The United States Senate yesterday refused, by a vote of 54-45, to pass an amendment to the proposed Government-run Health Care Bill that would have prevented taxpayer money from being used to fund abortions, although the House had previously passed a similar amendment and the American public overwhelmingly agrees with such a provision.
In the meantime, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that up to 10 million people could lose their employer-based insurance coverage under the Senate's health care reform bill. The nonpartisan office said the net loss would add up to about 5 million -- the anticipated loss of employer coverage on one end would be offset in part by the expectation that a new mandate would drive other employers to cover millions more workers who are not currently covered. But that estimate assumes many employers, particularly small businesses with low-wage workers, would opt to pay the fine and drop their insurance plans. The CBO estimated this would affect between 9 million and 10 million workers. (The math has gotten to be so fuzzy, but I think the plan would leave 25 million without insurance anyway, so the new total would be 35 million; with 45 million currently uninsured, this means we are going to insure 10 million people at a cost to Americans of over $1 trillion.)
Although 62% of Americans now oppose a government run health plan, the Senate and the President appear to be hell-bent on passage before Christmas. (Isn’t that a nice present for the public?) An Amendment was proposed that would prevent the extraction of $40 billion more from Medicare benefits and that was defeated. Another Amendment would have capped malpractice awards and that was defeated. In other words, the Senate is telling Americans, “We don’t care what you think.”
As if to emphasize total contempt for the American public, the Senate Majority Leader in essence accused those Americans who are trying to slow down or re-work the Health Care Plan of being supporters of slavery, and he capped that off by adamantly refusing to apologize for the disgraceful remarks that he had made.
But, the bad news does not end there. In response to leaked emails that show scientists have been misstating and falsifying statistics used to support global warming theories and the proposed Cap & Trade legislation, President Obama announced that he’s going to Copenhagen to attend a United Nations workshop. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled that carbon dioxide is hazardous to the environment and that they intend to initiate extensive regulations whether the public and American business like it or not.
Moony’s, the well-respected independent financial company, warned yesterday that continued mismanagement of the economy, the budget deficit and national debt may force them to lower the financial rating of the U.S. from its current AAA rating, a move that could have further disastrous impacts on our economy.
President Obama yesterday essentially admitted that his stimulus plan has not worked by suggesting a “Stimulus II” package that would add another $150 billion to the country’s debt. Once again, Obama said the U.S. has had to "spend our way out of this recession," a tactic that many are insisting is not working and cannot work. These moves have been made despite the fact that the top concerns of Americans are the national debt and jobs.
Obama’s response to Americans who have thronged to Town Hall meetings and American Tea Party demonstrations has been, “Shut up and get out of the way.”
Merry Christmas, America.
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