Weekly Columns
Almost exactly a year after seeing 787 billion of their tax dollars evaporate courtesy of a so-called “stimulus bill,” Americans are justifiably running out of patience and asking “Where are the jobs?” President Obama and congressional Democrats rushed the stimulus bill through Congress last February amid dire predictions that failure to pass the bill would result in double-digit unemployment, while passage would keep the jobless rate below 8 percent.
The agenda President Obama outlined in his State of the Union address essentially promises more of the same: more spending, more burdens on American businesses, and more symbolic measures that do nothing to provide real solutions to the challenges we face.
The outrage against nationalized health care has reached the voting booth -- and in dramatic fashion. Last week, Massachusetts voters stunned the nation by electing Republican Scott Brown to the Senate seat held for nearly 47 years by Ted Kennedy. This bluest of blue states voted overwhelmingly for President Obama in 2008 and had not elected a Republican to the Senate in decades. With Tuesday's election, they're not only sending a Republican to Washington; they're sending a message.
Time and again, Americans have made it absolutely clear that we don’t want a government takeover of health care. And, time and again, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have ignored our wishes and pressed ahead with their unpopular plans.
On Inauguration Day, Barack Obama pledged to “seek a new way forward” in American foreign policy, “based on mutual interest and mutual respect.” Less than a year later, we received a stark reminder that al Qaeda terrorists have no intention of seeking a new way forward. The attempted terror attack on Christmas Day made it clear that our enemies remain as determined as ever to kill innocent Americans, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.
Recently, in a prime time address delivered at West Point, President Obama finally announced his long awaited plan for a new strategy in Afghanistan. I believe the President made a compelling case for why it is absolutely critical that America defeat al Qaeda and prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies. The men and women of the Armed Forces are fighting a battle on multiple fronts against an increasingly sophisticated enemy. Providing additional manpower and resources to our troops is vitally important as we move forward.
This week Speaker Pelosi and her liberal allies in Congress began the final push for their massive government takeover of our health care system. And in so doing, they made it abundantly clear that they either aren't listening to the American people, or they simply don't care what we have to say.
In August I held a series of public town hall meetings and met with doctors, nurses and other health professionals in special health care forums. During those meetings, an overwhelming majority of attendees expressed deep concerns with H.R. 3200, the now infamous health care bill introduced in the House. Congress went back to work in early September and the House version of the health care bill was virtually dead-on-arrival. The Senate, however, is dealing with its own version, introduced recently by Senator Max Baucus.
Last week President Obama and his liberal Democratic allies in Congress announced plans for a government takeover of America's health care industry. This plan will cost more than a trillion dollars and will be paid for by tax increases and costly mandates on small business owners and by cuts to Medicare. And if you are among the over 250 million Americans who currently have health insurance, get ready for big changes.
This week Congress is gearing up to consider a troop funding bill. This legislation, an emergency War Supplemental, will provide the resources needed by the men and women serving in the Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. But members of House leadership have taken the military funding bill and piled on an additional $108 billion for the International Monetary Fund (IMF). I believe that if Congressional liberals want to spend $108 billion on a global bailout, they ought to put it up for a vote independently.