If you depend on the mainstream media for your news, you could be excused for thinking that no one in politics does anything but campaign and spew partisan rhetoric. That's pretty much all the media tell you, maybe because it's all they understand. You know about the latest campaign ad everyone in the political class is yapping about. You might have heard which interest group gave money to which candidate.
And you surely have heard Republicans during the Obama years referred to as "obstructionists" and the "party of no." Why, all they do is just get in the way as President Obama tries to heal this nation and stop the rise of the oceans. How many times have you heard liberals, including Obama, ask, "Where are their ideas?"
The question is designed to deceive. Obama knows perfectly well that House Republicans, especially they always-interesting Republican Study Committee, are brimming with interesting ideas to improve the state of this nation. Many of them have even passed the House, not that you probably heard about that because the media do not cover these bills or the votes that are taken on them. Many of them have been sent to the Senate, where Harry Reid simply snuffed them out without so much as a floor debate, let alone a vote.
I want to tell you about just two of them, but you can find out a lot more at the Republican Study Committee web site.
First, there's the Back to Basics FY2015 budget bill. Yes, an actual budget - the sort of thing Democrats haven't even tried to pass since 2009. It would limit federal spending to $3.536 trillion in 2015 (still an awful lot, obviously, but pretty restrained in the context of where we currently stand), and would only run a deficit of about $230 trillion. It would also repeal ObamaCare and replace it with market-based measures that return the economic power in the health care system to patients and providers. It would enact a series of pro-growth tax changes. It would also freeze discretionary spending until the budget balances, which the RSC envisions happening in just four years.
Are there things you could criticize about this proposal? Sure. Its long-term projection still shows government growing more than I would like, even as it runs substantial surpluses a decade from now - and I'm always leery of proposals that claim to balance the budget and run surpluses but only do so in the "out years." But while not perfect, it's a solid, detailed plan with substantial House support, and it's far superior to the way Obama is governing.
Why haven't you heard about it?
Then there's the American Health Care Reform Act, which is actually incorporated into the budget bill described above. Not only would this bill (which a majority of House Republicans support) repeal ObamaCare, it would replace it with a number of measures that bring common sense and sanity back to health care. Among them:
Fully repeals President Obama's health care law, eliminating billions in taxes and thousands of pages of unworkable regulations and mandates that are driving up health care costs.
Spurs competition to lower health care costs by allowing Americans to purchase health insurance across state lines and enabling small businesses to pool together and get the same buying power as large corporations.
Reforms medical malpractice laws in a commonsense way that limits trial lawyer fees and non-economic damages while maintaining strong protections for patients.
Provides tax reform that allows families and individuals to deduct health care costs, just like companies, leveling the playing field and providing all Americans with a standard deduction for health insurance.
Expands access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), increasing the amount of pre-tax dollars individuals can deposit into portable savings accounts to be used for health care expenses.
Safeguards individuals with pre-existing conditions from being discriminated against purchasing health insurance by bolstering state-based high risk pools and extending HIPAA guaranteed availability protections.
Protects the unborn by ensuring no federal funding of abortions.
Remember when Obama said he'd be happy to consider any plan that would improve ObamaCare? More than a year ago, House Republicans wrote to Obama asking him to meet with them to discuss this plan. They're still waiting for a response. Actually, I think they know they're never going to get one, because he didn't mean it when he said that. The statement was intended to make those hearing it think Republicans had proposed no ideas and would not be doing so. Most people probably think that's the case because they've heard nothing to suggest otherwise.
Often the media justify ignoring these Republican proposals by claiming they are mere political tricks, since Republicans surely know they will never pass the Reid-controlled Senate and Obama would veto them if they did - thus rendering the House votes unworthy of news coverage. About that: First of all, the House is one half of a co-equal branch of government and it's the job of the House to pass legislation. It is not a "political trick" when they do so. It's their job. Secondly, when the same media who ignore these bills then parrot the Democrat line that Republicans are the "party of no" and don't have any ideas . . . well, I don't think I have to explain what that tells us.
This is one of the most compelling reasons we need a Republican majority in the Senate. Take Harry Reid's power away, and you will actually see some of these House bills taken up, debated and voted on. In addition to you finding out that they exist, some of them might actually end up on Obama's desk.
Will he veto them? He very well might, although I'm looking forward to seeing how Obama vetoes a bill while simultaneously claiming it doesn't exist.
