JOHN BOEHNER

Six Georgia congressmen are pressuring Attorney General Thurbert Baker to sue the federal government after passage of the health care reform law.  Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-11th), Rep. Jack Kingston (R-1st), Rep. Tom Price (R-6th), Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-3rd), Rep. Paul Broun (R-10th) and Rep. John Linder (R-7th) all sent a strongly worded letter to the state's top lawyer after he declined the Governor's request to file a lawsuit Wednesday.  In the strongly worded e-mail, the Congressmen urged Baker to ‘uphold [his] constitutional responsibilities to the state and people of Georgia by fulfilling the Governor's request.'

New federal health care legislation will cost the state of South Carolina and its taxpayers $914 million.  That cost - the total of spending from July 1 to 2019 - will come as the state adds 480,000 low-income children and adults to a state health insurance program, as required by the new law, according to estimates by the state Department of Health and Human Services....With the state already facing a likely $1 billion budget shortfall next year, Republican lawmakers - who control the General Assembly - said the additional health care costs are one more reason they oppose implementing the law, which President Barack Obama signed Monday.

Disclosures by Caterpillar and AK Steel Holding Corp. in the two days since the signing are the first sets of health-care charges that ultimately may shave as much as $14 billion from U.S. corporate profits, according to an estimate by benefits consultancy Towers Watson....Deere & Co., the world's largest maker of farm machinery, today said the new law will increase expenses by about $150 million after taxes in the fiscal year that runs through October.

A dire warning from Bay State medical-device companies that a new sales tax in the federal health-care law could force their plants - and thousands of jobs - out of the country has rattled Gov. Deval Patrick, a staunch backer of the law and pal President Obama.  'This bill is a jobs killer,' said Ernie Whiton, chief financial officer of Chelmsford's Zoll Medical Corp., which employs about 650 people in Massachusetts.  Many of those employees work in Zoll's local manufacturing facility making heart defibrillators...Under the legislation signed by Obama, medical-device companies would be slapped with a sales tax of about 2.9 percent to raise about $2.2 billion a year to pay for the health-care overhaul.  Under a companion ‘reconciliation' bill now being debated in the Senate, the tax is set at 2.3 percent and would start Jan. 1, 2013.

There is no question that establishment of this new ‘Obama Moratorium' will have dire impacts on our economic future. These years of delay will directly result in uncreated jobs for unemployed Americans, billions of dollars in lost revenues to the U.S. Treasury, and a greater dependence on unstable foreign sources of oil and natural gas that puts our national security at risk. This action cancels nearly a dozen lease sales in the OCS that were scheduled to begin in July, 2010. The Department's stalling and blockade of new energy production from the OCS endangers tens of thousands of existing jobs, and also prevents the creation of new jobs that would help lower our nation's nearly ten percent unemployment rate. Opening new areas to drilling and job creation would be a no-cost stimulus for the U.S. economy.

Gas prices have risen $1 since just after President Obama took office in January 2009 and are now closing in on the $3 mark, prompting an evaluation of the administration's energy record and calls for the White House to open more U.S. land for oil exploration... John B. Townsend II, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said price increases are a result of the cost of crude oil, thanks to a decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries not to raise production even as economic growth in countries such as Russia and China spurs more demand.

WH Press Secretary Gibbs:  We were very comfortable with the coverage for last night's meeting. Reporter: There was no coverage ...You're pleased when there's no coverage? WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: We were pleased with the way we set up the coverage for last night.

As it did during the Israeli leader's November trip, the White House didn't allow nonofficial photographers to cover the event and declined to hold a press briefing. Mr. Obama's spokesman said that only a short press statement would be released after the event, but it hadn't been released by early Tuesday evening.

It is hard to imagine our Founder's [sic] agreeing that the United States Constitution permits Congress to mandate the purchase of a good or service under penalty of law. Just a few days ago I approved a bill, passed on a bipartisan basis, which prohibits mandatory insurance purchases for Virginians...While individuals face a mandate in this legislation, so too do the states.  The proposed expansion of Medicaid is an historic unfunded federal mandate on the states. This expansion will put at least 400,000 more individuals on Virginia's Medicaid rolls. The Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services has estimated that it will cost the Commonwealth an additional $1.1 billion by 2022.

With this law, the federal government will force citizens to buy health insurance, claiming it has the authority to do so because of its power to regulate interstate commerce.  We contend that if a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person - by definition - is not engaging in commerce, and therefore, is not subject to a federal mandate....Just being alive is not interstate commerce.  If it were, there would be no limit to the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause and to Congress's authority to regulate everything we do.  There has never been a point in our history where the federal government has been given the authority to require citizens to buy goods or services.

The Administration has demonstrated a predictable pattern since it took office:  while it makes concessions to countries acting contrary to U.S. national interests, it ignores or snubs the commitments, shared values and sacrifices of many of our country's best allies.   Last week, the Administration demonstrated this pattern yet again when it ‘condemned' an interim decision by the Israeli housing ministry to proceed with adding units to an existing housing community, yet it meekly responded to President Putin's announcement that Russia would be sending fuel to Iran to help it launch its first nuclear power plant as ‘premature.

If you want to understand Israel's security predicament, imagine the entire United States compressed to the size of New Jersey.  Next, put on New Jersey's northern border an Iranian terror proxy called Hezbollah which fires 6,000 rockets into that small state.  Then imagine that this terror proxy has amassed 60,000 more missiles to fire at you.  Now imagine on New Jerseys southern border another Iranian terror proxy called Hamas.  It too fires 6,000 rockets into your territory while smuggling ever more lethal weapons into its territory.  Do you think you would feel a little bit vulnerable?  Do you think you would expect some understanding from the international community when you defend yourselves?...We are prepared to take risks for peace, but we will not be reckless with the lives of our people and the life of the one and only Jewish state.

Israel must be able to trust that America has its back, and the Palestinians have got to hear, loudly and clearly, the single message that terrorism, not manufactured grievances over Israel's rightful capital, is the barrier to their having a full-fledged state.  The Obama administration's bullying has damaged both causes.

Amid such upheaval, the Obama administration's sharp condemnation of Israel is not helping.  First, it actually pushes Abbas away from the peace table. After all, when America is demanding a freeze in east Jerusalem, Abbas need hardly show greater flexibility.  Second, with its US allies suggesting that Israel is being provocative and intransigent, extremists may reason that their use of violence will gain greater international indulgence.

 

• 66 - The percent of Americans who think Democrats' massive government takeover of health care would make things worse or make no difference for themselves and their families, according to Gallup.
• 57 - The percent of Americans who think the bill will make things worse or maintain the status quo for the United States, according to Gallup.
• 36 - The percent of Americans who think President Obama's health care plan is a "good idea," according to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal survey. The amount who think it's a bad idea (48 percent) is the highest recorded by NBC/WSJ.
• 17 - The percent of Americans who expect their health care costs to go down under Democrats' massive government takeover of health care, according to Pew. Nearly double that amount think their costs would go up a lot.

• "..[L]ocally - in the individual districts where most of the recently decided or still undecided lawmakers must actually face voters this fall - the Democratic plan remains starkly unpopular in multiple surveys.  This has left Democratic leaders mining for hidden glimmers of light in otherwise dark data." (Politico, 3/19/10)
• "The Obama administration tried hard to make the case for the economic stimulus plan after it became law, but polls show that the stimulus remains unpopular. Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who tracks attitudes on health care, said that the intensity of opposition may soften if the bill passes. But he doubts that overall public views will shift much. ‘After a year, people feel like they've made up their minds, and it will be a little difficult to change them,' he said. ‘There's not that much time left between now and November." (The Wall Street Journal, 3/19/10)
• Gallup: "The findings that more Americans believe the new legislation will make things worse rather than better for the U.S. as a whole, as well as for them personally, are consistent with previous Gallup polls." (3/19/10)

• $2,500 - That's how much then-Sen. Barack Obama promised the cost of health insurance would decrease under his health care plan.
• $2,100 - The amount by which premiums would increase for millions of families under the Senate-passed health care bill, according to CBO.  (NOTE: CBO has confirmed that the reconciliation bill's impact on premiums would be "quite similar" to the Senate bill.)

• Associated Press: "Buyers, beware: President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul will lower premiums by double digits, but check the fine print. Premiums are likely to keep going up even if the health care bill passes, experts say. If cost controls work as advertised, annual increases would level off with time. But don't look for a rollback." (3/17/10)
• Pew: "Regardless, Most See Their Health Costs Rising. About half of Americans (51%) say that if the health care bills in Congress become law, they expect their own health care costs would go up in coming years; nearly a third (32%) say their health costs would go up a lot. Fewer than one-in-five (17%) say their health costs would go down if the legislation passes, while 22% say they expect their costs would stay the same." (3/18/10)
• Politifact: "The vast majority of people will not see significant declines in premiums. When President Barack Obama talks about premiums going down, he usually means they won't go up as much as they would otherwise. ... People who buy insurance on their own but don't qualify for government subsidies could see premiums rise by as much as 13 percent." (St. Petersburg Times, 3/19/10)

• Letting families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines;
• Allowing individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do today;
• Giving states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs; and
• Ending junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs.

 

• "If the bill is signed into law, these statutory requirements and defects are not subject to correction or nullification by the chief executive or his appointees, whether by Executive Order, regulation, or otherwise." (National Right to Life Committee statement)
• "An Executive Order cannot prevent insurance companies that pay for abortions from participating in the exchanges. Further, Executive Orders can be undone or modified as quickly as they are created. This is a blatant attempt to subvert democracy and should be quickly quashed." (Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life Action)
• "If the Obama Administration continued to falsely believe the Senate bill had no problem on the issue of funding abortion and funding health plans that include abortion, he certainly would not put forth the idea of an EO. Because of an EO would give no protections to the unborn when it comes to funding for abortion in the Senate and Reconciliation bills, FRCAction will still score votes on both in our scorecard for the Second Session of the 111th Congress." (FRC letter to members of Congress)

• $569.2 billion - Tax increases in the legislation, including $48.9 billion in new tax increases in the reconciliation bill alone.
• 16,500 - This bill is a jobs bill for the tax collector. The estimated number of IRS auditors, agents and other employees that may be needed to collect the hundreds of billions in new taxes levied on the American people.
• 166% - That's how much bigger the employer mandate tax is in this bill - from $750 per employee in the Senate bill to $2,000 per employee in the reconciliation bill.
• $25 billion - How much more tax revenue the bill gets from American businesses as a result of nearly tripling the employer mandate tax.
• 219,961 - Number of small businesses which could be subject to the employer mandate.
• 44 - The percentage of all small business employees employed by small businesses which could be subject to the employer mandate; that's 26.4 million workers and 22 percent of the entire private-sector workforce.
• $982 billion - Total amount of wages paid to employees working at small businesses which could be subject to the employer mandate and associated taxes.
• $52 billion - The total amount of new taxes employers will pay because of the employer mandate taxes.
• $17 billion - Amount Americans will fork over to the IRS as a result of the individual mandate tax in the bill - a full $2 billion more than the Senate bill because of changes made in the reconciliation bill.
• 14 cents - The amount per day which the reconciliation bill reduces the individual mandate tax. $695 per year is the new amount of the tax.
• 23.8% - The new top capital gains tax rate under this bill, a 60% increase from current law.
• 43.4% - The new top tax rate for dividends under this bill, a 190% increase from current law.

• More than 130 economists tell President Obama that massive government takeover of health care is a job-killer: "In our view, the health care bill contains a number of provisions that will eliminate jobs, reduce hours and wages, and limit future job creation. ... The new and higher taxes on America's small businesses and workers included in the bill are detrimental to job creation and economic growth, especially now given the fragile state of the economy." (Letter, 3/18/10)