Health Insurance Reform Brings President Political Victory

Before I even turned the television on this morning, I see that the Senate had voted to pass their version of Health Care Reform, even though President Obama refers to it as “Health Insurance Reform.”  In my opinion, the Senate’s actions give the President a much-needed victory in his first year in office.  He was desperate for some sort of political victory.  The type of victory that he hopes will allow him to keep his party’s majority in both chambers of Congress.  But at what cost?

As I wrote yesterday, in my post “60 Votes Reached…”, who really knows what’s in this bill?  In my opinion, this President has just been going through the motions since this past January, lacking any major domestic or foreign accomplishments of note.  The stimulus bill aside, he, nor the remaining members of his liberal triumvirate, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid, had anything to hang their hats on.  This accomplishment gives them something to campaign on.

However, based on my perusal of the far left leaning progressive Huffington Post, it would seem the cost of this political victory could very well be those liberal progressives that helped elect President Obama.  Not that I would be overly disappointed if the President, or his allies, would lose a lot of political clout over a highly unpopular bill, but as Speaker Pelosi put it, she’s willing to lose 20 seats for this piece of work.

I, on the other hand, see another entitlement that will drain precious tax dollars out of our Treasury being stood up.  I think it’s fantastic that we’re going to raise taxes on a slew of health care related items, along with the possibility of my family’s plan being taxed because we very well may have one of those cadillac plans.

Harry Reid has called the passage of this monstrosity a victory for the American people.  I don’t feel like I’m going to really benefit from the passage of this bill.  I sure do hope this liberal triumvirate enjoys their much deserved time off this holiday season, because 2010 is going to be very difficult for them.  I expect to see some backlash from the people because of this bill.  Republicans will use it as something to rally the base and perhaps independent voters around, and the Democrats will say, look at what we did, we’re giving you affordable health care and if you wait for another generation, you too can have socialized medicine!

Senator Chuck Schumer from New York had these fine words to say about the passage of this bill:

As people learn about all the good things in the bill, they will like it more and more.

How would he know?  We all  probably know he hasn’t taken the time to read the bill, and he knows, that us Americans won’t take the time to read the monstrosity.  Some political victory…..  Just enough to get all their faces in the papers, and to campaign on.  In the process, the rest of us get hosed.  It’s all wrapped up in a grand package of coal for us the people, so the big politicians can smile.

Merry Christmas everyone!

60 Votes Reached….

And how many of those democratic senators have actually read the 2000 page plus bill that was voted on in the Senate today to end debate?  My guess is a big fat ZERO!  This action was also taken before the American public could get a chance to read the bill.  (Really, who has the free time to read 2000 pages of legal mumbo-jumbo, that probably most Senators and/or Congressmen don’t understand?)

And to top off this fleecing, the Senate is scheduled to vote on Christmas Eve for final passage of the bill.  I keep on asking myself the same question over and over again….  What’s the rush?  Is the rush to get the President a bill so that he and Democrats can have a political victory going into the mid-term elections?  If that is truly the case, the Congress is doing a poor job of handling not only our tax dollars, but of not handling our business very well.

Remember when the President stated that the CSPAN cameras would be present for all negotiations?  Wow, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Senators Reid, Dodd, Durbin, Lieberman, and Nelson, were all crammed into Harry Reid’s office on the Hill, no CSPAN cameras present, and a deal was hammered out.  What does this action say about transparency?  Absolutely zippo.  The Dems are no better than the Republicans have been.  Secret deals in dark backrooms.

This bill is such a great Christmas present for all us taxpayers.  I’m sure going to enjoy seeing my taxes go up to pay for reform that may or may not be true reform at all.  Raise the taxes to pay for something that won’t see any immediate results until 3-4 years down the road.  Lemme tell you, something about that doesn’t pass the sniff test.  The President has just about declared victory, along with his advisors.

Who wins here?  Senior citizens, nope, not with those drastic cuts in Medicare….  The rich, no again….  The unions, definitely not, not with a tax on so called “cadillac” plans.

Essentially, my main beef is, there really hasn’t been any transparency during this whole process.  If there had been more transparency, there wouldn’t be the need for early morning Saturday votes and Christmas eve votes when no one is really paying attention.

I’m calling the President and his Democratic allies in both the House and Senate out on this one.  What a complete lack of transparency, this isn’t change we could all believe in by any stretch of the imagination.  The way this bill has been handled is “more of the same.”  It has essentially confirmed my belief, that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

So we’re going to get a crappy bill because of the crappy effort our elected leaders have done for us.  Whatever happened to the concept of taking your time and doing it right the first time, so as few mistakes as possible can be made.  Apparently, that’s not the mantra of our political leaders.  Instead, we’re still in an era of gotcha politics, where we have to get political victories at any cost, even if it screws us the people, so our elected leaders can ensure their re-election bids.

I’m sick and tired of the way things are conducted in Washington, but I also don’t have any hope that the way things are done is going to change either.

Balanced Budget Amendment…Is the Time Right?

With all the large spending bills in the last year and some change, and with more on the way, such as potential health care reform, a jobs stimulus bill, etc, it has finally got me to thinking….  Are we ready to finally have a serious discussion on a balanced budget amendment for our Constitution?

I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m really beginning to think that this Democratic Congress’s PAYGO rules really are nothing but a lot of cloak and dagger stuff.  With a $787 billion stimulus, approximately $80 billion for jobs creation, more than $500 billion for health care reform, and however much cap-and-trade will cost.  PAYGO, in my opinion, really isn’t getting the job done here.

We have a $12 trillion debt, and Congress, just earlier this week, passed a bill to increase our debt limit so our government can continue to operate.  This fiscal year alone we have a $1.5 trillion debt according to usdbetclock.org.  This issue becomes even more complex once baby boomers begin retiring and collecting social security benefits and also enroll in Medicare.  We already have so many unfunded liabilities in these entitlement programs, and with not enough younger workers to keep the system afloat, we are coming up on some dire financial straits.

Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, we have a balanced budget amendment in our state constitution.  Our biennial budget is required to be balanced, and if we have any shortfall from tax revenues, the state is required to cut spending on programs, or find other ways to save costs.  This approach has allowed our Commonwealth to continually be named as one of the best states ran in the country.  I, as I’m sure many other Virginians, are pleased to know our state isn’t allowed any deficit spending in our budget.

I truly believe such an approach would work on the Federal level and would bring more fiscal responsibility to our country.  Our elected leaders on Capitol Hill would think several times before enacting spending legislation.  Now, how much support this amendment would have with our liberal Democratic friends and their Progressive allies, that remains to be seen.

Speaker Pelosi and the President and his OMB Chief Peter Orszag have indicated their willingness to address our ever-increasing deficit, but I realize, with a progressive liberal agenda, that our current leaders envision, a balanced budget amendment doesn’t necessarily fit into those plans.

I truly hope our political leaders can truly begin to discuss with a sense of seriousness a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution.  Not only would it bring us a more fiscal security with the Treasury, but it would also have benefits for our domestic economy, that should eventually trickle out to the global economy.

Obama’s Message to GOP….

So on The Hill’s website, I come across a posting that’s entitled:  “Obama to GOP:  ‘Stop Trying to Frighten the American People.’  You’ve got to be kidding me right?  This notice coming from the President?  He thinks the GOP is frightening us?  That very well may be true, but let’s not throw stones at glass houses Mr. President.  As recently as Monday, Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader from Nevada, had these wonderful remarks:

 

So let me get this straight, Harry, you want to lump together those who were opposed to banning slavery, opposed to granting women suffrage, and those opposed to the Civil Rights Act, to those who oppose health care reform?  I truly believe this is an unfair comparison.  This language could create a feeling of guilt by association in order to pass a bill that a great number of people in this country are against, in its current form.  Way to go Harry!  Way to try to scare moderate members of the GOP, and from your own caucus into voting for your 2,000 page + brick of legislation.

Let’s continue with another example of how democrats are trying to scare those who oppose either the President or the health care reform package.  Remember this video from this past September?  Here’s Speaker Pelosi:

So Speaker Pelosi was concerned about the tone of the rhetoric and making a veiled reference to the Harvey Milk assassination.  Gotta love how the Speaker just goes ahead and tries to intimidate those who speak loudly against health care reform and linking them to violence….  Hmmm……..

And how about this nugget from former President Jimmy Carter:

So according to President Carter a lot of the opposition is due to his race, and that is a concept that isn’t without merit.  You so much as mention racism, it gets people’s attention, and no one wants to be labeled accordingly.  If people are going to be called racist for opposing the President and/or his policies, it would put some fear into people from speaking up.

Essentially, I believe that both parties shouldn’t be in the business of fear mongering us into silence because we may oppose the majority party in their policies.  Let’s have a healthy debate because that’s part of what makes our system work so well.  When one party or another instills fear into the populace for voicing opposition, or debate, our republic will suffer as a result.

Really, Who Has the Time to Read HR 3200?

As we’re all well aware, the health care reform bill has been getting quite a bit of attention while Congress is on their annual August recess.  We’ve all seen the protests and the heated debates on the news on the town hall meetings that are being conducted.  During this period of time, one would like to think that it would be easy to go and read the bill, so we can all become well-informed citizens on this important piece of legislation.

I, for one, truly believe in being an educated citizen, so I can at least know whether or not the media is telling the story straight.  So I finally decided to go to my congressman’s website and see if I could find an electronic copy of the bill.  Come to find out, the bill, H.R. 3200 is available for perusal on the Thomas website, a Library of Congress website.  My congressman’s website provided a link to H.R. 3200 which is here.

I must have been delusional to think that this exercise would be short and that I would be able to get through the bill and actually understand what it completely says.  Boy was I sorely mistaken!  The bill is 1000+ pages in length!  Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I certainly don’t have the time, nor the inclination to read something as dry as a piece of legislation.  How many people actually do?  That’s why it was most curious to me that President Obama, and members of the do-nothing Congress, wanted to rush this bill through and get it passed by the August recess.  It made me actually wonder if these elected representatives actually know what’s in this particular piece of legislation.  I also wonder if the White House actually does.

Add to the difficulty that Congressional leaders and the White House haven’t done a very good job of selling this reform bill other than to simply state “it’s needed.”  What a terrible sales pitch.  My main question is, why do we need mammoth bills like this one is?  Can’t these things be put together in a fashion where we can all have the time to read them and be able to provide feedback to our elected leaders if we decide to do so?  With the way this bill is structured, no one will have the time to read it and provide any feedback.  Is that just me, or am I going crazy?

When I saw how long this bill was, I actually e-mailed my congressman and asked him if his office could put together a five page version pretty much summarizing everything in a manner that everyone can understand.  This method would also provide him the opportunity to put to bed some of the vicious rumors I’ve been hearing about this bill, such as “death panels” which I don’t think is actually in the bill, but other myths as well.  And, since this bill does include the public option that all liberals want, I want to see some of the nitty gritty details on how that would work, and what safeguards are in place to avoid a single payer system.  And how this public option would allow greater competition, before I can make an educated decision on whether to fully support the reform bill or not.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask, or I could be mistaken.

With something as important as this piece of legislation is, and with how it has become so polarized, I think our leaders owe it to us, to do a better job of explaining this bill in less than 1000 pages.  Perhaps I’m just expecting too much.

Finally! Something Coming from Congress Makes Sense!!

Holy cow!  Finally, something that is coming out of this do-nothing Democratic majority Congress, makes some sense.  After the President’s hour long presser last night dealing with health care, today you have the Senate’s Majority Leader, Harry Reid, saying that they won’t meet the President’s deadline of August 7th.  Let’s just say, I’m not overly disappointed.  You can see Senator Reid’s remarks here.  I will say one thing about this delay, finally they are taking their time in passing a bill, unlike the stimulus package.  I truly believe we need health care reform, but instead of rushing through it, with a partisan bill, like Nancy Pelosi wants, let’s get something that’s bipartisan, that may have a chance of the reform we need, while helping as many people as possible.  Kudos to Senator Reid, one whom I 99% of the time disagree with, for giving the Senate the time to come up with a bipartisan bill.

What Happened To The Concept of Personal Responsibility?

I’m a big fan of the concept of personal responsibility.  If I make poor decisions, I expect to be responsible enough to handle the consequences without the prospect of being insulated from them.  The recent string of government bailouts has convinced me that the government is not willing to allow anyone to fail or suffer from poor decisions, particularly in the business world.

But today, I’m not focusing on corporate responsibility, but that of personal responsibility, so I would like to concentrate on the home mortgage issue.  When the whole sub-prime mortgage mess blew up, I couldn’t help but ask myself the following questions:

1. Why would banks approve lending such risky loans to obviously risky individuals?
2. Why would people take out mortgages they clearly could not afford?

Banks share responsibility for this mess as much as those individuals who took out these mortgages.  I don’t understand why banks would even approve risky loans to risky people.  I also don’t understand why people would assume mortgage payments that they couldn’t afford.  And then, when a crisis emerges because of these terrible loans, banks and individuals expect to be bailed out for their poor decisions, and homeowners are encouraged to not leave their homes, even though they are delinquent on payments.

In this case, when individuals clearly have made poor financial decisions, why should the government be responsible for fixing their problems?  Why can’t they accept the consequences of making a poor decision?  Same thing with the banks, as they share equal blame here in my opinion.  Why, why, why, issue risky loans to risky borrowers?  It does not make sense to me.  And then to have the government provide the banks TARP money to avoid bank failures?  Now do I think that those who bank with these troubled institutions, that have met all their financial obligations, should lose their money because their bank didn’t make sound financial and business decisions, no!  However, I do feel that if banks make poor decisions that they should be allowed to fail.  As much as I think those who bought homes they couldn’t afford should not receive assistance from the government.

Plus, is it such a foreign concept to pay more for something than you can afford, especially when you’re talking about a large investment such as a home?  If I can only afford $1,000 a month for a mortgage, I’m not going to get a mortgage for $1,400 a month.  Why?  Because I won’t be living there for very long and I would expect to lose my home because I don’t make enough to satisfy the financial obligation.

But the government doesn’t believe in that.  They believe that people should not be held accountable for their poor decisions, that the government should serve as a safety net.  With that being said, my largest fear, going forward, is that everyone is going to feel entitled to government assistance no matter how much they fail.  Being responsible for one’s actions is what makes us adults.  I feel that with continued government bailouts, we are saying that the government won’t let you fail and learn from your mistakes, because you have a safety net, so let’s encourage poor decision making.

It frightens me so much that the government won’t allow people to be responsible for their actions and that it’s ok to be dependent on the government to bail out people.  It’s a scary precedent because the direction our country is moving is complete dependence on the government to solve all our problems, and that will result in big brother being involved in all our daily decisions because WE CAN’T BE TRUSTED TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS.

Caption This!

Secretaries Clinton & Gates, and the Prez

So I’m checking out Politico.com and come across their pictures of the week segment and the picture you see to your left was the first one.  Now, I’m unsure which event this picture was taken at, but I can’t help but notice Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s look during this event.

My goodness, I wonder what got her to be in such a sour mood during that particular event.  Whatever it was, she looks quite upset, or better yet, completely uninterested in what’s going on.  At least Secretary of Defense Robert Gates looks a little more interesting.

Or, could it be that she’s upset at herself for leaving the Senate?  She’s certainly had a lot on her plate since she’s left the Hill.  Between North Korea and their pending missile test launch, the Mexican drug cartel war going on, maybe the lack of experience is finally catching up to her.  On December 8, 2008, I wrote in this post my opinion on how I felt that Secretary Clinton was not qualified for the job in the first place.

Ultimately, I think it’s a combination of both, frustration with all the diplomatic problems she lacks the experience to tackle, and that she disinterested because she’s not the one responsible for making all the decisions.

Reconciliation…. Change You Can Believe In?

So, by now, everyone has heard of the possibility of Congressional democrats making use of reconciliation as  a method of getting President Obama’s budget passed in the Senate to avoid a Republican filibuster.  Fox news has an article about the possibility of reconciliation here.  Yesterday I received an email from the House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, about reconciliation.  According to that email, below is a description of budget reconciliation:

• Budget reconciliation was first introduced in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
• Budget reconciliation is an optional procedure that can be included in the annual Congressional budget resolution process.
• Inclusion in the budget does not mean reconciliation will definitely be used; it merely leaves the option on the table.
• The main purpose of budget reconciliation is to provide Congress the ability to change current law in order to align revenue and spending levels with the policies of the budget resolution.
• Although reconciliation is an optional procedure, it has been used most years since its first use in 1980.

I have a major issue with this approach and it deals with our new president and his campaign rhetoric.  President Obama campaigned on a promise of bringing change to Washington, and how politics would not be the same as usual as it has been.  By encouraging reconciliation, the president is encouraging business as usual in the legislative process, specifically when we are talking about cap and trade environmental policies, health care reform, and ultimately the budget.  This process will effectively eliminate the opinion of the minority in order to quickly pass massive changes to the way we approach vital areas of interest.  Silencing the minority, that sounds like an encore presentation of what we went through from 2001 until 2006, where the democrats had very little say in how business was conducted in our nation’s capital.

The president needs to get on the ball here and persuade his democratic colleagues on the hill that we need to have the opportunity for full and open debate from all fronts.  In the Fox News article I cited above, I was surprised at what Senator Robert Byrd had to say about the reconciliation process:

Legislation so far-reaching should be fully vetted and given appropriate time for debate, something the budget reconciliation process does not allow. Using this procedure would circumvent normal Senate practice and would be inconsistent with the Obama administration’s stated goals of bipartisanship, cooperation, and openness.

I have found it very difficult to find anything I can agree with Senator Byrd on, but on this occassion I find myself agreeing with him 100% on this issue.

I would like to see the President practice what he preaches because I am sick and tired of seeing business as usual here in the nation’s capital and would like to actually see something constructive accomplished in a bi-partisan manner.

Congratulations to President Obama!

What a historic day!  Even though I do not agree with most of President Obama’s political leanings, I can definitely recognize the historic importance of today’s inauguration.  I will make an additional post about the President’s inaugural address, but overall, I felt it was very centrist in nature, which was definitely a good thing.  It was definitely good to see the throngs of people on television, places I typically pass on my daily commute into Washington.  I have not seen the National Mall that packed before ever, even during the first inauguration of President G.W. Bush, which I attended, in 2001.

Today should definitely serve as an example to the rest of the world, that here in the United States of America, we can peacefully elect, and transition power from one administration to another.

I hope the Obama family and administration enjoys the day, because tomorrow, I expect the new Administration to start working.