Posted on 12/25/2009 9:42:01 PM PST by Steelfish
Extending Federal Benefits to Same-Sex Couples Will Cost $898M, CBO Says
Extending federal benefits to same-sex couples will cost taxpayers $898 million over the next nine years, according to an analysis of "domestic partnership" legislation released by the Congressional Budget Office.
FILE: U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, center, and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, right, both openly gay members of Congress.
Extending federal benefits to same-sex couples will cost taxpayers $898 million over the next nine years, according to an analysis of "domestic partnership" legislation released last by the Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO said in its Dec. 17 report that the House version of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act -- H.R. 2517 -- would cost $596 million in direct spending and $302 million in discretionary spending through 2019.
The independent nonpartisan agency found that "providing additional health insurance benefits through the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program" -- for active and retired gay federal workers with spouses -- "causes the largest increase in both mandatory and discretionary spending -- $590 million and $266 million, respectively."
The analysis notes, however, that enacting the legislation "would not have any direct impact on federal revenues."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Then let them also pay the “Marriage taxâ€..the higher rate if they want all the privileges.
I worked for the government for 26 years and retired last year. A number of lesbians worked with me over that length of time. Everyone of them went through 4 or more significant others in the time that I worked with them. Allowing them to give health benefits to their lovers will just open a giant can of worms.
Why shouldn’t those in heterosexual relationships also be allowed to insure their unmarried significant others then? The government picks up two-thirds of the cost of health insurance for its employees. Expanding the cost for all significant others would place a greater burden on the taxpayer.
At their current spending rate, that is chump change to many members of Congress. They could have used that money to buy-off somemore folks......
This just goes alone with the upcoming Homo-Leninist Obamacare program. Has anyone thought about or even mentioned that since the government is willing to cover everyone, and yes the courts will rule that all citizens, visitors and illegal aliens will get the same rights. That some will receive more than others, especially belonging to the correct party affiliation. Such as, government officials, Federal/State/City public agency employees and people with aids or other classes of individuals that the government sanctions…what’s the cost 500K, 750K, 1 Million and more per person receiving aids treatment; while the citizenry is denied care based on some panel’s decision that a drug is no in stock…
Benefits should only be allowed for married couples (male/female), it is good for society and promotes healthy, good marriage. We should encourage couples to marry and not divorce. No more benefits for those that “choose” to shack up.
Because the Gay party is a loyal member of Socialist Workers Democrat Coalition.
When will this stop?
When the Republicans finally wise up and determine that they can not play nice with the Democrats. The Republicans must finally realize that they can not when the support of the MSM by trying to be Democrat light. They can never win over the MSM period. They have to find a way to go directly to the people and win them over. One of the first orders of business must be to break the hold the Teachers’ unions have on education in order to stop the indoctrination of our children.
One of the first orders of business must be to break the hold the Teachers’ unions have on education in order to stop the indoctrination of our children. Talk to your average high school kid and discover how well the indoctrination of our youth in to the leftist ideology has progressed.
Leftist have an 80 year lead on us we can not afford to play by gentlemanly rules any longer.
In the next battle for same sex “marriage” at state level this is Nice argument. Several times I tried to find a way to get estimates of costs but no one seemed to know.
I never thought for a minute gay marriage has anything to do with “love.” About scamming the system. Getting somebody else to pick up the tab.
Gotta start pinging again.
This is how the left ‘sticks’ it to heteros that are married, don’t you see? Give the gays all the benefits, but because we have DOMA and the people of the states decide what marriage is (even though we can just say GOD defines it, we merely defend it) that prohibit the fed govt from changing the definition, this is how they ‘get back’ at ‘breeders’.
Besides gays don’t want to get married. wherever it’s been passed hard;y nay ever get married, and the ones that did are divorcing. Marriage, the idea of being with the same person forever, is definitely NOT a part of the LGBT lifestyle. It is the opposite of the vast majority of lesbians and gays. You can say what you want about how divorce (thanks to no-fault laws) has damaged the institution of marriage, but most people enter into it with the idea they will be faithful to that other person and riase kids together. It isn’t about getting benefits and it isn’t about getting each others’ health insurance. It isn’t being ‘married’ but having Thursday nights off as many gay couples (married or not) do.
I still see the life insurance guys face in my living room when he asked me i smoked. My reply was no i am not gay and i do not take it up the back door so there is no need to charge me more for life insurance. I smoke but my ailments can be cured unlike AIDS and you are discriminating against my life style choice. I then smiled and we had a nice of the record conversation about the matter and in the end he did agree with me. He didn't get a sale but only an education in the end.
The GOVERNMENT picks up the cost of NOTHING...the TAXPAYER is on the hook for every cent that is spent, and the term GOVERNMENT FUNDS is an oxymoron; the money is merely that which is confiscated to fund whatever handouts the politicians decide to give, to purchase the votes of the government-dependent masses.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Congress has de facto established a religion.
ah come on, these people have been taking it in the shorts all their lives, don’t you think it’s about time we join them?? W It’s not like it’s your money anyway, All Money belongs to the Lawgivers, and if you don’t complain they might let you keep some for some gruel, for your family.
If this medical insurance is extended to same-sex “couples” then it should be extended to heterosexuals that live together. I would say the government is discriminating based on sex. In all fairness to both classes the sexual orientation shouldn’t matter. What is good for one group should be good for all. Watch the cost go through the roof.
To benefit from the direction of this government we should all turn queer and register as Democrats.
Personally, I see it as more of the subversion of individual rights and an unequal application of the law. At one time a law had to apply equally to all and Constitutionally that is still true.
The graduated income tax and our tax laws violate that by their very existence. The same is true of all social programs. The Left argues that they don’t saying they apply equally to all persons of a certain category. If “Separate but Equal” is wrong on its face then so are these other government programs.
However, alas, that horse is so far out of the barn he is completely out of sight.
We fault Bush for expanding government but early on he tried SS reform, an obviously needed idea, and was soundly trounced by all. IIRC, it was at that time that he and Karl Rove reached the conclusion that if they couldn’t change and reduce big government then they could at least try to make it work better.
That was the purpose of the No Child Left Behind education bill. He is roundly criticized for that with many saying he let Ted Kennedy write the bill but what was accomplished was adding accountability to the existing education bill. Prior to that, schools were given 3 years to improve or else. Except there was no “or else”. NCLB added if after five years the schools still had not met government guide lines all federal funds would be withdrawn.
Now that the five years have come the Democrats are either ignoring the requirement or dropping it. However, it was a good idea and would have been effective if allowed o perform.
The same is true of illegal immigration. It is a complex issue that requires addressing those pouring into this country, the employers of those working in this country and what to do about them while they are here.
Everyone has opinions about all of these facets but regardless they must be addressed. Just screaming everything is amnesty and demanding no action, or at least no action as described in the bills presented in Congress, simply leaves us with the status quo.
Voting third party also leaves us with the status quo and elects outright Communists like Obama.
Politics is called “the art of the possible” and the longer we prevent action on some of these things the more the center shifts to the Left. That means that future action may be worse than that presently proposed.
From June 29, 2004:
..should the gay lifestyle be encouraged? Health care professionals are familiar with the medical challenges of homosexual men living the gay lifestyle. For you, the taxpayer, to be willing to pay government benefits for gay marriage or civil unions, you should consider what lifestyle your tax dollars will be supporting.....
In addition to the physical, psychological, and emotional devastation of HIV/AIDS is the high cost of treatment. The wholesale cost for the combination drug therapies treating HIV is about $14,000 annually per patient. (Medication costs can be much higher depending on the drugs included in the regimen.) A study completed in 2002 estimated that costs treating patients who had progressed to an AIDS disease were around $34,000 annually per patient. [14] Variations in this approximation include medications, hospitalization, diagnostic costs and clinic costs. The health care costs of AIDS diseases and drugs for treating HIV have impacted your health insurance premiums tremendously. The direct costs of HIV/AIDS are similar to other very serious illnesses; however, the indirect costs are higher since HIV affects predominantly working-age persons. [15]
http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/22SxSo/PnSx/HSx/PhrmGayMrg.htm
From July 7, 2007
... Of course, the promulgation of knowledge and data concerning the link between alternative sex and disease is hampered by the bullying tactics of the elite. Thus, only a few facts are known at all to some of the public (such as the results of a study in Scandinavia showing that men in same-sex marriages die 24 years earlier than their counterparts in the general population), and these facts aren’t mainstream, thanks to the media blackout on this issue and the muzzling of opponents under color of law. And that, in turn, is thanks to the activists.
...Note the remarkable parallels with the smoking craze: In both cases, the promoters of the respective dangerous habits had been or are withholding evidence that undoubtedly would have led people not to indulge or to quit. Today, public elementary and secondary schools are doing just that, and in addition, some are teaching, as part of “sex education,” methods for carrying out harmful sexual perversions...
http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/22SxSo/PnSx/HSx/XGayVsHsx.htm
I guess you should have quoted my next sentence which stated the burden falls on the taxpayer. But some just see what they want to see.
I like to EMPHASIZE the point that needs to be made clearest to those who will be “donating” their earnings to those “in need”.
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