Report from the bloggers' conference call with Sen. John Thune

Once again this morning, I had the honor of participating in a Republican bloggers' conference call, this time with Sen. John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.

Although there is a lot going on in Washington at the moment--Afghanistan, cap-and-trade, (lack of) jobs--ObamaCare is the dominant issue on Capitol Hill. The call began with a warning about health care reform: Thune told us that the Democrats' will move "fast and furious on this." He added, "Contrary to assertions made by the president during his presidential campaign, this has been anything but a transparent process." Nor has it been bi-partisan. "Republicans have not been included, have not had amendments accepted," Thune continued, "the (health care) deliberations are going on behind the closed doors of the majority leaders office, (attended by) White House staff and a few Democratic leaders."

Do you remember that during the presidential campaign, candidate Obama promised these meetings would be televised on C-SPAN? Another broken campaign promise.

Whatever health care bill finally emerges from Congress is bound to be messy. There are two Senate bills, three House bills, which need to be, in Thune's words, "married up." Then the bills from each chamber need be combined. One thing is certain--it will be expensive. "Despite the claims that health care reform is all about bending the cost curve down or driving costs down," the South Dakotan warned, "costs are going to go up, premiums are going to go up." That's a common characteristic of all five bills--so is higher taxes. The House utilizes surtaxes on higher-income earners, which means higher taxes on small businesses because many owners file their taxes as individuals. Small businesses, not Fortune 500 firms, drive job growth. In the Senate, they're looking at excise taxes on insurance companies that will of course be passed on to consumers. The upper chamber is also exploring taxing individuals who don't have health insurance.

"Almost 90 percent of the taxes in the Senate Finance Committee bill (Max Baucus' bill)," Thune told us, "would fall on wage-earners earning less than $250,000 a year." During the presidential campaign, Obama promised that this group of people would not see their taxes go up." And 50 percent of those taxes would be paid for by people earning less than $100,000 a year.

Cuts to Medicare are also envisioned by the Dems as a way to finance ObamaCare.


All this adds up to what Thune calls "a $1.8 trillion expansion of the federal government--creating a whole new entitlement program that doesn't do anything to drive costs down."

"More spending, more taxes, Medicare cuts, additions to the federal debt" is how Thune summarizes it all.

And here is the kicker: the BaucusCare bill still leaves 25 million people uninsured.

Echoing what Sen. Orrin Hatch told us in his blogger call on Friday, the public-option, that is, government-run health care, is not dead. The public option could end up turning into a single-payer system such as what they have in Canada and Europe--which is exactly what many Democrats want.

The Dems want to rush their proposed transformation of one-sixth of the economy through Congress. George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" bill, a truly bi-partisan piece of legislation, was argued on the floor of the Senate for seven weeks.

Thune and other Republicans prefer a more methodical approach, and a step by step process.

My take on Thune's call? Now is the time to be vigilant. Contact your senators and your representative in Congress. Let them know how you feel.

Related post:

Report from the bloggers' conference call with Sen. Orrin Hatch

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