Doing the Job Congress Won't Do

Someone is doing the job Congress won't do. This guy gets my nomination for Citizen of the Year.
He's posting his findings on Twitter. The first 500 pages are below. Stay tuned for the next third.

This is House Bill 3200 that you can find at: http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf.
It keeps changing and enlarging with amendments so the page numbers do change from time to time.

Here's the summary:

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments and benefits you get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!

Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC benefits for you. You have no choice!

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access to individuals' finances and a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access to your banks' accounts for election funds transfer

PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions & community orgs (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating a HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Govt control.

PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs for private HC plans in the Exchange

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!

PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates linguistic-appropriate services. Example: Translation for illegal aliens

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups (i.e., ACORN & Americorps) to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Ben Levels for Plans. #AARP members - your health care will be rationed.

PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid-eligible individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No “judicial review” against Govt Monopoly.

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST automatically enroll employees into pub opt plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for health care for part-time employees AND their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY employer with a payroll of $400k and above who does not provide pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll

pg 150 Lines 9-13 Businesses with payroll between $251k & 400k who don't provide pub. opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll

Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income

Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay)

Pg 195 HC Bill - Officers and employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans' financial and personal records.

PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax” Yes, it says that.

Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected

Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors will all be paid the same, regardless of what specialty you have.

PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of doctor's time, professional judgment, etc. Literally value of humans.

PG 265 Sec 1131 Govt mandates and controls productivity for private HC industries

PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental and purchase of power driven wheelchairs

PG 272 SEC. 1145. Treatment of certain cancer hospitals. Cancer patients: welcome to rationing!

Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals for what it deems preventable readmissions.

Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Doctors who treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission will be penalized by the Govt.

Pg 317 L 13-20 PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells doctors what/how much they can own.

Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand

pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can you say ACORN?!!

Pg335 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Govt mandates establishment of outcome-based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing

Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing peeps into Govt plan

Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of special needs people.! WTF. My sis has down syndrome!!

Pg 379 Sec 1191 Govt creates more bureaucracy - Telehealth Advisory Committee. Can you say HC by phone?

PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consultion at least every 5 years with instructions on how Senior Citizens can end their life early!!! - This saves $$$$!!!

Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!

PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death.
Excuse me???!?!?!?

PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program for orders for end of life. The Govt has a say in how your life ends

Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An “advance care planning consult” will be used frequently as patient's health deteriorates

PG 429 Lines 10-12 “Advance care consultation” may include an ORDER for end of life plans.
AN ORDER from GOV

Pg 429 Lines 13-25 - The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.

PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life

Pg 469 - Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs. Hello, ACORN Medical Svcs here!!?

Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG. One monthly payment to a community-based org. Like ACORN?

PG 489 Sec 1308 The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Govt into your marriage

Pg 494-498 Govt will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, rationing those same services

To be continued -this is only the first 500 pages.

Heritage Morning Bell

Obamacare’s Effect on Seniors
Today at 1:30 PM, President Barack Obama will participate in a health care “tele-town hall” at AARP headquarters in Washington, DC. The President is scheduled to answer questions about his health care plan from AARP members via phone, email, and even a live audience of about 40 AARP members and volunteers. We hope the event’s moderators will allow for a lively and honest debate because our nation’s seniors stand to be huge losers under Obamacare:

Losing Your Doctor:
Under the current system, more and more seniors are discovering that it is becoming harder and harder to find and keep doctors who will accept Medicare patients. A 2008 survey found that 29% of the Medicare beneficiaries it surveyed who were looking for a primary care doctor had a problem finding one to treat them, up from 24% the year before. This problem is compounded by the fact that our nation is facing a growing shortage of doctors. Obamacare promises to only make these problems worse. First, Obama plans to pay for up to a third of his plan by cutting $313 billion in Medicare reimbursements to health care providers over the next 10 years. This will only force more doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients. Second, Obama’s public “option” could decrease the annual net income of hospitals by $36 billion while the annual net income of physicians could drop by $33.1 billion.
Facing a sharp reduction in their pay, more doctors will retire early and more bright students will elect to pursue other careers, thereby reducing access and ensuring lower quality health care for future generations as well.

Losing Your Coverage:
22% of all Medicare patients, which translates to 10.5 million seniors, are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. These health plans cover all of the traditional Medicare benefits and much more, including coor­dinated care and care-management programs for enrollees with chronic conditions as well as additional hospitalization and skilled nursing facility stays. President Obama has proposed killing this program entirely. A new study for the Florida Association of Health Plans found that because Medicare Advantage plans have richer benefits and lower deductibles and copayments than traditional Medicare, seniors in that state would face dramatically higher payments if forced to give up their Medicare Advantage plans. Cost increases would range from $2,214 a year in Jacksonville to $3,714 a year in Miami.

Rationing Your Care:
Another centerpiece to Obamacare is the creation of a federal health board that will ration your health care. Obama supporter and infanticide advocate Peter Singer made the case for rationing health care recently in the New York Times, writing: “The task of health care bureaucrats is then to get the best value for the resources they have been allocated.” Conservatives in Congress have given Obamacare supporters every opportunity to disavow government rationed health care, but Obamacare supporters have voted down every anti-rationing amendment proposed.

Make no mistake, Obama plans to pay for expanded coverage for the young and healthy by denying treatments to the old and sick. Americans can do better.

There is no question that America’s $2.4 trillion health care system needs to be reformed. But it should not be done on the backs of America’s seniors. Conservatives have a better vision for health care reform that cuts health care costs by reforming the tax system, enabling true health care competition, and giving families control of their health care dollars.

The Devil Just Said "Quiet Everyone...SHE'S AWAKE!!!

OneNewsNow has the whole article here.

/snip

Palin called her 2 1/2-year tenure as governor a success, citing efforts to take on the state's long-dominant oil industry and progress on development of a natural gas pipeline. She also cited ethics reform, but said "ironically, it needs additional reform" to stop partisan and frivolous complaints such as those that have dogged her in the past year.

Palin said Sunday her reasons for resigning "should be so obvious," but listed them again for the benefit of a supportive crowd that repeatedly interrupted her speech with applause and shouts of support. She said her departure would spare Alaska an unproductive, "politics as usual" lame-duck session, adding that she would always work for Alaska.

"When I took the oath to serve you, I promised, remember what I promised? To steadfastly and doggedly guard the interests of this great state like that grizzly guards her cubs, as a mother naturally guards her own. And I will keep that vow wherever the road may lead,"she said.

Her first order of business as a private citizen is to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. She also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast, and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter, one of her favorite venues to reach out to supporters.

Free speech was a theme of her farewell speech at the crowded picnic in Fairbanks, as the outgoing governor scolded "some seemingly hell-bent on tearing down our nation" and warned Americans to "be wary of accepting government largesse."

"It doesn't come free," she said.

Palin also took aim at the media, saying her replacement, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, "has a very nice family too, so leave his kids alone!"

And she told the media: "How about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin' things up?"

/snip

Blue Star Mom and a grandmother.
Son, that's MEAN!!!!!!!!!

The Other McCain: Richmond Tea Party Report: Liberty 101

The Other McCain: Richmond Tea Party Report: Liberty 101

Very cool; although I prefer infamous or notorious.
A lot more people now know about Warrior Legacy Foundation, and THAT, my friends, is a VERY good thing.

This Just Warms the Heart

- Northeast Intelligence Network -
http://homelandsecurityus.com -

Planning for Jihad - on U.S. soil
Posted By Director On July 20, 2009 @ 8:41 am In Domestic Terrorism, Douglas J. Hagmann, Editorials, Fifth Column, Ideological Jihad, Randy Taylor, al Qaeda Comments Disabled
Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

20 July 2009: The call for jihad and seditious takeover of the United States by Islam was made loud and clear yesterday in Chicago. The fundamentalist Islamic political party known as Hizb ut-Tahrir (America), or HTA, hosted a conference at the Hilton Hotel in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn yesterday. The attendees, dressed in traditional Muslim attire, were segregated by gender according to the oppressive tenets of fundamentalist Islam.The women in attendance were covered from head to toe in fundamentalist Islamic attire, sat away from the men during the presentations.

While a small flurry of protesters gathered outside and across from the hotel and TV news crews gained only limited access to this threat to democracy and American values, a covert operative of the Northeast Intelligence Network successfully secured entry into this politically charged conference. According to this group’s leadership base in the U.S., present and speaking at the conference, “the time is right to advance the goals and objectives [of HTA] across America.”

Those goals include the establishment of a worldwide Islamic state governed under Sharia law with a Muslim ruler. And, according to the group’s U.S. leaders as stated yesterday - information secured through surveillance conducted by the Northeast Intelligence Network, the political climate in the U.S. is ripe to actively and openly solicit the support of Muslims in the U.S. in the advancement of these global objectives.

The operative at the conference stated that the tenor of the meeting was “one continuous incendiary attack against capitalism, democracy, and Western values.” Capitalism and democracy were described as evil, and Western values, Christianity, Judaism, and other non-Islamic beliefs as the antithesis of true Islam that must be “dealt with” in order to establish an Islamic Caliphate.

One unidentified event organizer stated that soldiers and supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir have made significant progress in gaining political clout within the U.S. - an interesting claim considering that the group’s leadership had urged its members to sit out last year’s elections. It has been suggested by counter-terrorism researchers that Hizb ut-Tahrir is now entering the second or more public stage of their three-part strategy (Article link HERE).

Although the conference spokesman, Mohammed Malkawi, denied that his organization has or had any ties to terrorists or terror groups (calling the claims “absolutely baseless”) , it is well known that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zarqawi, and countless other Muslim terrorists were members of Hizb ut-Tahrir and promoted their doctrine. This group has been covertly developing a broad base of support in the U.S. and Canada for at least the last three decades.

They have acted as the recruiting and indoctrination arm for al Qaeda, and are considered by some to be the visible political arm of al Qaeda and their ideology.

The presentations made at the conference were virulently anti-American and anti-Israel, with presenters criticizing the continuing U.S. and Israel alliance and U.S. involvement in Muslim countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan. It was stressed that Jihad is “the duty of every Muslim” to achieve complete domination and the implementation of a pure Muslim global state.

Heritage Morning Bell

The F-22 Raptor is the baddest airplane ever invented. The only aircraft I can think of that is better is actually a helicopter, the RAH-66 Comanche, which has also been discontinued.

The Raptor is a stealth fighter jet. It is scary fast and practically invisible.

But we can't have scary weapons, now can we? I mean, we want everyone to like us, right?

Obama Just Made Us More Vulnerable… Again
In Word War I Eddie Rickenbacker downed 26 enemy planes. In Word War II Richard Bong notched 40 while Francis Gabreski killed 34 across World War II and Korea. In contrast, when Cesar Rodriguez retired from the Air Force two years ago, his three-air-to-air kills (two over Iraq in 1991 and one over Kosovo) were the most of any American fighter pilot on active duty. The steep decline in these numbers is no accident. They are the residue of a purposeful strategy to avoid war through unquestioned strength. As Ronald Reagan told the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984: “There are some who’ve forgotten why we have a military. It’s not to promote war; it’s to be prepared for peace.”

Yesterday the Obama administration significantly undercut our strength by killing production of the Air Force’s best fighter: the F-22. For Obama, the victory was purely symbolic. While he sends our nation spiraling into trillions of new debt, his $1.75 billion in savings by cutting the F-22 amounts to a third of one percent of the overall 2010 defense budget. So if killing the F-22 was not about savings, what was the motivation? The New York Times reports: “Senate aides said that some Democrats who otherwise might have voted for more planes sided with the President out of concern that a loss could have hurt him in the fight for health care reform.”

So at what cost to our national security did Obama trade political momentum for his domestic initiatives? Russia is expanding its fighter forces more than at any other time since the end of the Cold War. The Russians plan to field 300 Su-Fullback strike aircraft by 2022 and an additional 300 Sukhoi Pak fifth-generation fighters. Meanwhile, China has ordered an estimated 76 Su-30MKK Flanker-Gs and can produce an additional 250 under license, including at least 100 “knock-down kits” to be assembled in China. If China modernizes its 171 Su-27SK/UBs to the Su-27SKM standard and assembles another 105 Su-27SKMs under license, it will have roughly 626 multi-role fighters available for air superiority missions. This would place China in the same league as the U.S., which has 522 F-15A/B/C/Ds, 217 F-15Es, and a planned end strength of 186 F-22s.

The fighter gap is often considered to be far in the future, but the reality is that future short falls must be addressed today. The President’s fighter cuts would eliminate one of the two remaining fifth-generation fighter production lines. This would severely limit the options available to Congress if it wants to restart production at some later date. The cost to the taxpayer would also be much higher than if production continues.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration weakened our defenses on another front, agreeing to reduce the number of strategic launchers despite receiving no real concessions from the Russians on Missile Defense.

You can join Governor Mitt Romney, Speaker Newt Gingrich, Republican Whip Eric Cantor, and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and send the President a message that weakness invites aggression, not peace. You can join the 55,000 other Americans who have signed the 4% for Freedom petition which calls on the President and Congress to protect America by:
1) restoring missile defense funding;
2) giving our troops the equipment they need to complete their missions; and
3) not including war funding, maintain a minimum defense budget of 4% of GDP.

HisHighness is Stonewalling on Gitmo

Boehner Statement on Delay of Administration’s Six-Month Report on Guantanamo Bay Terrorist Prison
WASHINGTON, DC - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on the delay of the Administration’s six-month report, as ordered by the President’s executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay terrorist prison by January 2010:

“For months, Republicans have been asking the President to present his plan for what to do with the dangerous terrorists currently housed at the Guantanamo prison. The delay of this six-month report is further proof that the Administration has no plan, and six months away from the his arbitrary deadline for closing the prison, the American people are right to ask if the Administration will import any of these terrorists into the United States. Despite the fact that a solid majority of the American people and a bipartisan majority here in Congress oppose releasing or bringing these imprisoned terrorists into the United States, the White House has yet to provide the American people an iron-clad guarantee that it will not choose this dangerous course of action. Instead of taking unilateral action that could put our nation at risk, the Administration should listen to these concerns, take them into account, and outline a comprehensive strategy for keeping these terrorists off American soil.
“Two months ago, Republicans introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act to protect Americans from dangerous terrorists being imported into our communities. This legislation includes common sense provisions to require governors and state legislators to pre-approve the transfer of prisoners into their states. In the absence of a plan from the White House, if Democratic leaders are serious about protecting the American people, they will schedule this bill for a vote in the House of Representatives.”

NOTE: On May 7, House Republicans introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act (H.R. 2294) to:
(1) affirm Congress’ opposition to transferring or releasing terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States;
(2) prohibit the Administration from transferring or releasing any terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay to any state without express approval from the state’s governor and legislature; and
(3) prohibit the President from transferring or releasing a terrorist detainee into the United States unless he provides notification and certification to Congress.

Heritage Morning Bell

Obama Admits He’s “Not Familiar” With House Bill
With the public’s trust in his handling of health care tanking (50%-44% of Americans disapprove), the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to pass Obamacare: all Obama, all the time. As part of that effort, Obama hosted a conference call with leftist bloggers urging them to pressure Congress to pass his health plan as soon as possible.

During the call, a blogger from Maine said he kept running into an Investors Business Daily article that claimed Section 102 of the House health legislation would outlaw private insurance. He asked: “Is this true? Will people be able to keep their insurance and will insurers be able to write new policies even though H.R. 3200 is passed?” President Obama replied: “You know, I have to say that I am not familiar with the provision you are talking about.” (quote begins at 17:10)

This is a truly disturbing admission by the President especially considering that later in the call, Obama promises yet again: “If you have health insurance, and you like it, and you have a doctor that you like, then you can keep it. Period.” How can Obama keep making this promise if he is not familiar with the health legislation that is being written in Congress? Details matter.

We are familiar with the passage IBD sites, and as we wrote last week, the House bill does not outright outlaw private individual health insurance, but it does effectively regulate it out of existence. The House bill does allow private insurance to be sold, but only “Exchange-participating health benefits plans.” In order to qualify as an “Exchange-participating health benefits plan,” all health insurance plans must conform to a slew of new regulations, including community rating and guaranteed issue. These will all send the cost of private individual health insurance skyrocketing. Furthermore, all these new regulations would not apply just to individual insurance plans, but to all insurance plans. So the House bill will also drive up the cost of your existing employer coverage as well. Until, of course, it becomes so expensive that your company makes the perfectly economical decision to dump you into the government plan.

President Obama may not care to study how many people will lose their current health insurance if his plan becomes law, but like most Americans, we do. That is why we partnered with the Lewin Group to study how many Americans would be forced into the government “option” under the House health plan. Here is what we found:

1. Approximately 103 million people would be covered under the new public plan and as a consequence about 83.4 million people would lose their private insurance. This would represent a 48.4 percent reduction in the number of people with private coverage.

2. About 88.1 million workers would see their current private, employer-sponsored health plan go away and would be shifted to the public plan.

3. Yearly premiums for the typical American with private coverage could go up by as much as $460 per privately insured person, as a result of increased cost-shifting stemming from a public plan modeled on Medicare.

It is truly frightening that the President of the United States is pressuring Congress in an all out media blitz to pass legislation that he flatly admits he has not read and is not familiar with. President Obama owes it to the Americans people to stop making promises about what his health plan will and will not do until he has read it, and can properly defend it in public, to his own supporters.

News on Rep Cantor

It was also a busy week in the House of Representatives with some health care hearings going into the wee hours of the morning.
In the Ways and Means Committee, Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Sam Johnson (R-Texas) offered life-related amendments to the Democrats' massive health care bill. Rep. Johnson's would have explicitly excluded abortion from the minimum benefits and mandates provided for in the bill, and Rep. Cantor's would have prevented taxpayers from being forced to subsidize abortions. Both amendments failed, further solidifying the Democrats' health care overhaul as one big abortion industry bailout.
In addition, a special order was called on the House floor last night where a number of Members spoke on abortion concerns in the health care proposals. Life was dealt another heartbreaking blow when the Financial Services legislation passed, allowing the nation's capital to use taxpayer monies to pay for abortions.
The last time the District of Columbia was allowed to do this they took the money away from crucial AIDS services and put it towards abortion. History reveals the consequences of abortion coverage not being explicitly excluded from federal programs.
The Medicaid program from 1973-1976 funded as many as 300,000 abortions per year until the Hyde amendment was enacted. Even Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute recently stated that if abortion is taxpayer funded, abortions would rise by at least 30 percent. With all this mounting evidence, does anyone still believe this President's talk of reducing "the need for abortion" means reducing the number of abortions?
Lastly, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.) offered a motion that would have amended the bill to reinstate the abortion funding ban. However, this effort was rebuffed in a procedural vote of 225 - 195. The news was mostly bad, but I want you to know that there are some true leaders on Capitol Hill working with us to protect the unborn, and defend faith, family and freedom. It is not time to retreat!

They'll Make Us All Criminals

Because THIS citizen will NOT play their game.

REALITY CHECK: THREE DEMOCRATIC CLAIMS THAT NO LONGER PASS THE STRAIGHT FACE TEST

THE FACTS ON REDUCING COSTS, KEEPING YOUR HEALTH PLAN, AND HOLDING TAXES AT 1990s LEVELS
July 17, 2009 House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) Permalink

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf’s announcement yesterday that the Democrats’ government takeover of health care would increase costs – not lower them – is the third strike against the Democrats’ claims about their health care bills. But as Democratic leaders in the House move full speed ahead, there are three arguments they repeatedly use that NO LONGER ring true:

CLAIM: HEALTH CARE PLAN WILL REDUCE COSTS
“Let me repeat - if you like your health care, the only thing reform will mean is your health care will cost less. If anyone says otherwise, they are either trying to mislead you or don't have their facts straight.” (President Obama, “Remarks at the Annual Conference of the American Medical Association,” 6/15/09)

“It will bring down cost, improve quality, and make America healthier.” (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Transcript of Press Conference, 6/25/09)

“We need to bring costs down. We need to bring costs down for government. We need to bring costs down for families. And we need to bring costs down for individuals.” (House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Transcript Fox News Sunday, 7/5/09)

FACT: THE PROPOSALS WILL INCREASE COSTS
“Here’s a blow to President Obama and Democrats pressing health care reform. One of the main arguments made by the President and others for investing in health reform now is that it will save the federal government money in the long run by containing costs. Turns out that may not be the case, according to Doug Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office… Elmendorf said CBO does not see health care cost savings in either of the partisan Democratic bills currently in Congress.” (ABC News, “CBO Sees No Federal Cost Savings in Dem Health Plans,” 7/16/09)

“Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf warned lawmakers the legislation that he has seen so far would raise costs, not lower them. Elmendorf was asked by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.S., if the bills Congress is considering would ‘bend the cost curve.’ The budget director responded: ‘The curve is being raised.’” (Associated Press, “House Democrats Set to Vote on Health Care Bill,” 7/16/09)

CLAIM: IF YOU LIKE YOUR HEALTH PLAN, YOU CAN KEEP IT
“If you like your health care plan, you can keep that too.” (President Obama, Remarks in the Rose Garden, July 15, 2009)

“I say all the time, with respect to their health insurance program that they now have: if you've got it, you like it, you keep it.” (House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Press Conference, 7/13/09)
FACT: DEMOCRATS’ PLAN WOULD FORCE MILLIONS OUT OF THEIR CURRENT PLAN
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that 23 million Americans would lose their current plans if a Senate Democratic health care 'reform' bill was enacted." (Congressional Budget Office, Letter to Sen. Kennedy, 6/15/09)

"When I say if you have your plan and you like it,…or you have a doctor and you like your doctor, that you don't have to change plans, what I'm saying is the government is not going to make you change plans under health reform,’ the President said.” (ABC News, “What Does the President’s Promise , ‘You'll Be Able to Keep Your Health Care Plan, Period,’ Really Mean?,” 6/23/09)

“White House officials suggest the president's rhetoric shouldn't be taken literally: What Obama really means is that government isn't about to barge in and force people to change insurance.” (Associated Press, “Promises, Promises: Obama's health plan guarantee,” 6/19/09)

CLAIM: NO FAMILY WILL PAY HIGHER TAXES THAN IN THE 1990s
“The pledge, as listed on Obama's campaign Web site, was: ‘No family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s.’” (Associated Press, “House plan boosts taxes on rich to 20-year high,” 7/15/09)

FACT: HOUSE DEMOCRATS’ BILL WOULD RAISE TAXES TO 25-YEAR HIGH
“The bill unveiled by House Democratic leaders Tuesday would create three new tax brackets for high earners, with a top rate of 45 percent for families making more than $1 million. That would be the highest income tax rate since 1986, when the top rate was 50 percent.” (Associated Press, “House plan boosts taxes on rich to 20-year high,” 7/15/09)

“For New York state taxpayers, the top [tax] rate would hit 56.92 percent, third-highest in the nation. And in the five boroughs, the top rate would be 58.68 per cent -- highest in the nation. Having abandoned any notion of lightening the load with spending cuts, House Democrats have put forward a 1,000-plus-page proposal dripping with new taxes, surcharges and fees. The biggest losers? Small businesses -- companies with as few as five employees, who'll have to pay a penalty of up to 8 percent of income unless they provide their workers with health insurance.” (New York Post, “Here Comes ObamaCare,” 7/16/09)

“Another implication of the Rangel plan is that America's successful small businesses would pay higher tax rates than the Fortune 500, and for that matter than most companies around the world. The corporate federal-state tax rate applied to General Electric and Google is about 39% in the U.S., and the business tax rate is about 25% in the OECD countries. So the U.S. would have close to the most punitive taxes on small business income anywhere on the globe.” (Wall Street Journal, “The Small Business Surtax,” 7/15/09)