October 29, 2009

In order to assist Members, staff, and interested parties seeking to read and review the health “reform” legislation (H.R. 3962) introduced by House Democrats, the Republican Conference has compiled a list of important page numbers and provisions in the 1,990-page “Affordable Health Care for America Act:”

1990 page HR bill can be found at: http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

Page 94—Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government

Page 110—Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan—and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions

Page 111—Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase—and would likely require all Americans to subsidize and purchase plans that cover any abortion

Page 211—Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the HULewin GroupUH, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage

Page 225—Section 330 permits—but does not require—Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care

Page 255—Section 345 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies under the bill—while the bill includes a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify applicants’ identity, thus encouraging identity fraud for undocumented immigrants and others wishing to receive taxpayer-subsidized health benefits

Page 297—Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance—the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central HUpromiseUH of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign

Page 313—Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health coverage; according to an HUanalysisUH by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”—Uwith minority workers losing their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts

Page 336—Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs

Page 520—Section 1161 cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage

Page 733—Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than £35,000

Page 1174—Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled “TAXES ON CERTAIN INSURANCE POLICIES” to fund comparative effectiveness research, breaking Speaker Pelosi’s promise that “UWe will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the HouseU,” and the President’s promise not to raise taxes on families with incomes under $250,000

The House Republican Conference • GOP.gov
1420 Longworth HOB • (202) 225-5107

PLEASE NOTE WHO IS SPENDING THE MOST MONEY!

Component
Third-Quarter Growth
Personal spending
3.4%
Nonresidential fixed investment
(2.5%)
Real exports
14.7%
Government spending
7.9%
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Export growth was on fire, thanks in part to a weaker dollar. But exports are a relatively small portion of our economy, so even though growth is big, the final contribution isn’t. In fact, net exports (exports minus imports) decreased the final GDP figures.

Our economy is truly reliant on consumer spending. That’s why Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT) dominate the landscape while manufacturing withers. You can see that by breaking out the contributions that made up the 3.5% gain:
Component
Contribution to 3.5% Growth
Personal spending
2.36%
Gross private investment*
1.22%
Net exports
(0.53%)
Government spending
0.48%
Total
3.53%
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

Caputo’s supporters are as dumb as Caputo. They showed up dressed like they were going on a cruise. Is that really something to be proud of? Caputo has never passed a transportation bill in the House, isn’t responsible for Route 50 widening as he claims, and then skipped all the transportation votes to take a cruise.

Complete morons.