Free Republic

The House health-care reform plan unveiled last week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would do more than regulate insurance companies – it would even regulate vending machines. The bill, which is posted online, would require that vending machine operators either create new machines that allow the customer to view nutrition facts or post nutritional information for each product near “each article of food or the selection button.” The regulation could wind up costing vendors millions of dollars to make the changes, according to industry estimates. Section 2572 of the bill (H.R. 3962) says, “In the case of an article...

Yesterday on Fox & Friends, Representative Michele Bachman (R-MN) again called on Americans to come to Capitol Hill this Thursday (November 5th) and help her “pay a house call on Nancy Pelosi.” (video below) Bachmann stated that this week is crucial in stopping the Democrats from succeeding in passing “the crown jewel of Socialism”, government-run Health Care. She added “The American people need to stand up again and make sure that Congress hears them this time.” The Representative intends to hold a press conference at 12 noon next Thursday and then wants citizens to accompany her into the Capitol to...

So, Breaking News from Breitbart.Com: House GOP Pens 230 page Health Bill Draft I find myself amused at the fact that the news breaks now that there is a Republican Alternative to the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Care Bills. They already had HR 3400, but since that didn’t seem to be enough, I guess I will wait for the official release of this new bill. I am pleased that the new version has trimmed eighteen pages from the older House Bill, thus proving that you can do “more with less.” With any luck, my supervisors will okay my brief departure to Washington DC...

For the second time in two weeks, Obama's Minister of Propaganda, Robert Gibbs, was asked about the Constitutionality of the Democrat proposal to force American citizens to buy a specific product, health insurance. As would be expected from the Marxist Obama administration, Gibbs dismissed the validity of the question.

Here's the list, per a release from Rep. Mike Pence's office. My personal favorite -- #108, the "Program for treatment of child sexual abuse victims and perpetrators." Personally, I kind of like Gov. Jindal's program for the treatment of child sexual abuse perpetrators. I am curious, though, as to what Pelosi has in mind. Maybe Republicans ought to move to strike the "and perpetrators" part of that program? * * Excerpt: 1. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 111(d), p. 61) 2. Grant program for wellness programs to small employers (Section 112, p. 62) 3. Grant program for State health access...

The DUmmies are going rabid, foaming at the mouth, over the Blue Dog Democrats spoiling their precious "public option"! And they lump Pelosi and even Obama in with the Blue Dogs! The DUmmies are all upset because the Pelosi Obamacare bill is not QUITE as full-blown socialist as they would like--even though it would go WAY far to the left. And the dreaded Blue Dogs? Many of them have turned out to be nothing more than Nancy's neutered puppies. They have rolled over and played dead. Take, for example, erstwhile "Blue Dog" Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND). He has finally...

VIDEO: Congressman Mike Pence released the following video, urging all Americans to rise up and let their voices be heard in regard to the Pelosi health care plan.

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected. To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for...

Representative Mike Pense (R-IN) released an inspirational video message yesterday. “Let Your Voice Be Heard” urges all Americans to rise up in opposition to the Pelosi health care plan. (video below) “As President Ronald Reagan said: ‘Since the American founding, we have been a people with a government, not the other way around.’ Now comes the Pelosi plan for a government takeover of health care. It is a freight train of runaway spending, bloated bureaucracy, mandates and higher taxes. If the liberals in Washington have their way, they will forever change the relationship between the government and ‘we the people.’...

Yesterday morning on the floor of the U.S. House, Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) eloquently warned us about the threat of the latest Pelosi ObamaCare bill. She stated “I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing [Democrat Health Care] than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.” Video: Virginia Foxx - Fear ObamaCare more than Terrorism

It all comes down “The Rule.” That’s what I learned Tuesday night during the nationwide webcast hosted by Stop the Abortion Mandate.com. The vote expected this week in Congress is historically critical – and it’s not the vote you might think. Let me say this as bluntly as I can: The time is NOW. This very minute! If you have not made calls to your Senators and Representatives, if you have not sent e-mails and faxes, this moment in history is calling out to you for action. Do it now. Nancy Pelosi’s bill, HR 3962, mandates abortion coverage, plain and...

Rep. Dan Burton like Rep. LaTourette has used a 1 minute platform to thoroughly blast the Pelosi health care bill. He says no one has read it and the Congress can opt op because apparently they are better then the guy on the street. Not to mention the 2.25 million dollars per WORD. Here's the Video. Transcript below. Mr. Speaker this is the Pelosi health care bill. 1,990 pages. Nobody in this place has even come close to reading it. In addition to that is cost 2.25 million dollars per word. Per word. There’s almost 3,500 shalls(?) in there and...

While the CBO was busily figuring out the cost of the Pelosi version of Obamacare the democrats were busily adding to the bill. Sources are reporting that the cost of the bill has gone up by approximately $200 billion dollars. The new provisions were meant to hold down insurance costs and to make it easier for the public to access the new programs. Think about this for a second, if the government was able to increase the cost of Obamacare before it even comes to a vote, just imagine what they will do to it once it is passed.

Rep. Michelle Bachman is calling all Americans to join her on the steps of the Capital Building in Washington DC on Thursday November 5th to stop "the Crown Jewel of Socialism."

From the AP: The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, according to numerous Democratic officials and figures contained in an analysis by congressional budget experts, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan... "Now, add it all up," Obama said in a nationally televised speech in early September. "and the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has referred repeatedly to the bill's net cost of $894...

Epic new spending and taxes, pricier insurance, rationed care, dishonest accounting: The Pelosi health bill has it all. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly told fellow Democrats that she's prepared to lose seats in 2010 if that's what it takes to pass ObamaCare, and little wonder. The health bill she unwrapped last Thursday, which President Obama hailed as a "critical milestone," may well be the worst piece of post-New Deal legislation ever introduced.

111, to be exact. Here's the full text if you want to open two windows and view. The House Republican Conference has compiled a list of all the new boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs created in H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi's government takeover of health care: 1. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 111(d), p. 61) ...

One of President Barack Obama’s top funders, Code Pink’s Jodie Evans, is encouraging the kidnapping of former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura, according to new statements issued this week by Jodie Evans and Code Pink. While it might be tempting to look at this latest effort by Code Pink as an innocuous publicity campaign, Code Pink’s history of working with state sponsors of terrorism and supporting violent protest against President Bush–and their near successful arrest of then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales–is cause for concern. Two weeks after meeting Obama at a high dollar fundraiser in San Francisco, Jodie...

In an interview with ABC’s Bill Weir yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked what was going through her mind earlier this month when she seemed to recoil when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put his arm around her at a news conference following a White House meeting. The moment -- which prompted a fresh round of speculation about Pelosi-Reid tensions -- had nothing to do with her relationship with Reid, Pelosi said. Pelosi, D-Calif., praised Reid as a “great leader in the United States Senate.” But she said she didn’t much care for his statement that “whatever decision you...

Ready or not, House Democratic leaders they are pushing for a healthcare vote this week. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is poised to send a bill to the floor Monday in its final form, setting up a vote as early as Thursday. The three-day delay is not for amendments and not even for debate; Thursday is the earliest Pelosi could hold a vote and keep her pledge to allow members and the public three days to study the final legislation. But it’s possible Pelosi won’t have the votes by Thursday, and leaders have already warned their caucus that they could be...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced the House version of health care reform legislation last week, but most voters are still opposed to the effort. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% now favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s down from 45% a week ago but unchanged from two weeks ago. Fifty-four percent (54%) now oppose the legislative effort, up three points since last week. Seventy-three percent (73%) of liberals support the plan, but just 18% of conservatives agree. Only 23% of all voters Strongly Support the plan while nearly twice...

It's no wonder people oppose it. The Wall Street Journal this morning called the Pelosi bill "The Worst Bill Ever," with a subheadline "Epic new spending and taxes, pricier insurance, rationed care, dishonest accounting: The Pelosi health bill has it all."

Compared to Nancy Pelosi, former House Majority Leader Tom “The Hammer” DeLay was a pussycat. Speaker Pelosi means to force doubtful Dems to vote for the health care nationalization bill this week or next. But her tactic is anti-historical: she doesn’t remember that in World War Two, Japanese kamikaze pilots were all volunteers. Pelosi is ordering her fearful members to vote for the Obama-cum-Pelosi healthcare “reform” bill that has voters up in arms all over the country. House Blue Dog “moderates” are already caught in a crossfire between their constituents and their leadership. The Tea Partyers have been heard, and...

CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance--a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill--Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”

Before taking control of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history." However, with dozens of mostly Democratic lawmakers and various staff under investigation by the House's twin ethics bodies, the majority clearly values political power over clean government. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charles B. Rangel, 20-term New York Democrat, and Defense Appropriations subcommittee Chairman Rep. John P. Murtha, 19-term Pennsylvania Democrat, are the poster children for how failed ethics cops protect old-guard lawmakers. While under investigation by the ethics committee, they continue to...

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed arguments that there is no Constitutional mandate for requiring people to purchase health insurance. “The President’s opponents are tying themselves in knots over arcane notions of ‘enumerated powers’ and ‘rights supposedly reserved to the people’ when the issue is as simple as can be,” Gibbs asserted. “I’m no Constitutional scholar, but as I read the document, President Obama is the nation’s Supreme Commander. And if the Supreme Commander gives an order, everyone is obliged to obey it—’game over.’” Gibb’s statement was backed up by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) who maintains that the issue...

On October 30, Congressman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota called for people to meet her on the steps of Congress Thursday, November 5 at Noon, to walk the halls and tell our elected officials we don’t want obamacare. Click here to watch Michelle: [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TAskp6q6h8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TAskp6q6h8[/url] We’ve called and faxed until we’re blue in the face. It’s time for us to show up in person. If this monstrosity passes, we can kiss our freedom good-bye. Bus trips and car pools are being organized across the nation. If you are interested in going by bus or car, please send an email to info@bloodofpatriots.org. If...

Pelosi vs. NH: Wrecking the state budgetSaturday, Oct. 31, 2009 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a health care reform bill that allegedly would cost the federal government less than previous House Democratic plans. But it would cost states more. The previous House bill would have made families earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level eligible for Medicaid, which states partially fund. New Hampshire pays 50 percent of its Medicaid costs. That would have cost states an additional $33 billion. Under Pelosi's bill, families earning up to 150 percent of the poverty level are to be covered by...

It's no wonder why they don't read their own bills! I guarantee you that someone of Pelosi's non-existent intellect hasn't read it, which begs the question: Who actually writes these things? For those of us who have a life, below is a "reader's guide" or breakdown of some of the key elements of Pelosi's bill:

House Committee sessions where these issues were voted on were nothing but a sham! The real work went on behind closed doors in direct contradiction to Obama's promise for an open process! Nancy Pelosi finally put her cards on the table this week. Meeting in secret She produced a bill which weighs in at a record 1990 pages (PDF). It's a monster by every measure. The Congressional Budget Office puts the full cost of the bill at $1.28 trillion dollars: According to a preliminary CBO estimate of the bill released Thursday, the cost of expanding coverage to an additional 36...

More than 30 US politicians, among them seven members of a defence procurement committee, are being investigated in congressional ethics inquiries into influence-peddling, according to a document leaked accidentally on to the internet. The disclosure sheds light on a process by which billions of dollars a year are spent on defence projects that the Pentagon does not want and which limits funds available for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. House Representatives named in the document include John Murtha, the chairman of the House Defence Appropriations Sub-committee, who added so-called “earmarks” worth more than $100 million (£61 million) to...

The Pelosi Plan ... and the Swine Flu Democrats.by William Kristol 11/09/2009, Volume 015, Issue 08 In 1993, a newly elected Democratic president and a Democratic Congress pushed through a tax increase on a party-line vote. The next year Democrats lost control of Congress, with House Speaker Tom Foley defeated in his reelection bid and the Senate seat of retiring majority leader George Mitchell going Republican. In 1995, the newly elected Republican Congress tried to reduce the rate of growth of Medicare. The proposal was pilloried by the Clinton White House as drastic and unconscionable. The bill did not...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Dozens of lawmakers have drawn scrutiny from their ethics monitor this year for everything from financial dealings to travel and campaign donations, according to a leaked account showing an active House panel secretly at work.

VIDEO: Delivering the weekly Republican address, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) outlined Republicans’ plan to make health care more accessible and affordable for American families at a price our nation can afford. The address highlights the differences between Republicans’ smart, fiscally responsible reforms and Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) 1,990-page government takeover of health care.

Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ) spoke with Freedom Radio immediately after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the 1,990 page health care bill Thurday. Here's a excerpt: Listen to the full interview with Congressman Shadegg and get Honest Conservative's take on the bill tomorrow, Sunday night at 8 PM Eastern, on Freedom Radio. The call in number is 646-478-5613.

The incessant stream of lies out of the Democrats is amazing. This is the New York Times flat out saying that Pelosi tried to pull one over on us on the cost of her bill. Throughout Thursday, news accounts, including our own, focused on $894 billion, the total cost given out by aides to the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, before the official cost analysis was released by the Congressional Budget Office. But a closer look at the budget office report suggests that the number everyone should have reported was $1.055 trillion, which is the gross cost of the insurance coverage...

There is an ugliness in America, never before seen, and I am not talking about Pelosi’s botox or Biden’s hair plugs, I am talking about the manner in which our government is treating its citizens. B. Hussein Obama demands a takeover of the health care industry and despite wide public outcry against it, Pelosi and Dingy Harry push for obamacare. Why? Because the bill does away with our rights and abolishes private insurance. Effective in 2013, after the next presidential election, private insurance policies are illegal. States can “opt-out” of obamacare, but they will still have to pay for it,...

For as long as they've existed, politicians have bent language to avoid saying things that sound unpleasant. Once upon a time, the players in the major league of Washington, D.C. politics at least told their versions of truth with eloquence and style. My, how things have changed! With countless examples of the media ignoring news that might damage Democrats, it seems this practice has bred a sense of security among the party's leaders. They even appear emboldened by their media allies as they get closer than ever to something they've craved for decades: complete control of the health care industry....

Stung by a rising tide of resistance and a closing window of opportunity, House Democrats have unleashed a new version of ObamaCare, weighing in at 1,990 pages and with a $1 trillion price tag. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to ram it through quickly, exhibiting a disdain for her countrymen that makes Marie Antoinette look like a populist...

This morning, House Democrats held a press conference to unveil their health care reform bill, which they claim will expand coverage for all and decrease costs. Sounds good, but once you peel away the “feel good” rhetoric, there’s nothing to be excited about. This 2,000-page bill includes a job-killing employer mandate, an individual mandate that requires Washington bureaucrats to define what kind of coverage is acceptable, burdensome tax increases, Medicare cuts, and a huge expansion of Medicaid that will break already strained state budgets.

1990 pages, over 900 billion (waaaaaaay conservative low) dollars, and in Pelosi's addled, shriveled mind, exactly what this country needs to get healthcare done right. Riiiiiiiiiight. All this just to cover 47 (or 33 if no illegals) million people, of which only a small fraction actually WANT coverage, the rest don't want to spend money on it. They could buy each person in that 33 million an individual policy, put them all in the same group for lower rates and pooling, and spend about 100 billion and not have to takeover the entire healthcare system, ie takeover 1/6 of the...

If members of Congress were up for a job review right now — instead of a year from now — the ranks of the unemployed would swell to an even higher level. Americans place a lot of the blame for conditions in the country on Congress and, because of that, about two-thirds want to “throw them out” of office, according to the latest FOX News poll. The national telephone poll was conducted for FOX News by Opinion Dynamics Corp. among 900 registered voters from October 27 to October 28, 2009. The poll has a 3-point error margin. A sizable majority...

Pelosi’s Bill: More Sludge in the D.C. Swamp Yesterday (Oct. 29), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) praised Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-CA) for their help in determining the finances and taxes that will be levied in the new souped-up 1900-page health care bill. This “Affordable Health Care for America Act” (or H.R .3962) bill has been debated for months. It is a perfect example of liberal lunacy and promises reneged. Pelosi’s “gargantuan beast of a bill” contains 13 new tax hikes (“Comprehensive List of Taxes in the House Democrat Bill,” atr.org, October 30, 2009). Rep. Tom Price...

The White House has been barraged with requests to release the names of its visitors. Today they release the first 500 visits, all from the period of Jan 20-July 31. Some of the Names you can find on the list are Bill Ayers 2x, George Soros 4x, Michael Moore 8X, the head of the ACORN affiliated Union the SEIU Andrew Stern 20x,Jeremiah Wright, GE/NBC head Jeff Immelt 5x, Jesse Jackson 6x, John Edwards2x, Al Sharpton 2x, and of course television goddess Oprah Winfrey. Strangely each party's house leader Pelosi, and Boehner were only at the WH once. The Senate leadership...

WASHINGTON -- Internal investigations into the conduct of several House members have been exposed in an extraordinary, Internet-era breach of security involving the secretive process by which Congress polices lawmaker ethics. Revelations of the mostly preliminary inquiries by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct -- also known as the Ethics committee -- shook the chamber as lawmakers were immersed in a series of scheduled votes Thursday. The panel announced that it was probing two California Democrats -- Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson -- even as its embarrassed leaders took pains to explain that several other lawmakers also...

The partisan split among the sample is a little narrower than usual — 40/37 between Democrats and Republicans — but never mind that. Focus on independents. Congressional Dems rate slightly higher than Repubs (36/29), but never mind that either. The more this becomes an anti-incumbency movement, the more the majority party will suffer. Further to that point, read Ruffini’s counter-Gingrichian advice to the GOP to follow Doug Hoffman’s lead and run conservative candidates next year as stealth independents in select areas. It’s a crafty idea for blue districts where the GOP has virtually no chance anyway; anywhere else and it’s...

House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July. The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer. The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress, and its members and staff...

If you're an elected Democrat anywhere to the right of Barney Frank, and trying to defend a competitive seat next November, you've got to be starting to sweat. You wake up in the morning and just like every other morning as far as the eye can see the only thing in the news is the president's health-care reform. It's starting to look like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are leading the Donner Party, the snowbound emigrants who bogged down in the Sierra Nevada winter in the 1840s and resorted to cannibalism to survive. The betting is that with raw political...

The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill): Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes...