Tag Archives: healthcare

‘Baby Killer’ Outburst

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Neugebauer explains his outcry and his stand against American’s footing the bill for abortions.

Obamacare does fund abortion | Washington Examiner

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William Saunders: Democrats’ EO offer shows Obamacare does fund abortion | Washington Examiner.

After months of insisting that health care reform does not and will not include federal funding for abortion, President Obama is now considering issuing an executive order, after passage of the health care reform bill, that will state that the legislation does not include funding for abortion.

However, if the bill excludes federal funding for abortion, why is an executive order necessary?

The answer, of course, is that President Obama and the Democratic leadership know that the Senate health care reform bill includes subsidies for insurance plans that cover abortions, could possibly lead to abortion coverage mandates for insurance companies, and does not prevent other funds in the legislation from directly paying for abortions.

The question then becomes, can an executive order correct all of the abortion-related problems in the bill?

The answer is a resounding no. While a carefully worded executive order might be able to take care of some of the mandate concerns, it cannot correct all of the abortion-related problems with the bill. A statute cannot be undone by an executive order or regulation. For example, an Executive Order cannot prevent insurance plans that pay for abortions and participate in the newly-created exchanges from receiving federal subsidies, because this allowance is explicitly written in the bill.

The fact that statutes cannot be overridden by executive orders or regulations has been repeatedly affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. In 2006, the Supreme Court struck down an executive order issued by President Bush to invoke military commission jurisdiction over Hamdan because Congress had impliedly prohibited this action. Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557, 579-80 (2006).

Further, Executive Orders can be undone or modified as quickly as they are created. In spite of the fact that the American people overwhelmingly do not want to see their tax dollars go toward abortion, we continue to see restrictions on federal funding for abortions reduced to executive orders, appropriations riders, and regulations. The majority of Americans want to see a prohibition on federal funding for abortion included in permanent, statutory law.

Congress failed to deliver a statutory prohibition on abortion funding in health care reform, and an executive order cannot do the job.

Consequences for the Vote – How They Voted

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Michelle Malkin » Consequences: Stupak stripped of “Defender of Life” award.

Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser promised “to work tirelessly to help defeat Members who support this legislation and make sure their constituents know exactly how they voted.”

Dannenfelser stated:

“The executive order on abortion funding does absolutely nothing to fix the problems presented by the health care reform bill that the House will vote on this evening. The very idea should offend all pro-life Members of Congress. An executive order can be rescinded at any time at the President’s whim, and the courts could and have a history of trumping executive orders. Most importantly, pro-abortion Representatives have admitted the executive order is meaningless.”

Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life Action:

“Once again, the proposal to address the problem of abortion funding in the health care bill through use of an executive order is a tacit acknowledgement that the bill as it stands is pro-abortion legislation. Both the President and the Speaker have repeatedly denied this stark fact.

Furthermore, the AUL legal team has concluded that an executive order is not an adequate fix to mitigate the Senate bill’s establishment of taxpayer-funded abortion.  For example, an executive order cannot prevent insurance companies that pay for abortions in the exchanges from receiving federal subsidies.

In addition, executive orders can be undone or modified as quickly as they are created. President Obama revoked the Mexico City Policy, through the use of an executive order, and thereby allowed federal tax dollars to finance organizations that provide abortions internationally for the first time in years.

This fact, coupled with the Administration’s repeated endorsement of the pro-abortion lobby’s agenda, force any reasonable person to conclude that this bill will clearly create the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion in American history.”

See what House members voted for the health care bill and which voted against it.

For more reaction see Nicedeb:

A clearly disgusted Doug Ross, cuts loose:

“This bill fundamentally changes the relationship between the federal government and the people; and it does so in a despicably evil way. Health care will, there is no doubt, be wielded as a political weapon to reward and punish.

Congratulations, Bart Stupak and your so-called “Pro-Life” Democrat Caucus, you’ve sentenced the unborn generations of this country to misery, poverty and economic ruin. Way to stay true to your beliefs.

You aren’t pro-life, you’re low-lives.”

Tom Price calls it “a pig in a poke” – you can’t override legislation with an executive order.

Democrats’ push for health care “bitter, destructive and endless.”

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Althouse: Senator Scott Brown calls the Democrats’ push for health care “bitter, destructive and endless.”.

H/T Althouse:

Well… you know, sometimes they get bitter, and they cling to health care…

Senator Scott Brown:

“An entire year has gone to waste,” Brown said in the weekly GOP radio and Internet address. “Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and many more jobs are in danger. Even now, the president still hasn’t gotten the message.

“Somehow, the greater the public opposition to the health care bill, the more determined they seem to force it on us anyway.”

We need to drop this whole scheme of federally controlled health care, start over, and work together on real reforms at the state level that will contain costs and won’t leave America trillions of dollars deeper in debt,”

Why the Health Care Bill is a Failure

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RealClearPolitics – Why the Health Care Bill is a Failure.

Charles Krauthammer:

“Obama was reduced to suggesting that his health care reform was indeed popular because when you ask people about individual items (for example, eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions or capping individual out-of-pocket payments) they are in favor.Yet mystifyingly they oppose the whole package. How can that be?

Allow me to demystify. Imagine a bill granting every American a free federally delivered ice cream every Sunday morning. Provision 2: steak on Monday, also home delivered. Provision 3: A dozen red roses every Tuesday. You get the idea. Would each individual provision be popular in the polls? Of course.

However (life is a vale of howevers) suppose these provisions were bundled into a bill that also spelled out how the goodies are to be paid for and managed — say, half a trillion dollars in new taxes, half a trillion in Medicare cuts (cuts not to keep Medicare solvent but to pay for the ice cream, steak and flowers), 118 new boards and commissions to administer the bounty-giving, and government regulation dictating, for example, how your steak was to be cooked. How do you think this would poll?”

Leave It to Limbaugh to Say It

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H/T Frugal Cafe

Transcript portions of El Rushbo’s analysis:

Rush Limbaugh Show: Obama Unveils Health Care Plan: A Defiant “Screw You” to Nation
EIB Broadcast February 22, 2010

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: It’s a suicide pact. I mean, that’s all you can say this thing is. They don’t care. They know Harry Reid is going to go down in flames, they know Obama is going to go down in flames in 2012 — they don’t care. His approval number is down to 45% in Rasmussen. It’s minus -19 on the strongly approve, strongly disapprove Rasmussen graph. The American people don’t want any part of this. They’re still going to ram this thing down our throats. They do not care.

[…]

I’ve been trying to gather as much information on this stupid thing as I can. And, by the way, ladies and gentlemen, I somewhat feel responsible for what’s happening today because it was I and I alone, who, for a year said, “Where the hell is his plan? He doesn’t have a plan!” He’s letting Reid go down with the ship and he’s letting Pelosi go down with the ship over in the House and the Senate, but he hasn’t put his name to any plan — where’s his plan? Well, he’s got a plan now, and it’s still not a piece of legislation. It’s just a bunch of outline and overview things.

[…]

Folks, this is a monster. The first seven pages are a summary, and it’s all Robin Hood, it’s all Robin Hood, then it gets ugly.

It’s the fourth quarter. We got two minutes, he’s down 13 and Peyton Manning is hurt. This thing is going to get uglier and uglier. Do you realize, this line’s actually in it: “The president’s proposal provides that it –” … This proposal is actually in this president’s outline. “The president’s proposal provides that, if necessary, funds will be transferred to the Social Security trust fund to ensure that they are held harmless by the proposal.” That’s an admission it’s going to fail, so they’re trying to create another revenue stream here. So what that means is if Social Security goes broke, revenue from health care taxes will be transferred.

Oh, by the way, do you realize Obama didn’t wait for the CBO. This is a $1 trillion plan, and, you know what? It’s going to insure everybody that’s uninsured, 31 million people now, and it’s not going to add to the deficit. Do you believe that? Yeah, it’s magical. It’s pure magic. It’s going to cover everybody that’s not covered.

He’s going to really choke those insurance companies, too. The federal government is going to take over setting their rates and make sure everybody gets covered, spend a trillion dollars — didn’t he just have these two clowns come out, deficit commission last week, reduce spending commission? And he comes up the following week, hey, here’s my $1 trillion plan, doesn’t add to the deficit, insures everybody. We’ve got a panacea here…

[…]

Do you know how many times the word “tax” is mentioned in Obama’s health care bill? Thirty-five times “tax” is mentioned in the Obama health care bill. So, yeah, Ben Nelson is hung out to dry here. “Eliminating the Nebraska FMAP provision and providing significant additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid.” The public option’s not in it, but what I just read essentially says that it is. If you believe that there’s not a public option in this, you’re too gullible, and besides, this is just phase one.

Now, it also will increase “the threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500 and start it in 2018 for all plans.” It’s 2010, right? 2018. Nobody’s fingerprints on this thing are going to be around for you to punish. They’re all going to be gone. Louisiana Purchase stands, at least the way I read it. There’s more, ladies and gentlemen. Obama’s plan would set a national eligibility threshold for Medicaid, the federal state insurance program for low-income Americans at 133% of poverty, the Senate preference, rather than 150% of the federal poverty level as proposed by the House. So under the White House proposal states would get 100% federal funding for any newly eligible Medicaid participants for four years, from 2014 to 2017. So the states are being incentivized to go higher and go sign up wards of the state.

Now, there’s no public option, right? They’re big-time touting no public option. But listen to this provision: “Under the White House proposal, states would get 100% federal funding –” and remember, now, this isn’t going to add to the deficit. We get 100% federal funding for any newly eligible Medicaid participants for four years, from 2014 to 2017, with 95% reimbursement the following two years and 90% after that. Folks, I mean we’re talking dead on bankruptcy here, national bankruptcy.

We’re talking about bankrupting the country. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, are broke, there is no Social Security trust fund anymore anyway. That’s why he’s talking about “refunding” it, none of this is sustainable. Expanding any of this is sheer madness. Promising to fund Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, is a lie. We don’t have the money. And as I asked mere moments ago in a very brilliant way, how can President Obama say that he’s setting up a blue ribbon committee to fix the deficit and then make these irresponsible new spending promises? They don’t care. They literally don’t care.

The bipartisan commission is a lie. Obamacare is a lie. The country’s broke, and this just accelerates our already certain bankruptcy. The State-Controlled Media are saying: “Obama’s bill helps cover 31 million Americans.” Sorry, it mandates coverage with the threat of a fine or a tax. It coerces coverage. This is raw, bare-knuckled, government power, fines for not buying Obamacare, unconstitutionality throughout this thing. Thank you, Professor Obama.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, from the Los Angeles Times, this is from yesterday, headline really says it all: “White House adjusts strategy on Republicans — The Obama administration aims to put members of the GOP on the spot, forcing them to compromise on issues or be portrayed as obstructionists.” That’s the health care summit Thursday at Blair House. Is there any reason now to go to this thing? Somebody help me out here. Is there any reason for the Republicans to trudge up there and appear at this thing?

Obama’s plan, he put it out there. And, look, everybody knew from the get-go this is designed to make the Republicans look like the obstructionists. The Democrats cannot get anything passed in the House and the Senate, and they have all the Democrats they need in the House to do it, and they had all the Democrats in the Senate, they couldn’t get it done, so now they want to shift blame to the Republicans, and the Republicans are being advised by people, “You can’t reject the invitation to the president, you really gotta go to the White House.”

Boehner, I think, there’s a letter he released this morning questioning why they should go now. I don’t know what the status of it is, but here it is: “As voters lose patience with political gridlock –” They are not losing patience. That’s another story that’s being spun. Folks, the American voter loves the gridlock right now. The gridlock is what is saving this country. Gridlock is what is preventing the Obama administration succeeding at their destructive agenda. Voters are not losing patience with political gridlock. Democrats are. “– the Obama administration is embarking on a strategy aimed at putting Republicans on the spot: Either participate in bipartisan exchanges initiated by the president, or be portrayed as the party of obstruction.” You may as well be portrayed as the party of obstruction because you can’t stop ‘em anyway. I mean you can, I guess, now with Scott Brown over in the Senate. I’ll tell you what, this is no slam-dunk. They just made it by three votes in the House on the Pelosi version of this.

We’re getting closer and closer to November and these Blue Dogs over there, the Democrat Party, people are dropping like flies, and I’m not sure they’re going to get this passed out of the House this time. You would think they’ll do it, but where’s Pelosi? You talk about going underground, you talk about low profile, where’s Pelosi? We haven’t seen her, and we haven’t seen Dingy Harry except when he was trying to act like he wasn’t at the Obama town hall.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, I want to look at the Democrats here as a couple of parents, in a way. You people know that having children will not save dysfunctional marriages. It just doesn’t work. And to the Democrats, passing Obamacare will not save you. It is going to destroy you! It is a suicide pact.

Troubled marriages become more troubled when new responsibilities are added to couples who are already prone to anger and disagreement — and, frankly, hate each other. Obamacare is not being conceived by a bunch of happy people who are likely to stay together, folks. This health care plan has been prepared in anger…

The purpose of this health care plan is for them to show you who the hell is boss and you think that they think that you are respected. No! They think you are stupid and they’re going to ram this down your throat regardless. There’s not happiness, there is no joy. There is nothing that is positive about the conception of this health care plan. This November, the American people are going to impose a divorce decree on the very Democrats plotting to conceive a bill that will destroy private health insurance, a bill that will grow up to become a doomed single-payer, government-owned and operated, rationed health care system.

The Democrats are giving birth to every movie monster you have ever seen, from Freddy Krueger to… Hell, I can’t remember them all. Every movie monster ever, the Democrats are conceiving it. They are not happy with themselves. They’re in a series of rapid divorces. They’re angry. They’re throwing the kitchen sink at each other — and to try to help themselves out, they are now conceiving a health care plan.

Obamacare is an act of anger, it is an act of desperation, it is a law that soon-to-be-fired Democrats will abandon and leave on the doorstep of the rest of the country. It’s a bill with no visible means of support. We’re getting a total deadbeat offspring of the Democrats here. It has no visible means of support or love. Nobody’s going to love this bill. Nobody’s going to have any support for it. It’s going to be an unwanted, unloved bill, dependent on the expanding bankrupt government. What could possibly go wrong here? What could possibly go wrong?

This bill, while it is right now just an unviable tissue mass which has zero humanity in it, needs to be aborted. I’ve always been pro-choice. I’ve always chosen life, except in this case. This bill needs to die.

This bill’s being conceived by the most unhappy bunch of parents. It’s a bill conceived in grievance and anger and desperation and defiance and an attitude of “Screw you!” to us.

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