October 15th, 2021 at 12:30 pm
Statistic of the Day: Going Carbon-Free Would Cost Every American $11,300 PER YEAR
From realistic climatologist Bjorn Lomborg, writing in The Wall Street Journal this week, a jarring analysis of the cost of imposing the Biden/Pelosi/Schumer/AOC carbon-free “Green New Deal” agenda for every American annually:
A new study in Nature finds that a 95% reduction in American carbon emissions by 2050 will annually cost 11.9% of U.S. gross domestic product. To put that in perspective: Total expenditure on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid came to 11.6% of GDP in 2019. The annual cost of trying to hit Mr. Biden’s target will rise to $4.4 trillion by 2050. That’s more than everything the federal government is projected to take in this year in tax revenue. It breaks down to $11,300 per person per year, or almost 500 times more than what a majority of Americans is willing to pay.“
But don’t you dare ask any questions. Just do what they say (not what they necessarily do, of course).
September 17th, 2021 at 12:54 pm
Notable Quote: WSJ on H.R. 3, Biden & Pelosi’s Dangerous Healthcare Bill
In this week’s Liberty Update we highlight the potentially catastrophic threat of H.R. 3, the healthcare and drug price control bill that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are attempting to rush through Congress. The Wall Street Journal helpfully offers further insight this morning on how H.R. 3 would threaten lifesaving U.S. pharmaceutical innovation and leadership, including on things like the Covid vaccines:
Companies that refuse the government’s price must pay a 95% excise tax on all revenue they generate from that drug in the U.S. They’d also have to offer the government price to private insurers. There’s no “negotiation” when a gun is pointed at your head. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that drug spending in the U.S. would have been 52%, or about $83.5 billion, lower in 2020 based on the bill’s formula. The research outfit Vital Transformation estimates the bill would reduce bio-pharmaceutical earnings by $102 billion a year…
The hugely successful mRNA Covid vaccines are the result of years and billions of dollars in research. BioNTech initially set out to create cancer vaccines and linked up with Pfizer in 2018 to work on a more effective flu vaccine. Biotech firms are trying to use mRNA technology for personalized cancer vaccines, autoimmune treatments and gene therapies.”
Americans cannot allow Biden, Pelosi and Schumer to jeopardize our future health on behalf of their hyper-partisan agenda.
October 29th, 2019 at 10:08 am
Pelosi Healthcare Proposal H.R. 3 Isn’t Just Destructive, It’s Likely Unconstitutional
Alongside other conservative and libertarian organizations, we at CFIF have been highlighting the clear and present danger of Nancy Pelosi’s (D – California) proposed healthcare legislation H.R. 3 in letters to Congress and commentaries.
Pelosi’s bill includes an astonishing 95% tax on total pharmaceutical sales – not on profits, but sales – for private companies that don’t play ball to Pelosi’s satisfaction. Her proposal would also impose foreign price controls, completely restructure the popular Medicare Part D program, and create a compulsory arbitration mechanism overseen by government bureaucrats… Pelosi’s legislation would jeopardize nearly $1 trillion in U.S. pharmaceutical investment, undermine patent protections, suffocate drug innovation and ultimately punish consumers. That’s far too high a price to pay, and responsible members of Congress must therefore stop Pelosi’s bill in its tracks.”
Now, a new nonpartisan Congressional legal analysis suggests that it’s also likely unconstitutional. In fact, the report cites three separate provisions of the Constitution that Pelosi’s effort to commandeer Americans’ healthcare choices under federal bureaucrats’ control:
The Program created by Title I raises a number of legal considerations. First, because the negotiation under the Program is intended to lower the prices manufacturers can charge for certain selected, single-source drugs, the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment may be implicated. Second, the Program’s enforcement mechanisms – the excise tax and civil monetary penalties – may raise questions relating to the scope of Congress’s taxing power and the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment. Third, the Program’s limitation on judicial review may prompt questions regarding Congress’s powers to limit the subject matter jurisdiction of Article III courts. Finally, in setting forth the parameters of the Program, the language of Title I may implicate certain statutory interpretation questions.”
There’s reason enough for Congress to resolutely reject Pelosi’s H.R. 3 due to the negative impact that her proposal would inflict upon Americans’ healthcare, our world-leading pharmaceutical innovators and our healthcare industry more broadly. The fact that it’s likely unconstitutional offers another reason to avoid the protracted sort of legal battles that would ensue, so that Congress can work toward solutions that actually improve American healthcare, like stronger patent protections and free-market principles.
January 25th, 2019 at 11:50 am
Shutdown Perspective
Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.
View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.
January 27th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Obama: Delusional, Dishonest… and Disastrous
The New Republic is out with a new interview with BHO, the man in the Oval Office. It pains me too much even just to copy and paste the worst parts of it… so I won’t. But please read it yourself. The whole thrust of it is that he — yes, Mr. Obama — is the one always going the extra mile for compromise; that he and Nancy Pelosi (!) and Harry Reid (!) again and again have taken the “tough” steps toward compromise that the country needs, but that the Republicans are just so darned intransigent and a lot of them don’t even really care about what’s good for the country.
The man is either delusional or despicable dishonest, or both. Either way, his attitude is as disastrous for the country as his performance has been. He’s so sanctimonious, so solipsistic, so self-aggrandizing that it’s sickening. What a godawful creature he is.
June 21st, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Answering Pelosi’s Bunk: Holder Enables Vote Fraud
Nancy Pelosi today made the risible claim that the contempt citation against Eric Holder is part of an effort at voter suppression. What bunk. But it is true that Holder is heavily involved with the flip side of vote suppression, which is that he is deliberately taking steps that enable vote fraud, via his lawsuits against Texas, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, etcetera, concerning voter ID and cleaning up voter rolls.
Well, here is the little-known background to all this:
It goes back to the Clinton Administration’s very first big battle — which wasn’t about health care, or energy taxes, or spending. The first battle involved the Motor Voter bill, which Democrats in Congress introduced on the very first legislative day in 1993, several weeks before Bill Clinton was inaugurated. Motor Voter was assigned to the House Administration Committee – and Louisiana Congressman Bob Livingston, the committee’s ranking Republican, had the job of deciding whether to object. I happened to be Livingston’s press secretary back then…. Livingston didn’t object to registration at drivers’-license bureaus, but he argued that other bill provisions (too numerous to list here) would promote vote fraud. Livingston’s legislative aide Tripp Funderburk had the brilliant idea to say that “Motor Voter” would better be described as “Auto Fraudo.” Using Tripp’s new catch-phrase, I started a media pushback, including a column in the Washington Times and many radio appearances for Livingston.
The pushback failed to kill the bill – but it did succeed in forcing acceptance of some anti-fraud provisions into the bill’s Section 8…. But, as reported by whistleblowers J. Christian Adams and Christopher Coates, DoJ official Julie Fernandes announced in late 2009 that the department would refuse to enforce Section 8’s anti-fraud provisions because “it has nothing to do with increasing turnout, and we are just not going to do it.” Now that Florida is doing its job to enforce it anyway, DoJ is trying to stop the state’s efforts.
August 15th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Ramirez Cartoon: Bad Economic Indicators
Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.
View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.
October 18th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Severability Clause: Pelosi Had to Pass the Bill to Find Out What Wasn’t In It
“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” That was Nancy Pelosi last March, promoting that Pandora’s Box known as ObamaCare. Well, it turns out that Pelosi and the bill’s proponents may be upset to find out what is not in it. Namely, they failed to include a severability clause in their haste.
So what is a “severability clause,” and why might it matter? A severability clause is a simple provision stating that if a court later declares one or more subsections of a bill void, the remainder of the bill remains valid and enforceable. Without a severability clause, an entire bill can be jeopardized even if a very small part of it is stricken by the judicial branch. Now, with separate lawsuits challenging ObamaCare quickly proceeding toward judicial reckoning, it is possible that the entire package may crumble if its individual mandate (forcing free citizens to engage in involuntary commerce by purchasing approved health insurance) or some other clause falls.
There is no guarantee in this regard, as the Supreme Court just this year curiously allowed the tangled Sarbanes-Oxley web to survive despite its own absence of a severability clause. Nevertheless, the complete demise of ObamaCare due to the failure to add a simple severability provision could be one positive byproduct of ObamaCare’s sloppy birth.
Tags: Challenge, Commerce Clause, health care, Health Care Reform, lawsuit, Nancy Pelosi, Obama, Obamacare, Pelosi, Severability Clause, tea party
August 20th, 2010 at 10:54 am
White House Allies: Abandon Claim that ObamaCare Will Reduce Deficit/Costs
Ohhhh, so ~now~ they tell us? White House allies are instructing operatives to abandon the claim that ObamaCare will reduce healthcare costs and the deficit. Instead, they now seek to persuade the electorate that we can “improve it.”
According to Politico, the messaging conference call and PowerPoint presentation acknowledges the failure of the promises shamelessly fed to the public by ObamaCare advocates:
The presentation’s final page of ‘Don’ts’ counsels against claiming ‘the law will reduce costs and the deficit.’ The presentation advises, instead, sales pitches that play on personal narratives and promises to change the legislation.”
If this doesn’t make you angry and ready to line up at dawn to vote this November, have your pulse checked.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Thought ObamaCare Was Dead? Pelosi Aide Says Think Again…
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s senior health care advisor said this week that Democratic leadership has settled on a procedural strategy to pass ObamaCare.
The story was first reported by Congress Daily (which can only be accessed with a subscription). Here’s how LifeNews.com reported it:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s top health care aide Wendell Primus admitted top Democrats have already decided on the strategy to pass the Senate’s government-run health care bill…
Primus explained that the Senate will use the controversial reconciliation strategy that will have the House approve the Senate bill and both the House and Senate okaying changes to the bill that the Senate will sign off on by preventing Republicans from filibustering.
“The trick in all of this is that the president would have to sign the Senate bill first, then the reconciliation bill second, and the reconciliation bill would trump the Senate bill,” Primus said at the National Health Policy Conference hosted by Academy Health and Health Affairs.
“There’s a certain skill, there’s a trick, but I think we’ll get it done,” he said.
The news had The Washington Examiner’s Mark Tapscott pondering, “[W]hy call a health care summit and challenge congressional Republicans to come with their best ideas when the plan is already in place to use legislative trickery to pass Obamacare?”
Good question. One that Tapscott himself answered very adequately by writing:
The most logical answer would seem to be that the summit is part and parcel of a White House/congressional Democratic strategy to distract attention from what is about to happen on the Hill. It’s the classic magician’s trick of distracting you with the left hand while the right hand does the “trick.”
January 4th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
E.J. Dionne’s Recommendation to Democrats: Commit Suicide
When asked to identify a leftist counterpart to the wit and wisdom of conservative commentator George Will, liberals commonly cite The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, Jr.
Frankly, that’s a bit like a D.C.-area baseball fan offering the Washington Nationals as a counterpart to the New York Yankees, as confirmed again by today’s commentary from Dionne.
In it, Dionne counsels a veritable suicide strategy for Democrats hoping to avoid a landslide defeat in November’s 2010 Congressional elections. In the face of poll after poll demonstrating widespread public opposition to ObamaCare, Dionne advises Democrats to trumpet its virtues. He apparently remains blissfully oblivious to the fact that the more people learn about ObamaCare, the less they like it. Since Obama demanded legislation before the August Congressional recess, the public has swung from narrow approval to wide disapproval, yet he advises that Democrats tell them more? Dionne subsequently argues, presumably with a straight face, that Democrats should utilize proposed carbon cap-and-tax legislation in their effort to gain electoral momentum. As is the case with ObamaCare, however, Dionne’s recommendation flies in the face of public skepticism and opposition toward this costly bill that will raise utility costs for everyday consumers, cripple businesses struggling in a weak economy and surrender additional American sovereignty to United Nations-style climate regulation.
Those in the legal profession often advise against interrupting opposing attorneys who are dooming their own cases. One suspects that Republicans are similarly in no hurry to interrupt Dionne’s advice to Democrats.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Chart of Democratic “No” Votes on Health Care
The New York Times has an interesting chart on the 39 Democrats who voted “No” on Speaker Pelosi’s version of health care “reform.”
The bill, H.R. 3962, passed 220 to 215 on Saturday night.
Click here for more on health care.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Health Care Taxes to Crush Small Businesses
There are a lot of awful provisions in Speaker Pelosi’s 1,990 page stab at health care “reform.” For millions of small businesses across the country, a 5.4 percent surtax is high on the list of undesirable provisions.
The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released an estimate that determined one-third of small businesses will be hit with the new 5.4 percent surtax. Roughly speaking, small businesses can look forward to forking over another $150 billion next year in new taxes to feed Washington’s spending binge.
The lesson: Small businesses must trust Congress. Only Congress knows that the best way to bring down a 10.2 percent unemployment rate is to tax small businesses, raise utility rates through Cap-and-Trade legislation, take over $2 trillion from the private sector through taxes and determine corporate pay scales… Congress knows best.
Here is the JCT cost estimate. To read more on health care, click here.
November 4th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
House Vote on ObamaCare Set for Saturday Night
House Democrats announced today that a vote on Speaker Pelosi’s version of health care “reform” will be held on Saturday night at 6:00, likely when few people are watching. It is, after all, still college football season.
If the vote succeeds, the House will recess next week and then the ball will be in Senator Harry Reid’s court to pass the Senate’s version of reform. If Reid succeeds, the House and the Senate would meet in conference to reconcile the different provisions in each bill.
During the vote this weekend, the House will also likely vote on a new Republican alternative to ObamaCare. The Republican bill, 971 pages shorter than ObamaCare, contains provisions that allow consumers to shop across state lines for health insurance. The Republican alternative also allows small businesses to pool their health plans with other businesses, in an effort to drive down costs. You can read the alternative to ObamaCare here.
Make sure to call your representative this week at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote “No” on H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi’s government-takeover of our health care system.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Big Health Care, Big Government
H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi’s attempt at a government takeover of health care weighs in at 1,990 pages. However, there are a few reading guides available to save your eyes, and your sanity.
The House Republican Conference has done the dirty work and compiled a list of all the new boards, bureaucracies, commissions and programs created in the House health care bill. There are over 111. Here are a few highlights:
- Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 223, p. 111)
- Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 244, p. 138)
- Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 155)
- “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 321, p. 211)
- Ombudsman for “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 321(d), p. 213)
- Demonstration program providing reimbursement for “culturally and linguistically appropriate services” (Section 1222, p. 617)
- Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 734)
- Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 1907, p. 1198)
- Healthy Teen Initiative grant program regarding teen pregnancy (Section 2526, p. 1398)
- Program of Indian community education on mental illness (Section 3101, p. 1722)
- Urban youth treatment center demonstration project (Section 3101, p. 1873)
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
House Whip Count
The Hill, a Washington-area newspaper, has a handy whip count of House members who are undecided on Speaker Pelosi’s attempt to takeover your health care. All of the members listed are Democrats but if you live in their district, please call 202-224-3121 and tell them to get off the fence and oppose ObamaCare.
If this ultra-liberal attempt at health care “reform” fails in the House, then it’s likely dead for the foreseeable future. Let’s keep it that way.
Call your representative at 202-224-3131 and tell them to vote “No” on H.R. 3962.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Top 5 Reasons Speaker Pelosi’s Health Care Bill Should be Defeated
- $729.5 billion in new taxes and fees on small businesses and individuals.
- $1.055 trillion in new federal spending over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
- 114 million people could lose their current health care coverage, according to the Lewin Group.
- 43 new entitlement programs that the bill creates, expands or extends.
- 3,425 uses of the word “shall” in the legislation.
If you haven’t already done so, please call your representative at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote “No” on Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill. A vote is expected in the House this week. Learn more about health care here and here.
September 25th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Oh How Hard It Is To Represent the People
From Mike Soraghan, TheHill.com:
“Politically vulnerable Democrats say Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders aren’t offering them the protection from tough votes that they did in the last Congress.
“Conservative Democrats fear that dozens of members could be swept out of their districts in the midterm election next year, and that fear has been intensifying in recent weeks.”
So why don’t they take an easy vote? The Democratic House Caucus decides who will be Speaker. We’d be willing to bet that just about anyone voting to remove Pelosi could have their seats in perpetuity.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
The Speaker Speaks
I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw…I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric is just, is really frightening and it created a climate in which we, violence took place and…I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made.” — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, September 17, 2009 (Real Clear Politics Video)
Hey lady, has it occurred to you to curb your enthusiasm for legislation that many Americans believe curtails their freedom, is spending them and their children into bankruptcy and diminishes the national security of the country? Oh, and by the way, should we review some of your language of the past months? No, we think most people remember.
August 14th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Speaker Pelosi Was Once a “Fan” of Those “Un-American” Protesters
By now, most people have read — or at least heard about — the USA Today column in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer labeled the protesters of Obama’s health care plan “Un-American.” But apparently the Madam Speaker used to be a big fan of those “angry mobs.”
In a January 2006 town hall event, captured in this video being circulated on the web, Pelosi applauded a group of disruptive, anti-war protesters by stating, “your advocacy is very American and very important.” She went further in stating, “There is nothing more articulate, more eloquent to a member of Congress than the voice of his or her own constituents.”
Pelosi closed by saying “I am a fan of disruptors!” I guess she is only “a fan” when it’s convenient for her agenda.
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