Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its cost-estimate of the Baucus-led bill on the Senate side. By 2019, CBO estimates, 29 million more people will be covered with taxpayer-subsidized care. It estimates the final cost will be $829 billion over 10 years.

Wilson said the cost is misleading. “But for some reason, CBO estimates that the total cost per individual per year will only be about $2,858,” said Wilson, adding that “The trouble with that figure is it is a whole lot less than the average cost for a premium in the United States, which is currently $4,700.”

“Which can only mean one of two things. Either, under ObamaCare there will be below-average, watered-down care provided, or the cost estimates are wildly understated and this program will not sustain itself. ALG leans toward the latter,” Wilson declared. “Either way, why should the American people accept a declining quality of care and spiraling deficits all to provide ‘health care for all.’”

“What’s worse, the CBO estimates that a government program in which 91.5 million people under the age of 65 are technically eligible for will only result in 29 million new enrollees,” Wilson said. “That just does not pass the smell test.”

According to the CBO letter to Senator Max Baucus, taxpayers would subsidize care for those making 400 percent above the poverty level, or individuals who make $43,320 a year or less. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, that includes 91.5 million people under the age of 65, or 125.8 million in total. Currently, 80.5 million now receive their health care from the government.

“So, in total, one should reasonably expect that, eventually, government-run health care will expand to cover about 45 million more individuals, or 125.8 million in total,” Wilson explained, saying that once fully implemented would cost an additional $2.1 trillion over ten-year intervals.

“The apparent cuts to Medicare and Medicaid of approximately $404 billion, and the tax increases of $406 billion, that the bill proposes over ten years will not even come close to paying for it,” Wilson said.

“Plus, the bill will do nothing to actually contain the costs of medical treatment, equipment, and keeping doctor’s offices and hospitals open,” said Wilson. “In other words, the average cost of health care per individual in the U.S. will still go up.”

Wilson concluded, “The Senate Finance Committee must not fool itself with rosy, low-ball estimates. The true cost of expanding coverage to tens of millions of Americans, increasing taxes, and offering substandard care for seniors will be devastating. They must reject this abomination.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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“Once again, the Democrat-controlled House has voted to sweep outright corruption under the rug on behalf of a fellow party member who failed to report more than $1 million in outside income as required by House rules,” Wilson said.

“The least Congress can do is not have Rangel serving as Chairman of a committee that deals with taxes while an ‘ongoing’ ethics probe into his undisclosed income is taking place,” Wilson added.

The Resolution, proposed by Congressman John Carter, called for Rangel to be removed as Ways and Means Chairman until the Ethics Committee concludes its probe.

Instead, the House voted 246 to 153 to refer the resolution to the Ethics Committee. “A vote to refer the Rangel resolution to the Ethics Committee was a vote against the resolution, plain and simple,” said Wilson.

Rangel is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, but Wilson stated that the committee may be deliberately stalling, writing in a letter last month to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, “[T]he Ethics Committee — comprised of some of Mr. Rangel’s most ardent apologists — has clearly decided to turn its ‘internal investigation’ into an ‘eternal investigation.’ And justice delayed has long since become justice denied.”

According CBS’ Marcia Kramer, Rangel may have gone as far to “influence” members of the Ethics Committee to look the other way: “CBS 2 HD has discovered that since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him.

The report continues, “Charlie’s ‘angels’ on the committee include Congressmen Ben Chandler of Kentucky, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Peter Welch of Vermont. All have received donations from Rangel.”

“The House Ethics Committee is a joke. And despite months of inquiry into known and blatant infractions of law and House rules, no action has been taken,” Wilson said, comparing the delay to the speed that Congressman Joe Wilson had a resolution brought against him for shouting “You lie!” at Barack Obama during a joint session of Congress. On September 15th, the House voted 240-179 in a resolution against Congressman Wilson, just six days after the speech.

Wilson cited several transgressions that he said could have already been acted upon by the House at large:

1) failure to report over $1 million in outside income and $3 million in business transactions as required by the House,

2) failure to disclose at least $650,000 in assets he had previously failed to list on his House financial disclosure forms,

3) failure to disclose to the IRS or on his financial disclosure forms $75,000 in rental income for a beach villa in the Dominican Republic,

4) violation of state laws by claiming three primary residences and broke municipal laws by maintaining four rent-controlled apartments,

5) violation of House rules by using congressional letterhead to solicit donations for an education center bearing his name at City College of New York, and

6) delinquency in paying his property taxes on two New Jersey parcels and failure to report the sale of a $1.3 million brownstone.

“There was no reason why these repeated violations could not have been addressed today by the House,” said Wilson

Americans for Limited Government recently a petition website, RangelOutNow.org, to encourage Attorney General Eric Holder to immediately investigate Rangel’s “repeated violation of public disclosure laws… [and] exactly how Mr. Rangel came into at least $650,000 in undisclosed income, and to audit the extent of his income.”

Wilson also called upon Holder to “prosecute Mr. Rangel to the fullest extent of the law for any and all infractions of the law.”

Said Wilson, “This is completely upside down. The Ethics Committee is supposed to act on a non-partisan basis. But instead, it is stonewalling the conclusion of the Rangel investigation. And now the House majority has made it clear that no matter what the ethics probe produces, they will do nothing to remove Rangel from his powerful chairmanship. Nancy Pelosi is encouraging the culture of corruption in Washington to blossom.”

Attachments:
ALG President Bill Wilson Letter to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, September 16th, 2009.

“The Man Who Knew Too Little,” by Carter Clews, August 31st, 2009.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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“The Baucus bill would create the equivalent of a public-private partnership like Fannie Mae, Amtrak, or the post office,” said Wilson. “Invariably, just like every other public-private partnership started by the federal government, it will not sustain itself and the final bill will belong with American taxpayers.”

“This is just ‘Fannie Med,” said Wilson, quoting Senator Jim DeMint.

Americans for Limited Government estimates that the Senate bill would cost around $122 billion a year once fully implemented, or $1.2 trillion over ten years, with 26 million receiving government-subsidized health care.

“The Baucus bill would not be implemented until 2013, which is supposed to keep the bill under the $1 trillion mark. But the American people are not stupid,” said Wilson, adding, “They know this is government-run socialized medicine. They know it creates an unsustainable entitlement.”

Proponents of the Senate Finance Committee version of the bill tout that the so-called “public option” has been removed, which is still a part of the House plan for which 45 million additional Americans would qualify. According to ALG’s Wilson that tout is an “artless deception.”

“It doesn’t really matter much that Baucus has slightly watered down the bill,” said Wilson. “Baucus advocates establishing government-run ‘co-ops’ in the place of private health options. It still contains a rationing board. It still sets up mandatory health care for individuals. It still does nothing to allow Americans to purchase insurance across state lines. It still cuts Medicare to pay for everyone else, increases taxes, and has no tort reform.

“And it is still does nothing to bring the ballooning national debt—nearly at $12 trillion—under control. Making matters worse, it will still result in a government-run health system,” Wilson added.

According to Rasmussen Reports a full 50 percent of voters oppose the Barack Obama’s plans to reorganize the health system.

“The groundswell of opposition to both the House and Senate versions of this bill tell us one thing: Congress can call this whatever they want, but the American people are not biting,” Wilson concluded.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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“Mark Lloyd is an enemy of freedom, the Constitution, and free speech,” said Wilson, adding, “and he has no place in a position of power to curtail that freedom.”

Lloyd was appointed on August 4th to be Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer of the FCC.

In 2007, Lloyd helped co-author a report by the Center for American Progress, “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio,” where it is written, “The disparities between conservative and progressive programming reflects the absence of localism in American radio markets.” This disparity, the paper argues, arises from “the consolidation of ownership in radio stations and the corresponding dominance of syndicated programming.”

“This is the so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’ by other means,” said Wilson. “If Lloyd has his way, the American people will be subjected to a radical shift in the radio programming they enjoy, no longer based on ad sales, but by local boards that will act as licensors—and, by extension, censors—for radio stations. That is where content will be determined.”

The Center for American Progress report goes on to advocate for the restoration of local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations, greater power for local boards to control radio licensing, and to a requirement that commercial owners who fail to abide by “enforceable” public interest obligations to pay a fine to support public broadcasting.

“Lloyd would make his icon Hugo Chavez proud,” said Wilson, citing the fact that Chavez has shut nearly every freely owned media outlet in Venezuela. In July, the Venezuelan National Assembly at Chavez’s amended the Telecommunications Law to limit the “concentration” of private radio and television ownership, and the government also regulates the use of the public airwaves, which has resulted in the closure of many privately-owned radio stations that were allegedly operating without a “valid” license.

Wilson noted that Lloyd had in the past praised Chavez’s rise to power. In a panel on “media reform” after speaking on the use of radio as a propaganda tool by the state of Rwanda during the conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus, Lloyd said, “In Venezuela Chavez really had an incredible revolution, a democratic revolution” wherein “Chavez began to take very seriously media in his country.”

“Mark Lloyd is a menace to the freedom of expression, and the right of the American people to choose which content they want to listen to through in a competitive marketplace,” said Wilson, adding, “But under Lloyd, the American people could be living in a world without Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, or many other great voices who dare to challenge the establishment.”

Attachments:
Mark Lloyd, FCC Diversity Czar, ALG Appointment Alert, September 2009.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Last week, the House voted 345-75 to approve the “Defund ACORN Act.” This had followed the 83-7 vote in the Senate to prohibit ACORN from receiving housing grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

However, the group is still receiving taxpayer funds, says Wilson. “Although the House and Senate have voted, the ‘Defund ACORN Act’ is not yet law,” Wilson said.

ACORN is still eligible for more than $3 billion under the $787 billion “stimulus” spending bill, and $5.5 billion from the 2010 budget. The group is also eligible for over $500 million of an “affordable housing fund” created under the $300 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008.

Since 1994, ACORN has received at least $53 million from American taxpayers, according to the Washington Examiner, and it receives at least 40 percent of its funding tax-funded sources, according to the Consumer Rights League. This fiscal year it has received $1.6 million received thus far for housing services.

“ACORN has been on a PR and lobbying blitz for the past two weeks,” Wilson added. “They need that money or else they would not be fighting so hard to keep it. And so far, they’re keeping it.”

According to Politico, ACORN’s “Washington lobbying shop has been quietly meeting with sympathetic congressional offices, reminding them that ACORN’s services help low-income residents of urban areas. On the legal front, the group is playing hardball, filing a lawsuit Wednesday against the conservative activists who produced the now famous undercover film in which a fake pimp and prostitute ask for tax advice at an ACORN office.”

“Their goal right now is to make certain that the language of the ‘Defund ACORN Act’ never finds its way into a conference report reconciling House and Senate legislation,” Wilson added. “We’ll know that they were successful when it’s stripped out of the conference reports.”

According to the legislation, no organization may receive funding that has “been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration… had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements… [or] has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.”

Last week’s votes in the House and Senate resulted from BigGovernment.com’s exposé of undercover videos revealing ACORN’s operations. On the videos, ACORN employees offered assistance to two journalists posing as a pimp and a prostitue, giving advice on how to evade taxes, set up a brothel, and even use minors as prostitutes.

The revelations have already led to the U.S. Census revoking its partnership agreement with ACORN in the official 2010 Census count. And now, the IRS has cut off ties to the group, ending its involvement with the agency’s volunteer tax assistance program.

“Congress still has not done its due diligence in defunding ACORN permanently,” Wilson said. “And until it does, Americans for Limited Government pledges to remind members who have continually supported funding this corrupt racket in spite of its problems with voter registration fraud and supporting loose-lending policies to unqualified buyers.”

In May, 2009, the House voted to fund ACORN in the “Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act” by a vote of 245-176. The legislation was defeated in the Senate.

“The only way Congress can unravel all of the various funding measures in the ‘stimulus,’ in the ‘Foreclosure Prevention Act,’ and other measures is to pass the ‘Defund ACORN Act’ immediately. They should do it now. Before ACORN spends it all,” Wilson concluded.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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“Harry Reid is not going to just ram this through and eliminate the filibuster,” said Wilson, “Not without dire consequences. Senate Republicans should shut down the Senate if that’s the direction he wants to go in. No business addressed. No quorum. No votes. The filibuster is a time-honored tradition. And so is democratic resistance.”

In recent weeks, Reid has threatened to use reconciliation, whereby only 51 votes would be needed to pass the government-run health care proposal. Yesterday, he again did so, promising to use it if Republicans halted consideration of the bill in committee. “If we can’t work this out to do something within the committee structure, then we’ll be forced to do reconciliation,” he said, calling the tactic a “last resort.”

Wilson called Reid’s warning “a thuggish threat,” and said it would result in “one-party rule over what is supposed to be the ‘most deliberative body’ in the world. The filibuster as implemented has been a tool for the minority party to still have a voice in governance. Its elimination is in essence the elimination of our age-old two-party system.”

Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Reid of a public backlash. He said, “Let me say…budget reconciliation has never been used to structure one-sixth of the American economy. If that option were chosen, there would be a severe, negative, and I think appropriate reaction from the American people… If you thought the American people were upset in August, you haven’t seen how upset they will be if this device is chosen.”

According to Rasmussen Reports, 66 percent of voters are angry at current government policies. And some 56 percent currently oppose Democrats’ health care proposal.

Wilson said reconciliation may be the only way Congressional Democrats can get their legislation passed. “Harry Reid obviously doesn’t have the 60 votes he needs in the Senate for cloture. Else, he would not be issuing these threats.”

According to Reid spokesman Jim Manley, “The White House and the Senate Democratic leadership still prefer a bipartisan bill. However, patience is not unlimited, and we are determined to get something done this year by any legislative means necessary.”

Wilson said the threats were as a result of severe public opposition to the plan to “scare Republicans into submission. First, they tried painting as ‘extremists’ opponents—which is really just caricature assassination. Now, they’ve moved from simply ridiculing opponents to holding a gun to their heads.”

In the pages of USA Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote, “These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.”

Congressman Steve Kagen (WI-CD8) said they were “uncivilized,” and Congressman Baron Hill (IN-CD9) called them “political terrorists.” Congressman Brian Baird (WA-CD3) called opponents of the legislation “Brown Shirts” and compared them to domestic terrorists, “Some of the rhetoric that we’re hearing is… eerily reminiscent of the kind of things that drove Tim McVeigh to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma.”

Wilson concluded, “These are times that try men’s souls. And Senate Republicans must hold firm against the ObamaCare threat to American liberty and prosperity. They should respond to Reid’s threat to eliminate the filibuster with a threat of their own: they’ll shut down and boycott the Senate.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Baucus sought to create a plan without the so-called “public option” as a means of garnering support for health care legislation that could pass this year. Wilson said it doesn’t matter.

“This is still a government takeover of the health care industry,” Wilson said. “The proposal creates government-run ‘co-ops’ to administer care in place of private options. It still sets up a rationing board. It still forces Americans to be insured or else pay a fine. It still does nothing to allow Americans to purchase insurance across state lines. It still expands Medicaid. It still increases taxes. It still has no tort reform. And it still adds to an already unsustainable debt.”

“It may move a little slower toward the goal of a single-payer system, but there is no question that under the Baucus proposal, Americans would be tricked into getting a treat that would crush our health care industry,” Wilson added.

Wilson said the proposal would ultimately result in Americans “being forced off of their current health care plans—which are excellent—and into a government-regulated co-ops that will drastically increase in costs since insurance policies will no longer be based on individual risk.”

Wilson pointed to provisions that force insurers to take on riskier patients without charging more for the premiums. “As a result, the associated risk costs will be passed on to everybody, distributed throughout the system, which means rates will go up. At the same time the quality of everyone’s coverage will be watered down to pay for the uninsurables. And individuals will have no choice but to buy the plans per the mandate.”

Wilson said that the system would not be pay for itself, and would lead to greater taxpayer-subsidized health care. “To make up for the inevitable shortfalls and deficits that will be endemic throughout the system, taxes under the plan will be raised on businesses and individuals.”

The Baucus bill is said insure an additional 26 million individuals that Wilson says could cost as much as $1.22 trillion over ten years. The average cost for an insurance premium is $4,700, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. “That’s about $122 billion extra every year we don’t have. That’s on top of ‘stimulus’ and TARP and all the rest of Barack Obama’s record-setting $1.85 trillion deficit. Under the Baucus proposal, the American people will be dealt yet another unsustainable entitlement that over time will totally consume the public treasury,” Wilson said.

Wilson credited concerned citizen efforts nationwide, including ALG’s 400,000 member activists, who have called, emailed, wrote letters to, and visited with Congressmen at their offices and town hall meetings for persuading many elected officials to vote against the bill. He said public opposition to the bill “is the only reason lawmakers are now considering removing the public ‘option.’ Only, the American people still do not want the total destruction of private health care now being proposed.”

According to Rasmussen Reports, 56 percent of voters now oppose the plan. And Barack Obama’s public disapproval has sunk to the 52 percent mark for the first time in his term.

“Harry Reid still doesn’t have the 60 votes needed in the Senate for cloture on the so-called ‘public option,’ and so Senate Democrats have begun watering down their proposal. Really, this is the beginning of the end—they are fleeing for the lifeboats on a political Titantic. Nobody wants to be left without a seat,” Wilson concluded.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Yesterday, in a floor speech, Nadler claimed that the legislation was a “bill of attainder.”

“The ‘Defund ACORN Act’ is actually not aimed at one group—it is a standard by which all recipients of federal funds will be held,” said Wilson. “Congress has the power to state the terms under which organizations are eligible to receive funding. In this case, it has barred any organization from receiving funding that has engaged in voter registration fraud, does not abide by lobbying disclosure requirements, or has tried to defraud the government.”

“Furthermore, under Congressman Nadler’s reading, cutting off any organization’s or business’ federal dollars would be a ‘bill of attainder.’ Nadler’s statement is just simply wrong. It would mean nobody’s budget could ever be cut,” Wilson added. “There is no ‘right’ to federal funding.”

According to the legislation, no organization may receive funding that has “been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration… had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements… [or] has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.”

Yesterday, the House voted 345-75 to approve the “Defund ACORN Act.”

This followed action this week in the Senate, which voted 83-7 to prohibit ACORN from receiving housing grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The House legislation now proceeds to the Senate.

Wilson called on the Senate to approve the language of the legislation and get it to Barack Obama’s desk. “The Senate did not go far enough. It only cut ACORN’s funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

ACORN is currently eligible for over $500 million of an “affordable housing fund” created under the $300 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act passed in 2008. According to the Consumer Rights League, ACORN receives some 40 percent of its funding from taxpayers annually. This fiscal year it has received $1.6 million received thus far for housing services.

ACORN was also made eligible for more than $3 billion under the $787 billion “stimulus” spending bill, and $5.5 billion from the 2010 budget. Since 1994, ACORN has received at least $53 million from American taxpayers.

Wilson concluded, “Congress has a right and a responsibility to set the terms and conditions under which organizations are eligible to receive funding. And it has a duty to make sure that partisan political or corrupt organizations like ACORN are no longer on the taxpayer dole.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Today, the House voted 345-75 to approve the “Defund ACORN Act.” This followed action this week in the Senate, which voted 83-7 to prohibit ACORN from receiving housing grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The House legislation will now proceed to the Senate.

“Andrew Breitbart, his BigGovernment.com, and the new media across the country deserve the credit for nailing ACORN—a corrupt outfit that has engaged in voter fraud and pushed for the loose-lending policies that helped destroy the housing industry,” Wilson said.

According to the legislation, no organization may receive funding that has “been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration… had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements… [or] has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.”

This week’s votes in the House and Senate followed the highly publicized disclosure of undercover videos revealing ACORN operations offering assistance to underaged prostitutes exclusively reported by Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government news portal. On the videos, ACORN workers were shown giving advice on how to evade taxes, set up a brothel, and even use minors as prostitutes.

The revelations have already led to the U.S. Census revoking its partnership agreement with ACORN in the official 2010 Census count, as ALG News previously reported.

ACORN is currently eligible for more than $3 billion under the $787 billion “stimulus” spending bill, and $5.5 billion from the 2010 budget. Since 1994, ACORN has received at least $53 million from American taxpayers, according to the Washington Examiner.

ACORN is also eligible for over $500 million of an “affordable housing fund” created under the $300 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act passed this past summer. Wilson cited ACORN Housing Corporation’s troubled history in giving out cheap mortgages as playing a key role in weakening credit standards.

According to the Consumer Rights League, ACORN receives some 40 percent of its funding from taxpayers annually. This fiscal year it has received $1.6 million received thus far for housing services.

In addition to its problems with housing funds and offering assistance to prostitutes, ACORN is under investigation for voter registration fraud in several swing states, including Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Missouri, and has a long history of such fraud in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico. Americans for Limited government last year released a comprehensive executive summary of its activities.

Wilson called on new media outlets to continue uncovering the wrongdoings of tax-funded organizations. “Keep doing the good work that the controlled media won’t,” said Wilson. “And at ALG News we’ll help make sure the word gets out, loud and clear.”

“The fact is, no organization should be on the taxpayer dole that has engaged in voter registration fraud, does not abide by lobbying disclosure requirements, or tries to defraud the government,” Wilson concluded.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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