It's Time to Defund Obamacare

Earlier this week, thirty Republican Representatives signed a letter to their leadership in the House of Representatives seeking to defund Obamacare. None of the Republican Reps from either Missouri or Illinois joined their conservative counterparts in signing that letter. They chose instead to support the continuing resolution that spends money we do not have on programs we can not afford.

Senate conservative Ted Cruz (R-TX) has breathed new life into the defund Obamacare movement. As the Washinton Post reports:

Outspoken freshman Sen. Ted Cruz intends to offer an amendment to the stopgap spending plan under debate in Congress this week that would defund President Obama’s health care law until the nation’s economy grows at a rate in line with historical averages.

That effort has picked up support from both FreedomWorks and The Heritage Foundation--both have key voted the Senate vote on that amendment. That means that Sen. Roy Blunt's (R-MO) vote on that amendment will be reflect in the score he earns from those organizations. Heritage makes the case for defunding it as soon as possible:

The most severe and damaging economic impacts of Obamacare have yet to occur, as they will come with the law’s full implementation and the implementation of its funding mechanisms in 2014. After that point, this law will be more entrenched and its damaging effects will be much more difficult to amend.

The Democrats control the Senate so even if the Conservatives unite behind Ted Cruz, it's unlikely that they will succeed.

Related articles

• Call Your Representative: Defund Obamacare Now (heritageaction.com)
• Ted Cruz Makes us Proud; Takes Up Defund Obamacare Effort (madisonproject.com)
• Cruz amendment would defund Obamacare (politico.com)
• Bid to defund Obamacare gains momentum in Senate GOP (grumpyelder.com)
• Cruz: Defund Obamacare through spending bill (dailycaller.com)

Standing Firm Against Medicaid Expansion

Yesterday, both 24thState.com and Hennessy's View reported that the Missouri GOP seems to be flirting with the Medicaid expansion.

I just listened to St. Louis Public Radio's Politically Speaking Podcast.  They had some surprising comments. Around the 22:30 mark in the NPR audio at that link, Chris McDaniel, Jo Mannies, and Jason Rosenbaum speculate that Republican Speaker of the Missouri House, Tim Jones, may be moving toward compromise with Liberal Gov. Jay Nixon on Medicaid expansion.

At last weekend's state-wide Lincoln Days, Jones was crystal clear on the Medicaid expansion. At 24:45 in the video below, he's asked about Gov. Nixon's effort to implement Medicaid expansion. Jones takes a hard line against it, which is exactly what the conservative grassroots expects.

Related articles

• State Of The State Address: Simply Irresponsible To Propose Medicaid Expansion (showmedaily.org)
• The Medicaid Expansion Issue, Bullet-Pointed (showmedaily.org)
• As Nixon prepares to layout case for expansion, Kinder blasts Medicaid proposal (missouri-news.org)
• Jones: Business groups "uncomfortable" supporting Medicaid expansion (politicmo.com)

Obamacare Cost Control: Physician Assisted Suicide

Amazing. Just amazing. Watch the first three minutes and you'll want to watch the whole hour.

From the YouTube description:

The Determinators is a chilling story which uncovers the dark underside of the massive healthcare reform bill that, once fully implemented, will significantly threaten the way Americans live...and die. Based on the book "The Battle for America's Soul" by CL Gray, MD. The Determinators feature leading experts in the field of healthcare who have studied the fill and it's impending ramifications. http://www.thedeterminatorsmovie.com 

The Determinators highlights several of the worst elements of Obamacare that big-government bureaucrats want to keep hidden from the public until it's too late. It's information people need to know before they decide how to vote. 

Tea Party Patriots presents a Ground Floor Video production
Producer - Luke Livingston
Adapted and Directed by Pritchett Cotten
www.GroundFloorVideo.com

Related articles

• SLIDESHOW: Obamacare's Impact - in Pictures (heritage.org)
• Pediatric group supports repeal of Obamacare (illinoisreview.typepad.com)
• Obamacare - The Good, the Bad and the Missing Puts Health Reform in... (prweb.com)

In the Fight: Episode 67

The Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System produced Episode 67 of In The Fight. Here's their description of this half-hour show:

On this episode, Marines battle insurgents during Operation Helmand Viper, we take a look back at the rise of green on blue attacks in Afghanistan, advances in new technology are helping train Sailors in a more realistic setting, doctors study service members to learn more about traumatic brain injuries, and service members find assistance in transitioning to the civilian work force. 

Related articles

• In the Fight: Episode 66 (rebootcongress.net)
• In the Fight: Episode 65 (rebootcongress.net)
• 2 US troops, 2 Afghan policemen killed in fighting (stltoday.com)
• U.S. Army awards $2.67M to startup to develop miniature medical device to assess traumatic brain injury (medcitynews.com)

Healthcare: Ballot Language Victory for Prop E

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Judge's ballot language ruling won't be appealed:

The Missouri attorney general’s office will not appeal a Cole County judge’s ruling this week that removed one of Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s ballot summaries from the November ballot. 

Judge Dan Green on Tuesday sided with Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and other Republican officials, who said Carnahan’s summary for a measure that deals with the creation of a state-based health insurance exchange was not “fair and sufficient,” as required by law.

The original ballot language for Proposition E was a travesty of partisanship concocted by Missouri's leftist Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and approved and defended by liberal Democrat Attorney General Chris Koster. Here's the ballot summary language that the court threw out at the end of August:

"Shall Missouri law be amended to deny individuals, families, and small businesses the ability to access affordable health care plans through a state-based health benefit exchange unless authorized by statute, initiative or referendum or through an exchange operated by the federal government as required by the federal health care act?”

Here's the court approved ballot summary that will replace it:

"Shall Missouri law be amended to prohibit the governor or any state agency from establishing or operating state-based health insurance exchanges unless authorized by a vote of the people or by the Legislature?"

Interestingly, Koster seems to abandon Carnahan after Judge Green's decision as reported by the P-D:

On his decision not to appeal, Koster, also a Democrat, said Greene’s summary more accurately reflects the Legislature's intent. 

"My job is to call balls and strikes in an impartial manner," he said. "The argument is over.”

However the Janus-faced Koster defended the Carnahan language in court and inexplicably approved it before that. CBS St. Louis reports conservative Republican Ed Martin, who is running to unseat Koster, was critical of Koster for failing to address the ballot language when Carnahan had originally submitted it:

Koster’s office is responsible for representing the state in lawsuits and defended Carnahan and the ballot summary in court. The attorney general declined to appeal the judge’s ruling, although the secretary of state’s office wanted to do so. 

Martin said Tuesday that Koster should have said Carnahan’s ballot summary was misleading. The attorney general’s office is responsible for approving the legal content and form of ballot summaries prepared by the secretary of state’s office. 

Martin criticized the handling of the ballot summary and court challenge, charging that Koster “signed off on ballot language that was inappropriate, not clear and should never have been allowed to be presented.”

Had Koster returned Carnahan's blatantly biased language to the Secretary of State's office for revision instead of approving it, Missouri would have avoided the court costs of defending Carnahan's partisanship.

The legislative changes underlying this ballot initiative are available in Missouri Senate Bill 464.

Related articles

• Judge Revises Wording For Mo. Health Care Measure (fox2now.com)
• Missouri Democrats fret over future of their party (stltoday.com)
• Judge Revises Wording for Missouri Health Care Measure (stlouis.cbslocal.com)
• Republicans Claim Victory on Health Care Ballot (stlouis.cbslocal.com)
• Shane Schoeller and Ed Martin Demand Changes to Missouri's Ballot Initiative Process (rebootcongress.blogspot.com)
• The Star's editorial | How about voting for a saner ballot process in Missouri? (kansascity.com)

Video: Richard Mourdock: Replace Obamacare with Sound Healthcare Reforms

On Monday, I interviewed Republican candidate for the US Senate from Indiana Richard Moudock. In this segment of that interview, Mourdock talks about the need to repeal and replace Obamacare/Obamatax and lists the healthcare reform policies that he would like to implement: raising the contribution limits for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), selling health insurance across state lines, allow small businesses and sole proprietorships to form health insurance pools with other businesses, and allow individuals to deduct health insurance expenses from their income taxes just as businesses currently do with their health insurance expenses.

Related articles

• Video: Richard Mourdock on Jobs and the Economy (rebootcongress.blogspot.com)
• Video: The Daily Caller Interviews Indiana Tea Party Leader Greg Fettig (rebootcongress.blogspot.com)
• Keep Richard Mourdock strong (legalinsurrection.com)
• Richard Mourdock - "the economy still stinks" (legalinsurrection.com)

Video: St. Louis Tea Party Protest Obamacare Ruling

The St. Louis Tea Party held a rally to protest the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Obamacare on the evening the ruling was handed down. Speakers included Michelle Moore, Bill Hennessy, Stephanie Rubach, and the Gateway Pundit. Included in the video playlist above:

• Bill Hennessy arrives with the casket once used to protest Russ Carnahan
• Michelle Moore's introductory remarks and the Pledge of Allegiance
• Stephanie Rubach on the Obamacare decision
• Bill Hennessy on the Obamacare decision
• Gateway Pundit on the Obamacare decision
• Michelle Moore's closing comments

Related articles

• Photos: St. Louis Tea Party Protest Obamacare Ruling (rebootcongress.blogspot.com)
• Protesters at Supreme Court react to Obamacare decision: 'We will not comply' (dailycaller.com)
• THEY'LL BE PROTESTING OBAMACARE at the Capitol in Denver tomorrow at noon. If you're in Colorado Sp... (pjmedia.com)
• Michele Bachmann: It Only Takes 50 Plus One Senators to Repeal Obamacare (Video) (thegatewaypundit.com)
• Obamacare Is Not Constitutional (nationalreview.com)
• SCOTUS Rules on Obamacare (mypetjawa.mu.nu)

Photos: St. Louis Tea Party Protests Obamacare Ruling

The St. Louis Tea Party gathered at the top of Art Hill in Forest Park to protest the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare. In a controversial ruling Thursday morning, the Court held that Obama's signature healthcare legislation would remain in place because the so-called individual mandate was, in fact, a tax.

Supreme Court Vindicates Joe Wilson, Rules that Obama's a Liar

By now you've seen that the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare in a 5-4 ruling. The ruling found that there was no basis in the Commerce Clause for Obamacare as the government's lawyers had argued; however, the high court cited the government's taxing authority:

The justices rejected two of the administration's three arguments in support of the insurance requirement. But the court said the mandate can be construed as a tax. "Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness," Roberts said.

Because Obama promised not to raise taxes on the middle class and the Supreme Court has now ruled that Obamacare is a series of taxes, the Court has handed the president what could be a Pyrrhic victory on his signature legislative accomplishment. In short, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court found that Republican Rep. Joe Wilson was right when he said of President Obama: "you lie". It's good to see the Court take such an active role in the 2012 Presidential campaign. Perhaps the next American president will be a bit more respectful of the Supreme Court lest a Justice accurately observe that the president's comments at a State of the Union address are "not true".

Update: Great quote from Chief Justice Roberts in his majority opinion:

Members of this Court are vested with the authority tointerpret the law; we possess neither the expertise northe prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences oftheir political choices.

Supreme Court Decision on Affordable Care Act

Jay Nixon's Pay to Play Patronage Scheme

Gateway Pundit: Awful!… Democrook Governor Jay Nixon Awards $1.1 Billion Contract to HMO After They Contribute $66,500 to His Campaign:

Missouri Democrat Governor Jay Nixon awarded a $1.1 billion contract to a subsidiary of Centene after the company gave $66,500 to his reelection campaign.

The original story comes from Political Mommentary which goes on to note:

Molina Healthcare of Missouri has asked Nixon’s Office of Administration to reconsider its decision. More than 80,000 Missourians are currently enrolled in Molina’s healthcare plan with 13,000 providers  and 25,000 locations established over 16 years of work in Missouri. Centene will replace the company in providing these services without an existing network.

Now, the board of directors for Molina Healthcare of Missouri includes one Ronna Romney. Ronna is the ex-wife of George Romney--presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's brother. She penned a heart-felt defense of Mitt's pro-life bona fides, so it's safe to say that she supports Republican policies as well as Mitt Romney for president. Jay Nixon's $1.1 billion award to Centene serves two purposes. First, it's tax-payer subsidized patronage to one of his donors, and, second, he is stiffing the incumbent provider, Molina Healthcare, in part because of their ties to the Republican party.

That's how centrally planned crony capitalism works.

Update: Thanks to Gateway Pundit for the link!

Update 2: Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the Instalanche!

Related articles

• How to Grow your Crony Capitalist Business (rebootcongress.blogspot.com)
• Tom Carnahan Departs Taxpayer-financed Wind "Business" (rebootcongress.blogspot.com)
• The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn (showmedaily.org)
• Pipeline project across Missouri proceeds (missourijournal.com)
• Nixon vetoes Republican backed business bills (missouri-news.org)
• Sheldon Richman on Adam Smith vs. Crony Capitalism (reason.com)

Thanks to my research team for the tip on this story.

Reason TV's Wrap-up of the Obamacare Arguments at the Supreme Court

From the YouTube description:

"If I was in the Obama administration, I would not be comfortable with how the last three days went." 

Reason's Damon Root was in attendance for the third and final day of oral arguments before the Supreme Court on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which focused primarily on the issue of severability, which brings into question whether the individual mandate be excised from the law, or if the law in its totality must be struck down.

Reason has also assembled a playlist of their recent videos about the case now pending before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Related articles

• Previewing Day Three Of Health Care Reform Oral Arguments (showmedaily.org)
• Previewing Day Two Of Health Care Reform Oral Arguments (showmedaily.org)
• Previewing Day One Of Health Care Reform Oral Arguments (showmedaily.org)
• AP: Striking Down the Individual Mandate Won't Kill Obama's Health Care Law (theblaze.com)

Another Laugh at Russ Carnahan's Expense

Washington Examiner: CBO: Obamacare to cost $1.76 trillion over 10 yrs:

President Obama's national health care law will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, according to a new projection released today by the Congressional Budget Office, rather than the $940 billion forecast when it was signed into law.

That reminds me of Russ Carnahan's promise to Missourian's back in the Summer of 2009:

It was funny when he made that promise based on the CBO's numbers back then and it's funny now that it's broken based on the CBO's numbers today. What an incompetent fool.

Towards the end of the video above, Kevin Jackson of the Black Sphere shouts out: "If it's so good, why doesn't Congress have to be on it."

Related articles

• ObamaCare To Cost Nearly Twice As Much As First Projected (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)
• CBO: Deficit estimate for 2012 hiked to $1.2T (stltoday.com)
• Health reform coverage cost falls slightly (money.cnn.com)

Video: Nullify Obamacare Forum

These fifteen videos are Caroline's footage of the Nullify Obamacare Forum held earlier this month. The forum featured panelists Bill Randles, Ed Martin, State Senator Jim Lembke, and State Representative Paul Curtman. Brian Nieves MC'd the forum.

• Part  1:  Intro & Ed Martin's Opening Remarks
• Part  2:  Bill Randles' Opening Remarks
• Part  3:  Jim Lembke's Opening Remarks
• Part  4:  Paul Curtman's Opening Remarks
• Part  5:  Q & A re:  Health Care Compacts
• Part  6:  How to say NO to Obamacare regulations
• Part  7:  Handling the Court System and Judicial Activism
• Part  8:  What effect will the Health Care Freedom Act have on Obamacare?
• Part  9:  Isn't refusing a Health Insurance Exchange a form of nullification?
• Part 10:  Did the Founding Fathers advocate single-state nullification?
• Part 11:  How much power does Missouri's governor have to resist the Feds?
• Part 12:  Why do we need attorneys to interpret the Constitution?
• Part 13:  Why doesn't the State just keep more of its own money?
• Part 14:  What steps would you take to nullify Obamacare?
• Part 15:  Closing Remarks

Thanks to Caroline for producing the video above. Great job!

Lloyd Sloan's excellent observations about the Nullify Forum. Give 'em a read.

Related articles

• Video: Nullification Forum (rebootcongress.blogspot.com)

Gov. Jay Nixon Runs on Obamacare in 2012

In a surprise move, Governor Jay Nixon has decided to base his 2012 campaign for re-election on the single most unpopular piece of legislation to come out of President Obama's administration and the Pelosi-Reid Congress: Obamacare. That legislation cost Democrats the House in 2010 and was a factor in the recent victory of Republican Bob Turner who won liberal Anthony Weiner's New York Congressional seat in a special election earlier this week. Nixon, who has generally been a centrist governor, has decided to may outsource Missouri's healthcare sovereignty to Washington, DC. In exchange for this sell-out, the Federal government will return $21 million to the Show Me State. Could someone please explain why our money has to go to DC before being returned to us as a grant?

Earlier today, Nixon signed the executive order below creating "healthcare exchanges." Governor Nixon is considering an executive order that would create "healthcare exchanges." This effectively ended a committee hearing that was underway in Jefferson City to consider those exchanges. State Senators Jim Lembke and Rob Schaaf stormed out of the hearing disgusted with the executive overreach of Governor Nixon. In 2010, Missourians overwhelming passed Prop C which rejects federal intrusion into healthcare.

Update: I clarified with my source in Jefferson City and revised the copy above. Nixon has not yet signed the order.

Related:

• Ed Martin to Missouri Legislators: Stop Obamacare Today! Nullify This Bad Law and Send Back the Money
• @United4MO: Latest word from JC is that the Healthcare Exchange issue was pulled from the MHIP agenda and Nixon has not signed the executive order.

Jay Nixon Executive Order for Health Care Exchanges

Replicate the Success of Welfare Reform with Medicaid Block Grants

 

Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation: Promote Federalism and Replicate the Success of Welfare Reform with Medicaid Block Grants:

The Medicaid program imposes high costs while generating poor results. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video explains how block grants, such as the one proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan, will save money and improve healthcare by giving states the freedom to innovate and compete.

Related articles

• Promote Federalism and Replicate the Success of Welfare Reform with Medicaid Block Grants (kudlowsmoneypolitics.blogspot.com)
• How to Reform Medicaid (powerlineblog.com)
• Senate Democrats United In Opposition to Fixing Medicaid (reason.com)

Will the Courts Stop Obamacare?

WSJ.com: Rivkin and Casey: Why ObamaCare Is Losing in the Courts:

Three U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals are poised to render decisions on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the coming months. Despite hundreds of briefing pages and numerous oral arguments, government lawyers have yet to address the law's most basic constitutional infirmity. Only a "general police power"—the right to enact laws alleged to be in the public interest without regard to interstate commerce or some other federal legislative authority—can support the law's centerpiece, the "individual mandate" that all Americans purchase health insurance. The Constitution denies that power to the federal government, reserving it to the states alone.

In enacting the individual mandate, Congress purported to rely on its power to regulate interstate commerce and, in the process, reach individuals who are already engaged in that commerce. But the individual mandate does not regulate commerce, interstate or otherwise. It simply decrees that all Americans, unless specially exempted, must have a congressionally prescribed level of health-insurance coverage regardless of any economic activity in which they may be engaged. Requiring individuals to act simply because they exist is the defining aspect of the general police power that Congress lacks.

There are so many reasons why it's a bad idea to vest a "general police power" with the Federal government. Healthcare is just one of them. Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not the courts will grant this power to DC.

Related articles

• ObamaCare Has No Place in a Limited Government (biggovernment.com)
• Obamacare Makes A Stop At The Eleventh Circuit (biggovernment.com)

An Alternative to Paul Ryan's Plan: End Medicare

National Review Online: End Medicare:

We’re all sinners, and Congressman Ryan’s past walks on the wild side do not render hollow his earnest plea that we deal with the entitlement cancer metastasizing in our body politic. But his prescription is not a cure. It’s an aggressive treatment of symptoms that leaves the cancer in place, under the delusion that Dr. Government can be trusted to manage it.

Representative Ryan buys the foundational premise of Medicare: to wit, health care is a corporate asset — not a commodity subject to the assumptions of ordinary commerce (i.e., individual choice, controlled by one’s personal resources and priorities), but a fundamental right to which the central government must ensure access. This is the plinth of the entitlement edifice — the “second Bill of Rights” — that began construction in the New Deal, under the direction of designers who knew full well that it was financially unsustainable.

Read the whole thing.

Don't Like the Individual Mandate? Earn Less Money!

 

Washington Examiner: Obama solicitor general: If you don't like mandate, earn less money:

Here's the quote:

President Obama's solicitor general, defending the national health care law on Wednesday, told a federal appeals court that Americans who didn't like the individual mandate could always avoid it by choosing to earn less money.

Well, lower earnings will result in lower tax revenues and our nifty progressive tax system will amplify the impact of those lower tax revenues. On the other hand, maybe this explains all the bad economic news of late--Americans en masse are trying to avoid Obamacare's individual mandate.

Related articles

• Obama Solicitor General: People Can Avoid the Individual Mandate by Choosing to Earn Less Money (michellemalkin.com)
• Avoid Individual Mandate - Earn Less Money (jlue.wordpress.com)

Hospitals Face Short Supply of Life Saving Drugs

Associated Press: Drug shortages on the rise at hospitals:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses - from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest - has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment.

"It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Will Justice Elena Kagan Recuse Herself from Obamacare Lawsuits?

Image via Wikipedia

 

The Daily Caller: New documents suggest Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan involved with crafting legal defense of Obamacare:

Newly released documents reveal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was more involved with President Obama’s health-care law than she disclosed previously. The documents likely will lead to a revival of questions about whether the Kagan should recuse herself from future cases.

Specifically, the documents show that Kagan was involved with crafting the legal defense of the Affordable Care Act in her role as solicitor general, before her appointment to the bench. The Media Research Center and Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that was filed in February 2011.

Related articles

• Kagan's Recusal Manuevers (volokh.com)
• Shocker: Kagan And White House Lied About Kagan's Role In ObamaCare Litigation Defense (minx.cc)