Posted on 11/07/2009 2:42:22 AM PST by Thebaddog
GOUVERNEUR, NY - Congressman-elect Bill Owens was sworn in at noon today.
Owens indicated in a press release released shortly afterwards that he was now in favor of the the "Affordable Healthcare for America Act" bill in direct contrast to his earlier position during the election campaign.
According to Politico.com, Mr. Owens assured voters that he felt the public option had no place in the health care reform bill. Contrary to that position, Mr. Owens now indicates that he intends to vote in favor of the bill even though it now contains a public option.
UPDATED: A spokesman for Congressman Owens indicated correctly that Mr. Owens had recanted his solid position against public option later in the campaign, clarifying that he did not wish public option to be a 'litmus test' for the Health Reform bill and that on Oct. 30th, several days prior to the election, in a debate had stated that he generally supported the public option as it was now written (at that time.)
Mr. Owens also indicated during his campaign that he was firmly opposed to cutting Medicare benefits, taxing health care benefits, and increased taxes on the middle class in any way as you can see clearly in the screenshot below, taken directly from Mr. Owens' campaign website.
The House Health reform bill contains sections that cut Medicare benefits, tax existing health care benefits, and increases taxes on the middle class, yet Mr. Owens stated today that he will now vote in favor of those things contrary to what he had promised the voters of NY's 23rd Congressional District that he would vote against.
Mr. Owens indicated in his press release today that "This legislation will reform the insurance industry and provide increased access to affordable healthcare without taxing healthcare benefits, cutting Medicare benefits or raising taxes on the middle class, and that is exactly the direction we need to go."
When The Gouverneur Times attempted to contact Mr. Owens to clarify this information, we received no direct response to our phone or email inquiries. Both FactCheck.org and the Congressional Budget Office agree that HR 3962 contains potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in planned cuts to Medicare, yet Mr. Owens indicates that he supports this legislation and says that it does not cut Medicare benefits. Either Mr. Owens has been snowed or the public is about to be.
HR 3962 also includes a range of various taxes on middle-class families as well as language to repeal tax relief already in place. Has Congressman Owens blindly followed Ms. Pelosi's rhetoric in believing that the end to a tax cut is not the same thing as an increase in taxes or is he hedging his bet with very carefully chosen words?
HR 3962 now also contains language that allows illegal immigrants to be covered under the legislation. When The Gouverneur Times attempted to contact Mr. Owens for clarification of this language, we received no response other than the press release heretofore mentioned. Specifically, we asked if illegal immigrants would be forced to purchase healthcare insurance as citizens will be and whether or not they would be forced to do so at standard rates or if they would qualify for the public option subsidy.
The Associated Press said this morning that: "House leaders said that, in keeping with the Hispanic Caucus' demands, there was not likely to be any prohibition added to the House bill against illegal immigrants shopping in the exchange."
In a speech made to Congress a short time ago, President Obama had stated that the bill would not contain support for illegal immigrants - a statement for which he was called a "liar" by Rep. Joe Wilson. Rep. Wilson was severely chastised for his comment at the time though it would now seem to be true.
The mixed-up mess that was the 23rd Congressional District Special Election was a close race between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Doug Hoffman. Many feel that it was unlikely Mr. Owens would have won those crucial few thousand votes if the voting public was aware of his intent with regard to the Health Care bill. The majority of residents in this district do not support the Health Reform bill as it is now written and many feel like they've become victims of a fraud perpetrated by their chosen candidate.
Breaking campaign promises is not unusual for politicians... it's a cliche. This is almost certainly a record though. Mr. Owens broke no less than 4 promises in his first 24 hours in office.
Well, let the stupid is as stupid does electorate eat cake when mass starvation is upon them.
[In a perfect world, the voters of NY23 would be descending, en masse,...]
Blinded by their own arrogance and pride and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools....
Stupid is as stupid does and the electorate their are stupid indeed.
Let them eat higher taxes and no liberty, the high price of stupid is as stupid does.
WHAT?!? a politician lied?? This can’t be... say it isn’t so...
“Wasn’t anybody besides Rahm Emmanuel paying attention up there?”
“Mr. Owens broke no less than 4 promises in his first 24 hours in office.”
It sounds as if Rahm actually was writing Owens’ playbook!
It’s pretty obvious from this account that notwithstanding the claims of WH spinners, a vote for Owens was very far from an endorsement of Obamacare. Had Owens had the cojones to reveal his true positions on these health plan details, he likely would have been defeated.
This simply further illustrates that those driving the Obamacare freight train will stop at nothing to get what they want (public opinion be damned) and that precisely because the public opposes the direction they’ve headed the train, they repeatedly have to resort to deception, truth-twisting or flagrant lying to achieve their objective. Fortunately, their tactics have been so egregious that it appears that every Republican in Congress will sit on the sidelines so that Dems can take full responsibility for what happens. The only thing standing in the way of this debacle are Blue Dog Democrats who hopefully will feel sufficient heat from their aroused constituents to hold firm against this flagrant misuse of majority power.
Unbelievable.
Both candidates said they wouldn't vote for it when they were running. Owens now says that he will vote for it.
Even after the fact, you repeat the same rubbish.
At the very least, both were Marxists.
” 1 year and done. He better not sign a lease longer than a year.”
I hope you are right but I am beginning to wonder why people can’t learn? Why do they keep making the same mistake?
A good number of Freepers too.
He didn’t read the bill. It does appear certain that he made promises to Pelosi to gain support for his run. Now we know what she meant when she said she won on Tuesday night. Owens was a purchase though, not a win.
Well, she might have won his vote, produced some voter fraud to do this, but let’s hope she doen’t have enough votes. This guy is slick and devious—and he was painted as a more conservative DEM!
bookmark
they’re busy, pay scant attention, & make a decision based on “hope”.
I think this is why the tea parties (democrats, republicans, independents) are getting so big. Politicians lie through their teeth to win an election, and then turn on their constituents as though were the enemy. People are sick of the blatant LIES.
This guy owes favors big time to the Dem money pit. You bet he is is going to fall in line with Pelosi.
Agreed. This area has always been a right wing stronghold. If you look at the voter percentages, the outed Republican got 6% of the vote, because she dropped out so late. The absentees were already mailed, and her name was still on the ballot. Had she done it sooner, the independent would have picked up those right wing votes and won by 1%. The democrat would have lost.
The democrat got lucky. The election was a fluke. The republicans screwed up by supporting a bad "temporary" candidate. Her "temporary" campaign split the needed vote.
BTW, was just watching Kudlow from Friday. Congressman Paul Ryan said there's yet another little suprise in this bill. Inflation indexing of the tax brackets IS REMOVED therein. Middle class taxpayers will therefore fall prey to "bracket creep" (remember the 70's?) and end up being taxed like "the rich" when the coming inflation hits.
When you deduct sleep and travel time, it was a lot less than 24 hours.
That’s perverse that some 30 year old DC weasel can write a clause into a law to re-institute tax bracket creep. Who do they think pays the bills around here?
How could it be.. people here claim Owens was more conservative than the Republican.
Thanks to Hoffman, Beck, Palin...etc for getting Owens in to Congress.
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