Immigration / Amnesty Bill | Farm / Food Stamp Bill | Obamacare / Consequences
Today in Washington, D.C. - June 10, 2013:
Harry Reid has filed a Motion to Proceed on S. 744, the Chuck Schumer — Marco Rubio Amnesty bill. When the reconvenes at 2 PM and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 744, the immigration reform bill. Tomorrow, debate will continue on the motion to proceed to the democrat controlled immigration bill. Around 2 PM, a vote on cloture on the motion to proceed (i.e. whether to cut off debate on whether to take up the bill) is scheduled. Your Senators need to hear that you expect them to vote NO on every vote related to this bill! That includes all cloture votes. Cloture votes are the motions to end debate, and they require a 60-vote threshold, so this will be the only vote on which conservatives could win.
This bill has gotten much worse through the Committee process, The bill is so bad that no amendments were able to save it. Several of the bill’s flaws are addressed in the letter by Senators Cruz, Grassley, Lee and Sessions, including the fact that the bill:
Additionally, the bill thoroughly guts interior enforcement of immigration laws, and like ObamaCare, S. 744 grants enormous power and discretion to the Secretary of Homeland Security, who has a well-established policy of NOT enforcing immigration laws and of legalizing as many people as possible.
If that motion gets the 60 votes needed, the Senate will only have two hours of further debate and then vote on the motion to proceed to (whether to take up) the immigration bill. That vote will require a simple majority vote.
At 4:30 PM, Vice President Biden will swear in Jeff Chiesa as the new senator from New Jersey, after he was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie last week.
At 5 PM, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 954, the farm bill. There will be a vote on an amendment offered by Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and then a vote on final passage of S. 954.
The House will be in session for less than 5 minutes today and will reconvene at noon tomorrow.
With the Senate preparing to vote on the nation’s farm and agricultural programs, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on the pending House debate on such legislation:
“The Majority Leader has announced that the House will consider the Farm Bill this month. The Leader and I will encourage the Rules Committee to provide a fair process that will allow for a vigorous and open debate – the kind of process I pledged we would have more of in the House when I became speaker. I commend Chairman Lucas for including a number of positive reforms in this bill, especially provisions ending direct payments and making changes to the Food Stamp program that both parties know are necessary. These reforms account for billions of dollars in mandatory program spending cuts.
“As a longtime proponent of top-to-bottom reform, my concerns about our country’s farm programs are well known. But as I said on the day I became speaker, my job isn’t to impose my personal will on this institution or its members. Rather, it’s to ensure we have a fair process and an open debate, leading to a product that reflects the will of our majority, the will of our members, and the will of those we represent. That’s the commitment I intend to keep as this process proceeds.
“I had concerns about some of the dairy provisions of the Farm Bill last year, and those concerns remain this year. I oppose those provisions and will support efforts on the House floor to change them appropriately. And I encourage other members of the House to approach this process in the same spirit. If you have ideas on how to make the bill better, bring them forward. Let’s have the debate, and let’s vote on them.” While the Senate and the House are "moving forward" on the Farm Bill, in truth the Farm Bill has less to do with Farming and Agriculture than with the pejorative Food Stamp program. While it is not going to happen with this session of Congress, it is past time to separate the Food Stamp, really a government debit card, from the Farm Bill and to allow the American people to see and evaluate these programs separately.
Even though President Obama took time out of his trip to California to again attempt to sell Obamacare to a skeptical public, it’s obvious why Americans remain unconvinced, especially as new reports of the negative consequences of this law continue to appear across the country. For several days last week, the ARRA News Service detailed several of these news reports. Below are more reports.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, “Schools across Indiana are cutting back the hours of teacher assistants, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other aides to avoid having to offer them health insurance under the federal health care employer mandate that begins next year. ‘We cannot go out and raise the price of our product to assist us covering this. We would have to go the taxpayers and ask for some type of increase and I just don't see that happening,’ said Les Huddle, superintendent of the Lafayette School Corporation, where more than 150 of the schools approximately 600 non-certified employees have had their hours reduced to meet the federal definition of part-time. The Shelbyville Central School System likewise is cutting back the hours of about 100 instructional aides as well as hours for some substitute teachers, bus drivers and coaches. ‘When they were writing this law, did they really think about the 7th and 8th grade basketball coach or the substitute teacher or the part-time instructional aide?’ said superintendent David Adams. ‘I'm not sure that that's what this law was written for. Schools have some special situations that you don't maybe get in the business world.’”
And Forbes columnist Avik Roy notes today that “[O]n Thursday, the Ohio Department of Insurance announced that, based on the rates submitted by insurers to date, the average individual-market health insurance premium in 2014 will come in around $420, ‘representing an increase of 88 percent’ relative to 2013. ‘We have warned of these increases,’ said Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor in a statement. ‘Consumers will have fewer choices and pay much higher premiums for their health insurance starting in 2014.’”
Roy points out, “It’s called ‘rate shock,’ but it’s not shocking to people who understand the economics of health insurance. In August 2011, Milliman, one of the nation’s leading actuarial firms, predicted that Obamacare would increase individual-market premiums in Ohio by 55 to 85 percent. This past March, the Society of Actuaries projected that the law would increase premiums in that market by 81 percent. Just like good players on ‘The Price is Right,’ they both came in just under the real figure, 88 percent.”
Roy explains, “What are the drivers of the increase? According to Milliman, the two biggest drivers are (1) risk pool composition changes, such as forcing the young to subsidize the old, and the healthy to subsidize the sick; and (2) Obamacare’s required expansion of insurance benefits, particularly its mandated reductions in deductibles and co-pays.”
Just as Republicans in Congress warned, forcing people to buy more insurance than they might want or need, combined with more mandates on insurance coverage and everything else in the 2,700 page law and the over 20,000 pages of regulations it spawned has resulted in higher premiums for many Americans.
Roy adds, “[T]he bottom line is this: President Obama and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised that premiums would go down for those who already have insurance. And yes, for those lower-income folks who benefit from the subsidies provided by other taxpayers, the costs they see may go down. But middle-class Ohioans will pay more in taxes to pay for those subsidies, and more in premiums. It will be interesting to see how those Ohioans feel about that.”
As Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) wrote in an op-ed on Friday, “The health care law is a maze of new mandates, regulations, and tax increases. Those tax increases, on everything from medical devices to health insurance plans, will be passed on to consumers. Every item the law requires insurers to provide will add to the cost. For example, it doesn't make sense for a woman to have to pay for an insurance policy that provides screening exams for prostate cancer. . . . Under the law, young healthy people have to pay more, so that older, sicker people can pay less. They have to buy high-priced, government-mandated insurance they may not need, or want, or that's not right for them. If they don't, the whole scheme will collapse under its own weight. At the same time, many businesses are hesitant to add new workers or are shifting to more part-time employees. It's because the law says companies with more than 50 full-time employees have to provide expensive one-size-fits-all health insurance. That means many of these same young people are having a tough time finding a good job.”
Unfortunately, the residents of Indiana and Ohio are already finding out about these consequences of Obamacare the hard way. It’s just another reason to repeal and replace this poorly conceived, poorly written, and now poorly implemented law.
Tags: Immigration Bill, Amnesty, Farm Bill, Food Stamps, News reports, Obamacare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Harry Reid has filed a Motion to Proceed on S. 744, the Chuck Schumer — Marco Rubio Amnesty bill. When the reconvenes at 2 PM and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 744, the immigration reform bill. Tomorrow, debate will continue on the motion to proceed to the democrat controlled immigration bill. Around 2 PM, a vote on cloture on the motion to proceed (i.e. whether to cut off debate on whether to take up the bill) is scheduled. Your Senators need to hear that you expect them to vote NO on every vote related to this bill! That includes all cloture votes. Cloture votes are the motions to end debate, and they require a 60-vote threshold, so this will be the only vote on which conservatives could win.
This bill has gotten much worse through the Committee process, The bill is so bad that no amendments were able to save it. Several of the bill’s flaws are addressed in the letter by Senators Cruz, Grassley, Lee and Sessions, including the fact that the bill:
- Provides immediate legalization without securing the border
- Rewards criminal aliens, absconders and deportees and undermines law enforcement.
- Contains extremely dangerous national security loopholes.
- Facilitates fraud in our immigration system.
- Creates no real penalties for illegal immigrants and rewards them with entitlements.
- Delays for years the implementation of E-Verify
- Does not fix our legal immigration system
- Advanced through a process predicated on a deal struck before mark-up.
- Rewards those who have broken our laws by offering a special path to citizenship.
Additionally, the bill thoroughly guts interior enforcement of immigration laws, and like ObamaCare, S. 744 grants enormous power and discretion to the Secretary of Homeland Security, who has a well-established policy of NOT enforcing immigration laws and of legalizing as many people as possible.
If that motion gets the 60 votes needed, the Senate will only have two hours of further debate and then vote on the motion to proceed to (whether to take up) the immigration bill. That vote will require a simple majority vote.
At 4:30 PM, Vice President Biden will swear in Jeff Chiesa as the new senator from New Jersey, after he was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie last week.
At 5 PM, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 954, the farm bill. There will be a vote on an amendment offered by Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and then a vote on final passage of S. 954.
The House will be in session for less than 5 minutes today and will reconvene at noon tomorrow.
With the Senate preparing to vote on the nation’s farm and agricultural programs, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on the pending House debate on such legislation:
“As a longtime proponent of top-to-bottom reform, my concerns about our country’s farm programs are well known. But as I said on the day I became speaker, my job isn’t to impose my personal will on this institution or its members. Rather, it’s to ensure we have a fair process and an open debate, leading to a product that reflects the will of our majority, the will of our members, and the will of those we represent. That’s the commitment I intend to keep as this process proceeds.
“I had concerns about some of the dairy provisions of the Farm Bill last year, and those concerns remain this year. I oppose those provisions and will support efforts on the House floor to change them appropriately. And I encourage other members of the House to approach this process in the same spirit. If you have ideas on how to make the bill better, bring them forward. Let’s have the debate, and let’s vote on them.”
Even though President Obama took time out of his trip to California to again attempt to sell Obamacare to a skeptical public, it’s obvious why Americans remain unconvinced, especially as new reports of the negative consequences of this law continue to appear across the country. For several days last week, the ARRA News Service detailed several of these news reports. Below are more reports.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, “Schools across Indiana are cutting back the hours of teacher assistants, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other aides to avoid having to offer them health insurance under the federal health care employer mandate that begins next year. ‘We cannot go out and raise the price of our product to assist us covering this. We would have to go the taxpayers and ask for some type of increase and I just don't see that happening,’ said Les Huddle, superintendent of the Lafayette School Corporation, where more than 150 of the schools approximately 600 non-certified employees have had their hours reduced to meet the federal definition of part-time. The Shelbyville Central School System likewise is cutting back the hours of about 100 instructional aides as well as hours for some substitute teachers, bus drivers and coaches. ‘When they were writing this law, did they really think about the 7th and 8th grade basketball coach or the substitute teacher or the part-time instructional aide?’ said superintendent David Adams. ‘I'm not sure that that's what this law was written for. Schools have some special situations that you don't maybe get in the business world.’”
And Forbes columnist Avik Roy notes today that “[O]n Thursday, the Ohio Department of Insurance announced that, based on the rates submitted by insurers to date, the average individual-market health insurance premium in 2014 will come in around $420, ‘representing an increase of 88 percent’ relative to 2013. ‘We have warned of these increases,’ said Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor in a statement. ‘Consumers will have fewer choices and pay much higher premiums for their health insurance starting in 2014.’”
Roy points out, “It’s called ‘rate shock,’ but it’s not shocking to people who understand the economics of health insurance. In August 2011, Milliman, one of the nation’s leading actuarial firms, predicted that Obamacare would increase individual-market premiums in Ohio by 55 to 85 percent. This past March, the Society of Actuaries projected that the law would increase premiums in that market by 81 percent. Just like good players on ‘The Price is Right,’ they both came in just under the real figure, 88 percent.”
Roy explains, “What are the drivers of the increase? According to Milliman, the two biggest drivers are (1) risk pool composition changes, such as forcing the young to subsidize the old, and the healthy to subsidize the sick; and (2) Obamacare’s required expansion of insurance benefits, particularly its mandated reductions in deductibles and co-pays.”
Just as Republicans in Congress warned, forcing people to buy more insurance than they might want or need, combined with more mandates on insurance coverage and everything else in the 2,700 page law and the over 20,000 pages of regulations it spawned has resulted in higher premiums for many Americans.
Roy adds, “[T]he bottom line is this: President Obama and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised that premiums would go down for those who already have insurance. And yes, for those lower-income folks who benefit from the subsidies provided by other taxpayers, the costs they see may go down. But middle-class Ohioans will pay more in taxes to pay for those subsidies, and more in premiums. It will be interesting to see how those Ohioans feel about that.”
As Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) wrote in an op-ed on Friday, “The health care law is a maze of new mandates, regulations, and tax increases. Those tax increases, on everything from medical devices to health insurance plans, will be passed on to consumers. Every item the law requires insurers to provide will add to the cost. For example, it doesn't make sense for a woman to have to pay for an insurance policy that provides screening exams for prostate cancer. . . . Under the law, young healthy people have to pay more, so that older, sicker people can pay less. They have to buy high-priced, government-mandated insurance they may not need, or want, or that's not right for them. If they don't, the whole scheme will collapse under its own weight. At the same time, many businesses are hesitant to add new workers or are shifting to more part-time employees. It's because the law says companies with more than 50 full-time employees have to provide expensive one-size-fits-all health insurance. That means many of these same young people are having a tough time finding a good job.”
Unfortunately, the residents of Indiana and Ohio are already finding out about these consequences of Obamacare the hard way. It’s just another reason to repeal and replace this poorly conceived, poorly written, and now poorly implemented law.
Tags: Immigration Bill, Amnesty, Farm Bill, Food Stamps, News reports, Obamacare To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 1:09 PM - Post Link
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