HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Boehner Web Video: “I’m Not a Doctor, But I Play One on TV”

Yesterday, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) released a web video, adapting the old joke “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV,” to President Obama’s proposed government takeover of health care.   

Leader Boehner said of the video: “This is a lighthearted video, but it underscores a serious point that Congressional Democrats are going to hear throughout August as they travel outside of Washington: Americans want lower health care costs not a trillion-dollar government takeover of health care that increases costs and lets Washington bureaucrats make decisions that should be made by doctors and patients.”

To read about House Republicans’ better solutions to strengthening America’s health care, click HERE.

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VIDEO: Top Democrat Admits Government-Run Health Care Plan Would Lead to Single-Payer Health Care System

Democrats have long pushed for a single-payer health care system - but have repeatedly denied that the “public option,” their euphemism for the government-run health care plan that is the centerpiece of the their $1.5 trillion health care bill, will inevitably lead to a government-controlled health care system similar to those in Canada and the United Kingdom. 

In a newly unearthed video, however, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) candidly admits that the entire point of the “public option” is to force tens of millions of Americans off their private insurance plans and onto the government rolls.  When confronted by a supporter of the single-payer system, Rep. Frank is blunt in his assessment of the so-called “public option,” stating that “if we get a good public option, it could lead to single-payer, and that’s the best way to lead to single-payer.”

As Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has pointed out, “[t]he ‘public option’ isn’t honest.  It is designed to make private insurers go away.”  Americans want health care reform - and House Republicans agree - but a government takeover of the health care system isn’t the answer. 

There’s a better way to reform the best health care system in the world.  House Republicans have a plan that will reduce costs, expand access and increase the quality of care in a way we can afford - without raising taxes on small businesses or middle class or putting the federal government in control of Americans’ health care.  To read more about House Republicans’ plan, click HERE.

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Boehner: Government-Run Health Care Plan Flunks the Skyline Chili Test

Americans oppose the government takeover of health care proposed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other Washington Democrats, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said today — and he said he doesn’t need polls to prove it.  What makes him so confident?  Call it the Skyline Chili test.

During his weekly press briefing in the U.S. Capitol today, Boehner invoked the name of Cincinnati’s famed delicacy as he fielded questions from the Capitol Hill press corps.  An excerpt:

REPORTER: ‘Mr. Leader. . .You said that August was going to be a hot summer as people, you know, debate and consider what this [health care] plan is.  What makes you so convinced?  You cited polls earlier, but what makes you so convinced that — that the Republicans and their opposition to this plan is going to win out. . .?’

BOEHNER: ‘This isn’t about Republicans.  This is the American people’s opposition that is growing. . .I don’t need to see the polling.  You know, I walk through airports.  I go to Home Depot.  I go to Skyline Chili.  I’ve got people who stop me nonstop to voice their concerns and their outrage.’

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House Democrats Run Scared Over House GOP Health Care Chart

Well, the “most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history” is at it again.  House Democrats, as today’s Roll Call reported, “are preventing Republican House Members from sending their constituents a mailing that is critical of the majority’s health care reform plan, blocking the mailing by alleging that it is inaccurate.” 

It’s understandable that Speaker Pelosi is nervous about letting the American people know the consequences of their government takeover of health care - but are the Democrats running so scared that they’ve decided to block House Republicans from communicating with their own constituents?

Apparently so, as Roll Call notes:

The dispute centers on a chart created by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee to illustrate the organization of the Democratic health care plan…In a memo sent Monday to Republicans on the House franking commission, Democrats argue that sending the chart to constituents as official mail would violate House rules because the information is misleading.  In their eight-point memo, which was obtained by Roll Call, Democrats identify a litany of areas where they believe the chart is incorrect.

Brady. . .said Democrats are simply threatened by the content of the graphic.  ‘I think their review was laughable,’ Brady said.  ‘It’s … downright false in most of the cases.  The chart depicts their health care plan as their committees developed it.  The chart reveals how their health care bureaucracy works, and people are frightened by it,’ he added.  ‘So this is their effort to try and discredit’ the chart.

Here’s the chart that’s giving the Democrats such heartburn:

The Democrats have it backwards.  It’s their health care plan that’s misleading, not the chart that House Republicans have produced, which simply illustrates the confusing web of at least 31 new federal programs, agencies, commissions and mandates that are part and parcel of the Democrats’ unprecedented $1.6 trillion government takeover of health care in America.

Americans want health care reform, but the Democrats’ go-it-alone, government takeover of health care isn’t the way to improve the best health care system in the world.  House Republicans have a plan that will reduce costs, expand access and increase the quality of care in a way we can afford - without raising taxes on small businesses or middle class. To read more about the House Republicans’ plan, click HERE.

An added benefit of the House Republican plan: it doesn’t require a chart to understand.

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Backroom Deals in National Energy Tax Highlight Need for 72-Hour Review Period Before Voting on Government Takeover of Health Care

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has called on the Congress to adopt a mandatory 72-hour public review period for all major spending bills.  The idea is simple: give the American people and their elected representatives the opportunity to actually see what is being voted on. 

If Leader Boehner’s proposal had been in place at the start of this Congress, it’s doubtful Congress would have voted to send $1 million to Rep. Murtha’s “Airport for No One,” millions of dollars to fund AIG bonuses, or nearly $1 million to fix up a bridge to a bar in Appropriations Chairman Dave Obey district - all of which were included in the Democrats’ 1,100 page, $1 trillion “stimulus” package that was rushed through Congress with fewer than 12 hours of review. 

That pattern of payoffs and late night, backroom dealing that characterized the “stimulus” package also reappeared during the debate over Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax.  As today’s Los Angeles Times reported:  “There were about 300 pages of last-minute amendments, many designed to make money for industries and constituencies important to fence-sitting lawmakers.”  The Times continued:

About the same time, Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) took the lead in adding another little-noticed provision to the legislation — a section designed to prevent regulatory action she said could shut down the multitrillion-dollar market for over-the-counter derivatives, a complex type of financial instrument… Bean, who has long received campaign contributions from the financial services industry, made it clear to party leaders that she would oppose the bill unless the language was changed.  Two days before the vote, the change was made. Bean voted yes.

Rep. Bean wasn’t alone.  In fact, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) was reportedly a direct beneficiary of another such deal, as the Washington Times reported last week:

Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado inserted a provision into the recently passed House climate change bill that would drum up business for ‘green’ banks, such as the one he has invested in and his family and a political donor helped found in San Francisco.

Enacting a 72-hour review period would go a long way to prevent the use of taxpayer money to buy off votes in Congress.  But Democrats aren’t buying Leader Boehner’s proposal of implementing a mandatory 72-hour review period before voting on major legislation.

Responding to a question posed by CNS News on “whether he supported a pledge that asks members of the Congress to read the entire bill before voting on it and also make the full text of the bill available to the public for 72 hours before a vote,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) actually laughed off the idea, as CNS News reported:

In fact, Hoyer found the idea of the pledge humorous, laughing as he responded to the question. “I’m laughing because a) I don’t know how long this bill is going to be, but it’s going to be a very long bill,” he said.

Let Freedom Ring, a non-partisan group, has a pledge which calls on Members of Congress to promise they will not vote to enact a health care bill they have not read and also proposes that they post the full text of the bill online at least 72 hours before Congress votes on it.  House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has signed on and has urged other Members of Congress to do so as well.  As of this morning, 62 Members have officially endorsed the proposal. 

As the House of Representatives rushes to pass a $1.5 trillion government takeover of health care, will Speaker Pelosi give Members of Congress enough time to actually read the bill they’re voting on, or will she continue an all-too-familiar path of rushing bills through Congress?  The American people - whose hard-earned money Congress is entrusted to spend wisely - deserve an answer.

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Democrats Continue Push Towards Government Takeover of Health Care

Early this morning - at around 2 a.m. - the Ways and Means Committee narrowly passed the Democrats’ massive $1.5 trillion government takeover of health care.  The Democrats introduced their bill on Tuesday afternoon, and by Thursday evening they rushing the bill through the committee.  As Ways and Means Ranking Republican Dave Camp (R-MI) put it in his opening statement last night: “In 1994, as we debated health care reform, the full Ways and Means Committee spent 17 days over six weeks conducting our markup.  This year, our markup will last a day.”

Why the rush?  Because its become crystal clear that the Democrats’ arguments in favor of a government takeover of health care just don’t hold water. 

They claim that their plan will reduce costs; it won’t.  Yesterday, in testimony before the Ways & Means Committee, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf debunked that notion:

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Newspaper Editorials Blast Democrats’ Government Takeover of Health Care

Democrats are continuing their rush to “reform” the health care system by passing a 1,018 page, $1.5 trillion bill that will force 114 million Americans to lose their current health insurance - despite the repeated promises by the President to the contrary.  

But this week hasn’t turned out so well for Democrats.  First, House Democrats introduced a $1.5 trillion health care plan that would hike taxes on small businesses and job creators - and was quickly denounced by a Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), who said “there’s no way they can pass the current bill on the House floor.  Not even close.”  Next, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf denounced the Democrats’ bill, as the Washington Post reported: “On the contrary,’ Elmendorf said, ‘the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.’”

And finally, in a press briefing this morning, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) pointed out that:

According to the National Taxpayers Union, the bill contains the word ‘choice,’ the word ‘options’ and ‘marketplace’ just 88 times in their bill, while, at the same time, 1,400 times these words are used: ‘tax,’ ‘taxes,’ ‘require,’ ‘report,’ ‘limit,’ ‘penalty’ and ‘regulations’… As a former small-business man, I can tell you that the last thing the Congress needs to do in a recession is to punish the small businesses that create a majority of the new jobs in America.

As Americans become aware of the details of the Democrats’ push towards government-run health care, they’re becoming increasingly alarmed - and many newspaper editorials from coast to coast have given voice to their concerns over the past week:

Investor’s Business Daily:

It didn’t take long to run into an ‘uh-oh’ moment when reading the House’s ‘health care for all Americans’ bill.  Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal.  When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it.  So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.  It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage.

New York Post:

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.

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Boehner, House GOP Unveil Chart Outlining Democrats’ Government Takeover of Health Care

This morning, Fox News highlighted a press briefing House Republican Leaders called to discuss the bureaucratic nightmare that the House Democrats’ government-run plan would create:

House Republicans, led by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and House Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), today outlined a chart detailing the bureaucratic nightmare of the House Democrats’ $1.5 trillion health care plan that relies on massive tax hikes on small businesses and job creators in the midst of a deepening economic recession - and will cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their current coverage to boot.

The chart identifies at least 31 new federal programs, agencies, commissions and mandates that accompany the unprecedented government takeover of health care in America. 

Americans want health care reform - and House Republicans agree - but the Democrats’ go-it-alone, tax and spend attitude isn’t the way to improve the best health care system in the world.  House Republicans have a plan that will reduce costs, expand access and increase the quality of care in a way we can afford - without raising taxes on small businesses or middle class families.  To read more about the House Republicans’ plan, click HERE.

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House Democrats Plan New, Multi-Billion Dollar Small Business Tax

This past weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that House Democrats plan on raising taxes - to the tune of “$540 billion over the next decade” - on small businesses, investors, and job creators in the midst of the worst economic recession in 30 years, all in an effort to cover some of the cost of their massive government-run health care proposal, which one independent study said would result in $3.5 trillion in added federal spending over the next decade.  And those tax increases are on top of the ones Democrats included in their $3.6 trillion budget, which “raises taxes by at least $683 billion over the next 5 years,” according to the House Budget Committee Republican Staff. 

Small businesses, entrepreneurs, and other job creators would bear the overwhelming burden of the Democrats’ proposed tax hikes, as today’s Wall Street Journal editorial noted:

This would hit job creators especially hard because more than six of every 10 who earn that much are small business owners, operators or investors, according to a 2007 Treasury study. That study also found that almost half of the income taxed at this highest rate is small business income from the more than 500,000 sole proprietorships and subchapter S corporations whose owners pay the individual rate.

In addition, many more smaller business owners with lower profits would be hit by the Rangel plan’s payroll tax surcharge.  That surcharge would apply to all firms with 25 or more workers that don’t offer health insurance to their employees, and it would amount to an astonishing eight percentage point fee above the current 15% payroll levy.

When news of the Democrats’ new small business tax leaked, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) responded, stating that: “With unemployment nearing double digits nationwide, the last thing we need is a massive tax hike that will punish small businesses and cost even more American jobs.”

So far this year Democrats in Washington have created an environment hostile to small businesses, job creation, and the American middle class, who are being asked to bear the brunt of Democratic job-killing proposals.  Those range from Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax, seemingly endless bailouts and unprecedented federal intervention in the marketplace, new taxes on small businesses, and out of control spending on big-government programs that aren’t creating jobs or stimulating anything except the massive national debt, which will double in five years and triple in 10 on the Democrats’ watch.

Imposing more onerous taxes on small businesses, when the unemployment rate is nearing 10 percent, isn’t a recipe for job creation - it’s a job-killer. 

House Republicans have a better solution: a health care plan that will reduce costs, expand access and increase the quality of care in a way we can afford - without raising taxes on small businesses or middle class families.   Leader Boehner and Ways & Means Committee Ranking Republican Dave Camp (R-MI) penned an op-ed in this morning’s Detroit News explaining the House Republicans’ plan, available HERE.  To read more about the House Republicans’ plan, click HERE.

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Rep. Camp Highlights Staggering Cost of the Democrats’ Government Takeover of Health Care

Yesterday, during a Ways and Means Committee hearing on health care reform, ranking member Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) highlighted a recent independent, non-partisan analysis by the HSI Network which pegged the cost of the House Democrats’ government-run health care bill at a staggering $3.5 trillion dollars.  The study also said that the Democrats’ bill would force 64 million Americans to lose their current health care coverage.

Fox News covered the story on “Special Report w/ Bret Baier” last night:

At his press briefing today, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) commented on the ongoing health care reform battle:

On health care, the president again last night attempted to sell the Democrats’ government takeover of our health care system.  And even the president’s backtracking on his claim that Americans can keep the coverage that they have…

I don’t think Americans want a big government-run program.  They don’t want their care rationed.  And they clearly don’t think they should be paying more…Most Americans think they’re already spending too much on health care, and even the president said, you know, the problem with health care is we’re spending too much.

Leader Boehner also noted that: “Republicans have a common-sense proposal that will help reduce costs, help ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health insurance.”  The principles of the House Republican health care plan, developed by the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group chaired by Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), include five pillars:

• Make quality health care coverage affordable and accessible for every American, regardless of pre-existing health conditions.
• Protect Americans from being forced into a new government-run health care plan that would eliminate the health care coverage that more than 100 million Americans currently receive through their job.
• Let Americans who like their health care coverage keep it, and give all Americans the freedom to choose the health plan that best meets their needs.
• Ensure that medical decisions are made by patients and their doctors, not government bureaucrats.
• Improve Americans’ lives through effective prevention, wellness, and disease management programs, while developing new treatments and cures for life-threatening diseases.

Keep updated on House Republicans’ efforts to save and improve health care HERE.

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