Free Republic

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000...

U.S. consumers turned decidedly more pessimistic in October, according to a report released Tuesday, with households increasingly worried about job prospects. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its monthly Consumer Confidence Index fell to 47.7 this month, from a revised 53.4 in September, which was originally reported as 53.1. The current month's reading was well below economists' projections of 53.2, according to a survey conducted by Dow Jones Newswires. The downturn in consumer confidence at this stage of the recovery is to be expected, as it has occurred in previous recoveries (please see chart below), and does not...

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the...

CNSNews.com) – When CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance--a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill--Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Pelosi's press secretary later responded to written follow-up questions from CNSNews.com by emailing CNSNews.com a press release on the “Constitutionality of Health Insurance Reform,” that argues that Congress derives the authority to mandate that people purchase health insurance from its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce. The exchange with Speaker Pelosi...

Hoyer Says Constitution’s ‘General Welfare’ Clause Empowers Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance Wednesday, October 21, 2009 By Matt Cover (CNSNews.com) – House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that the individual health insurance mandates included in every health reform bill, which require Americans to have insurance, were “like paying taxes.” He added that Congress has “broad authority” to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it was trying to promote “the general welfare.” The Congressional Budget Office, however, has stated in the past that a mandate forcing Americans to buy health insurance would...

There's something the Democratic lawmakers who are pushing cap-and-trade legislation don't want the public to know. The controversial climate-change legislation winding its way through Congress will impose a massive new national gas tax on the American people. We discovered this by analyzing what the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill would do to gas prices and what Americans spend on gasoline, diesel and jet fuels. We found that cap-and-trade legislation will levy a $3.6 trillion gas-tax increase that will impact every American and important segments of our economy. Americans travel more than 200 million vehicle miles each month, and annually we spend nearly...

Not later than February 1, 2014, the Comptroller General shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on . . . (ii) the availability of affordable health benefits plans, and (iii) the ability of individuals to maintain essential health benefits coverage . . . Not later than April 1, 2014, the appropriate committees of Congress shall report legislation implementing the recommendations contained in the report . . . [or] any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate, respectively, may introduce legislation implementing the recommendations contained in the proposal and such legislation shall be placed on the...

"Benefit" is not the correct word, as Cap and Trade will not be a net benefit to any state, being a direct tax on productivity and business in the name of warding off the scam of man-made global warming. That being said, the Waxman-Baucus Bill, Waxman (D-MA) and Baucus (D-CA), will aid special interests in Massachusetts and California more than it will special interests from other states. A little noticed Environmental Protection Agency analysis shows that the pending climate-change bill in Congress would particularly benefit the states represented by its primary authors. The analysis, obtained by The Washington Times, shows...

Gee, who saw this one? Anyway, the point stands. The FDIC is clearly out of money, and this is nothing more than yet another legalized accounting fraud game, where they'll get "the money" now but allow the banks to "recognize" that "charge" over time. And now we find that this is not a short-term issue either: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The government insurance fund designed to protect consumer bank deposits will likely stay in the red through 2012, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chief Sheila Bair said Wednesday. I know I have brought this up repeatedly, but these sorts of losses...

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis. Among the 778 such projects, known as earmarks, packed into the bill: $25 million for a new World War II museum at the University of New Orleans and $20 million to launch an educational institute named after the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat. While earmarks are hardly new in Washington, "in 30 years on Capitol Hill,...

Reid ‘Likely’ to Make Entire Health Bill an Amendment to Unrelated Tax Bill That House Passed in March(CNSNews.com) -- A senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told CNSNews.com that it is “likely” that Reid will use H.R. 1586—a bill passed by the House in March to impose a 90-percent tax on bonuses paid to employees of certain bailed-out financial institutions—as a “shell” for enacting the final version of the Senate’s health care bill, which Reid is responsible for crafting. Under the procedure, the substance of House Resolution 1586 would be removed and replaced with the entire Senate...

Pelosi says new tax is 'on the table' By Michael O'Brien - 10/06/09 10:59 AM ET A new value added tax (VAT) is "on the table" to help the U.S. address is fiscal liabilities, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday night. Pelosi, appearing on PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show" asserted that "it's fair to look at" the VAT as part of an overhaul of the nation's tax code. "I would say put everything on the table and subject it to the scrutiny that it deserves," Pelosi told Rose when asked if the value-added tax has any appeal to her....

Iowa Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, won passage for an amendment that will force Congress and congressional staff members to access health insurance through the exchange that would be created by the health care reform legislation under consideration by the Finance Committee. In a news release Grassley said, “the more that Congress experiences the laws we pass, the better the laws are likely to be.” Members of the committee agreed through unanimous consent on Tuesday night to support the Grassley amendment. Senator Jim Bunning was a cosponsor of the amendment. As it stands now, members of Congress and their staffs participate...

Here is video from Fox News' Neil Cavuto yesterday where he likened Obama's push to pass Government-run Health Care despite opposition from Americans to a man driving a car in the wrong direction who won't heed any of the warning signs or stop and ask for directions. Cavuto was giving his "Common Sense" commentary, and did an excellent job of describing what the Democrat-controlled Congress is trying to do in ramming Health Care "for all" through despite the fact 56% of Americans are opposed to it. Instead of listening to the people now, they hearken back to Obama's election win...

Wall Street has showered nearly $11 million on the Senate since the beginning of the year, and more than 15 percent of it has gone to a single senator: Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York. Schumer’s $1.65 million take from the financial services industry is nearly twice that of any other senator's — and more than five times what the industry gave to any single Republican senator.

Former DNC Chairman Appointed To Replace Liberal Lion A relic of the U.S. Senate for 47 years, former U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy’s greatest impact on U.S. policy may have come from beyond the grave. Recent approval by Massachusetts lawmakers have changed the Bay State’s election law as to permit Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick to name an interim lawmaker until the state’s Jan. 19 special election. The change in the law, which was motivated by partisan interests, repealed a law once supported by Mr. Kennedy that called for the seat to remain vacant until a special election was held. The result? Mr....

Ensign receives handwritten confirmation This doesn't happen often enough. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staft Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold." The note was a follow-up to Ensign's questioning at the markup.

ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- is stinking up Washington. And this is far more significant than if a suspiciously large number of operatives for a purely "private" outfit had been found systematically bending and breaking the law, because ACORN receives and spends taxpayer money -- lots of it -- and had carried the imprimatur of official partnerships with the IRS, the Census Bureau ... the kind of "cred" that in the political world comes only from "who you know."

WASHINGTON - Senate Finance Committee Democrats have just rejected a GOP amendment that would have required a health overhaul bill to be available online for 72 hours before the committee votes. Republicans argued that transparency is an Obama administration goal. They also noted that their constituents are demanding that they read bills before voting. Democrats said it was a delay tactic that could have postponed a vote for weeks. The Democrats say that unlike other committees, the Finance Committee works off conceptual language that describes policies — instead of legislative language that ultimately becomes law, and which the GOP...

The 2009 AFL-CIO Convention just got a message from the top leaders in Congress: We stand with you and with America’s workers. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the leader of the U.S. House, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) each delivered a video message to the opening session of the convention.Pelosi thanked outgoing AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and the union movement, crediting union members with taking the lead in winning a pro-worker Congress and giving them the momentum needed to pass legislation that really changed lives. Pelosi said: On behalf of the Congress, I thank all of you for your...

The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Harvard professor Cass Sunstein as the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Budget and Management.

Obama and the White House are looking the other way as Lautenberg seeks to ban guns from 1,000,000 US citizens on a secret FBI terrorist watch list. Obama has deliberately and repeatedly lied to America's 90 million gun owners across the country when he insisted that he would not try to take away anyone's firearms. Now Obama's silence endorses Lautenberg's latest attempt at banning guns. Lautenberg has now introduced bill S. 1317 that would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales to people on terror watch lists. We must defeat this bill from giving extraordinary powers to...

'CZAR' Sunstein Shoots Himself In The Foot Gun Hater Lautenberg Proposes "Extraordinary Powers" Be Given To the U.S. Attorney General To Limit Gun Sales. Obama and the White House are looking the other way as Lautenberg seeks to ban guns from 1,000,000 US citizens on a secret FBI terrorist watch list. Obama has deliberately and repeatedly lied to America's 90 million gun owners across the country when he insisted that he would not try to take away anyone's firearms. Now Obama's silence endorses Lautenberg's latest attempt at banning guns. Lautenberg has now introduced bill S. 1317 that would give the...

President Obama inherited a mess of an economy. He inherited it from his fellow Democrats in Congress. As it turns out, which party controls Congress, especially the Senate, probably has a lot more impact on the economy than who resides in the White House. The last time Republicans controlled Congress, unemployment stood at 4.4%, the S&P 500 closed over 1400, and the economy grew at an average of 3% per year over the four years under a Republican Congress. After two and a half years of Democrats controlling both houses of Congress, the unemployment rate is at 9.7% and teen...

Have you noticed that despite the Speaker's claim that hers will be the most ethical congress in history the list of Democrats getting caught in ethics violations? And even when the violations are being investigated, some politicians (Charlie Rangel) try to "pay off" their colleagues on the ethics committee with campaign donations. Rangel's ethics problems are massive, and the list is very long, here are just a few: * In September he admitted a failure to report $75 thousand in taxes. * He was discovered taking a tax break for people whose primary residence was in Washington DC, but if...

President Barack Obama plans to get much more assertive when he addresses a joint session of Congress Wednesday night at a critical stage in the health-care debate. Top aides say his fiery Labor Day speech to an organized-labor crowd in Ohio was a preview of a more passionate case for reform that's coming later this week. The top aides say the president is putting his own strong imprint on the speech to Congress. After advisers last week submitted various thoughts on what the speech should say, Obama spent much of the weekend at Camp David crafting the actual address, which...

The most important thing about what anyone says are not the words themselves but the credibility of the person who says them. The words of convicted swindler Bernie Madoff were apparently quite convincing to many people who were regarded as knowledgeable and sophisticated. If you go by words, you can be led into anything. No doubt millions of people will be listening to the words of President Barack Obama Wednesday night when he makes a televised address to a joint session of Congress on his medical care plans. But, if they think that the words he says are what matters,...

Opinion of Congress at 24-year low By Tony Romm - 09/02/09 12:45 PM ET Only about one-third of voters have a positive opinion of Congress -- a 13 percent decline in favorability since April, a new Pew Research Center poll finds. That striking drop in support -- which Pew says puts Congressional favorability at its lowest in 24 years -- is doubly discouraging for Democrats, who ceded ground to their Republican counterparts in Pew's companion poll. A look at the crosstabs reveals the drop in Congressional approval is most apparent among independent voters, only a third of whom now view...

<p>"At what point do we run out of money?" President Obama was asked in May. "Well, we are out of money now," he replied. That was when he projected the deficit to be $7 trillion over the next 10 years. Now his administration admits the number likely will reach $9 trillion. We sure are out of money -- and the true deficit number probably is at least another $1 trillion bigger.</p>

Amidst questions of whether or not any Senate Republicans will support a health care reform bill, Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., today said that the “White House and the Senate Democratic leadership still prefer a bipartisan bill.” The Reid spokesman said that “neither the White House nor the leadership have made a decision to pursue reconciliation,” the somewhat controversial legislative process by which a bill is introduced in such a manner so that it requires merely 50 votes instead of 60 to proceed to a vote, thus removing the threat of filibuster. Manley said that...

Here is video of Stuart Varney talking about Warren Buffett's warning in a New York Times op-ed that the Obama Administration must stop the rise in our National Debt or America runs the risk of becoming a "Bananna Republic." Here's what Buffett said: I want to emphasize that there is nothing evil or destructive in an increase in debt that is proportional to an increase in income or assets. As the resources of individuals, corporations and countries grow, each can handle more debt. The United States remains by far the most prosperous country on earth, and its debt-carrying capacity will...

Despite some really eloquent speeches to the contrary, our “for sale” House of Representatives passed the Food Fascism Act….euphemistically called a food safety act, by a margin of about 140 over the naysayer’s. True to form, Rosa DeLauro spoke about things she knows nothing about and couldn’t care less; Rosa just loves her some Monsanto! And that exclusion for farms??? Gone! And that includes you organic idiots who thought you had kissed enough behinds to have your industry excluded. The newly revised bill that appeared overnight after the original was defeated 29th of July, now includes all those farms we...

Dissent, it turns out, is no longer patriotic. President Barack Obama’s White House and his Democratic National Committee have unleashed an all-out assault on what they call “angry,” “manufactured” and “lobbyist-funded” lies about health care reform. Look closely and you realize that’s how they classify all dissent. Obama, when speaking at Notre Dame University last spring amid anti-abortion protests, said, “When we open up our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe, that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.” But his record of...

House Pencils in Millions for Jets the Air Force Did Not RequestHouse lawmakers approved millions for military jets the Air Force did not request. But an aide says the decision was made to speed up the replacement of an aging fleet. FOXNews.com Wednesday, August 05, 2009 Congress is supposed to be taking a knife to the federal budget. But when it comes to new military equipment, they've traded their knife for a spoon -- tossing in scoops of cash that the Pentagon hasn't even requested. The latest example comes with the House approving more than $500 million for eight passenger...

Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the dark about the coming nutricide. Codex Alimentarius is scheduled for full global implementation on December 31, 2009, and not a word has been spoken in main stream media about this threat to humanity. Yet, according to the projections based on figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a minimum of 3 billion people will die from the Codex mandated vitamin and mineral guideline alone. Former Nazi is...

Yesterday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)  made an accusation that town hall protesters are bringing swastikas to the political forums.  However, the Speaker of the House did not give any evidence that town hall attendees are indeed doing this. Most Americans don't necessarily want to ally themselves with crazy people screaming and chasing down representatives of Congress. There's already reports that some people in the crowds are wearing things like Nazi swastikas. If Obama and the Democrats are able to portray these people as their opponents, it may end up hurting the Republicans by association.

I love how the media (CNBC in particular) "spins" the weekly unemployment report. Let's dissect it - again. Continuing claims is the key number. It rose 69,000 from the week previous on a seasonally-adjusted basis. But look down the table in that report. 139,291 people rolled off the continuing claims numbers into "extended benefits." Those folks are still unemployed, yet they understate the continuing claims number by a whopping 140,000. This is the distortion that creeps into the numbers, and over time it gets quite ugly. What's worse is that we're now starting to see people drop off the extended...

Meanwhile, millions more Americans are out of work as Congress jets! In March, we learned how ravenous the travel appetite is for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats in Congress. The documents which show the frequency of trips to exotic destinations would be a crushing scandal if Republicans were in charge of Congress. But since Dems are in charge, few will say a negative word about this: House Orders Up Three Elite Jets By Paul Singer Roll Call August 5, 2009 Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by...

Here is video of Democrat Majority Leader Steny Hoyer being challenged by "Tea Party" Protesters in New York yesterday as he tried to give his talking points about how great the Obama Administration is doing. But many in the crowd gathered would have none of that. Several told Hoyer openly that "you are lying to us." One man, who said he is a registered Democrat, made a truly profound statement: "Why would you guys try to stuff a health care bill down our throat in 3-4 weeks, when the President took six months to pick what he wanted for a...

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, fresh off a rousing neighborhood meeting on health-care reform that ended with people chanting “just say no,” said this morning he’s more resolved than ever to seek congressional approval of health-care reforms. The Austin Democrat said people who attended the gathering Saturday morning at a South Austin grocery store first heard him talk about why he favors change and then he took questions. Doggett said he subsequently said he wanted to talk one on one with crowd members interested in other issues, but that proved impossible because of deafening chants of “just say no.” It was...

I just came from the Philadelphia town hall meeting. First off I am glad that there were more objecting to this crap. However, these people have their minds made up and don't give a spit about what we think.One thing I have to say is, I knew Sebelius was a nut job...but now I really believe she is evil! There was a man who obviously had some physical disability and he thanked Sebelius for her service...she gave him a courtesy smile then her face went to "stone cold evil" after he looked away! Such arrogance...the anger ran through my veins...

Party line votes in House Committees illustrate how very partisan this Democrat plan is! After finishing the work in committees that created the latest version of Obama Care to be considered this fall by the House of Representatives Democrat members of Congress are heading back to their districts to try and explain the bill to their constituents. As they head out of town they are handed a list of talking points prepared by the spinmeisters in the Democrat establishment to explain the bill and attempt to deflect the criticism which is mounting to a fever pitch (see below). Chief among...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democratic leaders are promising to push through a health care bill even if negotiations with Republicans fail.</p> <p>Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday there are contingency steps that will be considered as a last resort. Among the possible steps is invoking a legislative procedure known as reconciliation. Such as step is problematic because of its strict limits on what would be allowed in the bill and what wouldn't.</p>

Before rank-and-file House Democrats bolted for summer break last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave them each a three-by-eight-inch pocket card and told them never to leave home without it. For Pelosi and her top aides, the two-sided, blue-and-maroon glossy — a personalized cheat sheet to help Democratic members tell their constituents what they’ll gain from health care reform — is the key to winning the critical month of August. Republicans have their own summer strategy: With Americans growing wary of plans for health care reform, GOP leaders are telling their members to take the fight straight to the Democrats. “You...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's treasury secretary said Sunday he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit, and his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul. As the White House sought to balance campaign rhetoric with governing, officials appeared willing to extend unemployment benefits. With former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan saying he is "pretty sure we've already seen the bottom" of the recession, Obama aides sought to defend the economic stimulus and calm a jittery public. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National...

(CNSNews.com) - Appearing on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” yesterday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner floated President Obama’s next big move: a tax increase on middle-class Americans. Geithner made it clear during the interview that the administration believes that new federal revenues are needed and he declined to rule out raising taxes on Americans earning less than $250,000 per year to get those revenues. During the interview, host George Stephanopoulos pointed out to Geithner that the “Congressional Budget Office estimates that your budget will add $9 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.” Stephanopoulos also noted that former...

We received the following from Jan Poller, the same person who alerted us to the reams of anti-Semitic hate speech and 9/11 denial at MoveOn.org's now-disgraced Action Forum. We encourage our readers to compare elements of Barack Obama's health care plan (give the senior citizen a pain pill instead of a pacemaker) to a similar public health care plan that existed from about 1939 to 1941. An open letter to our Congressman on how bills are written and the Health care bill in particular by Jan Mel Poller This is an open letter. For it to be effective, it needs...

Five years after he put his money behind the Swift Boat ads that helped tanked John Kerry’s presidential campaign, Senate Democrats gave T. Boone Pickens a warm welcome at their weekly policy lunch Thursday. Or at least most of them did. Kerry skipped the regularly scheduled lunch; his staff said the Massachusetts Democrat “was unable to attend because he had a long scheduled lunch with his interns and pages.” Sen. Al Franken managed to make time for the lunch – but then let Pickens have it afterward. According to a source, the wealthy oil and gas magnate and author of...

We got 'em where we want 'em. Reports are coming in today that Congressmen and Senators on Capitol Hill are so afraid of the ire of their constituents back home that they are canceling town hall meetings right and left:

Illustration by Matt Wuerker Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops, congressmen fearful for their safety — welcome to the new town-hall-style meeting, the once-staid forum that is rapidly turning into a house of horrors for members of Congress. On the eve of the August recess, members are reporting meetings that have gone terribly awry, marked by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior. In at least one case, a congressman has stopped holding town hall events because the situation has spiraled so far out of control. “I had felt they would be pointless,” Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) told...