True North

The Cato Institute's Michael Cannon wrote that House Democrats are intentionally gaming the CBO system in an attempt to limit the public's outcry against the bill:

Obama budget director Peter Orszag laid the groundwork for this feat. While director of the CBO in 2007 and 2008, he fostered a more collaborative relationship between the CBO and members of Congress, which enabled the agency to provide behind-the-scenes guidance to Democrats crafting their mandate. That's why the cost of the Democrats' individual mandates appears nowhere in the half-dozen or more "preliminary cost estimates" the CBO has completed on various Democratic health-care bills.

In Massachusetts, which has enacted what is essentially the Democrats' health plan, mandatory premiums account for about 60 percent of overall costs, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. On-budget government spending is just 40 percent. By my count, mandatory premiums accounted for a similar share of the Clinton health plan's projected cost.

So while the CBO estimates that the coverage expansions in the House Democrats' legislation would trigger about $1 trillion of new federal spending over ten years, the actual cost of those coverage expansions is more like $2.5 trillion.

Look at that last sentence because it truly is the money line. Pelosi's Democrats don't want people to know the true cost of the Pelosi Abomination. Pelosi is scheduling a vote for this weekend, at least in part to prevent squishies from returning home and facing questions from angry constituents.

This deserves highlighting because it proves that Pelosi doesn't care that the public hates her bill and its price tag. This is the Democrats' Holy Grail achievement if it's signed into law. They care more about it than they care about doing what the people expect them to do.

Pelosi's Democrats don't care that the Pelosi Abomination will heap hundreds of billions of new tax burdens on middle class people, pile new mandates on individuals, small businesses and state governments and cuts half a trillion dollars from seniors' health care programs. There isn't a demographic group that won't be affected.

Pelosi's Democrats don't even care that this legislation will drive doctors into early retirement, which will inevitably trigger rationing of health care.

THIS ISN'T ABOUT IMPROVING HEALTH CARE!!! THIS IS ABOUT INCREASING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES!!!

The Little Tyrant From San Francisco is too gutless to even let the public compare her abomination with the House Republicans' plan. The House Republicans' plan actually lowers insurance premiums, doesn't add to the annual deficits, includes abusive lawsuit reform and doesn't raise taxes. The House Republicans' plan also increases portability and deals with the issue of insuring people with pre-existing conditions.

In other words, the House Republicans' plan deals with the actual problems facing John Q. Public, something that Pelosi's Abomination doesn't attempt to do.

Democrats voting for this bill will pay a steep political price. Byron York aptly writes that Pelosi's lapdogs are more afraid of her than they're worried about their constituents. That's why I'm calling for the next phase of the movement to be starting up highly visible PACs that pledge to defeat any Democrat that votes for this bill, starting with representatives like Tom Perriello, Tim Walz, Walt Minnick, Earl Pomeroy, Betsy Markey and Baron Hill.

Speaking of Tim Walz, his op-ed says that Pelosi's Abomination will "will protect jobs, families":

The House health care bill has four important pillars of reform:

The first pillar stops runaway costs and rewards quality care. A patient-centered initiative spearheaded by Mayo Clinic is at the heart of rewarding quality.The current fee-for-service payment model in Medicare perversely encourages health care providers to perform unnecessary procedures and tests.

That's the first "pillar." Here are the other three pillars:

• The second pillar reforms the insurance industry to benefit ordinary folks.
• The third pillar promotes competition and choice for people who don't have insurance today or lose it in the future.
• Finally, the fourth pillar will improve seniors' access to quality, affordable health care and protect the doctor-patient relationship.

H.R.3962 doesn't reform the health insurance industry. It destroys it by overregulating it out of existence. H.R.3962's overregulation stifles competition by overmandating coverages. Finally, H.R. 3962 cuts $426,000,000,000 from Medicare, which will lead to rationing of seniors' health care.

Does Rep. Walz expect seniors in his district to believe that cutting doctors', hospitals' and nursing home reimbursement rates won't cause rationing or lead to doctors to stop treating elderly?

It's apparent that Rep. Walz (a) is Ms. Pelosi's lapdog, not an independent voice for southeastern Minnesota and (b) doesn't think his constituents are bright enough to detect his spin. It's also apparent that Rep. Walz is comfortable repeating Ms. Pelosi's refuted talking points even though they've been demolished months ago (August to be precise).

BTW, Rep. Walz's behavior is a sharp contrast between himself and Michele Bachmann. Michele's got a titanium spine whereas Little Timmie has a bark that makes toy poodles sound ferocious.

Speaker Pelosi might get the bill passed this weekend. After that vote, though, Democrats will have to return home. When they do, they'll be greeted by angry constituents demanding to know why they voted against their constituents' wishes.

Speaker Pelosi is hanging Democrats out to dry. After this vote, the Senate will take time because Harry Reid doesn't have the votes to pass a bill as destructive as Pelosi's Abomination. That's gonna leave guys like Tim Walz defending his voting for the failed stimulus bill, the omnibus spending bill that increased federal spending by double digits, for the national energy tax and for the government takeover of health care.

When Democrats return home to their districts, their constituents will put the fear of God in them. After a weekend or a week facing angry constituents, these Democrats might think that they'd rather fight Pelosi than their constituents.

Comments welcome at LFR.

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