It is important for the American people to know the numbers relevant to the House Democrats 1,018-page “Americas Affordable Health Choices Act”, H.R. 3200. All Americans deserve access to affordable healthcare; however, the answer to high healthcare costs does not lie with government involvement, increased regulation, or mandates. In fact, those steps often depress the efficiency of programs and create additional costs. The video below shows just a few of the ways this bill will impact the American people if passed.
Energy and Commerce worked until midnight last night, and will reconvene at 10am this morning. They are expected to finish their health care markup sometime this afternoon.
Last night’s most heated debates in E&C revolved around publicly-funded abortions. Lois Capps was able to pass an amendment permitting the Democrats’ government plan to cover elective abortions. Reps. Pitts and Stupak followed that up with an amendment of their own, prohibiting abortions from being covered under the government plan. That amendment passed. Finally, Chairman Waxman reconsidered the vote–switched Bart Gordon’s vote–and defeated the amendment. The result of all of this dizzying maneuvering? Taxpayer-funded abortions are indeed covered by the Democrats’ bill.
President Obama changes course on the stimulus. Where are the jobs? House Republicans offer a real plan to create jobs and get our economy moving again. To view the Obama vs Obama video click here.
Since taking office just seven months ago, the president has skirted the Senate confirmation process and given unprecedented power to individuals, allowing them to oversee major offices within the federal government. Many of whom operate only under the supervision of the White House itself and do not report to a cabinet secretary or Congress. Congressman Kingston has introduced H.R. 3226 to ban czar funding. For more information visit kingston.house.gov/czar
Tonight Jack offered an amendment to the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill which would ban the District of Columbia’s needle exchange program from taking place within 1,000 feet of a school or school-like event.
A copy of the amendment is available here. More to come later.
Yesterday Jack was on NewsTalk1059 WVGA talking about different legislative issues that are being debated in Congress. He talked about everything from healthcare to Cap and Tax - and even Sarah Palin and President Obama competing in a foot race. You can listen to the interview in it’s entirety by clicking here clicking here.
Congressman urges constituents to participate in survey
With Tax Day just around the corner, Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1) is seeking input from First District constituents on efforts to reform the tax code. The survey, which can be filled out at http://kingston.house.gov/taxsurvey is designed to educate constituents on proposals for tax reform like the Fair Tax and the Flat Tax.
“All across Georgia and all across America, folks are gathering together for TEA parties,” Congressman Kingston said. “These demonstrate our frustration with an outdated tax code and the burden it places on small businesses and working families. I hope we can turn that frustration into action and get the discussion moving on reforming the tax code to provide for a more prosperous future.”
We just wanted to draw your attention to a Wall Street Journal story about a lawsuit filed against the Salvation Army by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What has the Salvation Army done? Giving employees a year’s notice that they should speak English on the job (they would be fired if not).
You can read the article HERE. But we wanted to highlight the following:
A new Rasmussen poll finds that 87% of voters think it “very important” that people speak English in the U.S., with four out of five Hispanics agreeing. And 77% support the right of employers to have English-only policies, while only 14% are opposed.
Yesterday afternoon, Jack took to the House floor to pay tribute to former Congressman Charlie Norwood who passed away earlier this year. Jack authored a bill to name the VA hospital in Augusta the “Charlie Norwood Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.” The bill passed unaimously.
Last night, Jack played in the Longest Yard Football Classic. The charity game was between the Members’ “Mean Machine” and the Capitol Hill Police Officers. The game was expected to raise close to $30,000 for the Capitol Police Memorial Fund; to date, over $100,000 has been raised for the fund.
Jack got some good playing time and made some key defensive plays but the Mean Machine fell 28-0. You can check out pictures HERE.
Last night, Jack spoke on the House floor in favor of H.Res. 716, expressing the sense of Congress with respect to raising awarementss and enhancing the state of cyber security in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Armstrong Atlantic State University just recently opened up the Cyber Security Research Institute. Jack spoke at the opening ceremony of the center which is only one of a few in the nation which focus on cyber security.
Recently, staffers for the Homeland Security Committee were advised by a Democrat official to get immunized before a recent trip. The immunizations were for Hepatitis A, B, tetanus, diptheria and seasonal influenza. Nothing unusual at first glance; staffers often take overseas trips where this is recommended. However, these staffers were not travelling overseas, but rather heading to Talladega Superspeedway and North Carolina’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
If the Democrats were hoping to win over NASCAR dads for the 08 election; this isn’t the way to go about it.
UPDATE: Jason Pye is on this story with undoubtedly one of the best headlines - Race of the Living Dead - so check it out.
Don’t worry, you’re not having deja vu. This time it’s Iranian students protesting Ahmadinejad’s speech at Tehran University. It seems that while he was willing to speak to plenty of students at Columbia University as well as answer their questions; the same standard doesn’t apply in his own country. Instead, access to his speech was limited to people with invitations; only selected students were allowed in.
Milad Niazi, a student at Tehran Azad University, “criticized the president for avoiding hard questions at home, saying “Supporters of Ahmadinejad praise his appearance at Columbia University as a heroic act, but they don’t dare to let students appear in the speech hall.”
And yes, this is the man who Columbia University invited all in the name of free speech and an open forum.
The week started with the Democrat Whip James Clyburn admitting that good news in Iraq would be bad news for the Democrats:
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party’s efforts to press for a timetable to end the war.
The week ended with Democrat shenanigans on the floor when it came to a vote regarding government assistance going to illegal aliens. You can read all the details HERE and HERE.
To sum up, in the Democrats’ world, good news is bad news and a losing vote can quickly be turned into a winning one.
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