Freedom Line Blog

Lost during the health care fight in the Senate over the holidays were the votes in the House over yet another round of central planning stimulus provisions.

On its last roll call vote, the House narrowly, 217-212, passed an $180 billion “jobs for main street” bill that will exacerbate the federal deficit by another $64 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Not surprisingly, not a single Republican offered to support a third/fourth stimulus bill filled with pork-barrel spending and empty wealth transfers.  Democrats defected as well, with 38 voting “No.”

Now, the CBO has officially panned the legislation.  The final price tag over the next decade will be more than $180 billion, meaning Congress authorized $967 billion in 2009 alone for “stimulus” spending.

With all this, the unemployment rate remains at 10% and poll numbers indicate that no amount of wealth redistribution will increase Democratic majorities come Election Day.

Washington Post – A Critical Moment for House Democrats
Political Wire – Democrats to Bypass Conference on Health Bill
Politico – Mitt Romney Headed to Iowa
The Hill – Energy Companies Face Climate Action in States

LA Times – More Health Care Votes Ahead in Congress
Michael Barone – Democrats Should Push Education and Tax Reform
NY Times – In Health Bill for Everyone, Provisions for a Few
PC World – FCC Moves Toward Net Neutrality Rules

Federal Debt: $12.165 trillion

New York Post – It’s the Incompetence, Stupid
Bob Herbert – Health Care Tax to Hit Middle-Class
NY Times – Terrorists Still Fly
Fred Barnes – Tyranny of the Majority Party

Politico – Handling Problems the Obama Way
The Hill – Former Sen. Chafee to Run for RI Governor
National Review Online – Unhealthy Arrogance in the White House
Washington Post – Allen v. Webb Rematch in VA?

The American – Why Health Reform Will Cost Taxpayers
David Broder – A Warning Obama Should Heed
Steve Chapman – Global Freedom Had Few Blooms
The Hill – Ten Compelling Gubernatorial Races for 2010

Politico – Dems Urge White House to Drop Cap-and-Trade
National Review Online – Health Fight is Not Over
Washington Times – ObamaCare’s Dirty Deals
Washington Examiner – The President’s Year of Failure

The party of the donkey might have a 257-178 advantage in the House of Representatives but Alabama Representative Parker Griffith has just announced that he’s switching over to the GOP.

Griffith has spent most of his time in Congress opposing Speaker Pelosi’s legislative priorities, including the government takeover of health care and the $787 billion failed stimulus.   In fact, he was one of just eleven House Democrats to oppose the stimulus.

Griffith evidently saw the writing on the wall and recognized that having a “D” after his name would be a political liability in 2010.  His district, AL-5 (northern Alabama), gave President Obama 38% of the vote in 2008.

There is no official announcement yet from Representative Griffith.  Check back for further details.

FreedomWorks – What Next on Health Care?
San Diego Union-Tribune – Not a Shining Moment for the Senate
George Will – Obama’s Unsightly Triumphs
The Hill – Senate Set for Christmas Eve Health Care Vote

Politico – Pork Greased Health Care Passage
National Review Online – Can Stupak Save the Democrats?
Washington Times – Judicial Hellholes
Washington Examiner – In Defense of Senate Obstructionism

Federal Debt: $12.152 trillion

Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) on Harry Reid’s (D-NV) health care compromise with Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson:

You’ve got to compliment Ben Nelson for playing, ‘The Price Is Right.’  He negotiated a Medicaid agreement for Nebraska that puts the federal government on the hook forever.  This isn’t the Louisiana Purchase, it’s the Nebraska windfall … this isn’t how this process is supposed to work.

Sadly, the “Louisiana Purchase” already took place during Senate negotiations.  Now, taxpayers are “on the hook” for Louisiana and Nebraska.  This is not because Nebraska and Louisiana are especially important for health care reform, but because two politicians from those states were able to game the system better than their colleagues.

This is why our national debt is over $12 trillion.

This morning, the Senate invoked cloture on its scheme for government-run health care.  Under Senate rules, there will now be 30 hours of debate divided equally between the two parties, and then there is a strong possibility that the Senate will pass the legislation.

For Majority Leader Harry Reid, getting to this point was no easy task.  The typical horse trading that takes place on Capitol Hill was on overdrive lately as Leader Reid had to beg, borrow and deal to buy off each cynical Senator.

As much as the media and politicians on the Hill excoriated Governor Rod Blagojevich for selling President Obama’s old Senate seat, buying votes is a common occurrence in the nation’s capital.

As this piece from Politico demonstrates, what happens in Senate chambers typically borders on bribery.

For example:

• Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), who was once emphatic in his opposition to ObamaCare, got $45 million in federal funds for Medicaid expansion in Nebraska.   Other states were not fortunate enough to have an undecided Senator provide their state with the perks of federal largesse.

• Independent/Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (VT), who was previously opposed to the legislation, was awarded $10 billion in new funding for community health centers.

• Senator Nelson (D-NE) and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) garnered an excise tax carve-out for their states; all other states will be forced to pay the tax.

• Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) received perhaps the most persuasive legislative nugget, a $300 million federal gift to Louisiana for Medicaid expansion.

In an attempt to rationalize this border-line legislative bribery, Senator Reid opined, “You’ll find a number of states that are treated differently than other states.  That’s what legislating is all about.  It’s compromise.”

Buying off votes = compromise?  Selling a Senate seat = felony?

Associated Press – Health Bill Clears Senate Test
Rep. Bob Barr – Health Care Bizarro World
Politico – Health Plans on Collision Course
The Hill – Sen. Nelson’s $100 Million Payoff

Las Vegas Review-Journal – Climate Folly
Michael Barone – Liberals Collide with Public Option
American Spectator – Democrats Break Ground
WSJ Editorial – Change Nobody Believes In

Federal Debt: $12.147 trillion

HT: KosTV

What’s Paul Krugman’s advice to liberals like MoveOn and Howard Dean upset over current health care negotiations in the Senate?  Pass the Bill.

It seems that liberals like Krugman want a bill just for the sake of passing a bill.   Politics and not principle appear to be his main motivation, which is strange coming from an economist and college professor.

Ideological purists like Howard Dean and MoveOn object to Harry Reid’s version of reform.  But why?  The current Senate bill supposedly lacks the government-run public option that liberals have been salivating over for the past year.  What remains from Senate negotiations is a hodgepodge of mandates, new regulations and higher taxes.

The one issue both sides of the aisle should agree on during the holidays is that the current health care bill is awful; it’s really really bad.

Conservatives and libertarians should hate the bill because it contains hundreds of billions in new taxes, an unconstitutional mandate for individual health insurance, an expensive employer mandate, costs over $2 trillion and it does nothing to bend the health care cost curve downward, among many other reasons.

Liberals should hate the bill because it (supposedly) contains no government-run public option, politically connected health care companies practically drafted the legislation, PhARMA supports it, socialist Senator Bernie Sanders doesn’t, it fails to cover 100% of the uninsured and it doesn’t bend the health care cost curve downward.

Dr. Krugman may attempt to use his perch at the New York Times to rally progressives toward a final health care push, but the ugly truth is that health care reform has become the product of Washington, D.C. politics.  That’s never a good thing.  President Obama rallied against Washington-style politics during his campaign but it appears that his bill and his political strategy have embraced the zero sum ultra-partisan approach that he derided so frequently in the past.

Dr. Krugman’s headline should have been “Kill this Bill.”

WSJ Editorial – White House v. White House
Politics Daily – Reid’s Path to 60 Votes in Doubt
NY Times – Intelligence Improperly Collected on U.S. Citizens
The Hill – Sen. Nelson a “No” on Health Bill

Politico – Health Bill Deadlines Pile Up
Washington Times – No Mandate for Government Health Care
CBS News – Dem v. Dem on Health Care
National Review Online – Cap and Trade and Tax and Spend

Federal Debt: $12.134 trillion

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) is one of the few good guys on Capitol Hill.  He and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) have taken the lead to stop government-run health care in the Senate.  In fact, they’re using every procedural tool under the sun to defeat the Senate’s disasterous version of “reform.”

According to The Hill newspaper, DeMint is even prepared to go so far as to slow debate and force Christmas Eve votes.  As DeMint noted, “I think it’s our responsibility to stretch this out because every day we do we have time to tell Americans what’s in it.”

For those of you looking for something interesting to watch over the holidays, the Senate will likely be in session on Christmas Eve.

This is the final push against government-run health care.  If you haven’t done so already, call your Senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them to oppose the Senate health care bill.

HT: Townhall.com

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts that current climate change legislation in the Senate will increase spending by $833 billion.

According to the budget office, not only would Cap-and-Trade legislation effectively tax and regulate all carbon emissions in the country, but it would also add $854 billion to federal coffers.

The cost estimate concluded, “CBO estimates that the annual cost of [cap-and-trade] would amount to tens of billions of dollars for private-sector entities and hundreds of millions of dollars for public entities… Public and private entities would also be required to report information on greenhouse gases to a federal registry.”

In short, the bill is an unmitigated disaster and must be defeated.

Click here for the CBO study.  More of CFIF on climate change here and here.

Sen. Tom Coburn – The Health Bill is Scary
National Review Online – The Value-Added Tax
Politico – Gary Johnson as the Next Ron Paul?
Howard Dean – Senate Bill Wouldn’t Bring Real Reform

Michael Barone – Dems Head for the Exits
George Will – When the Charm Rubs Off
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Congress Raises Debt Ceiling
The Hill – House Passes Pelosi’s $174 Billion Jobs Bill

Federal Debt: $12.130 trillion

The Senate can be a magical place sometimes. Taking advantage of a clever procedural tool, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has forced the upper chamber to read a 767-page amendment out loud.  (One has to feel sorry for the people reading the amendment.)

Senator Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) introduced his single-payer amendment to the health care bill but Senators DeMint (R-SC) and Coburn put their foot down.  They are now using all available procedural tactics to kill the bill, even if they have to kill the voice of a few Senate staffers in the process (a worthy sacrifice).

Senator Coburn commented, “We’re going to understand what single-payer is all about and read the bill.”

If you’d like to understand more about socialist health care, click here or here.  More of CFIF on health care here.

***Update***

Senator Coburn did battle once again with Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and the exchange was priceless.  Senator Coburn asked that Senators fully read and understand the bill before they voted.

Senator Baucus, we’ll say, was less than optimistic about the comprehension level of his colleagues. The video (one minute mark) displays our nation’s sad state of affairs.

WSJ Editorial – The Audacity of Debt
McClatchy – Health Care Reform for Christmas?
Time Magazine – Person of the Year 2009
Real Clear Politics – Hide the Decline … And More

The Hill – Democrats Threaten to Hold Health Bill Hostage
Politico – Congress Punts Problems to 2010
Breitbart – Net Neutrality and the First Amendment
Atlanta Journal-Constitution – More Inconvenient Truth for Al Gore

Federal Debt: $12.126 trillion

Reason’s Matt Welch on President Obama and the “Economic Consensus” of his fiscal policy:

Obama is a political master at drawing boundaries around the “respectable” debate and marginalizing a swath of his critics as being beyond the pale. Will he succeed at doing it with economics, too? We only know that he will try.

The White House has made the decision that debt, all $12 trillion worth of it, no longer matters in America.  Instead of attempting to lower the $1.4 trillion annual budget deficit, the White House is looking for another round of stimulus pork.

According to White House Economic Advisor Christina Romer, it would be “suicide” to focus on deficit reduction to the exclusion of “job creation.”  Her solution, of course, is to repeat the past two/three failed stimulus bills and spend another $50 billion on infrastructure.   In Washington, D.C. that means $5 billion on infrastructure and $45 billion on pork and other preferred government handouts.

Romer’s solution is odd considering this paper she authored with her husband in April (after she began working at the White House) that concluded each dollar of tax cuts historically raised Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $3, greater than many similar estimates of government stimulus spending.

Romer also concluded that tax increases can easily lower GDP.  As she wrote, “Our results indicate that tax changes have very large effects on output.  Our baseline specification implies than an exogenous tax increase of 1% of GDP lowers real GDP by almost 3%.”  There appears to be a big difference between Doctor of Economics Romer and White House employee Romer.

With all this knowledge about the virtues of tax cuts and the harm of tax increases, Dr. Romer should pay a visit to the West Wing occasionally and remind President Obama that his policies will continue to shrink GDP and impede job creation.