Garden State Patriot

The first major vote in the Senate on healthcare will take place this Saturday at 8PM. The vote will be on the ‘motion to proceed’ with the bill. This is not a vote to pass the bill, just a vote to approve of bringing the bill to the floor for debate.

Senate Republicans have managed to get 10 hours of debate on the motion to proceed. Harry Reid initially wanted just 1 hour of debate.

Republicans, though, have dropped the idea of reading the bill on the floor. And now they will need one Democrat or Independent Joe Lieberman to join them in a filibuster.

One Senate aide summed it up this way:

“Under the rules, we would only have been entitled to one hour of debate before the vote. Now we have all day to flip one Democrat,” the aide said. “The reading would’ve been to an empty chamber after the vote had happened, press would’ve gone home, and Americans would’ve turned the channel. Now it’s show time.”

I should add, this effort is not without its shenanigans from the mischievous Senator Reid. In a post at Red State, Senator DeMint explains the meaningfulness of this vote and what Reid plans to do:

A defining moment is coming in this year’s health care debate.

Yesterday, Democrat leaders announced they may soon bring Harry Reid’s new health care bill to the Senate floor in an effort to grant the President’s wish for a government takeover of our nation’s health care by Christmas. This is in spite of the fact that 99 senators have never seen Reid’s new bill that was written in secret. Reid even hinted he may rush to a vote before the bill’s been public for 72 hours, as even Democrats have demanded.

To begin debate on this new version of Obamacare, Reid will play a shell game. He needs 60 senators to “vote to proceed” to an unrelated piece of legislation, and once he clears that hurdle he will strike that bill’s text and insert his new health care bill. But don’t be fooled by senators that will say they oppose a government takeover but just wanted to allow debate on health care, they are not being honest.

The simple fact is this: Any senator that votes to proceed to the Reid-Obama bill is voting for a government takeover of health care.

Why? Because, President Obama and Harry Reid cannot pass a government takeover without clearing 60 vote procedural hurdles in the Senate — but they also know that vulnerable Democrats likely cannot win reelection if they vote for this unpopular bill. So they want all Democrats to stick together on the vote to proceed, then some Democrats will vote against final passage of the bill and claim they tried to stop it.

Senators who say they just want to allow for debate are trying to deceive their voters while giving President Obama the crucial votes he needs to pass a government takeover of health care.

Voters should be watching and remember who stands up for their freedom and who stands with the special interests who want to ram through this takeover.

Again, to see the senators we need to target review my previous post here.

Cross-posted at CMNJ.

Here is a video by Dan Mitchell of the CATO Institute explaining the true costs of government-run healthcare. In fact, Mr. Mitchell makes this so easy to understand, even a liberal can get it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oUx0S6Foss&feature=player_embedded#[/youtube]

Check out some more of Dan Mitchell’s videos here: Why Keynesian economics is wrong, How big government hurts economic growth, How big government hurts economic growth, and Making the case against the Value Added Tax.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

By now we have all heard the mantra from liberals and other pro-Obamacare people that we need reform because the insurance companies all too frequently deny claims. Well, what do the facts say?

I thought you would find these statistics from an AMA Report Card quite interesting. This data is for claims filed during the period 3/1/07-3/10/08:

Yep, that’s right. The carrier with the highest rate of denial of claims is none other than government-run Medicare! The only private insurer remotely close is Aetna.

So much for the argument by the single payer proponents that we need the public option to prevent this kind of abuse by the insurance companies. This data tells us quite clearly that under a government-run system we can expect the number of denied claims to increase – not decrease.

Shocking, eh?

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

When you are done voting, it will be no time to rest on your laurels. The healthcare battle will begin in earnest this week, with the House ready to vote on a bill by the end of this week. As I have posted time and again, we the people need to stand up NOW to try to stop this. 

There are a number of things you can do this week to contribute. First and foremost, Mayor Lonegan is organizing bus trips to Washington, D.C. that will leave on Thursday morning. Here is Steve’s message:

This Thursday, I will be joining Congressman Scott Garrett, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman and dozens of other national leaders on the steps of our Nation’s capitol and I need you to join me.

Together, we can stop the Obama-Palosi-Reed attack on our health care, but only if you act now.

We beat them at Town Hall meetings, we outnumbered them in phone calls and letters and every poll in America tells them the vast majority of Americans are opposed to their radical agenda. THEY JUST DON’T CARE! They have a plan for your future and you will have no say, no control, no other opportunity to fight back unless you act now.

To stop this radical attack on our nation’s future and our individual liberty I am sending buses of freedom loving Americans to Washington DC this Thursday morning for the Hands Off our Health Care rally and for meetings with House of Representatives members in the afternoon.
For departures and information go to taxpayerminute.com
We are going to flood the Congressional office building with great Americans like you and I need you there, your children need you there and your country needs you there.

Buses are now leaving from locations in Bergen County, Sussex County and Atlantic County as well as Philadelphia. I need volunteers to help organize buses, get fliers out and help in organizing this historic and challenging effort.

This is crunch time, folks. Now let’s see what we are made of.

If you can help in any way, contact me at 201 487-8844 or email steven.lonegan@afphq.org

If you can not come to D.C., Americans for Prosperity is urging people to go to the local offices of the representatives. This from AFP’s Tim Phillips:

This Thursday join our “Congressional House Call” day. It’s easy. Just go to your closest House or Senate local office at 12 Noon your local time to make sure they hear your voice one last time before the House vote. To find your closest office and to let us know you will take a stand Click Here: http://americansforprosperity.org/cong.php

We’ve got to show them they’re wrong. Join the “Congressional House Call” day this Thursday by going to your member’s district office this Thursday at 12 Noon your time. Take pictures of your visit and send them to me at TimPhillips@afp-mail.com or post them on my Facebook by clicking here http://www.facebook.com/timphillipsafp

If you cannot go in person use the link to call your member of the House and Senate at 12 Noon this Thursday and tell them you’re making a “Congressional House Call” by phone.

We’re at a crucial time in this health care battle. Please take action!

Personally, I would suggest to all of you to start contacting your representatives tomorrow. We need to put as much pressure on as possible. We can not wait around for tomorrow’s election results to pour in. And even if Chris Christie wins, it is no time to become complacent. Tomorrow’s elections are important but the most important thing going on this week is going to be taking place in the halls of Congress – where the freedoms we hold dear are going to be under a full-blown assault. As, Congressman Pence tells us here, ‘Make your voice heard!’

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

Senator John Thune of South Dakota held a conference call this morning to discuss healthcare. The news out of Washington remains bleak. While Senate Republicans will do everything in their power to stop the Democrats from ramming through Obamacare, without the votes it will be hard to stop.

One of the tricks the Democrats are attempting right now pertains to the so-called ‘Doc Fix.’ This is the nickname for the Medicare doctor reimbursement. Democrats have separated this from the larger healthcare bill in order to hide the overall costs. In January, the Doc Fix is due for a 21.5% cut. But word broke late last week and was widely reported this week that Democrats are trying to get doctors to support healthcare by paying them off and not implementing the cut. The Doc Fix would add $250B to the debt and not be included in the cost of the larger bill. Senator Thune indicated, though, that a number of Senate Democrats were uneasy about this and might not go along with it.

Right now, the Senate appears headed for a potential vote on a healthcare bill this week or next week. There are currently 3 House bills and 2 Senate bills out there. These will ultimately be merged in some way, shape or form and then moved to conference.

Senator Thune said all of these bills shared a couple of common characteristsics. Both would 1) result in higher costs and 2) higher taxes. The Senate bill (I believe the Baucus version) includes a 40% excise tax on Cadillac plans and, of course, then there is the individual mandate forcing people to get insurance or be fined.

Thune said, according to the CBO, 90% of the taxes in the Senate Finance Committee bill would fall on those making under $200k a year. And another scoring of the bill showed that over 50% of the taxes would be burdened by those making under $100k or more. Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on the middle class? Out the window.

Thune said this would result (if it passes) in a $1.8T expansion of the federal government.

Regarding the public option, Senator Thune said that a month ago he thought it was dead in the Senate but now the public option was ‘being resurrected.’ The public option, the Senator said, is what ‘most Democrats in Congress want’ and they ’see this as their window of opportunity’ to get this done.

One of the things the Republicans will push for is a full and lengthy debate, as well as posting the final bill for the public to see for 72 hours before a final vote. As a point of comparison, Senator Thune mentioned that debate for ‘No Child Left Behind’ took 7 weeks and debate on the farm bill lasted for 4 weeks. Certainly, the healthcare bill, which affects 1/6th of our economy, merits a debate just as lengthy as these bills. 

Senator Thune took a few questions from callers. First, the Senator was asked if there were any studies that showed what impact this would have on the inurance industry. He mentioned that there were estimates that 83M-120M people would move off of private insurance and that, presumably, the industry would also ‘lose a whole lot of jobs.’

The Senator was also asked about what the Republicans’ plans were to oppose this. Without trying to sound too pessimistic, the Senator flatly said ‘they (the Democrats) have the votes.’ The Senator also said the Republicans will ’use all of the tools and procedures’ at their disposal but, again, acknowledged that the minority is in a tough spot with respect to stopping the bill – particularly considering the Democrats will likely try everything to get this passed.

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Personally, this is my third conference call with lawmakers on The Hill in the past week or so. In each of these calls, the underlying tone has been one of pessimism and the need for us to re-energize and pressure key legislators to oppose this bill which would utterly destroy our healthcare system.

We need to re-double our efforts NOW and bombard Congress with e-mails and phone. And we simply can’t let up or we will definitely lose this battle. 

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Dick explains here what Obama’s plans for healthcare really mean. With this summer’s town halls behind us, the fight against Obamacare is now entering Stage 2. Now, we all need to keep the pressure up on, in particular, our Senators. I’ll have more on this soon.

As we all know, Social Security is heading for the proverbial iceberg. And like the Titanic before her, she is speeding up instead of slowing down and turning away.

According to new CBO numbers, Social Security will begin running deficits - not by 2030, not by 2040 or 2050 – but by 2010! Here is the story from Ed Morrissey @ HotAir.com:

Four years ago, George W. Bush attempted to reform the entitlement program Social Security, warning that the system was accelerating into collapse and would soon run deficits.  Democrats scoffed and claimed the Social Security system was solid and wouldn’t have problems for at least 50 years, as Harry Reid told PBS’ Jim Lehrer in June 2005.  Just last year, the CBO — under the direction of Peter Orszag, now budget director in the Obama administration — claimed that the first cash deficits in Social Security would not come until 2019.

Now, however, the CBO has determined that Social Security will run cash deficits next year and in 2011, and by 2016 will be more or less in permanent deficit mode.  Hot Air has exclusively obtained the summer 2009 CBO report sent to legislators on Capitol Hill but not yet made public, which shows that outgo will exceed income for the first time since the 1983 fix on an annual basis in 2010:

See Chart Here

The numbers need explaining.  The number to watch is the “Primary Surplus” number, which watches actual income and expenditures without the interest payments from the general fund.  The interest payments mask the fact that costs have begun to outstrip income on an annual basis (individual months have gone into deficit in the past).   One way to look at this, according to my sources, is to think of this as a mortgage, and in 2010-11, the income can’t make the payments, so the general fund has to cover them.  Since the interest obligation compounds, the debt grows.

As we can see, this trend reverses itself temporarily from 2012-15, but the surpluses are minimal.  By 2016, the deficits return, and begin to accelerate again.  By 2019, the primary surplus runs $63 billion in the red, almost triple the deficit in 2017, showing the rapid decline of the Social Security system.

George Bush, for all his faults, was dead on about this issue while Democrats demagogued it and obstructed, allowing an opportunity to deal with the problem to slip away. Now, while Social Security heads for disaster, Obama & Co. continue to try to ram through asocialized healthcare entitlement we simply can’t afford. To pay for these deficits, there will be no choice but to raid the general fund and bust the federal budget or pass massive tax increases. And guess who is a proponent of that?

Barack Obama thinks that Social Security’s fiscal shortfall is overblown. He opposes private accounts, benefit cuts, or an increase in the retirement age. He writes:

I believe there are a number of ways we can make Social Security solvent that do not involve placing these added burdens on our seniors. One possible option, for example, is to raise the cap on the amount of income subject to the Social Security tax. If we kept the payroll tax rate exactly the same but applied it to all earnings and not just the first $97,500, we could virtually eliminate the entire Social Security shortfall.

That option would be the largest increase in marginal tax rates in decades—larger than the Bush 1990 and Clinton 1993 tax hikes combined.

Gird your loins, my friends. Gird your loins.