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July 01, 2012
With millions of Americans out of work and wages stagnant, Congressman John Boehner told CBS News Face the Nation the president’s health care law is driving up costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire. Boehner said ObamaCare must be “ripped out at its roots” so we can start over with “a common sense, step-by-step approach that will lower health care costs.” Watch him here: Boehner: President’s Health Care Takeover & Tax Must Be Ripped Out By Its Roots “This has to be ripped out by its roots. This is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. The American people do not want to go down this path. They do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy, and how much they have to pay for it, and if you don’t like it we’re going to tax you. It has to be ripped out and we need to start over. One step at a time.” Boehner: Supreme Court’s Ruling Has Strengthened Our Resolve to Repeal ObamaCare “All it really does is strengthen my resolve and resolve of Republicans here in Washington to repeal this awful law, which is increasing the cost of health insurance for the American people and making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers.” Boehner: Common-Sense Steps Will Help Lower Costs for Families, Small Businesses “We’ve outlined a number of provisions last year allowing employers, or the American people to buy insurance across state lines. Why wouldn’t we allow small businesses to group together for the purchases of buying health insurance? Why wouldn’t we deal with one of the big cost drivers in health care, and that is medical malpractice reform? That results in almost one out of four tests being ordered by a doctor as unnecessary only to protect themselves from being sued. These are the kinds of common sense steps that we can take.” Boehner: Washington’s Spending Binge Threatens Families, Economic Growth “We clearly have a problem. This president’s driven the debt up $5 trillion in less than four years. We’ve got a 16 trillion dollar national debt now. We have a 1.3 trillion dollar budget deficit this year. You can’t continue to spend money that you don’t have. And I do believe that it’s time to deal with this. I tried everything I could last year to work with the president to try to come to some agreement to begin the process of getting our debt under control. … We’ve got to make changes to all of our programs because if we don’t, they will not exist.” Boehner: Terry Family Has a Right to Know What Happened in Fast & Furious “The American people have a right to know what happened here. Brian Terry’s family has a right to know what happened here. And the fact is that the only facts that we’ve received about this entire Fast and Furious operation came from whistleblowers and others associated with it. We got no information that helped in our investigation from the Justice Department at any point in this investigation. The American people deserve the truth.”
Posted by
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June 26, 2012
In a radio interview today with Brian Thomas on Cincinnati’s 55 KRC-AM, Congressman Boehner addressed House Republicans’ commitment to repeal ObamaCare in its entirety and the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the president’s health care law. House Republicans are relentlessly focused on job creation and, as Boehner put it during the interview, “the president’s health care law is driving up health care costs and its making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers.” In addition, Congressman Boehner addressed President Obama’s failure to lead on immigration and the Supreme Court’s decision on Arizona’s law. Listen to the interview here: BOEHNER ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S FAILED ECONOMIC POLICIES “It’s all about the president trying to find a way to win an election. His economic policies have failed and as a result he cannot run on his record. He is going to try to make the election about everything other than his failed economic policies…all about energizing certain segments of America in hopes of finding a way for him to win…This election will be about the economy.” “We all know that the president’s health care law is driving up health care costs and its making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers. And I’ll say this: unless the Supreme Court throws out the entire law, the House will vote to repeal whatever is left of ObamaCare. Then we need to enact commonsense reforms in a step-by-step process that protects jobs and protects the American people’s access to the care they need from the doctor they choose at a lower cost.” “…if the federal government isn’t going to do its job there is no reason why the people of Arizona can’t do theirs...The president talked about it during the campaign, he’s talked about it half a dozen times since, and has offered nothing – nothing to the Congress and has provided no leadership to get this done.”
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June 07, 2012
Today, Congressman John Boehner responded to phone calls and emails from Eighth District constituents regarding House efforts to repeal the president’s unpopular and harmful 2010 health care law, which is driving up health care costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire workers. In the video, Boehner speaks directly to Michael from Eaton, who voiced his opinion by email, saying he wanted to see the “full and total repeal of ObamaCare.” “Every week I hear from Eighth District constituents who oppose the president’s health care law, which is making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers.
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May 17, 2012
“Our economy continues to struggle, and the president’s health care law is making things worse,” Congressman John Boehner said today. Whether the Supreme Court strikes down all or part, or upholds the law as it is, Boehner says Republicans are committed to “repealing ObamaCare in its entirety”:
The House Republican majority has voted 29 times so far to repeal, defund, and dismantle President Obama’s health care law. Here’s an update to a previous post looking at these efforts:
The president’s health care law makes it harder for small businesses to hire new workers, jeopardizes seniors’ access to care, and adds to the debt that threatens job growth. It needs to go.“There’s only one way to truly fix ObamaCare,” Congressman Boehner has said -- “and that’s by fully repealing it.” Republicans made a Pledge to America to repeal ObamaCare and create a better environment for private-sector job growth. And the House is going to continue working to keep that pledge to repeal the law and then work on step-by-step, common-sense legislation that will help lower health care costs for families and small businesses, and protect American jobs.
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May 16, 2012
Senior White House officials were “involved in negotiating and approving” a deal with the pharmaceutical industry to win its backing for a government takeover of health care that is now making it harder for small businesses to hire workers, a new House Energy & Commerce Committee memo reveals. The staff memo, released to the public a short while ago, is part of an ongoing investigation into what insider deals were struck in the writing of ObamaCare, and whether policy outcomes were traded for public support. The pharmaceutical industry (PhRMA) agreement was announced with much White House fanfare in the summer of 2009 and industry lobbyists “huddled” with Democratic staffers in the final push to jam the bill through Congress. Details of the White House’s role in the agreement and its contents were largely elusive, leading the committee to announce an investigation last year. Its findings to date, detailed in this memo, include an e-mail from then-White House deputy chief of staff (now President Obama’s campaign manager) Jim Messina to a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry, which explicitly invokes the existence of a “deal.” The memo also reveals that administration officials knowingly kept the House, controlled by the president’s own party at the time, out of the talks. “I think we should have included the House in these discussions, but maybe we never would have gotten anywhere if we had,” Office of Health Reform director Nancy Ann DeParle wrote in an e-mail to a PhRMA representative. Then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was also pivotal in securing a deal, the memo states. The White House’s secrecy about the process extends to the agreement itself, the specifics of which were not made available to the public and news organizations. “In the coming weeks,” the memo states, “the Committee intends to show what the White House agreed to do as part of its deal with the pharmaceutical industry and how the full details of the agreement were kept from both the public and the House of Representatives.” The American people will be interested in those findings, especially in light of the president’spromise to conduct public and televised health care talks. Instead, the White House cut a string of backroom deals with special interests and reluctant lawmakers. Mounting public unrest with the lack of transparency, and the prospect that the bill would not lower costs or protect coverage as promised, led then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi to infamously pronounce, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” We now know the American people got a bad deal from ObamaCare, which is making it harder for small businesses across America to hire new workers. That is why, in keeping with the Pledge to America, the House has taken nearly 30 votes to repeal, defund, and dismantle this health care law. But what kind of deal did the White House and PhRMA get? The Committee’s investigation is ongoing.
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May 11, 2012
Today, Congressman Boehner hosted an open discussion with Ohio small business leaders and job creators in Hamilton. Boehner opened the discussion by asking the job creators what they needed to see coming out of Washington in order to encourage job creation and grow the economy, here are a few of the responses: As reported by the West Chester Buzz, Trevor Stansbury, president and founder of a company in Loveland, told Boehner, “One of the things that is killing all of us is the uncertainty and our reluctance therefore to hire people because we don’t know what is around the corner.” Laura Doerge-Roberts, president of Vinyl Max Windows in Hamilton, was among the many job creators who expressed their frustrations with ObamaCare and the threat it is posing to employer provided benefits. As reported by WCPO, Mrs. Doerge-Roberts “told Boehner under President Obama's healthcare plan, it's more attractive for her company to violate federal law and pay a $340,000 a year fine for not providing healthcare than to provide what she called the rising costs and decreasing benefits.” Boehner wrapped up the event by reiterating that House Republicans will continue to stay focused on job creation:
If you are in the Cincinnati area, tune into your local news tonight to catch their coverage of the event. More from Congressman Boehner’s Discussion with Job Creators here:
Posted by
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May 01, 2012
“Anyone who gets insurance through their job should be worried about what will happen next, because there is adistinct financial incentive for employers to terminate health care coverage under the Democrats’ health care law,” House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) said today, unveiling a new report titled “BROKEN PROMISE: Why ObamaCare Will Force Americans to Lose the Health Care Coverage They Have and Like.” Contrary to President Obama’s oft-stated claim that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” data provided by 71 top employers and analyzed by the committee shows that each company would save, on average, $400 million in 2014 and nearly $6 billion between 2014 and 2023 if they drop coverage for their employees – forcing them into government-controlled exchanges. Here are a few additional highlights from the report, courtesy of the committee:
In a report on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, Neil Trautwein, Vice President and Employee Benefits Policy Counsel for the National Retail Federation, said “In a pure dollars and cents standpoint, it could not be more clear: You save a lot of money - hundreds of millions of dollars for some of these companies - by no longer providing coverage.” James Capretta, a fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center, warned that if a business “stops offering coverage, their competitors in the local community are likely to follow suit. There could be a snowball effect.” “The higher costs of subsidies” resulting from the influx of Americans forced into government-controlled exchanges “would fall on taxpayers,” according to Fox News’ Jim Engle. Today’s report echoes the findings of a House Energy & Commerce report released last week that found that ObamaCare will raise costs and increase uncertainty for job creators, and jeopardize coverage for American workers. In addition to these reports, House Republicans have held several hearings to highlight the disastrous consequences ObamaCare is having for American taxpayers and small businesses (see: here, here and here), as they continue making the case for full repeal of the law. Keeping the Pledge to America, the Republican-led House has already voted nearly 30 times to repeal, defund and dismantle parts of ObamaCare, and will continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead. Learn more and follow our progress by liking the Pledge to America on Facebook: Facebook.com/PledgetoAmerica. Here is the full report: READ MORE:
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April 29, 2012
On CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Congressman John Boehner noted that while the House is working to address high gas prices and stop excessive regulations that hurt job growth, President Obama is “diminishing the presidency” by “picking fake fights” and “going after straw men.” Boehner highlighted the House vote to extend current student loan rates by cutting a slush fund from ObamaCare – a slush fund Democrats (including the president) previously supported cutting and a law that’s making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers. Below is video and key excerpts from the interview:
On the American People Still Asking, “Where Are the Jobs?”: “The American people are still asking the question, ‘where are the jobs?’ And it’s clear this president’s economic policies have failed. As a result, he’s turned to the politics of envy and division. The way we help the middle class is we get our economy going again. We develop more American oil and gas so that their gas prices, which have doubled under President Obama are, again, reasonable. How do we do that? We stop the regulatory juggernaut that's going on downtown here in Washington. Every agency of the federal government scaring every employer to dickens and they're afraid to invest. … This election is going to be about the president’s economic policies. They’ve failed.” On President Obama “Diminishing the Presidency By Picking Fake Fights, Going After Straw Men”: “[H]e’s diminishing the presidency by picking fake fights, going after straw men every day. You know, we had the Buffett Rule. You know, went on for months, even the president admitted it was a gimmick. Then we have the Rose Garden ceremony talking about manipulation in the oil markets without one shred of evidence. And he has an entire administration to go after speculation or manipulation in the oil markets. And then they pick this student loan fight where there is no fight. And the point I’ve been trying to make here in the last couple of weeks is that the president’s bigger than this. The presidency is important. America has big challenges. Big fiscal challenges, and we’ve got big challenges with our economy and the president ought to be working with Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill to address the big issues that affect the American people.” On Student Loans, & the President “Picking a Fight Where One Doesn’t Exist”: “This problem was created by a Democrat Congress in 2007, and Democrats and Republicans, for months, have been working together trying to figure out a way to resolve the problem. And for the president to politicize this for his own reelection is picking a fight where one doesn’t exist. … Listen, what we’re trying to do here is to deal with this problem in a responsible way. Democrats and Republicans have been working together to get this resolved and I believe that we will. If the Senate wants to do a different pay-for, that will be up to them. But, we will have this issue resolved.” On Democrats Supporting Cuts to ObamaCare Slush Fund in the Past: “Well, then why did his budget director and the president put in their budget reductions in spending in this program? Why did the president sign into law the payroll tax credit that included $4 billion dollars worth of reductions in this same program? … The same fund.” On Democrats’ Political “War on Women” Rhetoric: “That is just nonsense. There is no women’s health issue here. … I’ll guarantee you they have not spent a dime out of this fund dealing with anything to do with women’s health. … The president’s own budget called for reductions in spending in this fund, in this prevention fund. So, why would they have done that if it wasn’t available to use as an offset to make sure the student loan interest rates don’t go up?” On Keeping the Pledge to America to Listen to the American People & Reform Congress: “No earmarks, who can imagine? You know, we’ve been through 16 months now, not one earmark. It’s made my job a lot more difficult, in terms of how to pass important legislation, because there’s no grease, I’ve got no grease. So, no earmarks. A more open process, allowing Democrats and Republicans to represent their constituency, to bring their ideas onto the floor. We’re making real progress. One of my major goals is to rebuild this institution. If we’re serious about tackling America’s big problems, you’ve got to have an institution strong enough to be able to do that. Having watched what’s happened here in this institution over the 21 years that I’ve been here, we’ve made positive steps in the right direction. Both Democrats and Republicans are very happy about the progress we’ve made. They want more and so do I.”
Posted by
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April 27, 2012
Today the House “ignored a veto threat” and passed a measure to stop new student loan rates from doubling this summer. The bill pays for extending current rates by cutting a slush fund the president himself proposed cutting from ObamaCare – a law that’s making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers, including recent college graduates.
Speaking on the House floor, Speaker John Boehner noted that nearly half of recent graduates are unemployed or underemployed as a result of the president’s policies. Boehner also excoriated Democrats for exploiting the challenges facing young Americans and inventing a phony “war on women” for political gain. Watch Boehner here:
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April 16, 2012
The Obama administration claims its policies have been “remarkably effective,” but according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s most recent Small Business Outlook Survey released today, America’s job creators disagree. The vast majority of small business owners surveyed say that the Obama administration’s onslaught of excessive regulations and the president’s failure to address high gas prices are weighing heavily on their ability to plan ahead and hire new workers. Here are a few key points from the survey, and a look at what House Republicans are doing to help small businesses put Americans back to work:
PROBLEM: High Gas Prices “Pose an Immediate Threat” to Small Businesses. “Eight out of ten small business owners report that higher energy prices pose an immediate threat to the success of their business,” according to the survey. While President Obama claims to support an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, his rhetoric is belied by the fact that gas prices have doubled on his watch, while he continues calling for tax hikes that will increases energy costs and blocking access to America’s resources.
PROBLEM: ObamaCare “An Obstacle to Hiring More Employees.” “Nearly three out of four (73%)” of the small business owners surveyed say ObamaCare “is an obstacle to hiring more employees.” Small businesses owners have repeatedly warned that Democrats’ government takeover of health care is holding back hiring, and more than two hundred economists agree that that the maze of mandates, penalties and regulations in ObamaCare constitutes a major “barrier to stronger job growth.”
This week, the House will continue working to create a better environment for small business job growth by passing the Small Business Tax Cut Act – Pledge to America legislation that will allow job creators to invest more of their resources in their businesses and hire new workers. Learn more on the Republican Plan for America's Job Creatorswebsite at: www.jobs.gop.gov. |