This week (or in the near future), the Senate will vote on a health care bill that has not yet been written. Harry Reid will bring to the Senate floor a conceptual draft of what their proposed health care bill should include – but without any legislative language. In other words, without the law actually having been written. Here are some critical facts to consider:

•  
  • If passed, the bill would lead to government run health care and control of nearly 1/6 of the entire U.S. economy. This is a fact and is the desired end-game of the President and Democrats in Congress. Don’t kid yourself.
  • Democrats in Congress last week rejected a Republican amendment that would have required the bill be posted on the internet for 72 hours prior to a vote. Why?
  • The proposed bill does not go into effect until 2013, so what’s the big hurry?
  • The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) can’t estimate the cost (it’s called “scoring the bill”) of a bill unless it reviews the legislative language. So the Senate “vapor” bill will not be scored by the CBO and there will have no estimate of its cost before a Senate vote.
  • Show me where the U.S. Constitution grants Congress or the President the right to any involvement in my health care. It doesn’t and I say this bill is un-Constitutional.
  • 80% of Americans are satisfied with their health care coverage.
  • More than 50% of Americans do not support government run health care.
  • The number of chronically uninsured citizens is around 15 million, not 47 or 30 million, as the President has told us. That leaves nearly 325 million citizens who are insured (and 80% of which are satisfied), yet the proposal will affect everyone – all 340 million (plus the illegals once they’re naturalized next year) – not just the uninsured. How does that make sense?
  • The President says the bill will be paid for by savings from Medicare fraud and waste. If it’s so easy to identify fraud and waste in Medicare, why not just fix that?
  • Democrat leaders are considering using reconciliation to pass this legislation. Reconciliation is a special procedure that allows passage of a bill with only 51 votes, rather than the 60 normally required. This procedure has been used in the past (by both Reps and Dems) for spending to reconcile Senate and House versions of a bill. It’s never been used to implement such a substantial policy change. Democrats are considering this because they are not sure they can garner 60 votes. That’s not how Congress is supposed to work.
  • Democrat leaders have excluded Republicans and prevented their participation. Sure, Republicans sit in the various committees, but their substantive amendments have not been considered because of Democrat control of those committees and because of Democrat control of the Senate and House.

Regardless of whether you support the President, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, or whatever, let’s use some common sense. If the health care problem is so significant in terms of its impact on citizens and the U.S. economy, isn’t it better to thoroughly debate and analyze a proposal before it is voted into law? Of course it is. And wouldn’t it be better to concentrate on fixing what is broken (insurance for the 15 million uninsured), than to unravel the best health care system in the world? Of course it would.

So why are the President and Congress in such a hurry, and why don’t they want us to see what they’re doing? Well you need to answer those questions yourself.

Finally, does it make sense for Congress (Senate or House) to vote on a bill that has not been written, to prevent public review (remember, they’re supposed to do what we want), and to vote on such a significant issue without a cost estimate from the CBO? For me, the answer is clearly no. That is not what I expect from my elected officials.

So I’m calling my Senators this week to instruct them to not vote for cloture (closing debate) on a health care bill until:

1. The legislative language has been posted on the internet for at least 72 hours; and

2. The CBO has scored the bill.

Here’s contact info for New Jersey residents.

Lautenberg, Frank R. – (D – NJ) Class II

324 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510

(202) 224-3224

Menendez, Robert – (D – NJ) Class I

528 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510

(202) 224-4744

http://www.senate.gov/

I am embarrassed that the President of the United refuses to recognize the greatness of the United States of America.  I am ashamed that the President repeatedly fails to acknowledge the great and significant sacrifices and accomplishments of the people of the United States.  And I am amazed at the naiveté and fundamental misunderstanding demonstrated by the President with this statement.  It appears that the President believes there is a “world order” that he is capable of effecting.  An order where all nations are morally and politically equivalent, with no one nation different from the other.  And by showing the world that he acknowledges that the United States is no different or better than any other country he is domnstrating leadership that will be respected and followed by others.  Unbelievable! 

Unfortunately for the President, there is a “natural” world order that is dictated more by morality than politics.  And nations and groups of people will “self-order,” with some rising above others.  And in such a world order, certain nations or groups of people will and should stand above others, and stand up and for others.  There is a need for a world leader, a superpower, if you will, that the President fails to recognize.  That is and has been, at least since WWII, the role of the United States.  Yesterday, President Obama told the world that that is no longer the role of the United States.  Yesterday, the President told the world that there is nothing that distinguishes the United States from other countries, and it is wrong to believe there is.   

But the naiveté and arrogance of the President is astounding – believing there is a political order, yet no moral order.  Nations and groups of people are not all the same, and some will elevate over others.  The United States is such a nation, and the founding principals embodied in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are the reason.  “…[A]ll men are created equal,…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”  These bedrock principals are not shared by all nations or groups of peoples – but the serve to elevate the United States above other nations or groups of people.  They serve to distinguish the United States from countries like Iran, Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and may others.  For the President of the United States to level the playing field among all nations of the world is astounding.  The United States is different – not necessarily better than every other country, not necessarily the best, but different.  And different in ways that have advance Democracym world peace and the human condition for the world more than any other country.  I am ashamed that the President of the United States is not proud of his country and refuses to stand up for the United States.