Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.
Democrats will work on the bill's details next week as they struggle through "what kind of heartburn" it will cause to agree on how to pay for revamping the health-care system, Rangel, a New York Democrat, said today. He also said the measure's cost will reach beyond the $634 billion President Barack Obama proposed in his budget request to Congress as a down payment for the policy changes.
Powerline Blog has a good post last night on the fact that voters are turning on the free-spending Democrats' economic policies:
The Democrats continue to press policies on the American people of which most voters don't approve. The latest evidence is from today's Rasmussen survey, which finds 53% of voters saying that more government spending will hurt the economy:
Do increases in government spending help the economy, hurt the economy, or have no impact on the economy? Help 27% Hurt 53% No impact 10% Not sure 10%
The Employee "No" Choice Act would strip workers of their right to vote by secret ballot in union organizing elections, strangle economic growth and allow government bureaucrats to impose union contracts on employees and employers. Employees lose, employers lose, Big Labor bosses win ... who else wins?
Passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would result in millions in additional political funds for organized labor over the next 10 years, a business group opposed to the legislation will argue in a report to be released Tuesday.
Unions would stand to gain an additional $320 million more to spend on political activities in year ten alone with a ten year total of $1.75 billion, according to a report put together by the anti-EFCA Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI).
By now, you probably know that Big Labor's card check bill strips workers of their fundamental right to vote by secret ballot in union organizing elections. But it's card check's dirty little secret that is predicted to have a much bigger impact -- binding arbitration.
"I think everybody now agrees that there needs to be binding arbitration; not everyone, I'd say there's an overwhelming majority that agrees there needs to be binding arbitration."
Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on six out of 10 key issues, including the top issue of the economy.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues, while 39% trust Democrats more.
Heritage Foundation has a great analysis on the impact of the Democrats' national energy sales tax.
The impact of this new energy tax is startling -- lost jobs, increased national debt, slower economic growth ... and higher energy prices for electricity, gasoline, natural gas and heating oil:
Energy Cost Impacts Price increases 2035 Gasoline - 58% Electricity - 90% Natural Gas - 55% Heating Oil - 56%
The American Future Fund -- a conservative non-profit based in Iowa -- has invited our honorary chairman, Senator John Ensign, to be their second speaker for their new Conservative Lecture Series. During his speech, Senator Ensign plans to deliver a commonsense conservative vision to addressing the many issues affecting our country.
To welcome Senator Ensign to Iowa, the American Future Fund has launched a radio ad inviting Iowans to the June 1st speech in Sioux City.
If you live in the Sioux City area and would like to attend the speech for free, you can get the details on attending here.
All rhetoric aside, mandates cost money. Today, for example, President Barack Obama declared that new U.S. automobiles must get an average of 35 miles-per-gallon by the year 2016. Yet it is widely acknowledged that meeting this new standard will add $1,300 to the cost of each new car. In general, when prices go up, people buy less. So, all other things being equal, less demand for a product (like cars) means fewer jobs, not more. (Of course, there is one way to raise prices and create more jobs: reduce worker productivity. If policy makers deliberately encourage inefficiency in an industry, more jobs will likely follow. But that reduced productivity also means workers will receive lower wages.)
Producing low-carbon electricity will also cost more money. Currently, producing solar photovoltaic electricity costs about 33 cents per kilowatt hour; wind generated electricity is about 9 cents per kilowatt hour; and coal-fired production with carbon capture and sequestration is estimated to cost up to 10 cents per kilowatt hour. In contrast, producing electricity by means of conventional coal-fired plants now costs 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour and nuclear power comes to 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
The Heritage Foundation's Foundry blog digs deeper into the Democrats' national energy sales tax, and finds that it will cost the average family a whopping $4,800 per year:
Our analysis shows it will cost the average family closer to $4,800 per year. Here's how:
Our $1,500 number is just the direct impact of household energy bills. Your electricity bill. Your natural gas bill. Your home heating oil bill. And of course, the amount of gas you use in your tank. The increased cost of your direct energy use is $1500 per year.
Our Honorary Chairman, Senator John Ensign, participated in a blogger conference call earlier this week to discuss the importance of stopping card check.
