Freedom Line Blog

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website.

It wasn’t long ago when the Obama White House was singing the praises of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  After all, Schwarzenegger was one of very few Republicans in the country to throw his support behind ObamaCare.  

Now, however, the Governator isn’t mincing words in withdrawing that support. 

In his State of the State Address before a joint session of the California Legislature earlier today, Schwarzenegger accurately called the health care bill “a trough of bribes, deals and loopholes.”  Below are some highlights from the speech:

Congress is about to pile billions more onto California with the new health care bill.

“While I enthusiastically support health care reform, it is not reform to push more costs onto states that are already struggling while other states get sweetheart deals.

“Health care reform, which started as noble and needed legislation, has become a trough of bribes, deals and loopholes.

“You’ve heard of the bridge to nowhere.  This is health care to nowhere.

“California’s congressional delegation should either vote against this bill that is a disaster for California or get in there and fight for the same sweetheart deal Senator Nelson of Nebraska got for the Cornhusker State. He got the corn; we got the husk.”

Is Governor Schwarzenegger’s about face on health care reform a prelude to what’s to come in the final stretch of this debate. For the sake of the nation, we can only hope.

Much has been made about the secret sweetheart deal Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) struck with Senate leaders in exchange for his “Yea” vote on ObamaCare. 

The deal, known as the “Cornhusker Kickback,” permanently exempts Nebraska – and only Nebraska – from paying for expanded Medicaid mandates called for in the Senate-passed “reform” bill.  In other words, taxpayers in all other states will be stuck paying the tab for Nebraska’s expanded Medicaid rolls if that provision survives final passage.

But is the “Cornhusker Kickback” constitutional?

On December 30, thirteen state attorneys general sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid calling the provision “constitutionally flawed” and threatening legal action unless the provision is dropped from the health care bill. 

The attorneys general wrote:

The undersigned state attorneys general, in response to numerous inquiries, write to express our grave concern with the Senate version of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (‘H.R. 3590’). The current iteration of the bill contains a provision that affords special treatment to the state of Nebraska under the federal Medicaid program. We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed. As chief legal officers of our states we are contemplating a legal challenge to this provision and we ask you to take action to render this challenge unnecessary by striking that provision.

It has been reported that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson’s vote, for H.R. 3590, was secured only after striking a deal that the federal government would bear the cost of newly eligible Nebraska Medicaid enrollees. In marked contrast all other states would not be similarly treated, and instead would be required to allocate substantial sums, potentially totaling billions of dollars, to accommodate H.R. 3590’s new Medicaid mandates. In addition to violating the most basic and universally held notions of what is fair and just, we also believe this provision of H.R. 3590 is inconsistent with protections afforded by the United States Constitution against arbitrary legislation. …

According to a lengthy report by CNSNews.com, “The Dec. 30 letter was drafted by South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and gained the signatures of 12 other Republicans. Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson is the only Democrat, so far, to express support for the possible litigation.”

Read the letter is its entirety here (.pdf).

“As the nation patiently waits for perhaps the final cost estimate of President Obama’s health care plan, taxpayers might be surprised to learn that today the most powerful office in Washington, D.C. is not the Speaker’s office or the Oval Office, but the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).”

So writes Sam Batkins, CFIF’s Director of Public Policy, in an op-ed published today on HumanEvents.com.

Batkins goes on to note:

At perhaps no time in history has a small bureaucratic agency wielded so much power, even though the science of pricing government legislation is far from perfect. …

…Budget projections for health care vary greatly and, more often than not, vastly underestimate actual expenditures.

The Joint Economic Committee took note of the speculative nature of health care cost estimates. In a July 2009 paper, it determined that the original cost estimate for Medicare HI was off by 744%; the Medicare program as a whole came in 917% over original estimates and the Medicaid DHS program exceeded original scores by 1700%. Washington’s crystal ball tends to cloud when projecting future health care costs.

Recognizing that Congressional Democrats have become “crafty” at manipulating CBO scores, Batkins explains how they are using “an accounting sleight-of-hand that even Bernie Madoff would envy” to make their plan for a government takeover of health care appear more palatable. 

Batkins concludes the piece by writing:

Since health care entitlements never seem to go away, the affect on taxpayers has been either more debt or higher taxes.  Expect both if the Obama-Pelosi-Reid health care reform plan is ultimately passed.

Read the piece in its entirety here.

Remember back in 2006 when then soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised that Democrats would “lead the most honest, most open and most ethical congress in history?” What about the repeated promises by then Candidate Obama to “broadcast [all health care] negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are?”

Of course, when it came time to “debate” health care, neither Pelosi nor Obama kept their promises.  Instead, both leaders have steered a process that has resulted in all variations of “reform” thus far being written behind closed doors, out of sight from the American people and with virtually no input from Congressional Republicans. 

As the Associated Press pointed out:

The House passed its version of the bill on a Saturday night. The Senate held its key procedural vote at 1 in the morning, and then provided a lump of coal in our stockings by forcing full passage of its bill on Christmas Eve. The House leadership banned consideration of all but one amendment not offered by leadership itself – forbidding debate on more than 150 of them – then provided just 24 hours for members to study the bill’s final text. The Senate leadership inserted so many tawdry last-minute items that analysts are still finding jokers in the deck 11 days later.

All these shenanigans have driven approval for the government health care bills even lower in public polls than the strong majorities that already opposed them a month ago.

Well, C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb is now daring Congressional Democrats to put their money where their mouths are. 

FoxNews.com reports:

The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open ‘all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings,’ to televised coverage on his network.

‘The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety,’ he wrote.

There’s only one problem.  Holding true to their back-room strategy, Congressional Democrats are reportedly going to shut Republicans and the American people out of the process again as they seek to combine the House and Senate versions of “reform.”  Maggie Haberman and Charles Hurt of the New York Post reported today:

Congressional Democrats plan to take final negotiations on the massive health-care overhaul behind closed doors — far from the prying eyes of the public and most lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have decided not to impanel a bipartisan ‘conference committee’ because it would give Republicans an opportunity to stonewall certain procedural votes.

Instead, they will do it themselves informally out of their offices without formal public meetings.

And they wonder why the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose their plan … whatever that final plan may be.

Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) just announced that he will support the Senate health care bill, seemingly handing Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama the 60 votes needed to pass the legislation by Christmas.

According to The Washington Post:

Asked if he had secured the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) told reporters, ‘It seems that way.’

The Senate is expected to work its way through a series of procedural motions over the next few days, with a vote on the legislation scheduled the evening of Dec. 24th. A conference with the House to produce a final bill would likely extend into January, Senate aides said.

Majority Leader Harry Reid this morning released his manager’s amendment to the Senate health care bill.  Read it here.

The Majority Leader is still planning to hold the first cloture vote on the bill as early as 1:00 a.m. Monday morning.

A new Research 2000 national survey is out today showing a liberal revolt against the Senate health care “reform” bill.  The survey of 800 likely voters, commissioned by the ultra-liberal Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America, found that only 33%of those polled favor health care reform that includes an individual mandate but no public government-run insurance option – essentially the Senate bill.  56% of all likely voters surveyed opposed such “reform.”

Hey, Mr. President.  How’s that strategy of “pass something, anything, regardless of what the people want” working out for you?  The Senate may end up passing a health care bill that an overwhelming majority of your liberal base opposes.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

CFIF Staff:  ‘Twas the Week Before Christmas
Batkins:  Congress to Raise Debt Ceiling. Why You Should Care
Release:  CFIF Calls on EPA to Reconsider Costly and Arbitrary Global Warming Regulation
Lee:  Chavez the Clown Completes Copenhagen Climate Circus
Senik:  Two Faces of Obama in Oslo
Ellis:  Working for The Man – Federal Employment Spike Exacerbates Dependency on the State

Freedom Minute Video:  Congress’ Gift to America – A Soaring National Debt
Podcast:  Bigger Government = Lower Approval Ratings – Interview the Heritage Foundation’s Dr. Matthew Spalding
Jester’s Courtroom:  The Devil Didn’t Make Him Do It

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

Every year around this time, we witness extraordinary acts of goodwill and generosity.  But this year, the “gift” Congress is giving to the American people is more debt.  In this week’s Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses Congress’ decision to raise the debt ceiling and what that means for hard-working American families. 

Watch the video below:

Cold weather got you down?  Is your child distraught and having trouble sleeping because of the government’s global warming scare tactics? 

Watch the clever video below, put together by our friends at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and learn how you too can cash in on global warming alarmism.

Byron York – Why Democrats Push Health Care, Even If It Kills Them
Michael Tanner – Harry’s Mad Health-Bill Hurry
New York Times – Lieberman Gets Ex-Party to Shift on Health Plan
Rich Lowry – Slipshod Social Democracy

The Times – Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth
Fox News – Congress’ Kitchen Sink
WTOP – Federal Employees Owe $3 Billion in Unpaid Taxes
Rasmussen – Obama’s Job Approval Hits New Low   

Federal Debt: $12.122 trillion

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out. For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

Ellis:  Jobs for Us or Jobs Being Done On Us?
CFIF Staff:  ClimateGate in Perspective – The Road Ahead
Lee:  Sarbanes-Oxley – An Unconstitutional Monument to Governmental Incompetence
Batkins:  The Evolution of a President – Not Yet Trans-Partisan

Freedom Minute Video:  ObamaCare – Slapping a Tax on America’s Youth
Podcast:  The Real Crisis in the Climate Change Debate – Interview with Lord Christopher Monckton
Jester’s Courtroom:  No Talking Turkey in This Court

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

In this week’s Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino explains how passage of ObamaCare will mean higher taxes, fewer jobs and less freedom for America’s youth.

Watch the video below:

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez on “Climategate.”

View more of Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out. For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

Lee:  Does Barack Obama Even Comprehend “Climategate?”
Batkins:  Death, Taxes … and More Taxes
Senik:  Liberals, Despite All Evidence to the Contrary

Freedom Minute Video:  Climategate
Podcast:  The Weaknesses in Obama’s Foreign Policy – Interview with Troy Senik
Jester’s Courtroom:  Lawyer Wants Lights Out at Homeless Center

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

The U.S. Senate this afternoon voted 42-58 to reject an amendment, sponsored by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), that would have sent the Senate health care “reform” bill back to the chamber’s Finance Committee with instructions to strip out nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts.  In other words, 58 Senate Democrats reaffirmed their desire to cut Medicare by nearly a half trillion dollars.

Democrats Jim Webb and Ben Nelson voted with all Senate Republicans in favor of the amendment.

As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement sent out immediately following the vote:

If anyone had any question about the Democrat plan to use Medicare as a piggy-bank to fund their new government programs, those doubts are now gone. 58 Democrats just voted to reject a common-sense proposal to protect senior’s health care from a half-trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare.  Only in Washington would anyone have the nerve to claim that such drastic cuts won’t harm the very program millions of seniors have paid into for years and now rely on.” 

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  For those readers who don’t receive it in their e-mail inboxes or if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, below is a summary of its contents:

Senik:  The Obama Doctrine – Bend at the Waist
Lee:  Obama Administration Imitates Hugo Chavez on Internet
CFIF Staff:  Dear Senior Citizens, Part Three
Batkins:  President Obama’s Fictional Job Factory
Ellis:  When Illegal Aliens Take Over the House, Courtesy of the U.S. Senate  

Freedom Minute Video:  Climate of Fear
Podcast:  The Fight Continues Over Lawsuit Abuse – Interview with Ted Frank
Jester’s Courtroom:  Fleeing Suspect Sues Police

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update, sign up here.

It’s a well known fact that Majority Leader Harry Reid is scrambling to find the 60 votes necessary to move his government-run health care bill to the Senate floor.  Indeed, Reid is doing everything in his power to “encourage” the three or four Democrats supposedly on the fence to vote “yea” tomorrow night on the motion to proceed on the legislation.

And when we say everything, we mean E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reports:

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.” 

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.” 

I am told the section applies to exactly one state:  Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

In other words, the bill spends two pages describing [what] could be written with a single world:  Louisiana.

The price tag for this provision?  Karl writes, “According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.”

Read the full story, complete with the actual bill language, here.