April 2nd, 2010, Washington, DC–From ALG News’ Capitol Hill Correspondent Derek Baker:
In the Senate, Republican senators are hitting ObamaCare hard for how the new law will swell the government rolls, particularly size and scope of the IRS. Sen. Gregg stated “Everybody has to buy insurance under this bill, and your local IRS agent is going to show up at your door to tell you that you better do it or else you will have to answer to the IRS.”
Several members have predicted that the IRS may hire up to 16,000 additional agents to enforce ObamaCare. Sen. DeMint recently stated, “There are going to be tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, before this is all over,” talking about the total government workforce swelling in size due to Obama’s healthcare reform bill. Neither HHS nor the IRS has been able to state thus far how many additional staff will need to be hired to administer ObamaCare. The law authorizes the IRS to fine those without “acceptable” insurance coverage, starting at $95 in 2014 and increasing to $695 in 2016.
Bottom Line: Americans intuitively know when you create a massive new federal entitlement program and propose to give away free health insurance to 31 million Americans by imposing additional taxes on all the other Americans… the government is going to grow exponentially. The laughable part of this is Democrat attempts to suggest it’s not going to be “as bad” as Republicans content. Really? How bad’s it going to be then?
In the House, Financial Services Chairman Frank wrote a scathing statement against one of his former staffers, who apparently had the audacity to go work for a new employer of which Frank did not approve. Former senior advisor Peter Roberson left Frank’s employment recently to work for Intercontinental Exchange. Politico is reporting that, as the world’s largest credit default swap clearinghouse, Intercontinental would be heavily regulated under Frank’s financial reform bill. Frank took the unprecedented (some suggest it borders on illegal and unethical) step of actually prohibiting any Financial Services Committee staff member from having any contact with Roberson on financial regulation.
Also, in a little gem so bizarre you simply cannot make up, at a recent HASC hearing Rep. Hank Johnson recently stated regarding the island of Guam “my fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.” Speaking to Admiral Robert Willard, the Navy’s Pacific Fleet Commander, Johnson apparently believes that the addition of 8,000 U.S. troops and their families to Guam will turn the island into an overburdened dingy and plunge into the ocean.
Bottom Line: In the land of the free and the home of the brave… Barney believes he has the right to dictate where people work and whom people talk to. Sadly, this is another blatant example of an elected official that either despises the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment or simply refuses to actually read what it says in plain English.
Regarding Guam capsizing, Adm. Willard responded to Rep. Johnson, after momentarily pausing to maintain his composure, by stating “We don’t anticipate that.” That’s a relief, since this writer was born on Guam and hopes to visit again someday!
At the other end of the Avenue, Obama is appearing a bit on the desperate side on the stump this week as he attempts to sell ObamaCare to a weary and leery public. A number of recent polls indicate that a majority of Americans still oppose ObamaCare. Obama, speaking in Maine yesterday, shot back at critics and the media who have repeated this inconvenient fact that “It’s only been a week!” Media reports indicated that there were more protestors against ObamaCare outside the venue where he was speaking than inside the building.
The stream of top-tier companies announcing millions of charges against earnings is turning into a river. Yesterday, Eaton announced it will take a $25 million charge against first quarter earnings due to the mandates and tax changes in ObamaCare. In a further sign that the White House is getting nervous about the negative impact of ObamaCare on the economy, Obama dispatched Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to pen a piece in yesterday’s WSJ downplaying the dozens of recent write-down’s.
Bottom Line: Secretary Locke actually stated in the WSJ piece, “taken as a whole, health reform is undeniably pro business and pro jobs.” That’s proving a very tough sell to the American public, since facts show otherwise. He’s basically suggesting that all these American companies taking charges are lying, and the government released numbers on the high unemployment rate, increased jobless claims, and slow housing starts are somehow unrelated to the punitive actions of the federal government in the private marketplace.
About an hour ago, March unemployment numbers were released, showing the unemployment rate at 9.7 percent unchanged for the third month in a row, and stating the economy added 162,000 jobs, roughly 40,000 fewer than expected. Also, this number is reportedly inflated by 100,000 temporary government jobs due to the ramp-up for the 2010 Census.
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