Michael Barone: Ouch! Decade of Obamacare Will Cost $1,160 billion

How much will Obamacare -- call it the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act if you like -- cost over the next 10 years?

More than you've been led to believe, reports Charles Blahous of George Mason University's Mercatus Center. To be specific, he projects it will add $1,160 billion to net federal spending over the next 10 years and at least $340 billion to federal budget deficits in that time.

CONTINUED:  http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/2012/04/16/barone-ouch-decade-of-obamacare-will-cost-1160-billion/?subscriber=1

A Message from NC Congressman Walter Jones

FYI!

February 3, 2012

Dear Fellow Eastern North Carolinian,


This is a critical time for Eastern North Carolina, our nation, and our armed forces. As we begin this new session of the 112th Congress, I wanted to quickly brief you on what President Barack Obama is proposing, why I think he is badly off the mark, and ways that I believe we can responsibly address the deficit while still preserving and modernizing our military strength.

I don’t need to remind you that America is $15 trillion in debt and running annual deficits of over $1 trillion. Last week the Obama Administration rolled out a new budget proposal to cut military spending by $487 billion over 10 years. Meanwhile, last year’s compromise bill to raise the debt ceiling – which I strongly opposed and voted against – requires an additional $500 billion in military “sequestration” cuts over 10 years starting in 2013.

While there is no doubt that there are billions of dollars of wasteful spending in the Defense Department (DOD), and that taxpayers’ money must be spent much more efficiently, I oppose both the President’s defense cut proposal and the ‘military’ sequestration cuts, and I’d like you to know the reasons why.

I make no apologies for being a leader in the fight to cut wasteful federal spending and eliminate the debt. Among other things, I have been a champion of and always voted for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution; I voted against the President’s $1 trillion ‘stimulus’; I voted against the bailouts for Wall Street and Detroit; I voted against every foreign aid bill in the last 16 years; I was one of only 8 members to vote against the pork-filled Highway Bill that included the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere”; I voted against Obamacare; and I am proud to be the only member of the House of Representatives to have voted against every single increase in the debt limit in the past 8 years.

Going forward, I believe there are many steps we should be taking to eradicate deficit spending and the debt. Those steps include eliminating foreign aid, the Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the taxpayer bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and profligate European governments; repealing Obamacare; and downsizing many other federal agencies. But attempting to balance the budget through devastating, disproportionate cuts to our military is not the way to go.

Before the Obama Administration even thinks about proposing to take jobs, services and benefits away from our troops and veterans, or about slashing crucial programs like the F-35B fighter jet – two cost reduction proposals which I have strongly opposed throughout my career in Congress – they need to eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars in the Pentagon.

For instance, did you know that DOD has never audited its own books even though it was statutorily required to do so over 20 years ago? As a result, a recent DOD Inspector General (IG) report demonstrated that wasteful spending at the Pentagon is out of control. In some cases taxpayers are paying nearly $1700 for items that cost $7. That’s ridiculous! Finalizing the audit of DOD and reforming the defense procurement process to cut wasteful spending and give taxpayers more bang for their buck should be this Administration’s top priority – reducing pay, benefits and services for our troops and veterans and making major cuts to the F-35B should be off the table.

I also oppose the Administration’s request for another round of domestic military base closures (BRAC). Amazingly, right now, President Obama is opening a new base in Australia and increasing our military presence in the Philippines – while at the same time threatening to close bases in the United States. The fact is that DOD already has 622 overseas sites. Before anyone talks about closing bases here at home, we need to evaluate and eliminate any overseas sites that are no longer in our national security interest.

Finally, it is no secret that I disagree with President Obama’s decision to keep our troops in Afghanistan through 2014. America is borrowing $10 billion a month from the Chinese and other foreigners – over $120 billion a year – and then sending that money back overseas to spend on that operation. At a time when this nation is over $15 trillion in debt, we simply can’t afford it. The reality is that if the President weren’t spending that money in Afghanistan, military spending reductions of any kind would be much, much less necessary.

Since being elected to Congress in 1994, I have taken my responsibility to represent Eastern North Carolina’s values seriously. As one of the most senior members of the House Armed Services Committee, I fully understand how critical our military facilities are to our economy and way of life. During the last BRAC round in 2005, I was able to use that seniority to successfully protect Camp Lejeune Marine Base, Cherry Point Marine Air Station, the Naval Air Depot at Cherry Point (NADEP) and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. And with this seniority I will have significant input into how the recent defense cut proposals play out. Please rest assured that I will use my position to continue to do everything in my power to fight for Eastern North Carolina’s military installations and for the courageous men and women – past, present and future – who protect our freedom.

Please know that I will never forget what an honor it is to represent you. If I can be of service to you and your family, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time. Thanks for all you do to make America the greatest nation the world has ever known.

Sincerely,
Walter B. Jones
Member of Congress (NC-03)

CAGW: Porker of the Month--Sen. Kent Conrad

On January 24, in commemoration/lamentation of the 1,000th day since the Senate Budget Committee last performed its most significant task - passing a budget resolution - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) Porker of the Month. The last time the Senate approved a budget was on April 29, 2009. The House, by comparison, has voted in favor of two budget resolutions during the past two years. This is “an important milestone in fiscal ineptitude and mindless brinksmanship,” declared CAGW President Tom Schatz, noting that Chairman Conrad and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have made clear that their decision not to enact a budget resolution is conscious, unified, and partisan. “Since April 2009, the budget deficit has exceeded $1 trillion for three straight years, and the national debt has climbed by more than $4 trillion to $15.2 trillion. Chairman Conrad’s bewildering reputation as a budget hawk makes his legislative catatonia all the more frustrating.” For cashing a hefty paycheck for doing nothing in the last 1,000 days, CAGW names Senate Budget Committee Chairman Conrad the January 2012 Porker of the Month.

Read more about the Porker of the Month.
http://www.cagw.org/newsroom/porker-of-the-month/

Barack Obama's 32 Month Report Card by Rich Carroll

Copy this article. You will need researched material to mail your liberal friends and/or relatives.

Mr. Hope and Change wants to create a nation humbled; humiliated, casting-aside capitalism and individual freedoms for one where we the people are government controlled. This would be a system that genuflects mediocrity, steals personal aspiration and opportunity, and punishes those who strive to succeed.

A gallon of regular gasoline the day Obama was inaugurated was $1.79 on average in the U.S. Today that price is $3.59, a 100.6% increase. The number of food stamp recipients has risen since Obama took office from 31,983,716 to 43,200,878, a 35.1% jump. Long term unemployment soared 146.2% during the same 32 month period from 2,600,000 to 6,400,000. Staggering hope and change isn't it?

American citizens living in poverty have risen 9.5% from 39,800,000 to 43,600,000, and the number of unemployed has jumped almost 25% from 11,616,000 to 14,485,000 as of August 31, 2011. The number of unemployed blacks has risen from 12.6% at the end of George Bush's term to 15.8% today, a 25.4% increase, and finally, our national debt is up 34.4% from 10.627 trillion to 14,278 trillion *

Keep these figures in mind as we recount the number of firsts for this presidency:

First President to refuse to show a valid birth certificate.
First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.
First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in.
First President to preside over a cut to the credit rating of the United States .
First President to violate the War Powers Act.
First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico .
First President to defy a Federal Judges court order to cease implementing the Health Care Reform Law.

First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.
First President to spend a trillion dollars on shovel-ready jobs and later admit there was no such thing as shovel-ready jobs.
First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.
First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.
First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. , including those with criminal convictions.
First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.
First President to terminate Americas ability to put a man in space.
First President to encourage racial discrimination and intimidation at polling places.
First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.
First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.
First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly speak-out on the reasons for their rate increases.
First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state they are allowed to locate a factory.
First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN)
First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.

First President to fire an inspector general of Ameri-corps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.
First President to appoint 45 Czars to replace elected officials in his office.
First President to golf over 90 separate times in his first three years in office.
First President to hide his medical, educational and travel records.
First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.
First President to coddle American enemies while alienating Americas allies.
First President to publicly bow to Americas enemies while refusing to salute the U.S. Flag.
First President to go on multiple global apology tours.
First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends, paid for by the taxpayer.
First President to refuse to wear the U.S. Flag lapel pin.
First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.
First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000.00 a year at taxpayer expense.
First President to repeat the Holy Qur'an tells us, and openly admit the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.

Remember that 32 months of Obama White House we the people have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our nation's entire history, as the Obama's plan their next extravagant vacation to the Indonesian Island nation of Bali ..

Hope and change anyone???


* sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Wall Street Journal, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept of Labor, Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller, Federal Reserve, US Treasury, Heritage Foundation.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, It is the only thing that ever has.”  ~Margaret Mead

WND: WHAT WERE THE MOST IGNORED STORIES OF 2011?

Here's what mainstream media did their best to cover up in 2011.

While the establishment news media brought plenty of bad economic news in 2011, the real story hasn't been adequately told. The true rate of unemployment and inflation and the real state of the U.S. economy, which is far worse than reported, tops WND's annual list of the 10 most "spiked" or underreported stories of the last year.  At the end of each year, many news organizations typically present their retrospective replays of what they consider to have been the top news stories of the previous 12 months.


WND’s editors, however, long have considered it more newsworthy to publicize the most underreported or unreported news events of the year – to shine a spotlight on those issues that the establishment media successfully “spiked.”

WND Editor and CEO Joseph Farah has sponsored “Operation Spike” every year since 1988, and since founding WND in May 1997, has continued the annual tradition.

Produced with the help of WND readers, here are the WND editors’ picks for the 10 most underreported or unreported stories of 2011:

1. The true rate of unemployment and inflation and the real state of the U.S. economy, which is far worse than reported.

When the Obama administration prepared to finance a 2011 budget deficit expected to top $1.6 trillion, the American public was largely unaware that the true negative net worth of the federal government reached $76.3 trillion last year.


The figure was five times the 2010 gross domestic product of the United States and exceeded the estimated gross domestic product for the world by approximately $14.4 trillion, according to economist John Williams.

Statistics compiled by Williams, based on the 2010 Financial Report of the United States Government, demonstrate the real 2010 federal budget deficit was $5.3 trillion, not the $1.3 trillion reported by the Congressional Budget Office.

The difference between the $1.3 trillion “official” 2010 federal budget deficit numbers and the $5.3 trillion budget deficit is that the official budget deficit is calculated on a cash basis, where all tax receipts, including Social Security tax receipts, are used to pay government liabilities as they occur.

“The government cannot raise taxes high enough to bring the budget into balance,” Williams said. “You could tax 100 percent of everyone’s income and 100 percent of corporate profits and the U.S. government would still be showing a federal budget deficit on a GAAP accounting basis.”

Meanwhile, the government’s own statistics showed in December that if the same number of people were seeking work today as in 2007, the jobless rate would be 11 percent.

While the Obama administration touted a November unemployment rate of 8 percent, much of it was a result of people leaving the labor force, not because they’ve become sick or too old, but because they have been unable to find a job and have stopped trying.

What’s more, the seasonally-adjusted rate adjusted for long-term discouraged workers – who were defined out of official existence in 1994 – was more than 22 percent in November.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics broadest measure of unemployment, which includes the short-term discouraged and other marginally attached works, along with part-time workers who can’t find full-time employment is more than 15 percent.

Methodological shifts in government reporting also have depressed reported inflation. If inflation were calculated the way it was in 1990, the annual rate would be nearly 7 percent.

2. The Justice Department’s “Fast and Furious” operation, which facilitated the delivery of American firearms into Mexico to violent drug cartels, later used in the murder of hundreds, including a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

The aim was to trace guns to the “big fish” in the cartel, but the practice of “gunwalking” put thousands of weapons on the street that have been used in hundreds of murders.

Two guns found at the scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder by cartel killers were traced to guns the ATF deliberately allowed to be sold to known cartel straw buyers in American gun shops in violation of federal gun laws. Justice Department records turned over to congressional investigators also showed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was gunned down by cartel killers using a pistol purchased by a straw buyer in Texas with cartel ties. ATF agents knew of the buyer’s cartel ties but did nothing to prevent the sale or the shipment of the gun to Mexico.

CBS News, the only establishment news agency to investigate the scandal, uncovered emails showing that Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department has used the proliferation of cartel weapons to call for expanded gun control regulations.

In October, Holder lashed out at Congress members holding him accountable for the scandal, calling them “irresponsible” and guilty of “inflammatory rhetoric.”

In the letter, he claimed he first heard of “Fast and Furious” when Border Patrol agent Terry was assassinated in December 2010. But he had told Congress in May that he “became aware” of “Fast and Furious” only “a few weeks ago.”

Furthermore, the Justice Department released five censored memos from July and August 2010 addressed to Holder that referred to the program by name.

3. The organizations and money behind the supposedly “leaderless” Occupy Wall Street movement.

The Occupy movement was caught red-handed operating a nerve center staffed by professional agitators deeply tied to groups funded by billionaire activist George Soros.

The radical connections have been largely missed by the general public. CNN, the only news media outlet to receive exclusive access to Occupy’s alleged headquarters, did not fully identify the activists found running it.

Activist Han Shan, for example, is the former program director for the Tides Center-funded Ruckus Society and an activist with the Tides-funded Adbusters.

Shan was listed as the contact person for protests outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention that were sponsored by both Adbusters and Ruckus.

The Tides-funded Adbusters magazine is reported to have come up with the Occupy Wall Street idea after Arab Spring protests toppled governments in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. The Adbusters website serves as a central hub for Occupy’s planning.

The Tides-funded Ruckus Society has been providing direct-action training to Occupy protesters as well as official training resources, including manuals, to Occupy training groups. Ruckus, which helped spark the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle, was also listed as a “friend and partner” of the Occupy Days of Action in October.

Another grantee of Tides is MoveOn.org, which has joined Occupy.

A public relations firm closely partnered with the Tides Foundation represented the anti-Wall Street march past millionaires’ homes in New York.

Fenton Communications has been behind the public relations strategy of a who’s who of far-left causes, organizations and activists, from Soros himself to Health Care for America Now to crafting strategies for MoveOn.org and a litany of anti-war groups.

The company was founded in 1982 by David Fenton, an activist who served as a photographer for Bill Ayers’ domestic Weather Underground terror group.

Fenton serves on the board of numerous Tides-funded groups, while his firm represents more than 30 Tides Center grantees.

4. The role of leftwing groups and the Obama administration in the fall of Arab regimes and the rise of Islamic radicals.


Billionaire activist George Soros has funded opposition organizations in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, where anti-regime chaos toppled the pro-Western leader of Tunisia and the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, a key U.S. ally, among others.

Mohamed ElBaradei, one of the main opposition leaders in Egypt, sat on the board of an international “crisis management” group alongside Soros and other personalities who champion dialogue with Hamas, a violent offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood, which seeks to spread Islam around the world by first creating an Islamic caliphate in Egypt, backed ElBaradei.

Soros leads an international “crisis management” group that long has petitioned for the Egyptian government to normalize ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. It released a report urging the Egyptian regime to allow the Brotherhood to establish an Islamist political party.

Soros’ Open Society also funded the main opposition voice in Tunisia, Radio Kalima, which championed the riots there that led to the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

In September, Soros’ group was looking to expand its operations in Egypt by hiring a new project manager for its Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which is run in partnership with the Open Society Justice Initiative. The group is seeking to develop a national network of legal empowerment actors for referral of public-interest law cases. Such organizations in the past have helped represent Muslim Brotherhood leaders seeking election or more authority in the country.

Soros himself made public statements in support of the protests in Egypt, which the Mubarak government warned would result in the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country.

In a Washington Post editorial, ElBaradei recognized that if free elections were held in Egypt, “the Brotherhood is bound to emerge as a major political force, though it is far from assured of a majority.”

Soros singled out Israel as “the main stumbling block” in paving the way toward transition in the Middle East.

Egypt accused the Obama administration of championing the protests and of pressuring Mubarak to resign.

Months before protests erupted throughout Egypt, President Obama’s own associates provoked anti-regime chaos on the streets. WND reported at the time the protests were led by former Weather Underground terrorists Ayers and Dohrn.

Another protest leader was Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink, a far-left activist organization formed in 2002 to protest America’s war in Iraq. The group previously met with Hamas and with leaders of the Taliban. Evans was a fundraiser and financial bundler for Obama’s presidential campaign.

Also protesting in Egypt was Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the anti-Israel Electronic Intifada website. WND previously reported Obama spoke at pro-Palestinian events in the 1990s alongside Abunimah. At one such event, a 1999 fundraiser for Palestinian “refugees,” Abunimah recalls introducing Obama on stage.

Ayers and Dohrn were two of the main founders of the Weather Underground, which bombed the New York City Police headquarters in 1970, the Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. The group was responsible for some 30 bombings aimed at destroying the defense and security infrastructures of the U.S.



CONTINUED:http://www.wnd.com/2011/12/382753/

U.S. Debt Has Increased $48,994 Per SECOND Since Obama Took Office

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/u-s-debt-has-increased-48994-per-second-since-obama-took-office/

Editorial by Howard Galganov: After The Cash Runs Out

Take time to read this, Mr. Galganov has really target the problem in this country (as usual)!
~ Lynn

There are many very good people who enter the rock and roll world of politics, who do so to make a positive difference. I know several of them. But, there are far too many who enter the realm of government for the wrong reasons, or become corrupted after tasting the sweet wine of influence. Having a group of politicians debate budgets, and how to pay down deficits while they grow entitlements, is akin to Mafia God-Fathers deciding how much money to take from their marks, as if the marks have a choice. AND WE’RE THE MARKS.


READ THE FULL EDITORIAL:
http://www.galganov.com/editorials.asp?id=1406

Obama tells Congressional leaders he will not sign short-term debt extension

07/07/11 09:05 PM ET


President Obama laid out three options for the size and scope of a deal he and congressional leaders could reach for cutting the deficit and raising the debt ceiling, but he made it clear that one option will meet his veto pen, according to a source familiar with the talks.


Meeting with a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers at the White House Thursday morning, Obama said he would not sign a deal floated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republicans that would cut about $1 trillion in spending in exchange for a six or seven month extension of the debt ceiling.

MORE HERE:  http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/170313-obama-tells-congressional-leaders-he-will-not-sign-short-term-debt-extension

RANDY'S RIGHT: You Heard It Here First

April 9, 2011 by randyedye


When I was able to study some of the details of the Ryan budget plan, I was blown away. I told my wife. “There are three major points in his plan that I raised months (even years) ago.”

If you have been reading the material I sent you, then some of the Republican plan to cut $6.2 trillion from the federal budget may sound familiar to you.

The Ryan plan is a good start in our battle to shrink the size of the federal government.

In the details, the following points have been published by Inspire and Ignite well before they appeared in the Republican budget for 2012:

*Limit the size of the federal budget to 20% of the nation’s economy.

Ryan is suggesting a federal law limiting the government’s appetite for our money to 20% of GDP. That was suggested in my book “The Second American Revolution, A call for the passage of the Restore America Amendment”. I’m glad to see this kind of restriction as part of the plan to reduce the deficit and our debt. However, to make this restriction permanent, it needs to be made a part of our constitution…Congress will override the law too easily. This 20% cap is part of the Restore America Amendment.

*Reduce the size of the Federal work force

The budget plan unveiled this week suggests a hiring freeze to shrink the federal work force over the next several years. The federal government currently employs 2.15 million people (not counting the military or the Post Office). A hiring freeze is a start, but I proposed last fall a much more aggressive program that would include early retirement offers and recommended specific downsizing numbers be developed for all three branches of the federal government.

*Catastrophic caps supported by the federal government as part of the reform effort to bring Medicare costs under control.

Earlier this year, Inspire and Ignite suggested catastrophic caps be placed on healthcare costs as a part of the repeal and replace strategy for Obamacare. This would leave the health insurance companies free to design plans to cover costs up to the catastrophic cap and would have the effect of reducing health insurance premiums making the coverage affordable to all Americans.

Please pray that these common sense approaches to fixing a runaway federal government will be enacted as part of the 2012 budget.

In addition to these ideas being addressed in the Ryan budget, a full nine months before the first tea parties took place…and well before they coalesced into the political force they are, Inspire and Ignite suggested that the only way to take our country back from the political elites in both parties was to attack them in the primaries. The plan of attack is spelled out in our little book, “The Second American Revolution”. And, the tea parties raised havoc in the Republican primaries.

You heard all these ideas here first!

IMPORTANT NOTICE

While it looks like the battle for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court has been resolved in our favor, You should know that we didn’t raise enough money to impact the turnout through a stateside calling effort.

The money you contributed would help keep Inspire and Ignite solvent. But, since we did not mount the phone campaign as promised when we asked for your contributions, if you would like a full refund, please just click on the following link and let us know. info@inspireandignite.com. When we hear from you we will promptly reimburse your credit card account…and, thanks to all of you who made financial commitments to this critical political issue.

If you would like to receive a copy of our book, “The Second American Revolution, A call for the passage of the Restore America Amendment” you can get a copy by going to our web store www.inspireandignite.com and purchasing a copy online. You will also find some great T shirts, ball caps and dog tags announcing your support for the Second American Revolution.

Change is coming…and November 2012, we will celebrate a greater victory than the one we won this past November. Common sense will prevail against all the forces of the media, the unions and all of Obama’s community organizers (whatever ACORN is calling itself today).

“Not by might nor power, but by My strength says the Lord”
Capt Jim Kinney, USN (ret)

http://randysright.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/you-heard-it-here-first/

Time for Obama and Hill Democrats to Grow Up!

With his 2012 spending blueprint, House Budget chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has introduced the only comprehensive federal budget proposal that seriously addresses the nation's dire fiscal challenges, or to put it in terms President Obama seems to prefer, that deserves a place in an adult conversation about those challenges. Ryan's "roadmap to prosperity" certainly is far more serious than the budget proposal Obama submitted to Congress earlier this year.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/#ixzz1IqpR2F00



WORLD NET DAILY--April 1, 2011

It's time for a tea-party insurrection


By Judson Phillips
© 2011

Wednesday evening, word began to leak out that John Boehner was going to make a deal with the Democrats. Instead of the $100 billion that the GOP had promised in cuts, there would only be around $33 billion in cuts, and the riders that would defund Obamacare, Planned Parenthood and NPR would be dealt with separately. In other words, they would be put in bills that have no chance of ever becoming law.

The time-honored Republican tradition of surrender is in full swing in Washington today.

The problem is, the American people and the tea-party movement did not send Republicans to Washington to surrender. We sent them to cut the budget.

In a couple of weeks, the government will hit the debt ceiling. In other words, the government will have borrowed all of the money it is allowed to borrow. It must either get authorization to borrow more money or stop spending.

John Boehner has demonstrated that he has no stomach for a fight and no commitment to stopping the insane spending that is sending this country into insolvency.

Two years ago, the tea-party movement arose with a simple message. We will not sit back quietly while the extreme liberal fringe spends this country into bankruptcy and poverty.

The Republicans talked a good game during the election season. Even after the election season, Boehner has talked about the need to cut spending. Wednesday, on his website, his staff posted an article about how high deficits and debt kills jobs. John, if you believe this, why aren't you cutting spending?

Besides the time-honored Republican tradition of surrender, another Republican tradition is also going on. Republicans come home and talk a great conservative game, and then when they get back to Washington, they forget their beliefs and fold to the Democrats.

No more.  It is time, again, for a tea-party insurrection.

We have two issues to fight. First is this budget. Reducing spending by $33 billion in the face of a $1.65 trillion deficit is not a cut; it is a joke.

We need to stop this budget and refuse to let the GOP off the hook unless there is a complete defunding of Obamacare, Planned Parenthood and NPR. The GOP ran on defunding Obamacare. For better or worse, we believed them. Now it is time for them to honor their promises to us.

The events of the last few days have made it painfully obvious that the GOP leadership is not serious about dealing with the out-of-control spending in Washington.

If they will not be serious about it, we must make them serious. We must use every tool at our disposal, calls, emails, tweets, faxes and personal visits to tell the Republicans not to raise the debt ceiling.

The Republicans in Congress have the budgetary "nuclear" option at their disposal! Let them know you expect them to use it by sending a message to all 241 GOP House members via the "No More Red Ink" campaign

When Washington hits the debt ceiling in a few days, our national debt will be 100 percent of our gross domestic product. In plain, non-lawyer English, this means that to pay off our national debt, it would take every cent of wealth America generates in 2011. There is a term for this; it is called insolvency.

The debt ceiling has been raised a number of times in the last 10 years. Each time, we are promised that fiscal discipline is right around the corner. The only thing that ends up being around the corner is yet another need to raise the debt ceiling.

Debt at 100 percent of GDP is something of a psychological marker. If we are not going to stop spending now, when will we?

Stopping the spending is actually simple. All we need are 218 House votes not to raise the debt ceiling, and Congress will have to balance the budget.

Will there be negative consequences if we do not raise the debt ceiling? Possibly. But what will be worse? Problems now or problems when the national debt is $28 trillion and we really are insolvent. Any problems we would have now pale in comparison to a national economic collapse.


It is time for the tea party to stand up and tell Congress, "No!" Do not spend any more money. Cut the spending, and under no circumstances raise the debt ceiling. Call, fax, email, tweet and visit your congressman's office, and tell them this.

At Tea Party Nation, one of our favorite sayings is: It is not enough to simply to replace bad leadership. We must put good leadership in its place. When we kicked Nancy Pelosi out of the speaker's chair, we replaced bad leadership. So far, we cannot say that we have put good leadership in its place.

We have a simple message to the GOP leadership. Cut the budget, do what you promised, and do not raise the debt ceiling. Do the right thing now, or we will do the right thing next year at the ballot box.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=281649

Cut Spending Now Rally Bus Trip April 6th

It is time to get back on the bus and head to Washington, D.C.

JOIN AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY

Many of you carried your message to Capitol Hill before. It is time to do it again.

We all know Washington has a spending problem.

We cannot continue to spend our way out of debt. We need to take the first step toward financial stability and Cut Spending Now. Hardworking taxpayers like you already feel the burden of “spend now, pay later” politics.

It’s time that spend-crazed politicians in Washington feel the pressure too.

We will be taking several buses from North Carolina to join other AFP members on Wednesday, April 6th at 12 PM Noon on Capitol Hill to tell the Budget Committee to Cut Spending Now.

Click here and register today!

They need to hear from you as they crunch numbers and grapple with this year’s budget. You’ve had to tighten your family budget in this struggling economy. They should have to tighten the national budget too.

Make no mistake. They are hearing from the other side. Loudly and shrilly.

We must be louder.

We will be joined by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and AFP President Tim Phillips to demand our legislators rein in out-of-control spending and get our great nation back on the path to prosperity.

Please, join us for this critical rally on Wednesday, April 6th at 12 PM Noon at our nation's Capitol.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND/OR TO REGISTER FOR THE BUS.

As the House Budget Committee begins marking up the federal budget, we must be there to send a clear message to CUT SPENDING NOW!

We cannot continue to spend at this rate and we cannot continue to mortgage our children and grandchildren’s future.

Will you be there with us?

Sincerely,
Dallas Woodhouse, State Director
Americans for Prosperity - North Carolina

Log on to learn more!  AFP North Carolina Web site.

BUS INFO:
Cut Spending Now Rally Bus Trip April 6th


Buses will be going to DC from the following NC cities.Carefully choose your bus route. The cost is just $10 per person.Click here for more information.

Bus 1:  4:00 am Southern Pines Depart from parking lot at Carter Bank and Trust (former People’s Bank) 42 Pinecrest Belk Plaza, Southern Pines, NC 28387

4:30 am Sanford:  Depart from Grace Chapel Church, 2605 Jefferson Davis Highway, Sanford, NC (US 1) 27332 Park as close to Chatlee Boat and Marine as possible.

5:30 am Dunn:  Hampton Inn Parking lot 100 Jesse Tart Circle, Dunn, NC 28334 (Park behind the Gas Station.)

6:30 am Wilson:  Depart from Hampton Inn at 5606 Lamm Road, Wilson, NC 27896 Right off I-95 at exit 121. Near McDonalds. Park as far away from the building as possible.

Bus 2

3:45 am Morehead City:  Depart from Walmart Morehead City 300 North NC HWY 24 Morehead City, NC 28557.  Park in the corner of the lot near Lowe's.

4:45 am Jacksonville:  Location: To Be Determined

7:00 am Rocky Mount:  Depart Gateway Convention Center parking lot at 651 North Winstead Avenue, Rocky Mount, NC 27804. Park facing the Outback.

Bus 3

4:15 am Bolivia:  Depart Supply from the Brunswick County Association of Realtors parking lot at 101 Stone Chimney Road, Supply, NC 28462. This location is near intersection of Highways 211 and 17.

4:45 am Wilmington:  Depart from cinema parking lot immediately across the street from Sea-Comm Media (Big Talker Radio, 122 Cinema Drive, Wilmington, NC 28402)

Bus 4

6:00 am Raleigh:  Depart Raleigh from District Drive Park-and-Ride 4050 District Drive, Raleigh, NC 27607 (Parking lot near Blue Ridge Road and I-40/Wade Ave,)

6:30 am Wake Forest:  Location: To Be Determined

Bus 5

5:30 am Kill Devil Hills:  Pickup location is Daniels' Homeport located at 3830 N Croatan Highway in the Kitty Hawk Plaza strip mall (same mall as Outer Banks Showcase, CHKD Thrift Shop and Red's).  Park at the northern end of Daniels' Homeport lot, which is on the south side of the Kitty Hawk Plaza sign.  6:30 am Moyock:  Depart Moyock from Food Lion Parking Lot at 101 Park Drive, Moyock, NC 27958 (This location is on 168 S. near the Burger King.)

Bus 6

4:15 am Concord:  Depart Dick’s Sporting Goods parking lot at 6080 Bayfield Parkway, Concord 28027 Exit 54 off I-85. Park at Dick’s near the restaurants but avoid the row immediately next to the street where restaurant employees park.

5:30 am Greensboro:  Location: To Be Determined

Bus 7

2:00 am Hendersonville:  Location: To Be Determined
2:30 am Asheville:  Location: To Be Determined
7:00 am Christiansburg, Va:  Location: To Be Determined

Note: If there is little demand at one of these departure cities, we reserve the right to cancel the location. We will, of course, notify any registrants and refund their $10.

HERITAGE ACTION FOR AMERICA: Toward April 8

Two years after an historic election, Americans asked for a refund. Unfortunately, the dramatic reversal we witnessed in November merely presented the opportunity for a refund. It was the first victory in a long war for the heart and soul of both our country and the Republican Party.


During the first two years of his presidency, Barack Obama spent more than the first four years of the Reagan administration. It took from our nation’s founding until 1991 to rack up as much cumulative debt as we have in the last two years. Americans expect these newly elected Members of Congress, and those that rode the powerful conservative wave into positions of enormous power, to begin issuing their refund.

CONTINUED: 

http://heritageaction.com/2011/03/toward-april-8/?UA-16902633-1&utm_source=heritageaction&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spending

The ‘Untouchable’ $23.6 Billion Funding ObamaCare

Untouchable. That’s the treatment being given to the $23.6 billion being spent right now to implement Obamacare.


This $23.6 billion is part of the $105.5 billion appropriated by the last Congress to fund Obamacare. The remainder (Think of it as post-dated checks for the other $81.9 billion.) automatically becomes available between now and FY2019.


http://biggovernment.com/eistook/2011/03/16/the-untouchable-23-6-billion-funding-obamacare/

Boehner, Cantor and the House GOP leadership still don’t get it.

TEA PARTY NATION, MARCH 15th, 2011

by Judson Phillips

Today, there will be a vote on a continuing resolution in the House that will keep the government running for another three weeks. They seem excited they are cutting an amazing $6 billion from the budget. $6 billion out of a budget that has a $1.5 trillion dollar deficit. Oh, that’s brave.


Representatives Michele Bachmann, Steve King, along with Tea Party Nation and other groups have drawn a line in the sand. We will not support any continuing resolution that does not defund the $105 billion slipped in for Obamacare and that does not defund Planned Parenthood.

Jim Jordan, a Representative from Ohio, who is a member of the Republican Study Committee called it right when he said, “With the federal government facing record deficits and a mammoth debt hanging over our economy and our future, we must do more than cut spending in bite-sized pieces,”

The party line being parroted by some of the drive by media is that the GOP leadership is being forced to fight the Tea Party movement to avoid being painted as “extremists” by the Democrats and the Obama regime.

Wait, I thought being called extremist by the Democrats was to be expected for anyone whose politics is anywhere to the right of Karl Marx.

The country is being driven off the economic cliff and the GOP leadership is worried about being called bad names?

Obama, Pelosi and Reid have been driving the nation, at full speed, towards an economic disaster. Stopping this is “extreme?”

It has been two weeks since the General Accounting Office came out with a report showing that by eliminating duplicate agencies and ineffective agencies, the government could save hundreds of billions of dollars.

Where is Boehner and the GOP leadership on this one? This is one they should be out in front on. The GOP leadership should have already introduced legislation to start eliminating these programs. Between those cuts and eliminating the $105 billion for Obamacare and defunding Planned Parenthood, we would be talking about some serious and significant budget reductions.

Unfortunately, as we at Tea Party Nation have pointed out before, the House leadership does not seem serious about cutting the budget. There is an old political joke that has been repeated numerous times on Tea Party Nation. With Democrats you get more of the same. With Republicans, you get less of the same. We are getting less of the same with Speaker Boehner.

This continuing resolution will most likely pass. Fortunately it is only a three-week resolution. We need to stop the next one. The next continuing resolution is where the Tea Party movement needs to make its stand. Either we see hundreds of billions in cuts or we shut the government down. It has come to that.

Speaker Boehner has forgotten how and why he is in the Speaker’s chair. It is up to the conservatives in the House to send him a message and help save American from an economic meltdown.

Obama's FY2012 Budget: Taxes, Taxes, and More Taxes

Obama’s Taxes….His Gift List for You


2/16/11
“President Obama released his budget yesterday morning. Rather than focusing on Washington’s over-spending problem, the budget calls for higher taxes on families and small businesses to pay for even more government spending. Under the Obama budget, tax revenues will grow from 14.4% of GDP in 2011 to 20% of GDP in 2021. By comparison, the historical average is only 18% of GDP.

Tax hike lowlights include:

• “Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike
• “Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%
• “Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike
• “Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike
• “New bank taxes totaling $33 billion over ten years
• “New international corporate tax hikes totaling $129 billion over ten years
• “New life insurance company taxes totaling $14 billion over ten years
• “Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years
• “Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years
• “Taxing management capital gains in an investment partnership (“carried interest”) as ordinary income. This is a tax hike of $15 billion over ten years
• “A giveaway to the trial lawyers—not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement. This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years
• Increasing tax penalties, information reporting, and IRS information sharing. This is a ten-year tax hike of $20 billion.

“Add it all together, and this budget is a ten-year, $1.5 trillion tax hike over present law. That’s $1.5 trillion taken out of the economy and spent on government instead of being used to create jobs.

“The ‘tax relief’ in the budget is mostly just an extension of present law, and also some refundable credit outlay spending in the tax code. There is virtually no new tax relief relative to present law in the President’s budget.”

Read more: http://www.atr.org/obamas-fy-budgetbr-taxes-more-a5844#ixzz1E9OT5g4I

FEDERAL WATCHDOG REPORT—February 15, 2011

OBAMA AND STATE DEPARTMENT—MISHANDLED CRISIS IN EGYPT?

Obama should not have “emasculated Mubark” in front of the world. Pressure should have been applied in private call. To make matters worse, various members of the administration gave out conflicting public comments. Our allies think we can not be trusted. Our enemies think we are a joke.

OBAMA RELEASED BUDGET ON MONDAY  (Includes 15 Tax Hikes)
President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.73 trillion spending blueprint that pledges $1.1 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade through spending cuts and tax increases. The projected savings would be dwarfed by the $7.21 trillion in cumulative deficits over that 10-year period.

Obama’s new budget projects that the deficit for the current year will surge to an all-time high of $1.65 trillion. For 2012, the administration sees the imbalance declining to $1.1 trillion, giving the country a record four straight years of $1 trillion-plus deficits.

Obama would achieve two-thirds of his projected $1.1 trillion in deficit savings through spending cuts including a five-year freeze on many domestic programs. The other one-third of the savings would come from tax increases, including limiting tax deductions for high income taxpayers, a proposal Obama put forward last year only to have it rejected in Congress.

The Obama budget recommendation, which is certain to be changed by Congress, would spend $3.73 trillion in the 2012 budget year, which begins Oct. 1, a reduction of 2.4 percent from what Obama projects will be spent in the current budget year. The Obama plan would fall far short of the $4 trillion in deficit cuts recommended in a December report by his blue-ribbon deficit commission. Obama’s efforts are timid at best and include new increased spending in several areas including selected areas of education, biomedical research, energy efficiency, high-speed rail and other areas Obama judged to be important to the country’s future competitiveness in a global economy.

THE SPENDING DEBATE BEGINS IN CONGRESS THIS WEEK
This past week the Senate continued debating the Federal Aviation Admin. bill but mostly was in recess while Senate Democrats conducted their legislative agenda retreat in Charlottesville, VA. What emerged from their multiple-day retreat was a clear message that they intend to attack the GOP as they construct their budget cutting Omnibus appropriations bill which will continue the funding of our Federal Government through the end of this fiscal year. (Sept.30, 2011). This Continuing resolution or CR as it is commonly called will be the subject of debate on the House side and some talk on the Senate side this coming week. The Senate Majority Leader said on the Senate floor last week that the Congress needs to concentrate on the “quality of the cuts not the quantity.” He went on to say that the cuts should not “take teachers out of the classroom or police officers off the streets.” This theme will be echoed throughout the halls of Congress beginning this week as the Senate resumes the Federal Aviation administration bill, the House begins action on the Omnibus spending bill and the President submits his annual budget to Congress Monday, Feb. 14.

The House side will begin their debate on the spending bill as early as Tuesday. The Chairman of the Appropriations comm. Cong. Rogers (R-KY) posted the $100B in cuts late last week. You can view them here: http://appropriations.house.gov/_files/ProgramCutsFY2011ContinuingResolution.pdf

The House of Representatives will vote this week on a measure that will begin defunding ObamaCare! That initiative coupled with two proposed pro-life bills make this session of Congress one of the most promising pro-life sessions in many, many years.

PASSING THE HOUSE

February 11, 2011: H.R. 73 passed the House, providing for consideration of the resolution (H.Res. 72) directing certain standing committees to inventory and review existing, pending, and proposed regulations and orders from agencies of the Federal Government, particularly with respect to their effect on jobs and economic growth. Passed 255-169, 9 not voting. 100% of Republicans supporting, 91% of Democrats opposing. (Jones voting Yea).

February 10, 2011: H. Res. 79: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 514) to extend expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 relating to access to business records, individual terrorists as agents of foreign powers, and roving wiretaps until December 8, 2011. Passed 248-176, 9 not voting. 98% of Republicans supporting, 92% of Democrats opposing. (Jones voting Yea).

PENDING BILLS TO WATCH

H.R. 3: The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act: Sponsored by: Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) This bill would take away tax benefits for employers who provide health care if the plans offer abortion coverage. STATUS: House Judiciary: Committee Hearings Held on February 8, 2011.

H.R. 10: “The Executive in Need of Scrutiny”: To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law….” http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-10

H.R. 140: Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011--To amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth. Sponsored by: Rep. Steve King [R-IA5] with 61 co-sponsors. This bill would end giving U.S. citizenship to the births of illegal aliens, temporary foreign workers and foreign tourists. STATUS: On Jan 24, 2011 the House Committee on the Judiciary: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.

H. R. 308: Large Capacity Feeding Device Act, “To prohibit the transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices, and for other purposes introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D.-N.Y.) and 57 Democrat cosponsors, H.R. 308 would restrict -- criminalize, actually -- the transfer and possession by law-abiding citizens of large capacity feeding devices, more commonly known as magazines, that accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition

H.R. 358: The Protect Life Act-- To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to modify special rules relating to coverage of abortion services under such Act. Sponsored by: Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), now has 121 co-sponsors. This bill is aimed at those who would get insurance through state exchanges. It would block those consumers from purchasing abortion coverage. STATUS: Feb 1, 2011: House Committee on Energy and Commerce: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

H.R. 374: Life at Conception Act--To implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person. Sponsored by: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and currently has 61 co-sponsors. STATUS: Jan 20, 2011: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

H.R. 421: Full Faith and Credit Act-- To require that the Government prioritize all obligations on the debt held by the public in the event that the debt limit is reached. Sponsored by: Rep. Tom McClintock [R-CA4] and 60 co-sponsors. STATUS: Jan 25, 2011: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

H.R. 483: To create an electronic employment eligibility verification system to ensure that all workers in the United States are legally able to work, and for other purposes. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has introduced a new House bill that would require the mandatory use of E-Verify for all businesses in the United States. The Triple E-VICT Act would help the 22 million Americans who can't find full-time work by ensuring jobs don't go to illegal aliens. STATUS: Referred to House Education and the Workforce Committee on 1/26/11.

H.R. 605: To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to repeal certain limitations on health care benefits. Introduced February 10, 2011 Rep. Erik Paulsen [R-MN3]

S. 91: Life at Conception Act—Introduced by: Sen. Roger Wicker [R-MS] on January 25, 2011; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The bill will define personhood from the moment of conception. Sen. Wicker has 13 co-sponsors thus far.

S. 149: A bill to extend the expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 until December 31, 2013, and for other purposes. STATUS: Jan 25, 2011: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Senate Democrats are set to fast track the companion legislation (S. 149) to the House bill, as they seek to bypass the committee process and push the bill straight to the floor.

For constant updates check our website: http://www.cctaxpayers.com and our blog at http://cctaxpayers.blogspot.com/.

Respectfully submitted,
Lynn Childs, Federal Watchdog

How Congress Changed Your Life in 2010

Patricia Murphy, Capitol Hill Bureau Chief, The Capitolist
December 31, 2010
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/12/30/how-congress-changed-your-life-in-2010/

As members of the 111th Congress look back on 2010, they will see anything but a do-nothing session. From banning drop-side cribs, to freezing their own salaries for the second year in a row, to overhauling the food inspection system, to telling airlines not to charge fees for carry-on luggage, the Democratically controlled House and Senate passed bills at a feverish pace in the past year.


But several developments stand out for the breadth of their impact. They may not all be popular, as evidenced by the November "shellacking" that Democrats took in the midterm elections, but the following congressional actions in 2010 -- and in one case inaction -- will affect hundreds millions of Americans in the next year and beyond.

1. Extending the Bush Tax Cuts. The compromise brokered between President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in December will impact every American with a job and most Americans without one.

The new law will continue the expiring Bush tax rates for all income levels for the next two years; continue current tax rates on capital gains and dividends; set the estate tax at 35 percent for estates valued at more than $5 million, and continue dozens of tax breaks and credits for people from the bottom of the income spectrum to the top.

The most immediate difference will come in your first paycheck next year. Starting Jan. 1, the 6.2 percent payroll tax will drop to 4.2 percent for the next year, putting hundreds of dollars back in most workers' pockets. And for people without a job, the new law extends unemployment benefits until 2012, if they've been out of work for less than 99 weeks.

2. Reforming the Health Insurance System. No single piece of legislation was more controversial in 2010 than the Democratically sponsored overhaul of the health insurance industry.


Although the majority of Americans will continue to have insurance through their employers in the future, and most will still be covered by private insurers, the new law gives the federal government a much larger role in determining what kind of health care Americans get and how much insurance will cost. It also mandates that all Americans carry health insurance by 2014, a requirement that is being challenged in federal court.

Already this year, the law has allowed young adults to remain on their parents' policies until they are 26 years old; given tax credits to small businesses to cover employees' insurance, and will soon end insurance companies' ability to cut off coverage for customers who reach lifetime coverage caps.

Within the next three years, individuals will be able to shop for insurance through new health care exchanges, and will get government subsidies if they need help paying for it. About 15 million low-income Americans will be added to Medicaid, a development that governors have vocally opposed because of the unfunded mandates associated with it.

To pay for the multibillion dollar cost of the reforms, the bill expanded the Medicare payroll tax to investment income; will impose a 40 percent excise tax on expensive insurance policies by 2018; will add fees on pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and will collect penalties from individuals and large business that do not buy the coverage required by the new law.

3. Overhauling Federal Student Loans. Provisions tacked onto the health care reform bill eliminated the role of private lenders in originating federal student loans. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that will save the federal government, which paid lenders to oversee the program, between $6 billion and $7 billion per year.

The people who will notice the biggest difference will be financial aid officers, who used to decide which private lenders they would use to originate federal loans for their students. Those loans will now all be originated by the U.S. Department of Education and will have the same federal terms and conditions that have been in effect for years.

But the changes will eventually impact every student who applies for and receives federal loans to attend college or graduate school. Although students will still seek loans through the financial aid office at their college or university, the loans cannot be resold to other loan servicers and will not be affected by private bank failures, which could disrupt payments.

Because of a spike in demand for Pell grants, that program was on course to run out of money in 2010. The Pell grant program will now remain solvent until at least 2017, with the maximum Pell grant award rising from $5,550 this year to $5,975 five years from now.

4. Failing to pass the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. In the last days of the 111th Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spiked an omnibus spending bill that was made up of all 12 annual spending bills that Congress usually passes individually.

In the short term, that means the federal government will continue operating at current spending levels until March 5. But in the longer-term, it guarantees the first of many showdowns over spending between the Republican-led House and the Democratic Senate. With government spending at the top of most incoming Republicans' target lists, compromise between the two chambers could be almost impossible.

The impasse also puts the future of earmarking in doubt. Although Republicans had sponsored thousands of the 6,600 earmarks in the bill, they backed away from the legislation when tea party activists made it clear they would challenge GOP lawmakers in the future who voted for pork projects now.

5. Overseeing a $1.29 Trillion Increase in the Deficit. New federal programs cost money, and the 111th Congress oversaw the second-highest deficit in history and an increase in the national debt to $14 trillion.

David Walker, the onetime Comptroller General of the United States, says runaway spending in Washington will have a crippling effect on Americans one and two generations from now. "We're mortgaging the future of the country, and their children and grandchildren," Walker told Politics Daily. "At the same time, because of the growth of spending, we're reducing the role of investments in our future because the budget on the discretionary side is getting squeezed at a time when America is facing growing competition in a global economy."

If Congress does not change its spending habits now, Walker said, everyone's tax bills will be higher in the future. "If we don't end up reforming our ways, federal taxes will have to double within the next 20 to 30 years, just to stop the bleeding."

111th Congress Added More Debt Than First 100 Congresses Combined

111th Congress Added More Debt Than First 100 Congresses Combined: $10,429 Per Person in U.S.

Monday, December 27, 2010

By Terence P. Jeffrey

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds one of the pens used by President Barack Obama to sign the health care bill, Tuesday, March 23, 2010, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
(CNSNews.com) - The federal government has accumulated more new debt--$3.22 trillion ($3,220,103,625,307.29)—during the tenure of the 111th Congress than it did during the first 100 Congresses combined, according to official debt figures published by the U.S. Treasury.

That equals $10,429.64 in new debt for each and every one of the 308,745,538 people counted in the United States by the 2010 Census.

The total national debt of $13,858,529,371,601.09 (or $13.859 trillion), as recorded by the U.S. Treasury at the close of business on Dec. 22, now equals $44,886.57 for every man, woman and child in the United States.

In fact, the 111th Congress not only has set the record as the most debt-accumulating Congress in U.S. history, but also has out-stripped its nearest competitor, the 110th, by an astounding $1.262 trillion in new debt.

During the 110th Congress—which, according to the Clerk of the House, officially convened on Jan. 4, 2007 and adjourned on Jan. 4, 2009--the national debt increased $1.957 trillion. When that Congress adjourned less than two years ago, it claimed the record as the most debt-accumulating Congress in U.S. history. As it turned out, however, its record did not last long.

The $3.22 trillion in new federal debt run up during the 111th Congress exceeds by 64 percent the $1.957 trillion in new debt run up during the 110th.

Although the 111th Congress cast its last vote on Dec. 22, it will not officially adjourn until next week.

Democrats controlled both the House and Senate in the 110th and 111th Congresses.

The 108th Congress ($1.159 trillion in new debt) and 109th ($1.054 trillion in new debt) take third and fourth place among all U.S. Congresses for accumulating debt. In both these Congresses, Republicans controlled both the House and Senate.

Still, the $3.22 trillion in new debt accumulated during the record-setting 111th Congress is more than three times the $1.054 trillion in new debt accumulated by the last Republican-majority Congress (the 109th) which adjourned on Dec. 8, 2006.

Historically, according to the U.S. Treasury, the federal debt did not reach $3.22 trillion until September 1990, during the 101st Congress. Between the first Congress, which adjourned in 1791 leaving behind approximately $75 million in debt, and the convening of the 101st Congress, which occurred on Jan. 3, 1989, the national debt grew to $2.684 trillion.

During the Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) tenure as speaker, which commenced on Jan. 4, 2007, the federal government has run up $5.177 trillion in new debt. That is about equal to the total debt the federal government accumulated in the first 220 years of the nation's existence, with the federal debt rising from $5.173 trillion on July 23, 1996 to $5.181 trillion on July 24, 1996.

In her inaugural address as speaker, Pelosi vowed that Congress would engage in no new deficit spending.

"After years of historic deficits, this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go, no new deficit spending,” she said in an address from the speaker’s podium. “Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt."

The Wall Street Journal--September 14, 2010

Obstacle to Deficit Cutting: A Nation on Entitlements

SARA MURRAY

Efforts to tame America's ballooning budget deficit could soon confront a daunting reality: Nearly half of all Americans live in a household in which someone receives government benefits, more than at any time in history.

At the same time, the fraction of American households not paying federal income taxes has also grown—to an estimated 45% in 2010, from 39% five years ago, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research organization.

A little more than half don't earn enough to be taxed; the rest take so many credits and deductions they don't owe anything. Most still get hit with Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes, but 13% of all U.S. households pay neither federal income nor payroll taxes.

"We have a very large share of the American population that is getting checks from the government," says Keith Hennessey, an economic adviser to President George W. Bush and now a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution, "and an increasingly smaller portion of the population that's paying for it."

Hourly Work Force Carries Burden . Access thousands of business sources not available on the free web. Learn More.The dimensions of the budget hole were underscored Monday, when the Treasury reported that the government ran a $1.26 trillion deficit for the first 11 months of the fiscal year, on pace to be the second-biggest on record.

Yet even as Americans express concern over the deficit in opinion polls, many oppose benefit cuts, particularly with the economy on an uneven footing. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted late last month found 61% of voters were "enthusiastic" or "comfortable" with congressional candidates who support cutting federal spending in general. But 56% expressed the same enthusiasm for candidates who voted to extend unemployment benefits.

As recently as the early 1980s, about 30% of Americans lived in households in which an individual was receiving Social Security, subsidized housing, jobless benefits or other government-provided benefits. By the third quarter of 2008, 44% were, according to the most recent Census Bureau data.

That number has undoubtedly gone up, as the recession has hammered incomes. Some 41.3 million people were on food stamps as of June 2010, for instance, up 45% from June 2008. With unemployment high and federal jobless benefits now available for up to 99 weeks, 9.7 million unemployed workers were receiving checks in late August 2010, more than twice as many as the 4.2 million in August 2008.

Still more Americans—19 million by 2019, according to the Congressional Budget Office—will get federal aid to buy health insurance when legislation passed this year is implemented.

The expanding federal safety net has helped shelter many families from the worst of the downturn. Charlene A. Mueller-Holden doesn't fit the stereotype of a person on benefits. Laid off from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in January 2008, Ms. Mueller-Holden, 38, drew unemployment for 99 weeks.

The Newark, Del., resident knocked $40 a month off her mortgage payments through the federal Making Home Affordable Program, designed to keep people in their homes by helping them modify or refinance their mortgages. But when her unemployment benefits ran out, Ms. Mueller-Holden and her husband, a government employee, couldn't afford the $1,008 monthly payments.

She turned to the Delaware State Housing Authority which, under a federally subsidized program aimed at helping families with children stay in their homes, gave her $1,000 a month for five months toward mortgage payments. She and her two sons ate lunch for free at the local school this summer, and she has applied for free lunch for one of her sons who will be a first grader this year.

Ms. Mueller-Holden's family earned too little to pay federal taxes last year, and received an extension on their state taxes. "Quite frankly, I don't care about the deficit," says Ms. Mueller-Holden. "It's going to take years upon years upon years to pay this all back," she says, so it's better to focus on job growth now and deal with the deficit later.

Government data don't show how many of the households receiving government benefits also escape federal taxes. But there is certainly some overlap between the two groups, since many benefits are aimed at those earning too little to pay income taxes and at people who don't have jobs, and who thus don't pay payroll taxes.

Cutting spending on these "entitlements" is widely seen as an inevitable ingredient in any credible deficit-reduction program. Yet despite occasional bouts of belt-tightening in Washington and bursts of discussion about restraining big government, the trend toward more Americans receiving government benefits of one sort or another has continued for more than 70 years—and shows no sign of abating.

An aging population is adding to the ranks of Americans receiving government benefits, and will continue to do so as more of the large baby-boom generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, become eligible. Today, an estimated 47.4 million people are enrolled in Medicare, up 38% from 1990. By 2030, the number is projected to be 80.4 million.

The difficulty of restraining benefits when so much of the population depends on them is now on view across Europe, where efforts to rein in deficits are forcing governments to cut popular entitlements. European countries have traditionally provided far more generous welfare benefits than the U.S. has, including monthly allowances for children regardless of income, free college tuition and universal health care. Public retirement programs are also bigger, since the combination of aging populations and low birth rates means fewer workers are paying into the system.

In recent months, political leaders in Europe have struggled to convince voters that change is necessary. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has exempted pensions from her government's planned budget cuts, reflecting the growing power of the retiree vote. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing mass protests, including a national strike week, as he tries to raise France's minimum retirement age from 60 to 62. Greece's government had to face down demonstrations this year when it slashed pension benefits, as it was forced to do to get bailout money from other European countries and the International Monetary Fund.

Still, Europe does offer examples that change is possible. Germany slashed benefits for the long-term unemployed in 2004, a step that analysts credit with prompting more Germans to get jobs as well as improving the country's budget balance. Cuts to entitlements are politically possible, says Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies, a nonpartisan think tank in Brussels, "but societies need some time to get used to the idea."

The U.S. government first offered large-scale assistance during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. The Social Security Act, passed in 1935, created the popular retirement program as well as unemployment compensation, the early stages of what became known as "welfare" and assistance to the blind and elderly. In the 1940s, the G.I. Bill offered unemployment benefits, education assistance and loans to veterans. That same decade, Washington began offering free or reduced-price lunches to children from low-income families and, a decade later, monthly benefits to the disabled.

Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs brought food stamps plus Medicare and Medicaid. In the 1970s, Supplemental Security Income was created on top of routine Social Security benefits for the poorest of the elderly and disabled, and so-called Section 8 vouchers began subsidizing rental housing. The earned-income tax credit was launched in 1975 to offer extra cash to low-wage workers, and grew in the 1990s to become one of the government's principle antipoverty programs.

Benefits for children were expanded in 1997 with the State Children's Health Insurance Program during the Clinton administration—and were expanded again in 2009. Shortly after President Barack Obama took office, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus bill, which among other things extended unemployment compensation and offered incentives for states to cover more workers.

All this is expensive. Payments to individuals—a budget category that includes all federal benefit programs plus retirement benefits for federal workers—will cost $2.4 trillion this year, up 79%, adjusted for inflation, from a decade earlier when the economy was stronger. That represents 64.3% of all federal outlays, the highest percentage in the 70 years the government has been measuring it. The figure was 46.7% in 1990 and 26.2% in 1960.

When the economy recovers, some—but not all—current recipients of federal aid are likely to lose their benefits, which some say is reason enough to keep them going for now.

"If there became an expectation that government was going to provide over half of the population's well-being to a significant degree without requiring anything of the recipients, there would be reason for concern," says Robert Reischauer, a former Congressional Budget Office director and now president of the Urban Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C. "I don't think that's where we are or where we're headed."

The public appears divided on what to do. A new Allstate/National Journal poll found that 35% of voters want the government to make sure future retirees receive all the benefits they've been promised even if it means raising taxes. Another 34% said the government should make retirement programs "financially sustainable" by making some cuts to those benefits and raising some taxes, and 22% said they'd be willing to see benefits cut to restrain the programs' rising costs.

The call for restraining benefits resonates with voters like Robert Letherman. "You name it, someone is lining up to get bailed out, or a handout, courtesy of the hard-working American taxpayer," says Mr. Letherman, 39, a real-estate developer in Elkhart, Ind.

Mr. Letherman says he has struggled through the recession like many others, but doesn't qualify for government assistance. His income has declined 40% since 2007. Some $4 million in development projects percolating in the spring of 2007 have since been shelved.

He supports helping people in need, says Mr. Letherman, but believes many people game the system. Extended unemployment benefits, for example, give some Americans an excuse not to go back to work, he says. If it were up to him, government would be half the size it is now.

He favors eliminating pensions for all government workers, excluding military and intelligence personnel, and would impose a nationwide sales tax to pay off the country's debt. "If we continue down the path of deficit spending, the great recession of 2008 will be nothing compared to what we will face in five, 10, 20 years," he says.

Cutting federal benefits while the economy is still weak would be a mistake, some analysts say, because it could hinder recovery by giving consumers less money to spend.

Paul Hester has relied on government benefits since he lost his job in June 2009. The 54-year-old microbiologist has a master's degree and was earning a salary of $50,000 at the Indiana State Department of Health. He says he regularly looks for jobs, but has landed only two interviews in the past year.

Influenced by the credit wariness of parents who lived through the Great Depression, the Indianapolis resident has always been thrifty. He once watched his dad walk into a dealership, "plop down $10,000 in cash and buy a car." Mr. Hester has one credit card, and before he was unemployed, he tried to pay it off every month.

He lives on $375 a week in unemployment checks and his health-insurance premiums are subsidized by the federal government under a provision in the fiscal stimulus enacted by Congress in February 2009. His daughter, a college sophomore, pays for part of her schooling with Pell Grants, a federal program for low-income students that is set to expand because of new legislation that increased the number and size of grants.

"I don't like taking government money," says Mr. Hester, but "what else is there?"

—Marcus Walker contributed to this article.


Write to Sara Murray at sara.murray@wsj.com

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