Who Will Win?

                Conservatives have drawn their line in the sand about ObamaCare.  The Heritage Foundation has consistently shown that ObamaCare will be destructive for America and Americans.  Heritage for Action has been active in lobbying our representatives in Congress to defund ObamaCare.  Freedom Works  rallied the conservative grass roots to contact their Representatives in the House, and the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week – once again – to defund Obamacare while at the same funding the federal government in totality.  Several Senators have led the effort to defund ObamaCare and are currently in the process of trying to convince enough Senators to do so.

                Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) “rose to speak” on Tuesday in an effort to slow down  and delay for as long as possible the consideration of the continuing resolution passed last week by the U.S. House.  “I intend to speak about defunding ObamaCare until I am no longer able to stand.”  He added, “If Republicans vote with Democrats, then this body will cut off debate on this bill.  And we are silencing the voice of the Senate and the voice of the people.”  Senator Cruz said that he spoke “in opposition to ObamaCare in an effort to speak for 26 million Texans and 300 million Americans.  It is time, quite frankly, to make D.C. listen.  The problem is the elected leaders are not listening to their constituents.”  He is attempting to stop the Democrats from gutting the bill passed by the House.

                The Blaze listed their top five statements from Senator Cruz:  5) He compared Congress to the WWF:  “It’s wrestling matches where it’s all rigged, the outcome is pre-determined.  They know in advance who’s going to win and lose and it’s all for show!”  2) He read a sampling of #DefundObamacareBecause tweets and brought the voices of Americans to the Senate.  3) Senator Cruz had help from Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), David Vitter (R-La.), Pat Roberts (R-Kans.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).   2) He read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess to his daughters over C-SPAN2 and thus into the Senate Record.  1) “I will speak until I am no longer able to stand.  The American people want to stop his madness, and so do I.  Americans understand this isn’t working and yet Washington is pretending not to know.” 

                If Congress does not pass a funding bill of some kind, the federal government will shut down on October 1.  Republicans do not want to shut government down; they simply want to stop ObamaCare before it destroys America; Democrats are willing to do whatever is necessary to save the monster health care bill.

                The government has been shut down numerous times in my lifetime and seventeen times in our history.  Americans barely noticed that the government was not working!  There were no hungry people rioting in the streets for lack of food or losing their homes.  Yet liberals and their lap dog media are trying to scare Americans about the government shutting down.  CNN listed their top ten ways the government shutdown might affect you.  10) The national parks, national zoos, national museums, etc. will close for the duration.  9) Government employees – other than “critical services such as air traffic” – will be furloughed – and receive full pay when a bill is finally passed.  8) The military will continue to protect Americans but will not receive any pay during the shutdown.  7) Taxes will continue to be collected and essential banking functions will continue.   6) The Post Office will continue to deliver mail.  5) The implementation process of ObamaCare will continue.  4) Gun permits will not be given.  3)  Government loans will not be available for businesses or mortgages, but Social Security and welfare checks will probably go out.  2) There will be no trash collection in Washington, D.C.  1) The “collective psyche” of Americans will take a hit – just as we have numerous times over the past five years because there is no federal budget.

                Quite frankly, none of those reasons concern me.  The government never shuts down for more than a couple of days or a couple of weeks.  I can get along.  We might be inconvenienced by having to wait for the government to reopen, but there will not be any life or death situations.  I am prepared to survive through a government shutdown – especially if it ends in defunding ObamaCare. 

Tsunami Needed

                ObamaCare was forced on Americans in 2010, and millions of us have been voicing our objections to it ever since.  Most Americans oppose Obamacare, which starts enrolling people on October 1, 2013.  That is the day that open enrollment begins in the healthcare exchanges.  That is the day that millions of Americans will start enrolling in this terrible program. 

                The program is so bad that numerous parts of it have been delayed because the regulations, etc. could not be instituted by the deadline.  It is so bad that unions and members of Congress have sought and received waivers to avoid it.

                The entire law needs to be defunded; if it is not, the damage done by this law will be much harder to undo.  Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is calling for a “grassroots tsunami” of contacts to our elected representatives in Congress.  He also said “there is nothing that scares elected officials more than hearing from their constituents.  And … liberty is never safer than when politicians are terrified.”  Please let your congressional representatives know that you expect them to vote to defund Obamacare.

                Heritage Action for America put together this short video about the need to defund Obamacare and encourage all Americans to become part of the “grassroots tsunami” called for by Senator Cruz.

Myths about Obamacare

                The takeover of our health care by the federal government will begin implementation on October 1, 2013, unless Congress defunds Obamacare.  Defunding Obamacare is much better than delaying all or part of it.  According to The Heritage Foundation, defunding Obamacare would cause three actions:  1) It would “prohibit any taxpayer funds from being spent to implement or enforce Obamacare.”  2) It would “keep Americans from losing their current health coverage and being forced into Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges.”  3) It would “allow Congress to consider Obamacare funding separately from regular government functions – there’s no need for a government shutdown.”

                A showdown about Obamacare between conservatives and liberals is coming because funding must be approved by the end of September.  Conservatives want to defund Obamacare, but liberals are twisting the conservative message and claiming conservatives want to shut down the government.  No one I know is clamoring to shut down the federal government, but many people want to defund Obamacare.  We recognize that Obamacare is a bad bill that was rammed through Congress before anyone knew exactly what was in it.  The more Americans know about Obamacare, the more we do not like it. 

                Barack Obama is the person who is “threatening to shut down the government if Congress sends him a year-end spending bill to fully support government operations but without funding for his (unfair, unworkable and unaffordable) health-care law.”  Liberals stretch the truth and outright lie in order to support Obamacare.

                The Heritage Foundation debunks two myths being spread about Obamacare.  The first myth is that Congress does not have the power or authority to defund Obamacare.  Heritage says:  “Congress defunds mandatory spending on appropriations bills every year.  In fact, it has even defunded part of Obamacare already – billions of dollars in `mandatory spending’ for the co-op program.”  See their fact sheet for more information on this myth.  

                The second myth is that the opponents of Obamacare are trying to shut down the government.  Chris Jacobs of Heritage says:  “Conservatives want to keep the federal government open – we just want to shut down Obamacare.”

                Hans A. von Spakovsky ofHeritage explained: “If a fight over such a defunding provision led to a shutdown of the government, not all elements of the law could be implemented.  Moreover, supporters of Obamacare would be put in the unenviable position of trying to explain why they are willing to interrupt the normal functioning of the federal government in order to fund an unworkable law that Americans do not like and do not want to see implemented…

                “The smartest thing the House of Representatives could do is pass a CR as soon as possible that funds the government with the exception of Obamacare.  That would force the President and his supporters to explain why they would shut down the government to fund an unfair, unaffordable, and highly unpopular law that is so unworkable that the Administration has itself admitted it cannot manage to implement major portions on time such as the employer mandate to provide insurance.”

                The simple fact is that Obamacare can and should be defunded.  There is no question that we need to tweak our health care system in ways that will assist more Americans to receive high quality medical care without bankrupting themselves.  Obamacare is not the way and should be stopped.  We can do better!

Defund Obamacare

                Obamacare is still very much in the news in spite of the fact that it is now the law of the land.  The simple fact is, Obamacare is not working and it will never work.  It is “unfair, unaffordable, and unworkable.”  Obama and his supporters are attempting to convince Americans that Obamacare is a good thing, but Americans are slowly learning the truth about this terrible law and do not like what they are hearing.

                The Heritage Foundation is actively making the truth come out about Obamacare.  You can find a wonderful infographic about how and why Obamacare is not working here.   

                Some of our representatives in Congress are actively working to defund Obamacare.  Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced their Defund Obamacare Act (S. 1292); Representative Tom Graves (R-GA) introduced a similar bill in the House known as H.R. 2682.  Under this bill, “no Federal funds shall be made available to carry out any provisions” of Obamacare.  It also states that no “entitlement to benefits under any provision of” Obamacare will remain in effect, and all “unobligated balances” will be rescinded.  The authors of the bill propose to attach it to a must-pass continuing resolution (CR) before the federal government runs out of money on October 1.

                Hans A. von Spakovsky of The Heritage Foundation explained: “No one disputes that Obamacare would stay on the books and that defunding would not change the existing law.  But all federal funds already appropriated for the implementation and enforcement of Obamacare could not be used by any federal agency to take any action – whether it is issuing new regulations or filing an enforcement action against an individual or an employer for not complying with the new health insurance mandates.  The termination of all `entitlement to benefits’ would stop the automatic appropriation of new entitlement spending for things like the law’s Medicaid expansion.  The rescission of `unobligated benefits’ would return to the Treasury appropriated funds that have not yet been spent on items such as the payment of outside contractors – navigators – for enrolling participants in Obamacare, although it would probably not relieve the government of the contractual obligation to pay for services already rendered.

                “There is no question that such a defunding bill can stop entitlement spending.  The Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding of abortions and is part of yearly discretionary appropriations bills, has prevented federal funds in the Medicaid entitlement program from being used for abortion coverage for almost four decades.”

                In his long explanation of how Obamacare can be defunded, von Spakovsky wrote, “The smartest thing the House of Representatives could do is pass a CR as soon as possible that funds the government with the exception of Obamacare.  That would force the President and his supporters to explain why they would shut down the government to fund an unfair, unaffordable, and highly unpopular law that is so unworkable that the Administration has itself admitted it cannot manage to implement major portions on time such as the employer mandate to provide insurance.”

                Jim DeMint, former Senator and current President of The Heritage Foundation, told Chris Wallace on Fox News,  “One of the biggest priorities that we should have as Americans … is repealing Obamacare.”  Emphasizing that the coming legislative fight over funding the government is “an opportunity to push for repeal,” DeMint stated, “This is a very destructive law that’s going to hurt our country, it’s going to hurt a lot of people.  This may be the last opportunity to stop it.  Now there’s no Republican who I’m aware of that wants to shut the government down.  The whole point is we need to fund the government, but we should not fund Obamacare.”

                The more we learn about Obamacare, the more we understand that it is a terrible law.  All Senators and Representatives should vote to defund it; however, progressive members of Congress are more interested in furthering their agenda than they are in doing what is right for our nation.  We must contact our representatives in Congress and urge them to vote to defund Obamacare – and then hope and pray that they do so.

Too Many Scandals

                There are too many scandals happening in Washington, D.C.!  How are we to focus on any of them when there are so many?  The Obama Administration has been tricking us for the past five years, keeping our eyes on their “right hand” while pulling tricks with their “left hand.”  They have been “fundamentally transforming” our nation right before our eyes, and they continue to do so!

                While we were still straining to understand how the administration could tell so many lies about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, the administration unloosed their next scandal when they dumped the news about the IRS targeting conservative individuals and groups.  Early this week we learned that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had illegally tapped Associated Press telephone lines.  The media is very upset with the administration about having their telephones tapped, and the Acting Director of the IRS resigned this afternoon.  Meanwhile, we need to be questioning what is happening while our focus is on these three scandals.

                For instance, tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote one again to repeal Obamacare.  The House has already passed two bills to repeal Obamacare, but the Senate refuses to even vote on it.  The House will probably pass yet another bill to repeal Obamacare, but the bill will most likely die in the Senate just as the previous two bills did.  Senate President Harry Reid (D-NV) called Obamacare a “train wreck,” but he most likely will not allow a vote to repeal the entire program.    At any rate, can we really expect President Obama to sign a bill repealing Obamacare?  Don’t be silly!

                Congress repealed part of Obamacare in the fiscal cliff bill in January 2013.  They repealed the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, “a long-term care provision that was so unworkable that one of its own administrators warned Congress that the program could fold.”

                Practically speaking, there is only one way to stop Obamacare before it starts to hurt us, and this can happen without support from the Senate or the President.  The U.S. Constitution gives the power of the purse to the House of Representatives, meaning that all spending bills must begin in the House.  This means that the House has the final say on any spending bill.  If the House refuses to fund Obamacare, then Obamacare or the effects of it will die.

                The scandal at the IRS is yet another reason why Obamacare must die.  The same IRS that admitted to targeting conservatives for political reasons has the power under Obamacare to enforce its mandates, taxes, and regulations.  Will they deny health care to certain people simply because of their political views?  Maybe they will.  Do you want the IRS – a government agency that Americans distrust already – to know all your private health information and to control all your health treatments?  I do not!

              Please notify your Congressperson and demand that he/she votes to repeal Obamacare and/or to defund it.  There are many Democrats who understand the problems Obamacare will cause.  Maybe there are – even now - enough bipartisan votes to get it out of our lives forever!

                  The following information was added on Friday, May 17, 2013:  The U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act known Obamacare, the divisive health care law pushed by Democrats and President Obama.  This is the 37^th time that the Republican-led House has voted to repeal Obamacare in the three years since it became law.  The repeal vote was 229-195, with all Republicans voting for repeal and all but two Democrats voting to keep it.  The Republicans are fairly certain that the Senate will not repeal this awful law, but they “see a political advantage to keeping the pressure up as the administration tries to get all the moving parts of the law working in the next few months.  They’re hoping that problems with its implementation will help them recapture the Senate in next year’s midterm elections.”  Democrats, on the other hand, call the GOP “efforts to de-fund or partly scale back [Obamacare] a waste of time – even an obsession.”