Posted on 02/11/2009 8:03:45 AM PST by BAW
Drop welfare, health changes in stimulus bill.
President Barack Obama's demand for quick action on his massive purported stimulus bill is paying off. The House passed an $819 billion version last week, and yesterday the Senate approved a somewhat different $838 billion plan. A House-Senate conference committee will meet soon to hash out the differences.
Unfortunately, the measures include outrageous stealth provisions making broad changes in public policy – changes that need much fuller debate. They should be deleted immediately.
The first outrage is language in the House bill wiping out the key part of the 1996 welfare reform bill, which eliminated an individual entitlement to perpetual welfare payments without any work requirement. Criticized as hard-hearted, the provision instead led millions of poor people to work and achieve self-sufficiency, cutting welfare caseloads nationally by more than half.
If Democrats want to gut welfare reform, they should try to do so openly.
The second outrage is provisions in both bills to greatly expand the federal government's role in and control over health care. One proposal would establish a massive federal database tracking individuals' medical histories, a system that presumably could be accessed by thousands of bureaucrats. The potential for privacy abuses is staggering. Another proposal would establish a “National Coordinator of Health Information Technology” to micromanage types of treatments used by doctors on cost-effectiveness grounds. This is a huge first step toward Canadian-style rationing of medical services.
If Democrats want to overhaul health care, they should try to do so openly.
Who knows what other profoundly important policy changes are hidden in this gargantuan, hastily assembled bill? Until its entire contents are clearly understood, the measure should be stalled – not rushed to passage.
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