Well, we can’t say they didn’t warn us. Nancy Pelosi famously decreed that Congress must first pass ObamaCare to find out what’s in it.

The problem with passing a 2,700 page government takeover of health care is that it gave unprecedented authority to Washington bureaucrats to infringe upon our most personal health care decisions. So when Congress passed the bill they didn’t really know what we’d end up with, but conservatives had a bunch of good guesses. It turns out we were right. And now we know for sure what’s in it: assaults on religious liberty, government bureaucrats with the power to strip away our most basic freedoms, increases in health insurance premiums, trillions in new costs, and a drag on our economy that is killing jobs.

The controversy surrounding the Obama administration’s mandate that all insurance plans cover contraception, sterilization and morning-after pills that induce abortion goes right to the heart of the problem with ObamaCare. These latest regulations, including the President’s ‘accommodation’ announcement, are a blatant infringement on Americans’ First Amendment religious freedoms.

It is not the role of government to force individuals, companies or organizations to buy or subsidize a product that runs against the core of their religious beliefs. Using state power to force Americans to purchase products and services they view as immoral is a not a church-state controversy – it’s tyranny. But, of course, so is government rationing of health care, an unelected board deciding which patients may receive which medicines, and passing massive new laws without reading them.

Everything about ObamaCare is about restricting your freedom, taking health care decisions away from you and giving them to a collection of bureaucrats, politicians, and lobbyists, as if the same collection of people who have saddled us with a $15 trillion debt “know better.”

This is why Americans of all religious backgrounds – including those with no religious beliefs – should stand together against the fatal conceit of ObamaCare and fight to repeal the entire law. It is not enough for religious groups to plead, hat in hand, for carve outs and exemptions from these rules, like some special interest, as if the First Amendment were an earmark.

The contraception controversy is only the beginning of Obamacare’s tyrannical reach into our personal lives. It is not enough to for certain groups to be given “accommodations,” based on their national influence, campaign contributions or friends in high places. The next group of Americans whose freedoms are taken away may not be large enough to get their concerns on the nightly news, but their rights must be defended with equal zeal. That’s why I will fight this week for a vote on full repeal of Obamacare. To protect all Americans’ religious freedom, and every other kind, the only acceptable “reform” is for ObamaCare — the entire law – to be repealed.

It’s as if Congress is actively trying to collapse the agency by inflating its limits while it’s already going bust. The situation is eerily similar to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts that have cost taxpayers nearly $170 billion to date. Yet, Congress is making the same mistakes by increasing FHA limits and exposing taxpayers to even greater risk, rather than reining the agency in and reforming it.? ?Since 2008 the FHA, which insures mortgage loans unlike Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae which buys those loans from banks, repackages them as securities and sells them to investors, has not had enough assets to cover its losses. Congress requires it to hold a 2% cash reserve rate. Last year it only had .5 % cash holdings and this year, only .24%–prompting calls for a future bailout.

One academic study has pegged the potential cost of that bailout between $50 billion and $100 billion.  Even more worrisome is the fact this bailout could take place without a single vote from Congress. Because FHA gets its financing from the Treasury Department, Secretary Tim Geithner could issue FHA an unlimited bailout all on his own, very much like the quarterly, billion-dollar bailouts that the Treasury Department gives Fannie and Freddie now.

Those who want to increase FHA limits argue that the action is needed to jump start the housing market, but this approach has already failed. In 2008, as part of President Obama’s stimulus package, conforming loan limits for GSE’s and FHA were temporarily, yet significantly, raised in an effort to artificially boost the housing sector and overall economy. ? ?It didn’t work. Foreclosures are higher than ever. The U.S. continues to experience stagnant economic growth, unacceptably high levels of unemployment, and historic levels of debt. There was no major market disruption when the overinflated loan limits expired last month, either.

The only way to restore a healthy housing market is by allowing private capital to replenish it—a goal shared both by the Obama Administration’s “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market” and the House Republicans’ “Pledge to America.”

In the past, Secretary Geithner has called for “reducing conforming loan limits by allowing the temporary increases enacted in 2008 to expire as scheduled on October 1, 2011.” And that’s exactly what Congress should do.

Congress must learn from its mistakes and refuse to pass this measure. Because, lest anyone forget, the last time Secretary Geithner was presented with the opportunity to grant an unlimited taxpayer bailout, he did.

If our entitlement programs are not reformed, they will go broke and break their promises to millions of seniors, disabled and needy Americans. If the government never stops spending more than it takes in, it will go bankrupt. And, if liberals are successful in passing massive tax increases to continue their spending spree, millions more jobs will be destroyed, companies will ship new investments overseas, and our economy will be crippled for years to come.

None of these outcomes are desirable and all of them are preventable.

Yet, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s address at the Harvard Club, just like many statements and speeches from other members of the administration that have preceded it, displayed willful ignorance of these facts. Just as President Obama has done on numerous occasions, Geithner is trying to solve a real problem with new rhetorical spin while advocating for more of the same policies that caused the problem in the first place.

After spending months warning that a financial catastrophe would occur if the debt limit is not increased, the Treasury Secretary has adopted another talking point. Geithner’s new line is that the debt limit “relates only to commitments we have made in the past,” as if the Obama Administration played no role in reaching it and has no obligation to prevent it from happening again.

The Obama Administration forfeits its credibility on fiscal matters by resisting responsibility for the bills it has incurred for the bailouts, the failed stimulus bill, onerous financial regulations, and ObamaCare. Blaming the past for today’s problems is not a plan to solve them, it’s an excuse not to.

Spending is the biggest threat we confront today. The government currently borrows 40 cents of every dollar it spends and will run a deficit of $1.6 trillion for fiscal year 2012.

The $14 trillion debt was not created overnight, but has risen dramatically on President Obama’s watch. The Obama Administration has contributed more than $3.6 trillion to it in the three short years Obama has been president.

As Obama’s Treasury Secretary, Geithner has asked Congress to raise the debt limit three times and has never supported a plan to pay off that debt.
In fact, Geithner called for continued expansion of government spending and more taxes in his remarks. Instead advocating for any reforms to government health care and retirement programs, he said the government must only “reduce the rate of growth in spending.”

Secretary Geithner should use his limited time to help force deep, structural reforms to the way the government spends money rather than asking to put more money on a new credit card.

All Senate Republicans support passage of a balanced budget amendment. Every state except for Vermont is required to balance its books, and the federal government should, too. Geithner should be one of the top supporters of the balanced budget amendment; it would mean he’d never have to ask Congress for a debt ceiling increase again.

Since Democrats haven’t bothered to offer a single serious proposal to balance our budget, Geithner should also examine the numerous budget proposals that Republicans have offered. In just the last few months, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul released a plan to balance the budget in five years. Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey has authored a budget to balance it in nine years. House Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and I have promoted the Spending Reduction Act that would trim $2.5 trillion over the next ten years from the budget. And, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has written the “Path to Prosperity” to save our entitlement programs.

The ideas are out there, they’re just not coming from President Obama’s party. Democrats have not passed a budget in more than two years and are stunningly non-committal when it comes to any ideas to reduce government spending. It seems as if their logic is that if they never support any of these ideas, they will never have to cut spending.

By refusing to participate in these discussions, they are precipitating disaster. Without spending cuts and real entitlement reform the glaring economic reality of gaping deficits will eventually force federal benefits to be severely rationed or taxes to be significantly increased.

Giving the Obama Administration a new no-strings-attached credit card to continue their endless borrow and spend policies only brings doomsday closer. And, that’s not a problem of the past. It’s the most serious and overwhelming threat to our future today.

For folks in South Carolina, please don’t take anything for granted this Tuesday. We need your vote and your help to encourage others to come out to vote for our inspiring slate of U.S. House candidates Tim Scott, Joe Wilson, Mick Mulvaney, Trey Gowdy, Jeff Duncan, and Jim Pratt.

And most importantly for our state, I encourage you to stand with Nikki Haley this Tuesday and vote for her to be our next governor of South Carolina. Nikki is a commonsense conservative leader that will help move our state forward. Nikki will be a strong governor that will stand up to Washington’s attempts of overreach into issues that should be handled at the state and local level. She will fight to cut wasteful spending and reduce taxes to encourage job growth and a strong state economy.

I’m proud to support Nikki Haley and all of our conservative candidates this Tuesday, and I hope you’ll stand with me.

Let’s make November 2nd the biggest Tea Party of the year.

It was good news to hear that House Democrats had adopted a ban on earmarks to for-profit companies. The bad news is their version of a ban wouldn’t apply to 90 percent of all earmarks.

Instead of adopting an all-out ban on earmarks House Democrats have decided to ban earmarks for for-profit entities, while continuing to green light funding for the next Bridge to Nowhere, ACORN or to clear the way for the Napa Valley Wine train.

House Appropriations Chairman Rep. David Obey told reporters Wednesday the ban would have stripped 1,000 earmarks from the last budget. What he didn’t say is that President Obama signed 11,320 earmarks, worth nearly $32 billion, into law last year.

Citizens Against Government Waste found that Mr. Obey nabbed 64 earmarks worth more than $115 million in 2009. Among them was $335,000 to relocate endangered mussels, $125,000 for a scenic trail and $5 million for lighthouse reconstruction. None of those earmarks would be touched by his ban.

Neither would the $1,750,000 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, secured for the Presidio Heritage Center or the $500,000 earmarked by House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, for oyster research.

The truth is that Democrats want the public to believe they’re committed to ending the culture of corruption without actually doing it.

Nothing less than an all-out ban on earmarks will suffice. A partial ban on earmarks will only produce partial reform.

That’s why I’m going to force a vote in the Senate on a real earmark ban. Under my ban Rep. Charlie Rangel, New York Democrat, wouldn’t be able to spend $2 million tax dollars on his “Monument to Me” in Harlem, a program at The City College of New York named after himself.

Earmarks are the currency of corruption and Americans are disgusted by the way they are used to grease the skids to pass big-spending bills, like the bank bailouts and the stimulus bill.

Members of Congress must sincerely commit to becoming fiscally responsible and that starts by giving up all of their earmarks.

Not one in every 10.

Thankfully, it appears the GOP Leadership in the House of Representatives will lead by real action. Reports indicate that the House Republicans may vote this morning to enact their own ban on earmarks with or without Democrat support. If they are successful, I hope it will begin the end of the culture of big spending in our own party and prove Republicans are serious about earning back the trust of taxpayers.

If TSA were forced to collectively bargain with union bosses it could weaken security by:

• Requiring TSA to get union bosses permission before implementing security and workforce changes. If the unions decided the changes were too burdensome on their employees, weeks or months of negotiations could ensue, causing unacceptable delays in implementing new safety protocols.
• Requiring TSA managers to promote based on seniority, not merit, and making it more difficult to discipline failing employees.
• Requiring TSA to share sensitive intelligence information to third parties during negotiations with union bosses, making future leaks of classified material more likely.

Democrats have responded by pointing out that the Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) allows collective bargaining, and if it works for the border agents, why not TSA? The answer is that collective bargaining is not working for CBP, its weakening their ability to keep us secure. Setting aside the obvious, that this agency has struggled to fulfill its mission as there are 12 million illegal aliens in the U.S., CBP has had numerous problems with collective bargaining. Take these four recent examples of the agency being forced to negotiate with unions that took months to resolve:

1. Arbitration with unions over how and whether CBP can discipline employees who fall asleep on the job. (CBP lost)
2. Arbitration with unions over whether CBP has to negotiate with the union on how much training an officer who fails the firearm exam needs. (CBP lost)
3. Arbitration unions over whether CBP can investigate (just investigate, not discipline) officers who get into an off-duty fight. (CBP eventually won)
4. Arbitration over whether CBP has to negotiate with Unions on the re-assignment of personnel, an issue that would likely arise as TSA as well. (CBP lost)

So, union bosses litigated for months – sometimes years – against the CBP to prevent them from disciplining employees that sleep on the job, retraining failing officers, investigating officers for violence, and reassigning personnel to higher priority posts. And this is the system Democrats want to implement at the TSA when the agency is already struggling to stop terrorists? It makes no sense to weaken our airport security just to reward campaign donors from the last election. Lets keep our focus at TSA on security, not politics.

Yesterday, Democrat leaders announced they may soon bring Harry Reid’s new health care bill to the Senate floor in an effort to grant the President’s wish for a government takeover of our nation’s health care by Christmas. This is in spite of the fact that 99 senators have never seen Reid’s new bill that was written in secret. Reid even hinted he may rush to a vote before the bill’s been public for 72 hours, as even Democrats have demanded.

To begin debate on this new version of Obamacare, Reid will play a shell game. He needs 60 senators to “vote to proceed” to an unrelated piece of legislation, and once he clears that hurdle he will strike that bill’s text and insert his new health care bill. But don’t be fooled by senators that will say they oppose a government takeover but just wanted to allow debate on health care, they are not being honest.

The simple fact is this: Any senator that votes to proceed to the Reid-Obama bill is voting for a government takeover of health care.

Why? Because, President Obama and Harry Reid cannot pass a government takeover without clearing 60 vote procedural hurdles in the Senate — but they also know that vulnerable Democrats likely cannot win reelection if they vote for this unpopular bill. So they want all Democrats to stick together on the vote to proceed, then some Democrats will vote against final passage of the bill and claim they tried to stop it.

Senators who say they just want to allow for debate are trying to deceive their voters while giving President Obama the crucial votes he needs to pass a government takeover of health care.

Voters should be watching and remember who stands up for their freedom and who stands with the special interests who want to ram through this takeover.

Democrats have now offered 5 different versions of Obamacare (the first House bill, the second House bill, the Senate Finance bill, the Senate HELP bill, and now Reid’s bill). And despite the nuances, every Democrat bill we’ve seen puts Washington in control of health care, slashes Medicare coverage for seniors, raises premiums for families, raises taxes, places bureaucrats between patients and doctors, punishes young adults who choose not to buy coverage, and opens the door to government rationing of care.

We know the Reid plan will be more of the same and cannot be fixed by a few amendments on the Senate floor. The attempt to give Washington control over one-sixth of our economy is rotten to its core. And any improvements made to the bill will be a mirage that will vanish as soon as the bill goes behind closed doors in conference with the Pelosi bill.

Americans have loudly and repeatedly rejected the President’s government takeover of health care. It’s time to for the Senate to listen, stop the shell games, and start over with real solutions that will provide every American the opportunity to afford, own and keep a health care plan that best meets their needs. To that end, I introduced the Health Care Freedom Plan earlier this year. It would give Americans hundreds of health plan options through interstate competition, create fair tax treatment for those who don’t get their insurance from an employer, and provides real tort reform to stop frivolous lawsuits.

We can have a real debate about common sense solutions, but only if we first stop this government takeover. And we can stop this bill if we don’t let Democrats try to have it both ways.

Don’t let them vote for a government takeover of health care before they vote against it. The “vote to proceed” to Obamacare may be one of the most important votes any Senator takes. Make sure your senator knows you are watching.

For weeks leading to his arrest, Zelaya flouted the constitutional authority of the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court, and claimed for himself extra-constitutional control of his nation’s military and political institutions. Every institution from the Electoral Tribunal to the Supreme Court ruled that his actions were unjustified and illegal. Zelaya’s open defiance of democratic norms has set Honduras on a path toward violence, instability, and tyranny.

I am hopeful that as President Obama grows in office, he will eventually turn away from despots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya, and give the United States’ full-throated support to the people of any country who are fighting for the same values we cherish and defend in America. The people fighting for freedom around the world, in Iran and Honduras, should never have to wonder which side America will choose between freedom and tyranny.

President Obama’s call for the reinstatement of Zelaya is a slap in the face to the people of Honduras. And the resolution written by the Organization of American States tramples over the hopes and dreams of a free and democratic people.

The rule of law is working in Honduras. President Obama should not undermine the democratic institutions that guarantee freedom by forcing an illegitimate President back into power.

This is not an ideal transition, but Hondurans are adhering to their constitution. The United States should support the Honduran people and their legitimate leaders in their brave and heroic stand for freedom and the rule of law.

REPORTER: A group of Republican senators has written a letter to the Secretary urging her to relist North Korea on the terror list. They specify certain unnamed ongoing terrorist activities. Do you share that assessment, and where do you want to go with that?

STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN PHILIP CROWLEY: …As for North Korea, I think we’re aware of that letter. But as far as I know, firing off missiles and over-heated rhetoric is unwise and unhelpful, but does not meet the legal definition of terrorism.

REPORTER: They seem to say – but they don’t refer to those tests as a terrorist activity – to say that other ones are ongoing, that those are — Is there anything else that you’re aware of?

MR. CROWLEY: To list a country on the terrorism list, there’s a legal requirement there. And what we’ve seen so far, I don’t think meets that legal test.
 

Based on this statement, I eagerly await the State Department to certify:
 

1. That it was not terrorism if North Korea did cross into China to kidnap American journalists, who will be sent to a North Korean labor camp.
2. That reports from our ally Japan are wrong about North Korea currently helping to launder money for terrorist organizations.
3. That the rockets Hamas continues to launch into Israel do not come from North Korea or contain North Korean parts.
4. That North Korea has not aided Hezbollah with their attacks on Israel (CRS report pg. 17)
5. That North Korea is no longer aiding Syria’s nuclear weapons development, a country still listed as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
6. That North Korea is no longer supporting Iranian Revolutionary Guards (CRS report pg. 21)
7. That President Obama’s defense officials and United Nations officials quoted in the Wall Street Journal are incorrect in their warnings that renewed “fears about Pyongyang’s ability and need to smuggle weapons of mass destruction around the world… Iran and Pakistan have already used North Korean materials to develop domestic ballistic missiles. Syria, Yemen, Libya and Egypt have also purchased North Korean missile components in recent years.”
8. like Libya, North Korea has renounced terrorism and is a party to all 12 of the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.
9. That no representatives of the Iranian government have been present at North Korean nuclear and missile tests as they were believed to be in 2006.

 
Last year, in a move many of us strongly disagreed with, President Bush removed North Korea from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List, not because they had stopped supporting terrorists but in hopes it would be a carrot to encourage them to join negotiations and halt development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
 
They exploited Bush’s actions by accessing previously frozen funds and loans to speed along their weapons programs. In recent weeks, North Korea once again tested a nuclear weapon and proved to the world their program is alive and well and successfully launched a number of ballistic missiles. Right now, they are preparing to test another missile that has the capability of striking the United States.
 
The carrot didn’t work. It’s time for the stick.
 
Even Secretary Clinton agreed in her interview that North Korea wasn’t de-listed because they suddenly renounced terrorism.  The truth is that United States decided to look the other way in order to get North Korea to cease its nuclear activities, but North Korea has neither renounced terror nor given up its nuclear program. 
 
In recent days, it was also reported that the U.S. may finally impose some economic sanctions on North Korea. This is a step in the right direction, but we must go further. The sanctions that come with being listed on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list are tougher and urgently needed. It will send a strong message to North Korea and the rest of the world that the time for rhetoric is over. It’s time for action in defending the United States and our allies from North Korean aggression.

America recently celebrated 232 years of independence. Back in 1776, a new nation was set apart to be founded on principles of limited federal government, equal rights, religious freedom, liberty and economic opportunity – all of which have become ingrained in the American experience.

It is these principles that lay at the heart of the conservative movement. They support our policies and underline our ideas. The war of ideas gets more aggressive by the day and it’s imperative that conservatives not cede the field to the left. Liberal activists work overtime to push an agenda that limits our freedoms and expands the hand of government in our lives, forcing their way into our schools, our jobs, our churches and even our homes. More than ever conservatives need to stay alert and involved in what’s going on at the local, state and federal levels of government.

Last year’s immigration debate is a shining example of the difference your involvement can make. Calls, comments and blog posts from the grassroots level triggered a national dialogue impossible for Congress, as well as the mainstream media, to ignore.

Thanks to modern technology, online communities such as RedState provide convenient forums for debate and information sharing. RedState has been critical in the fight to secure our borders, win the War on Terror, end wasteful spending and uphold our values.

If we don’t continue to challenge those in power pushing the liberal agenda, we could spend decades attempting to fix all the damages from what we let slip through. It’s vitally important that grassroots communities of the conservative movement stay invested and involved in what’s going on in Washington. If we’re going to preserve America’s freedoms for the generations to come, the change will come from the outside – not from inside the walls of Congress. It’s your voices and your ideas here at RedState that empower those of us in Washington demanding change.

Despite all the negativity whirling through the media, there is much for conservatives to be optimistic about as we rise to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The “morning in America” that conservatives look back on with fondness doesn’t have to be a memory of the past. It can be a hope for the future as ordinary people working together to effectively promote conservative principles accomplish extraordinary things.

Thank you, RedState, for promoting freedom and traditional principles through a dynamic new forum. I look forward to participating in the ongoing discussion. And Happy 4th Birthday — no doubt there will be many more to come.