Saturday, August 29, 2009
For Some Strange Reason... John Hall Wasn't Happy To See Me
So... after waiting none too patiently for four weeks, this past Thursday I finally got my chance to grill my Congressman in person on HR 3200.
Well... sorta...
My liberal Democrat Representative, John Hall, had been ducking the public since the summer recess began. Oh... he'd go out in public alright... but he'd only speak to select groups - and only when there was no advance public notice given to his general constituency.
Ya gotta love politicians, huh...? Ahh... the "openness" of the "Age of Obama."
This past week though... Hall got "caught." He had apparently accepted an invitation to speak before the Monroe "Jolly Seniors" organizations. Apparently someone there let the press know Hall was scheduled to speak there. Both our local weekly and our regional daily "outed" the meant to be "closed" presentation and once the news became public... (*SHRUG*)... the Congressman's appearance suddenly became an "open event" to which members of the general public were invited.
Well... I attended. Me and 200 fellow citizens - mostly seniors since while the meeting had been noted in the newspapers, it wasn't exactly front page news - plus... for some "unknown" reason... Congressman Hall's staff "neglected" to post advance notice of the newly designated Congressional Town Hall Meeting on the Congressman's own official website.
Again... gotta love these "dutiful public servants..."
Now John Hall knows me. For some strange reason I don't get the feeling he's overly fond of me... (*SMILE*)... but he knows me by sight and I'm guessing when my name is mentioned to him he connects the name with the man - all 6'4" inches of me.
Hey... I'll give John this much credit: After arriving 15 minutes late to the event, he only made a few brief remarks before turning the meeting over to questions. Yours truly was at the head of the line to ask the first question!
Allow me to paraphrase...
Hiya John... you're a hard man to get to see! I've been calling your office week in and week out for the past month and all I get from your staff is that "they're working on scheduling" for upcoming Town Hall Meetings.
Hey... for some strange reason they even neglected to tell me in advance about that Fishkill forum you spoke at a couple weeks ago that your official website "reported" on - after the fact of course.
Funny thing, John... were you aware that TODAY'S public meeting isn't being touted - or even mentioned, let alone advertised - on your own official website? You should speak to someone about that...
(Oh... he didn't seem to like my opening remarks one bit; in fact, he had this fake smile plastered across his face the whole time I was being... er... chatty.)
Anyway... to continue the recap...
Hey, John... just one more thing before I get to my question... what's this business about you taking your ENTIRE Washington DC staff - and I'm assuming your local staff as well - on a three weekday "retreat" recently? You see, I heard about that one kinda by accident. On one of my phone calls asking about upcoming Town Hall Meetings one of your young interns let it slip that the reason no one was answering the phones at your Washington office on a Wednesday afternoon was because everyone was in New York at a "staff retreat." Just as an aside, I mentioned this to the fine folks at The Record... but for some "strange" reason they've apparently failed to report on this "retreat." Oh, well... perhaps they'll get around to it...
(The Record is our local liberal daily rag. They're not big on printing stories that reflect badly upon Democrats.) (*WINK*)
Back to the recap...
Anyway, John... as to healthcare... as you may be aware, just the other day the news came out that apparently the Obama administration had... umm... underestimated the ten year U.S. Government deficit projections. Apparently instead of the $7 TRILLION or so in projected deficit spending that Team Obama had been forecasting as recently as May, the newest OMB projection is a bit over $9 TRILLION.
John... that's just projected deficits! In 2008 the national debt stood at something like $9 trillion. Today it's approaching $12 Trillion. By 2019 I've read estimates that it may triple!
John... you and your colleagues are BANKRUPTING OUR COUNTRY...! Your website claims that any healthcare bill coming out of congress will be "100% paid for." John... how the heck can ANYTHING the government does be "100 paid for" when NOTHING the government does NOW is being "100% paid for" and all you people in Washington are doing is adding billions and trillions of dollars in deficits and ever increasing debt to America's balance sheet year by year, decade by decade?
(Now between you and me, folks... I wasn't quite that eloquent. I'm basically pasting from my talking points - my notes; facts and figures - which I took with me to the meeting. At the start of the meeting they requested no reading directly from notes... so I paraphrased. What you see here is the "cleaned up" version of the points I made. The "style" is dead on though. The substance is accurate as well, but just to be perfectly honest I'm letting you know the above isn't "word for word" what I actually said. Close enough though!)
Well... Hall's answer basically amounted to a pledge that he'd only vote for a bill that was "revenue neutral." He totally ignored the larger point about how he and his colleagues are bankrupting the nation... destroying the dollar... creating the perfect "birthing climate" for what I contend will be the coming stagflation...
(*SIGH*)
Oh... and before I forget... when I had the mic I also threw in a few remarks about how Social Security is now projected to go topsy turvy (start running at deficit) in 2016 - two years EARLIER than forecast as recently as last year! I noted that Medicare is going bankrupt... that Medicaid is destroying state budgets across the nation - with states on average spending almost 17% of their entire state budgets just on Medicaid alone and if you count federal matching expenditures the proportion rises to around 22% with no end in sight.
I threw in that the federal government couldn't even run the Cash for Clunkers Program properly or forecast either demand or expenditures... (*SIGH*)
Basically I told John Hall that before Congress created another new program to screw up, they might wanna demonstrate some competence by fixing the messes they and their institutional predecessors had already made and which we the American People were already stuck with.
Anyway... to make a long story... er... a bit shorter... let me just say that I'll update this tale within the comments section of this thread.
Heck... while I'm at it... I'll also add my "notes" to the comments section. This way anyone interested can know what I know. I'm talking four typed pages of notes! I'm talking several hours of research, primary research... these note a conglomeration of stats and analysis I found at various Think Tanks and via accessing primary sources such as government reports and documents.
Those who know me and my "style" can attest to the fact that if I assert something as a fact... you can take it to the bank. (Just not one of those failing banks that FDIC is going to have to bail out...)
That's it for this post, folks; check back in a day or two to see what I've added to the comments section.
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17 comments:
Well done, and I agree with you.
This guy's after the fact announced meetings are an insult to his contituents.
After 2010 he can go back to strummung his banjo 24/7 cause he will not be elcted.
Lat election, lection he claimed to champion veretens's and yet could not even get their endorsement.
Coming election he will lose everyone else except Move on and that fringe.
Frank
Pound Ridge
Hey Frank!
Nice to have you visit.
What do you have - "alerts" set for mention of "John Hall"?
It's funny... I'm not that in to the technology but every once in awhile someone who is will find my little blog via that method.
Anyway, I'm scheduled to be on WTBQ (1110 AM) on Tuesday between 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm discussing Hall and issues such as HR 3200 and federal spending.
Don't know if you'd get the signal in Pound Ridge, but the show is carried via internet.
It's a call in show, so if you have a moment and want to give me a shout...
(*GRIN*) (*WINK*)
BILL
As promised... some random observations taken from my notes:
The new numbers released by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Tuesday show a 10-year projected deficit of more than $9 trillion. That's $2 trillion more than Obama's team predicted earlier this year. The budget shortfall for 2010 would mark the second straight year of trillion-dollar deficits. Last year’s deficit was $459 billion. This year’s... the CBO projects $1.6 trillion. The White House’s own “revised estimates” show public debt doubling by 2019 and reaching three-quarters the size of the entire national economy.
BILL
* Continuing...
Since World War II, the largest budget deficit recorded was 6% of GDP in 1983. The Bush Administration oversaw budget deficits averaging 2% of GDP - and that was with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid controlling Congress all during 2007 and 2008! The projected 2009 budget deficit of 11.2% of GDP will nearly double the post-war record.
The 2009 budget deficit will be larger than all budget deficits from 2002 through 2007 combined. More than 43 cents of every dollar Washington spends in 2009 will have been borrowed.
BILL
* Continuing...
The Concord Coalition Plausible Baseline, created using the Congressional Budget Office’s updated projections, shows that current policy will lead to $14.4 trillion in deficits alone over the next 10 years. Concord notes that sustained budget deficits of this size are unprecedented in the United States and will increase our reliance on foreign lenders such as China and Saudi Arabia. By 2019, debt held by the public will reach 100% of GDP and added debt service will push the federal government’s interest costs to a trillion dollars per year. At 5% of GDP, debt service will exceed projected spending on national defense or all other discretionary spending.
BILL
* Continuing...
While President Obama did "inherit" part of the 2009 budget deficit, it is vital to note that the estimated 2009 budget deficit has increased by $400 BILLION since his inauguration.
That's not on Bush, folks. (*SHRUG*)
Further, let's recall - once again - Congress holds the Power of the Purse Strings. That's American Government 101. We learn this in middle school!
Let's remember... since January 2007 the DEMOCRATS have exercised complete control over BOTH the House of Representatives AND the Senate.
(*SHRUG*)
The White House brags that it will cut the deficit in half by 2013. The President does not mention that the deficit has nearly QUADRUPLED this year. Merely cutting it in half from that bloated level would still leave budget deficits twice as high as under President Bush.
(*SHRUG*)
Finally...
According to the governments own projections, the American Ship of State under the Captainship of President Obama - with "XO" Pelosi and "Lt. Cmd" Reid - is presently on course to accumulate more government debt under this regime than under EVERY President in American history from George Washington to George W. Bush COMBINED.
God help us, folks. God help us.
BILL
* Continuing...
U.S. unemployment will surge to 10 percent this year and beyond 10 percent next year. The budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion next year, meaning both unemployment and deficits will be far higher than previous Obama administration forecasts. Administration and congressional budget officials expect the unemployment rate, which was 9.4 percent last month, to keep rising. White House officials said the rate likely will rise to 10 percent by the end of 2009; back as recently as May, the Obama administration forecast “only” 7.9 percent average unemployment for this year. Currently there are over 14 million unemployed Americans.
BILL
* Continuing...
Social Security will begin running a deficit by 2016 - that's two years sooner than last year's official estimate. Hell, the difference between Medicare’s total outlays and its “dedicated financing sources” is estimated to reach 45 percent of outlays in fiscal year 2014 - less than five short years from now.
Total expenditures for Medicare ($468 billion) and Medicaid ($290 billion) for this fiscal year is $758 billion - more than the entire Defense budget ($707 billion) including the cost of two hot wars and the Global War on Terror. Actuarially, Medicare grows by seven percent a year (7.8% a year over the past five years), decade after decade, even as the U.S. economy's long-term growth rate is about 2.5 percent.
The Medicare hospital insurance trust fund is not adequately financed over the next 10 years. At the beginning of 2009 the assets of the HI trust fund were $321 billion and are projected to be exhausted during 2017, under the intermediate assumptions. The HI trust fund does not meet the short-range test of financial adequacy.
Medicaid funding has become a major budgetary issue for many states over the last few years, with states, on average, spending 16.8% of state general funds on the program. If the federal match expenditure is also counted, the program, on average, takes up 22% of each state's budget.
BILL
* Continuing...
In February, Democrats on Capitol Hill muscled an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program through Congress, making it easier for ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to receive taxpayer-funded health care services. For Medicaid benefits, their SCHIP expansion ELIMINATED CITIZENSHIP VERIFICATION REQUIREMENTS by substituting a new lower standard, simply requiring that a Social Security number be entered into the blanks on the form.
This was NOT an accident. It was a WILLFUL verification CHANGE deliberately legislated to create an open door to Medicaid fraud and abuse by illegals.
Simply giving a case worker a nine-digit number - ANY NINE-DIGIT NUMBER - now constitutes "proof" of U.S. citizenship.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated this change will cost taxpayers $8.9 billion over 10 years.
(*SHRUG*) Folks... you can't make this stuff up. I'm NOT making this stuff up.
The President is correct when he says that the idea to provide illegal immigrants with health insurance “has never been on the table.” The problem is that the American people also know that despite the fact that our immigration laws did not intend it, there are 12 million persons illegally in the United States. The issue is enforcement and the provisions in H.R. 3200 are completely inadequate to ensure that illegal immigrants do not illegally obtain health care through the bill.
In the House Ways and Means mark up of H.R. 3200, Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced an amendment that would use two citizenship status verification systems, the Income and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS) and Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) programs, to establish an individual’s eligibility to obtain the bill’s proposed affordability credits or enroll in the public insurance option. Both programs are currently used to determine citizenship status and eligibility for other public assistance programs. Safeguards to guarantee that only citizens can access federal health care benefits are necessary, considering that the US Census Bureau currently estimates that 9.6 million of the uninsured are not US citizens. The Heller amendment FAILED on a STRAIGHT PARTY-LINE VOTE.
BILL
* Continuing...
HR 3200 would require all individuals and employers to purchase health plans approved by a NEW FEDERAL AGENCY starting in just four years, or pay a heavy tax penalty.
It is not enough to require a health plan be purchased – it must be a FEDERALLY APPROVED PLAN to avoid paying an 8% payroll penalty by employers or a 2% income tax penalty by individuals.
After extensive research, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office - which is currently overseen by the Democrat majority - officially reported to Congress that not only would HR 3200 NOT hold down health costs, it would PUSH THEM EVEN HIGHER THAN DOING NOTHING!
The number one problem with American health care is high cost... and this bill would WORSEN that problem
(*SHRUG*)
BILL
* Continuing...
While there is nothing specific in the bill that mandates funding abortions, the yet unspecified new rules for all “approved” health plans – rules that will be written by Obama Administration appointees AFTER the bill passes – can reasonably be expected to include abortion coverage.
(Does anyone seriously question this assumption...???)
An amendment prohibiting abortion funding was submitted in the House and subsequently voted DOWN by Democrat members of the Committee.
(*SHRUG*)
This pretty much tells you all you need to know.
BILL
* Continuing...
The Obama Administration's own White House Council of Economic Advisors has estimated 4.7 million Americans will lose their jobs if the bill passes, as employers who cannot afford health insurance or the 8% payroll tax penalty will have to fire their employees, move overseas, or go out of business.
The House Democrats’ bill imposes a new surtax on the “wealthy,” which, in typical D.C. fashion, doesn’t differentiate between couples with means and small family businesses.
Those with more than $280,000 in income ($350,000 for a couple) will pay a 2% surtax. The surtax hits 5.4% for individuals with $800,000 or more in income ($1,000,000 for a couple). This new tax will push the top tax rate in 39 of the 50 states to more than 50%.
BILL
HEY... SPEAKING OF "THE RICH"...
Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?
Michelle Obama made $316,962 in 2005.
Working PART TIME in 2007... she pulled in $103,633.
But get this... in 2008... when she didn’t work at all... the hospital paid her $62,709.
(Funny... she was “only” making $121,910 in 2004 - prior to her husband being elected a United States Senator who could steer earmarks to her employer - which he did in 2006 - a $1 million dollar earmark.)
(Oh... and btw... after Michelle Obama left her position... the hospital failed to appoint a successor basically doing away with this formerly “vital position.”)
No medical school degree.
Not even a nursing degree.
Not even a medical technician certification.
Yet... a salary of $316,962 working for a hospital.
(*SHRUG*)
Folks... the FIX IS IN!
The oligarchy is alive and well and it's both Democrat and Republican.
There are "them"...
...and there are "us."
Don't let "them" fool you into thinking different!
BILL
* Continuing...
HR 3200 Page 19 - Section 102(c) prohibits the sale of (non-federal government approved) private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013.
HR 3200 Page 30 - Section 123 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the "Health Benefits Advisory Committee") to dictate the (content of) health plans that all individuals must purchase.
HR 3200 Page 116 - Section 221 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group (their report is online), would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage.
HR 3200 Page 331 - Section 1161 cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage plans.
Folks. I gave this information to the reporter covering the meeting for the Times Herald-Record.
Do you think this information is being shared with that newspaper's readers...???
Folks... it's up to us. Copy these talking points and share them with friends and associates.
We don't all have to REACT to the facts in the same way - come to the same conclusion. But, by God... shouldn't the American People be TOLD the facts so as to make up their own minds from a position of intellectual strength and subject knowledge...???
I think so!
BILL
Bill, I think I can safely say that within any bill which runs over 1000 pages, there is plenty to be despised by anyone, regardless of political affiliation. Except of course the political class, who are the true beneficiaries of such "largesse" (pun intended).
Yep. I've said it before, Ed, and I'll say it again...
NO bill should be longer or more difficult to read than the average "bright" American can absorb and understand.
Just to throw out a number... I'd throw out "No bill should be longer than twice the length of the Original U.S. Constitutional as first adopted including the Bill of Rights."
Sound like a good starting point to you...???
BILL
One page bills. Letter size. No less than 8 point font. :)
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