Rangel’s Dishonesty Demands Removal from Chair of Committee

For Immediate Release: September 30, 2009
From the office of Representative John R. Carter (R-TX)

(WASHINGTON, DC) – A month after House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) admitted failure to report nearly a million dollars in assets on federal disclosure forms, the lack of any action by the House Democratic Caucus on the new ethics violations or the continuing 15-month investigation of multiple ethics and tax violation charges against the man who oversees the Internal Revenue Service demands Rangel be removed.

Republican Conference Secretary John R. Carter (R-TX) says he will give Chairman Rangel until next week to voluntarily resign the chairmanship of Ways and Means, or he will introduce a Privileged Resolution to force his removal. “To allow Mr. Rangel to continue to serve as Chairman is the same as allowing a confessed bank robber to serve as Chairman of the Banking Committee during the trial.”

Carter, a former judge, says the lack of new enforcement action by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) or the Democratic Caucus demands Rangel relinquish the Chairmanship of the House Committee that oversees the IRS and the nation’s tax code. “The reputation and integrity of this body has suffered serious damage by the actions of the Chairman, and the inaction of the Speaker to meet her promise to make this the most honest and ethical House in history,” says Carter. “Mr. Rangel must step down as Chairman until these issues are resolved. If he refuses, the House must remove him by a recorded vote.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has blocked previous votes on Rangel’s chairmanship. Carter offered a privileged resolution to remove Rangel as Chairman in February, but Democrats under Pelosi voted to block consideration of the bill.

The Ethics Committee began investigation of Rangel on July 31, 2008. Pelosi publicly stated that the investigation would be complete before the end of 2008, but with the probe now well into its second year, the investigation has already been expanded twice to include new charges of tax and ethics violations by the Chairman.

“There remains the question of whether these latest disclosure violations may be coupled with similar tax reporting violations,” says Carter. “If so this case could bring further discredit to the House for its failure to act for months, and soon to be years on end.”

The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Buffalo News and numerous other publications have also called for Rangel to step down as Chairman of Ways and Means.

Surrendering U.S. Sovereignty at G-20 Summit

by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann at Townhall.com

While all eyes were on the rantings of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations, the United States — under President Obama — was surrendering its economic sovereignty at the G-20 summit.

The result of this conclave, which France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy hailed as “revolutionary,” was that all the nations agreed to coordinate their economic policies and programs and to submit them to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for comment and approval. While the G-20 nations and the IMF are, for now, only going to use “moral suasion” on those nations found not to be in compliance, talk of sanctions looms on the horizon.

While the specific policies to which the U.S. committed itself (reducing the deficit and strengthening regulatory oversight of financial institutions) are laudable in themselves, the process and the precedent are frightening.

We are to subject our most basic national economic policies to the review of a group of nations that includes autocratic Russia, China and Saudi Arabia. Even though our gross domestic product is three times bigger than the second-largest economy (Japan) and equal to that of 13 of the G-20 nations combined, we are to sit politely by with our one vote and submit to the global consensus. Europe has five votes (Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the EU), while we have but one.

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11 Senators Who Must Vote NO on Health Care – Call them today!

Do you live in one of these states?

Alaska – Arkansas – Colorado – Connecticut – Indiana – Louisiana – Montana – Nebraska – Virginia

Then you need to call your Senator today… here’s why:
When the full Senate takes up health care in the next few weeks, the Democrats need 60 votes to pass the bill. As it stands now, they have those 60 votes!

The following 11 Senators are either up for re-election in 2010 or have voiced opposition to something in the current bill (ie, public option, big health care bills, etc.). It’s time to ratchet up the pressure on them to vote against any version of government health care!

Call, fax, email, tweet, blog, post… share this information with others in your state and call these Senators today!

TELL THEM — NO public option. NO individual mandate. NO Massachusetts Model. NO Single Payer. NO Co-Ops.  NO Socialized Healthcare for the USA!

– Mark Begich (D-AK) http://begich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=EmailSenator

– Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) http://lincoln.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

– Mark Pryor (D-AR) http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/

– Michael Bennet (D-CO) http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/

– Joe Lieberman (D-CT) http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/

– Evan Bayh (D-IN) http://bayh.senate.gov/contact/

– Mary Landrieu (D-LA) http://landrieu.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

– Jon Tester (D-MT) http://tester.senate.gov/Contact/index.cfm

– Ben Nelson (D-NE) http://bennelson.senate.gov/contact-me.cfm

– Mark Warner (D-VA) http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Contact

– Jim Webb (D-VA) http://webb.senate.gov/contact/

Trouble using the contact links I’ve provided above? Go to Congress Merge to find detailed information for each Senator: http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm

Thanks for your help in stopping Obama’s health care plan!

Senate Version of Obamacare will Bankrupt States

WASHINGTON, DC – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Leader Boehner’s liaison to the nation’s governors, today echoed a growing number of state leaders in warning about the devastating fiscal impact the health care bills proposed by Congressional Democrats would have on both states and future generations of Americans.

“Health care reform that wreaks fiscal havoc on states and piles debt on our children and grandchildren is not reform at all,” Boehner said. “President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid need to scrap this costly government takeover of health care and start over on a responsible health care reform plan our nation can afford.”

In recent days, letters sounding the alarm about the congressional bills’ impact on states have been sent to the Capitol Hill by GOP governors such as Haley Barbour (MS), Mitch Daniels (IN), Dave Heineman (NE), and Rick Perry (TX).

“State budgets around the country are feeling the squeeze of tough economic times.  Unfortunately, after passing a $1,700 per family national energy tax, Democratic leaders in Washington are now trying to ram through a $1 trillion massive federal expansion into health care that will create yet another unfunded mandate on states by permanently expanding Medicaid,” said Rogers.  “This is yet another example of how out of touch Washington has become and why Congress needs to start over on common-sense, affordable, free market health care solutions.”

Boehner, Rogers and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) have launched the GOP State Solutions project, an effort to increase policy coordination among reform-minded Republican state leaders and Members of Congress and highlight the better solutions being offered by Republicans at all levels of government.  In July, through the GOP State Solutions project, Boehner and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) co-authored a report entitled “Capital Malpractice” warning that the health care bills moving through the Democratic-controlled Congress with President Obama’s support would have a devastating impact on states.

An article in the Sept. 27 Wall Street Journal echoes a key point made in the Boehner-Pawlenty report, describing the proposal offered by Senate Democrats as “the mother – and father and crazy uncle – of unfunded mandates” on states.  “One reason [the Senate Democrat bill] allegedly ‘pays for itself’ over 10 years is because it would break all 50 state budgets by permanently expanding Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for the poor,” the WSJ notes.  “State budgets would explode – by $37 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office – because they would no longer be allowed to set eligibility in line with their own decisions about taxes and spending.”

New taxes coming with Obamacare

According to Obama’s reasoning, he could seize 100% of our earnings and it wouldn’t be considered a tax as long as he deems it for the good of ourselves and our comrades.

However, using the definition of a tax, the RNC points out at least 8 new taxes that will be imposed on consumers if Obamacare is passed.

President Obama may not understand the definition of a tax. But all of whose wallets will be lightened do!

With Obama, Too Much Nuance, Not Enough Power

by Michael Barone at Townhall.com

“It is my deeply held belief,” Barack Obama told the United Nations General Assembly, that “in the year 2009 — more than at any point in human history — the interests of nations and peoples are shared.”

That is, of course, the year Obama became president, and he wasn’t shy about referring in his second paragraph to “the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world,” though he assured us they “are not about me.”

Before Obama’s speech, I wrote that he seems “stuck in a time warp in which the United States is the bad guy.” Not any more, he seemed to say in his U.N. speech. He has ordered the closing of Guantanamo. He has prohibited the use of torture. He is “responsibly ending” the war in Iraq (no triumphalist talk of victory). He is promising substantial reductions in U.S. nuclear weapons. He has invested $80 billion in clean energy. The U.S. has joined the United Nations’ Human Rights Council.

All of which is a way of saying that nasty George W. Bush is no longer around with all his self-righteous swagger, and that with (as Obama did not fail to note) the first African-American installed in the White House, America is now on the same page with the rest of the world.

Much of the speech seemed to be an exercise in what Sigmund Freud called “projection,” assuming that others think the way you do. Obama spoke as if the mullahs of Iran, the Kim Jong Il clan of North Korea, Vladimir Putin and his gang of oligarchs, and the rulers of China had the same gripes against the Bush administration as Obama and the liberal Democrats in Congress. Hey, if we just close Gitmo, they’ll realize that we’re all in sympathy now.

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Liberals seek health-care access for illegals

By Stephen Dinan at The Washington Times

Fearful that they’re losing ground on immigration and health care, a group of House Democrats is pushing back and arguing that any health care bill should extend to all legal immigrants and allow illegal immigrants some access.

The Democrats, trying to stiffen their party’s spines on the contentious issue, say it’s unfair to bar illegal immigrants from paying their own way in a government-sponsored exchange. Legal immigrants, they say, regardless of how long they’ve been in the United States, should be able to get government-subsidized health care if they meet the other eligibility requirements.

“Legal permanent residents should be able to purchase their plans, and they should also be eligible for subsidies if they need it. Undocumented, if they can afford it, should be able to buy their own private plans. It keeps them out of the emergency room,” said Rep. Michael M. Honda, California Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Mr. Honda was joined by more than 20 of his colleagues in two letters laying out the demands.

Coverage for immigrants is one of the thorniest issues in the health care debate, and one many Democratic leaders would like to avoid. But immigrant rights groups and the Democrats who sent the letters say they have to take a stand now.

President Obama has said he does not want health care proposals to cover illegal immigrants. The bill drawn up by Sen. Max Baucus, Montana Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, excludes illegal immigrants from his proposed health care exchange.

Mr. Honda and his allies, though, say illegal immigrants should be allowed to pay for insurance if they can afford it, even if it comes through a government-established exchange.

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If only he would listen…

Posted on InsureBlog: Sgt Friday Has Ideas about Obamacare

Two old Dragnet detectives give Obama their ideas on his attempts to dismantle our country.

ACORN and Their Allies on the Left Lambaste Giles and O’Keefe’s Politics and Faith

by Doug Giles at Townhall.com

Let me see if I have this right: ACORN, in five locations coast-to-coast are on tape counseling tax fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and the coup de grace, how to set up a whorehouse for 12 to 15-year-old El Salvadoran sex slaves, and now ACORN and the Left are POed about it being exposed without ACORN’s consent?!

What else ticks the Left off about ACORN being uncovered assisting in some of the worst kind of scandalous scat known to mankind?

Well, if you Google around you’ll find the “progressives” are peeved not because ACORN had the spotlight bare down on their dirty deeds done on our dime but because of the fact that Hannah is part of the Young America’s Foundation and James, at one time, was a member of the Leadership Institute. That’s crazy! Run for your life, people! Hannah and James have been influenced by conservative principles and traditional values! Run away!

Yes, according to some the shame should fall on Hannah and James for hanging out with college students who love America and our founding documents. We can’t have that, now can we?

Also, I have to chuckle every time I hear Hannah referred to as a “political activist.” That’s some funny stuff. I have lived with Hannah ever since she came out of her mama’s belly, and I can tell you the extent of her “activism.” Are you ready? Brace yourself. You might want to sit down. Here it comes. She voted this past election for McCain, she went to two YAF.org conferences as a teenager in ‘07 and ‘08, and she interned for the National Journalism Center this past summer writing columns on economics. Oh, and I almost forgot: She went to a tea party last April 15th. I guess that “radical activist” resume puts her right up there with Bernadine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Van Jones and Che Guevara.

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Details on the newest health care bill

Received via email from Senator John Thune (R-SD)

I [Senator Thune] am writing today to update you on the latest health care news in the U.S. Senate.  Despite President Obama’s promised desire to work with Republicans on a bi-partisan reform bill, Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee are voting down common sense Republican amendments on a mostly partisan basis.

Yesterday Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee blocked proposals by Republicans to:

• Require that before the committee can vote on final passage of the health care bill the legislative language must be publicly available on the committee’s website for at least 72 hours
• Preserve the Medicare Advantage plans and benefits that millions of seniors currently enjoy and would lose under the Democrats’ plan
• Prohibit the establishment of a federal health care rationing board
• Include medical malpractice liability reform measures in the bill to reduce costs caused by the practice of defensive medicine

And that’s not all.  In Wednesday’s hearing we learned that the cost of increased taxes on businesses in the bill will be passed on to consumers.

“… we have analyzed this as largely falling on the consumer and it could happen in a couple of different ways.” – Thomas Barthold, Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff.

We also learned that this legislation will raise insurance premiums.

“… our judgment is that that piece of the legislation would raise insurance premiums by roughly the amount of the money collected.”  — Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf

Read more coverage of the Congressional health care debate and learn more details about action in the Senate Finance Committee at my Health Freedom Blog.  Share your views, and sign my petition opposing government-run health care.

We should not spend a trillion dollars of taxpayer money on a health care bill that is not going to lower costs for consumers.

Thanks for your support.