Even as our nation's unemployment rate surpassed 10% -- exceeding even the worst case scenarios that the White House projected -- speaker Pelosi intends to bring to the floor her $1-trillion-plus health care reform proposal.
Washington, Nov 6 - Even as our nation's unemployment rate surpassed 10% -- exceeding even the worst case scenarios that the White House projected -- Speaker Pelosi intends to bring to the floor her $1-trillion-plus health care reform proposal.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this is the highest unemployment rate since April 1983. Just last month, 190,000 jobs were lost. All year long, Democrats in Washington have been on a spending spree, claiming that they had to do it and that only by spending big could
they save the economy from ruin. Well, now we know the truth, America: They've spent your money, and you're still losing your jobs.
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will be in session to vote on the Democrats' health care bill -- a bill that will put the government in control of 18% of the American economy. Their repeated (and failed) bailout strategy put government in control of 30% of the economy. The cap-and-trade national energy tax that they're still trying to force into law would put them in control of another 8% of the economy. Tomorrow, they try to take control of another 18%.
Republicans have offered a serious alternative that makes health care more affordable, increases access for millions -- and does it all without breaking the bank. As the Detroit News said in an editorial today:
Republicans are offering an alternative health reform plan that should at least be debated before Congress rushes to turn the nation's health care system inside out.
But that likely won't happen....
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The GOP bill is less ambitious than the plan being rammed through by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, taking an incremental approach to restructuring the system.
It uses market-based principles and does not include government subsidies or a public option.
But it would trim costs through strict limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, expanding health savings accounts, allowing consumers to buy insurance from out-of-state companies, providing tax breaks for insurance purchases, making it easier for small businesses to offer their employees insurance and breaking down barriers to coverage for the most hard-to-insure Americans.
While the proposal should increase the number of insured, it does not provide coverage for everyone. Tax deductions and health savings accounts aren't much use to those with no or very low income.
But it is far cheaper than the Democratic proposal, whose cost has soared to $1.3 trillion during the next decade; it won't add to the federal budget deficit and it does not require a massive new government bureaucracy to administer.
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Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Elected in 2006, is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota. In only her first term, Congresswoman Bachmann developed a reputation as a "principled reformer" who stays true to her conservative beliefs while pushing for real reform of the broken ways of Washington. And, her strong advocacy for her constituents earned her a second term in Congress in November 2008.
