GovMadness

Votes are in, Montana has spoken.
The worst policy of the past 6 years:
Obama Health Care Law

Imagine running a race in the wrong direction.  Every step takes you further from the finish line and makes the race harder.

That's what Government Madness was all about.  Our country is headed in the wrong direction.  President Obama and his Senate allies are committed to a path that sees government as the solution to every problem.  They want to choose winners and losers while telling you how to live your life from cradle to grave.

Each of the policies you had a chance to vote on in Government Madness represented a step in the wrong direction.

Some, like New START or the President's Health Care Law, we simply couldn't stop no matter how hard we tried.  These are causing plenty of damage, not only because we wasted valuable time marching in the wrong direction, but because fixing the problems they are causing will take even more time.

Other times, like with the Youth Ag Rule and cuts to TRICARE for veterans, we have successfully prevented policy missteps.  I'm proud of the fact that I've helped avert these policy blunders, but stopping a step in the wrong direction isn't good enough.  We need to turn around and start taking steps in the right direction.

As Montana's Congressman, I'm working to plot a different path for our nation.  Pick a destination - jobs, security, liberty - and the first thing you have to do is make sure you're running in the right direction.  The American people have an ingenious ability to meet challenges and solve problems if only our President and the Senate would get out of the way.

As your Representative, that's the direction I am working to take our country.

Sincerely,
 

Click to see the full-size bracket.

Obama Health Care Law

Crafted in secret and passed before anyone could read it, this law forces all Americans to buy a private product, cuts $700 billion from Medicare, creates two massive new entitlement programs and is the largest permanent tax increase in history.  And despite being called the “Affordable Care Act” it does nothing to address the cost of healthcare.

TRICARE Enrollment Fee Increase

TRICARE is part of the health care promise made to members of the military, veterans and their families.  President Obama proposed increasing TRICARE fees, including charging an enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life members, and increasing TRICARE pharmacy co-pays for military beneficiaries.

So-Called Stimulus

As unemployment skyrocketed, the President and his allies used the crisis to force though a big-government agenda.  In fact, the Wall Street Journal calculated that only 12 cents on the dollar went to something stimulative while the rest went to fund government spending and bailouts for bankrupt states like California.

Not Enforcing Immigration Laws (Amnesty)

While the Senate works to provide amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the United States, the Obama Administration makes it easier for new illegals to enter the country by hindering border enforcement and even suing the state of Arizona for trying to enforce border laws the federal government was neglecting.

Raising Taxes

While there’s never a good time to raise taxes on the hard working American people, there are few worse times to do it than in the middle of the worst economic crisis of a generation.  Yet, higher taxes continually make an appearance as the agenda centerpiece of President Obama and his Senate allies.

Lead Rule for ATVs

Unelected bureaucrats decided to misconstrue the intention of Congress to keep lead out of toys and declare youth-sized off-road vehicles to be toys.  This had the effect of forcing youngsters to ride much more dangerous adult-size ATVs while saddling small businesses with inventory they couldn’t sell.

“Too Big to Fail”

While federal deficits soared, some lawmakers voted to spend hundreds of billions in tax dollars to bail out big banks, government-backed agencies like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and even private companies like General Motors.

Spending Without A Budget

Despite promising fiscal restraint, the Senate has not passed a budget in more than 3 years.  Meanwhile, spending grew at record paces while the Obama Administration and his allies voted to expand government into new aspects of our daily lives.  If a budget is good enough for Montana families, it ought to be good enough for the federal government.

Cap & Trade

As if an energy policy designed to increase the cost of energy isn’t a bad enough idea, this nasty piece of policy disproportionately harms energy producing states like Montana, costing thousands of jobs and making us more dependent on foreign sources of energy.

Youth Ag Rule

Big city Obama Administration Officials proposed a rule that would severely restrict the type of work young people would be allowed to do on farms and ranches.  This rule was a direct assault on the future of the family farm, where skills – including safety – are passed down from generation to generation.

New START Treaty

A nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia that actually set a cap for accountable warheads that was over what the Russians had at the time.  This amounts to unilateral U.S. disarmament, made all the worse because it puts national defense and economic stability at risk for Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls.

Sequestration

When Congress needed to raise the debt ceiling – again – to pay for the President’s big-spending agenda, they kicked spending cuts down the road, creating a Supercommittee to do the hard work.  When the Supercommittee failed, automatic spending cuts went into effect – and while defense spending accounts for just 20% of federal spending, 50% of the total cuts will come from defense.

Anti-Gun Supreme Court Justices

Second Amendment rights have recently been upheld in the Supreme Court by the narrowest of margins – 5-4 decisions.  But President Obama nominated and the Senate confirmed two anti-gun Supreme Court justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, to lifetime seats on the bench.  Gun rights hang in the balance.

Clean Water Act Over-Expansion

The Clean Water Act gives the federal government regulatory authority over only “navigable” waters, but the Obama Administration is working to remove that restriction.  This would give the government authority over just about all water – including irrigation ditches, melted snow and prairie potholes.

New National Monuments

With the stroke of a pen, President Clinton side-stepped public opposition and Congress to establish the Missouri River Breaks National Monument.  This abuse of the Antiquities Act pales in comparison to a secret memo that revealed the Obama Administration plans to declare 13 million acres in 11 Western States, including 2.5 million acres in Montana and new National Monuments.

Death Tax

The Senate recently voted to restore the old death tax of 55% on estates valued at more than $1 million.  The average value of a farm in Montana is more than $1.6 million, and the death tax has to be paid in cash even if the value is tied up in land, buildings or livestock.  That forces many small businesses to sell off a portion of their assets to pay this destructive tax.