Today in Washington D. C. - July 16, 2009 - Obamacare is Trojan Horse to Control Our Lives

The Senate recessed until 1 p.m. on Monday, July 20 when it will resume consideration of the fiscal 2010 Defense authorization bill, S. 1390. Last night, by a vote of 63-28, the Senate invoked cloture on an amendment by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to expand hate crimes laws to cover gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. Following the vote, the amendment was agreed to by voice vote. Prior to invoking cloture on the amendment, senators voted 78-13 to approve a 2nd degree amendment from Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) to require the Leahy amendment not burden the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. Senators rejected an amendment to the Leahy language from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) which would require a government study of the need for expanded federal hate crimes laws before the provisions could take effect.

Today, the key news on health care is told through the headlines: The Wall Street Journal: “Budget Blow for Health Plan;” AP: “Budget umpire: Health care bills would raise costs;” Reuters: “CBO says costs will rise as healthcare expanded;” Bloomberg: “Health-Care Plans Fail to Curtail Spending, CBO Says.” The Washington Post was even more telling: “Congress's chief budget analyst delivered a devastating assessment yesterday of the health-care proposals drafted by congressional Democrats, fueling an insurrection among fiscal conservatives in the House and pushing negotiators in the Senate to redouble efforts to draw up a new plan that more effectively restrains federal spending.”

The Post story continued, “Under questioning by members of the Senate Budget Committee, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said bills crafted by House leaders and the Senate health committee do not propose ‘the sort of fundamental changes’ necessary to rein in the skyrocketing cost of government health programs, particularly Medicare. On the contrary, Elmendorf said, the measures would pile on an expensive new program to cover the uninsured.”

Aside from the obvious issues of piling on debt and spending in a year of soaring deficits and with entitlement programs that are already fiscally unsustainable, this announcement flies in the face of President Obama’s requirement that any health reform control costs. In a press conference last month, Obama said, “And I've said very clearly: If any bill arrives from Congress that is not controlling costs, that's not a bill I can support.” Yet, The Post writes, “[Elmendorf’s] remarks suggested that rather than averting a looming fiscal crisis, the measures could make the nation's bleak budget outlook even worse.”

This set off another round of recriminations, complaints, and infighting among Democrats over their health care bills. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin both complained about CBO, as a Dow Jones article noted. The New York Times reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered “similar criticism.” Meanwhile, Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) complained about President Obama not being helpful in creating a bipartisan health care bill: “Basically, the president is not helping us,” Baucus said. “That’s making it difficult.” And even before the CBO testimony yesterday, Reid was upset that the Democrat National Committee had decided to run ads targeting fellow Democrat senators on health care. And in the House, three Democrats joined all the Republicans in voting against the House bill in the Ways and Means Committee.

On top of all of this, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal blasted the fiscal irresponsibility of the expensive House health care proposal in editorials today, while a USA Today article warned, “Three tax increases proposed by President Obama and House Democrats on the richest Americans could produce the highest tax rates in a quarter-century.”

The WSJ editors summed up the week’s events nicely, writing, “[T]he most remarkable quality of this health-care exercise is its reckless disregard for economic and fiscal reality. With the economy still far from a healthy recovery, and the federal fisc already nearly $2 trillion in deficit, Democrats want to ram through one of the greatest raids on private income and business in American history.”

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday, while Americans want real health care reform, “[w]hat Americans don’t want is a government takeover masked as a reform that leaves them paying more for less.” The CBO testimony yesterday makes it clear that that’s exactly what Americans would be getting if the Democrats’ bills are passed.

With the growing objection to nationalized health care, President Obama decided to again speak out and in summary say -- let's get this done. Although he supports rushing something through, he offered little substance to address the growing concern of the public and his fellow Democrats. The Media Research Center identified:

A recently released CNN/USA Today poll confirmed that the vast majority of Americans have real concerns about current efforts to overhaul our health care system.

81 % believe health care overhaul will reduce their quality of care
79% believe “ObamaCare” will limit their choices of doctors or treatments
82% think their health insurance coverage will be reduced
84% believe “ObamaCare” will increase their health care costs
84% say a government-run system will sharply increase the federal deficit

Despite the fact that most Americans have serious reservations about “ObamaCare,” Congress is charging ahead at lightning speed to pass their government-run health care scheme before the August recess! It's obvious that they don't want us to understand the impact this so-called “reform” will have on every America's access to quality health care.

And why are our lawmakers ignoring the very people who put them in office? Health care “reform” is a Trojan Horse—an opportunity for the government to take more control over our lives! The vast majority of media outlets are in the tank with liberal lawmakers and the President, refusing to look at the facts and instead choosing to do whatever it takes to rush this 1,000+ page bill through Congress! (most of the media haven’t even read the proposals.)

Recommended References: JoinPatientsFirst.com and ObamaCareTruth.org.

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