"A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men
from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."
(Thomas Jefferson)


Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Democrats’ Misplaced Priorities by the Numbers (Healthcare)

This came in email to us this afternoon from the Republican Policy Committee. The title Misplaced Priorities by the Democrats has to be the understatement of the year!

When you look at these figures in black and white, it strikes you that the Senate only spent 25 days debating these healthcare bills. Something so important with thousands of pages and the Senate under the leadership of Sen Reid only allowed 25 days of debate. That is shocking but not surprising.
Democrats’ Misplaced Priorities by the Numbers
Senate Republican Politics Committee
9 February 2010

How Will A Job-Killing Health Care Bill Help Unemployment?

Even as President Obama now attempts to re-focus his attention on the economy, a look at Democrats’actions over the past year shows the party’s stubborn focus on a government takeover of health care that would kill jobs, not save them:

5,298—Total pages of health care legislation passed by three House and two Senate Committees[i]

30—Number of days House and Senate Committees spent marking up health care legislation[ii]

25—Number of days the Senate spent debating health care legislation[iii]

$729,500,000,000 and $518,500,000,000—Tax increases in the House and Senate-passed health care bills[iv]

5,000,000—Number of jobs that could be lost as a result of the taxes in the Pelosi health care bill,according to a model developed by Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer[v]

Meanwhile, all across America millions of workers have been struggling, even as Democrats rushed to pass a health care bill that would destroy jobs:

2,742,000—Number of jobs lost since President Obama signed the $862 billion “stimulus” bill[vi]

6,130,000—Number of workers unemployed for at least six months—an all-time high

29.1 weeks—Average length of time Americans have been unemployed—also an all-time high

15,267,000—Number of unemployed Americans—down only slightly from October’s 26-year high

17.3%—National rate of unemployment, including under-employed individuals and “discouraged workers” who have stopped looking for work

0—Days the Senate spent debating legislation providing permanent tax relief to small businesses

Even now, amidst the economic hardship facing American families nationwide, Democrats refuse to abandon their efforts to pass a government takeover of health care that would kill jobs, not create them.

Many may ask: how many more jobs must be lost before the President and Democrats in Congress will abandon their health care scheme that would raise taxes on hard-working families and businesses?

[i] Includes the 1,504-page Senate Finance Committee bill (S. 1796), the 840-page Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee bill (S. 1679),
the 794-page House Ways and Means Committee Chairman’s Mark to H.R. 3200, the 1,040-page House Education and Labor Committee Chairman’s Mark
to H.R. 3200, the 1,026-page House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman’s Mark to H.R. 3200, and a 94-page motion to instruct the Rules
Committee on H.R. 3200 approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
[ii] The Senate Finance Committee spent six days marking up S. 1796; the Senate HELP Committee spent 13 days marking up S. 1679; the House Ways and
Means Committee spent one day marking up H.R. 3200; the House Education and Labor Committee spent two days marking up H.R. 3200; the House
Energy and Commerce Committee spent six days marking up H.R. 3200, including one day debating a motion to instruct the Rules Committee regarding the
legislation.
[iii] According to the Congressional Record, the Senate debated H.R. 3590 on November 19-21, November 30-December 10, December 13-17, and December
19-24, 2009.
[iv] Figures based on Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation analyses of H.R. 3962 as passed by the House, and similar CBO and
JCT analyses of H.R. 3590 as passed by the Senate.
[v] House Ways and Means Committee Republican staff calculation.
[vi] All jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly employment data, http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ln

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