Harry Reid’s corrupt Christmas Present By Newt Gingrich
The Democratic leaders of the House and the Senate reportedly are
planning on finalizing their differing health care "reform" bills in
secret.
That's right. They're kicking out the C-SPAN cameras and planning on
huddling
behind closed doors with a few Obama Administration power brokers to
transform the
American health care system.
Not that anyone should be surprised by this, of course. "Secret"
and "corrupt" are the two words that best describe the process by
which
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid produced his trillion-dollar
government
takeover of our health care system.
A First Look At Harry Reid's Corrupt Christmas
Present
The American people didn't have much of a chance to get a good look
at Senator Reid's corrupt Christmas present before it was passed. The
legislation
would dramatically expand the power and scope of the federal government –
and fail
to fix any of the problems we face.
That continues the course of action that Democrats have taken this
entire year on health reform. Every bill that has been introduced, from
the House
Tri-Committee bill this summer to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions committee to Harry Reid's latest bill, the recipe is the same:
More
regulation, higher taxes, bigger gov., less control for you. Here are just
a few
of the Reid bill's details:
2,409 pages (by comparison, the legislation that created Social Security was
just
82 pages long)
$518 billion in tax increases (Joint Committee on Taxation and the
Congressional
Budget Office)
$466 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid (CBO)
Many costs of the legislation won't begin until 2014, but taxes will be
imposed
immediately (CBO)
Federal outlays for health care would increase by about $200 billion between
2010-
2019 (CBO)
$26 billion of unfunded mandates to states over the next 10 years that will
likely
result in higher taxes (CBO)
Would increase non-group premiums by $300 per individual and $2,100 per
family
(CBO)
Up to 10 million people will lose their current health insurance coverage
under the
bill (CBO)
Adds a 10% tax on indoor tanning services (Section 10907)
No Christmas Miracle, Just a Lot of Washington
Payoffs
As I mentioned before, Harry Reid didn't need a Christmas miracle to
pass this massive bill. Instead he used an approach more appropriate for
The
Sopranos than for the nation's capital: payoffs. There may not have been
any smoke-
filled rooms, but there were plenty of shady deals.
The most egregious were those for Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of
Nebraska. He was the final holdout. Without his support, the bill would have
been
stopped. But Ben buckled under the pressure. He was particularly pliable on
his
demands that no federal funding go to cover abortions. Instead he
accepted a
watered down compromise that allows individual states to prohibit plans
that
cover abortion services—a compromise that the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops and numerous pro-life groups denounced as paving the way for
federally
funded abortions.
The Nebraska Exemption to Higher Medicaid Costs
But when Harry Reid needed his vote, Sen. Nelson took the money and ran --
$100
million to be exact. Nebraska will be the only state in the country where
the full
costs of Medicaid expansion will be covered by the federal government.
Specialty
hospitals in Nebraska will be exempted from new regulations. The state's
largest
insurers will be shielded from new regulations. Here are the details of the
Nebraska Exemption:
Federal government fully finances Medicaid expansion for two
years
and then increases its matching funds (known as FMAP) thereafter to 100% --
in
perpetuity (Section 10201), totaling about $100 million
Reid bill specifically identifies Nebraska for higher federal matching
funds,
fully funding its expansion for an additional year
Carve outs for physician-owned hospitals in Nebraska
Physician self-referral exemptions within Nebraska
Nelson's abortion compromise: a state may elect to prohibit
abortion
coverage in qualified health plans offered through an exchange if the state
enacts
a law to prohibit it
Shields two Nebraska insurers from taxes that other plans will
pay: Mutual of Omaha and Blue Cross/Blue Shield (language crafted so
it
only affects these two in Nebraska)
The Roll Call of Shame: Senator Nelson Wasn't the Only Senator Bought
Off
But Sen. Nelson wasn't the only senator to be bought off by Majority
Leader Reid. More than a dozen other states received special goodies,
including:
Louisiana $300 million in additional Medicaid funding
Vermont 2.2% FMAP increase for 6 years for Vermont Medicaid program $600
million in
additional Medicaid funding (CBO)
Massachusetts 0.5% FMAP increase for 3 years for their entire program $500
million
in additional Medicaid funding (CBO)
Hawaii Restores DSH funding eliminated in the past to expand Medicaid
eligibility
Michigan Adjusts payments to hospitals according to local wage levels, which
when
adjusted aids Michigan Exemption for non-profit insurers in the state from
large
excise tax
Connecticut $100 million earmark for construction of a University of
Connecticut
hospital
Montana Medicare coverage for individuals exposed to environmental health
hazards
in or around the geographic area of Libby, Mont., subject to an emergency
declaration as of 6/17/09
South Dakota , North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana Adds 1% hospital wage
index Adds
1% practice index for physicians to cover geographic cost differences
A Massive Bill, Compiled in Secret and Negotiated
Through Corruption, Will Now Be Finalized
in Secret
And so it has come to this: A massive bill, compiled in secret, negotiated
through corruption, and passed by a party-line vote, will now be finalized
in
secret. Americans deserved better for Christmas.
Reports are that House and Senate Democrats will go around the
normal legislative process of a formal, transparent conference to iron
out
their differences. But rather than a representative group of lawmakers
from each
chamber negotiating in good faith in the open, House Speaker Pelosi,
Senate
Leader Reid, and White House officials are planning to do the work
themselves,
locking out the vast majority of lawmakers—from both parties.
If these secret proceedings are not stopped, the American people,
through our representatives in Congress, will be presented with a done
deal.
If 2009 is any guide, the final vote will then be called before many
members of
Congress or the public has a chance to read, understand, and debate
the
details of the final bill. And in the end, the American people will be
left to
speculate as to the corrupt bargains that were required to see this
monstrosity
through to final passage.
Turn on the C-SPAN cameras
But this does not have to be the outcome. Americans do not want
our lawmaking to be done in secret. In 2008, then-candidate Obama
condemned "negotiating behind closed doors" and instead called for "bringing
all
parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that
the
American people can see what the choices are, because part of what we have
to do is
enlist the American people in this process."
In this spirit of candidate Obama, C-SPAN Chairman Brian Lamb asked
congressional leaders this week to let the American people have a seat
at the
table where decisions affecting every single American will be made and to
allow C-
SPAN to cover the health care negotiations among Senate, House, and White
House
representatives.
President Obama was right in 2008 as a candidate. Brian Lamb is right
today. These health care negotiations should be held in the open and
C-SPAN
should be allowed to provide coverage so that all Americans can see how
health
legislation will affect their lives.
Open, honest government should be an American birthright. Joining Brian
Lamb in requesting our elected leaders to live up to a minimum standard of
openness
and honesty is one New Year's resolution that every American can agree on.
Your
friend, Newt Gingrich