-killing tax on America’s job creators.
But it turns out that states are balking at using Washington Democrats’ bailout money, according to today’s New York Times: As schools handed out pink slips to teachers this spring, states made a beeline to Washington to plead for money for their ravaged education budgets. But now that the federal government has come through with $10 billion, some of the nation’s biggest school districts are balking at using their share of the money to hire teachers right away...As the Wall Street Journal noted in an editorial last week: Maintaining the salaries and generous benefit plans for members of teachers unions is indeed a top Democratic priority. That's why $10 billion of the bill's funding is allocated to education, and the money comes with strings that will multiply the benefits for this core Obama constituency...Over the past eighteen months, Washington Democrats have claimed that the hundreds of billions of dollars they have passed in “stimulus” spending would create jobs. But, with the national unemployment rate close to 10 percent, it is clear that President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s ‘stimulus’ policies have failed. While more and more Americans are losing faith in the president’s ability to handle the economy, out-of-touch Democrats continue to reach for their old playbook of spending more and more money we don’t have in the mistaken belief that you can tax and spend an economy into recovery. Even Mark Zandi, a favorite economist of President Obama and Washington Democrats, has conceded that the bill “won’t spare thousands more from pink slips.” The following chart, courtesy of Business Insider, lays bare the extent of the Democrats’ failure to answer the question, “where at the jobs?”, particularly compared to past recessions:
The American people are asking "where are the jobs" and all President Obama and Washington Democrats have to offer is more of the same failing ‘stimulus’ policies. Republicans are listening to the American people through America Speaking Out and offering better solutions to cut spending now and get people working again. |
