The Foundation
"The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse." --James Madison
Government & Politics
Senate Health Care Bill in Time for Christmas?
Senate Democrats are pitching last-minute holiday deals in an effort to reach a vote on the massive ObamaCare plan before their new Christmas Eve voting deadline. With Congress remaining in session so late, concerned citizens surely must be worried that congressmen won't be able to finish their shopping in time.
Even the public option is on clearance as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) signaled her willingness to see the Senate pass a bill without it. "It isn't just about health care. It's about a healthier America," Pelosi cooed. However, she is well aware that anything goes once the bill is in conference committee, so don't get your hopes up about defeating this monstrosity that easily.
The proposal to expand Medicare to people 55 and over died a quick death after Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) announced he would not support the measure. Democrats angry with Lieberman's stance accused him of flip-flopping because, back in September, he did support expanding Medicare to people between 55 and 64 who were out of work or unable to obtain coverage. His idea, however, became moot when the Senate decided to offer subsidies to the uninsured to purchase insurance.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) remains a wild card after the Senate shot down his amendment to restrict abortion funding in the bill. Nelson rejected the ensuing compromise. He certainly has other considerations, too, not the least of which is the attitude of his constituents. Nebraska is a solidly red state, and recent polling shows that only 20 percent of its citizens support ObamaCare. Nelson doesn't appear to share the Obama administration's sense of urgency, either. Asked during an interview whether he was concerned about his party's self-imposed deadline, he replied, "Are you talking about this Christmas or next Christmas?"
Of course, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) needs Nelson's support for the final package to avoid a filibuster, but any compromise he crafts to meet Nelson's demands to reduce or eliminate taxpayer-funded abortions risks driving away other liberal votes. There are reports that, in an effort to cow Nelson, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel threatened to axe Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base -- home to U.S. Strategic Command, the successor to Strategic Air Command, which is charged with command-and-control of the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal and employs more than 10,000 servicemen and federal employees.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says Reid is being so secretive with the bill, that only those called to Reid's office for a chat have even seen the current bill.
Still, many Democrats are willing to swallow the HarryCare pill because they see even watered-down legislation as the giant first step toward their goal of government-run health care. There's also a strong desire among Democrats to give the White House something, anything, to sign, so that Barack Obama can crow about it during his State of the Union address in January. Health care "reform" is, after all, his primary domestic policy initiative.
In a sense, Democrats are in too deep to pull out now. One Democrat strategist likened it to robbing a bank: "They're in the bank, they've got their guns out. They can run outside with no money, or they can stick it out, go through the gunfight, and get away with the money." Despite this Bonnie and Clyde strategy, let's hope and pray this holiday season that at least three or four Democrats (and a handful of RINOs) realize that all of the ensuing murder and mayhem is not really worth it.
On Cross-Examination
ObamaCare is facing more unlikely opponents every day, including former DNC chief Howard Dean, a medical doctor. "You're going to be forced to buy health insurance from a company that is going to take an average of 27 percent of your money," Dean said, "and there is no choice about that. If you don't buy that insurance you are going to get a fine."
And Dean wasn't done. "This bill I think is more likely to make the crisis worse than it is better because it's so expensive," he said. And as a result, he concluded, "[H]onestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill." He even penned an op-ed in The Washington Post expounding on his opposition.
Granted, Dean wants something even more leftist than what the Senate is grinding out, but sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
This Week's 'Braying Jackass' Award
Barack Obama's teleprompter gave him a rather poor choice of words to describe the government's efforts to hijack health care: "We just had a very productive session about the final stages of health care reform in the Senate. And from the discussions we had, it's clear that we are on the precipice of an achievement that's eluded Congresses and presidents for generations, an achievement that will touch the lives of nearly every American."
That's only too true -- we are on the precipice. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines it as "1 : a very steep or overhanging place; 2 : a hazardous situation."
And about that precipice... Obama sat down for an interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson Wednesday, in which he warned, "If we don't pass" this gargantuan expansion of the federal government, "the federal government will go bankrupt." Didn't he just tell Republicans to "stop trying to frighten the American people"? But he continued, "This actually provides us the best chance of starting to bend the cost curve on the government expenditures in Medicare and Medicaid." Furthermore, he claimed, "[I]f we don't do this, nobody argues with the fact that health care costs are going to consume the entire federal budget."
So, spending $1 trillion dollars is going to keep the federal government from going bankrupt? The suspense is killing us -- will someone please nominate this guy for the Nobel Prize in Economics?
The BIG Lie
Where in the Constitution is the authority to mandate that Americans buy health insurance?
"Well, I just think the Constitution charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people." --Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
And according to Nancy Pelosi's staff, "nobody questions that."
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Copenhagen's Income Redistribution
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is about two things: Control for big government types and the redistribution of your income in a shakedown for poor countries. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jetted to Denmark to promise the latter this week, tossing the United States' chips on the table to the tune of billions of dollars. "The U.S. is prepared to work with other countries to jointly mobilize $100 billion a year [to give to poor nations] by 2020," she announced. Clinton did not specify the portion to be paid by American taxpayers, but she was obviously taking her cues from the Chicago mob in the White House: The bribe comes only if there is a deal reached at Copenhagen. The result would be that we would not only handicap U.S. producers, but tax them to the benefit of our competitors.
All this comes amid the backdrop of ClimateGate and its patently fraudulent science. Then there's the record cold snap and snowstorm that Copenhagen has endured this week, no doubt attributable to insufficient sacrifices being placed upon the sacred altar of Mother Gaia. Either that, or Al Gore is to blame, since his presence at these global warming confabs always seems to bring record low temperatures.
Also, thousands of UN-accredited visitors were denied admittance and left out in the freezing warmth after flying all the way there, which sure didn't help what was already a carbon footprint larger than any previous climate conference.
Despite Barack Obama's arrival and his angry admonition that "The time for talk is over," Investor's Business Daily notes, "[A] draft climate accord by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, calling for a 50% cut in global emissions by 2050, has been kicked down the road till 2015 or 2016. Gee, maybe it's not the most urgent threat facing humankind after all."
New & Notable Legislation
The Senate passed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill this week by a vote of 57-35, with three Democrats voting against the bill and three Republicans voting for it. The 1,000-page package includes spending increases for a number of government agencies including the FBI and the Veterans Health Administration. Operating budget funds in the bill amounted to $447 billion, while the balance went toward meeting the growing list of mandatory payments for entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid.
The bill included more than 5,000 earmarks, which the Democrats took pride in because it was 3,000 fewer earmarks than the 2009 omnibus package. Taxpayers for Common Sense noted that 2010 is likely to see $11 billion in disclosed earmarks, which would be $4 billion less than 2009. However, the progress achieved in reducing pork spending may not be as much as it seems. For example, earmarks for the Army Corps of Engineers in 2009 were re-categorized as presidential earmarks, meaning that $2 billion in pork spending is no longer considered congressional in nature. Additionally, there is still no way to control the amount of money that is steered by lawmakers to particular projects or districts. So, the culture of favoritism that drives the wasteful spending in Washington still exists, it is just being made more, uh, "transparent." Yeah, that's the ticket.
The House voted 217-212 to use repaid TARP cash to "stimulate" job creation. The $154 billion package won't go to the Senate floor until next year.
The House passed a $290 billion spending bill this week by 218-214 to keep the government running for another six weeks after it breeched the $12.1 trillion debt ceiling. The House and the Senate initially proposed slipping an amendment to raise the debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion into the $636 billion defense appropriation for 2010, which passed the House this week. The Senate will vote Saturday. The amendment would have allowed the Democrats to avoid dealing with the debt ceiling again until after the 2010 midterm elections. Ordinarily this type of move would have worked since few politicians wanted to see themselves on the wrong side of a defense-spending bill, particularly in time of war. Spending in Washington has gotten so far out of control, though, that a number of Democrats refused to support any raise in the debt limit, no matter what piece of legislation it was married to.
This Week's 'Alpha Jackass' Award
"A good, solid B-plus." That's the grade Barack Obama gives himself after 11 months in office when asked by Oprah Winfrey for her "White House Christmas Special." Talk about grade inflation. Obama hasn't accomplished any of his major policy goals, millions more Americans are unemployed than when he was sworn in, the economy remains shaky, and America's allies openly wonder about our international commitments. If that's B+ material, just imagine what an F looks like.
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News From the Swamp: Bernanke Passes Senate Committee
"The Senate Banking Committee voted 16-7 to confirm Fed Chairman Bernanke for a second term," reports The Wall Street Journal. The entire Senate will vote in January. It wasn't all smooth sailing for Bernanke. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) said, "I strongly disapprove of some of the past deeds of the Federal Reserve while Ben Bernanke was a member and its chairman, and I lack confidence in what little planning for the future he has articulated. I will be opposing a second term for Dr. Bernanke." Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) likewise opposed a second term, saying, "As chairman Dr. Bernanke failed to recognize and remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark and difficult recession."
Bernanke had received some other good news this week: He was selected as Time Magazine's "Person of the Year." According to Time managing editor Richard Stengel, "The recession was the story of the year. Without Ben Bernanke ... it would have been a lot worse." As we have noted previously, however, without Bernanke, the recession might not have happened at all.
From the Leftjudiciary: Judge: ACORN Can't be Defunded
You would be hard-pressed to find good news coming from ACORN these days -- or any days, for that matter. Once word got out of ACORN's willingness to help with illegal activities, Congress quickly passed a bill defunding the community organizers. But the good news came for ACORN when U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon tossed out the law, ruling that the organization was being punished "in the absence of any judicial, or even administrative, process adjudicating guilt." Obviously, ACORN's being caught on tape encouraging illegal acts such as tax evasion and child prostitution, in addition to participating in fraudulent voter registration wasn't enough for the Clinton appointee to rule in the government's favor.
Bill Quigley, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights (a group "committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change"), which filed the suit on ACORN's behalf, predicted the federal government would not appeal the case, though it is asking Gershon to reconsider. Given the Justice Department's tendency toward lax pursuit of voting law violations, such as the Black Panther voter intimidation case in Philadelphia, we don't see them adamantly defending the will of Congress either. So it looks like your tax dollars will head to ACORN once again.
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