Will Lincoln Rubber-Stamp $2.5 Trillion Health Care Bill For Reid, Obama?

Thursday, 19 November 2009 18:04

Late Wednesday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) finally unveiled the massive, government-run health care bill that he and just two other Senators spent the last few weeks writing behind closed doors. Sixty votes are required to move this controversial legislation forward, and a vote is expected this Saturday.

As the 60th vote in the Democrat caucus, U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) faces one of the most important decisions of her career as she will be the final vote to determine whether or not this contentious legislation moves forward.

"With national unemployment exceeding 10 percent, the federal debt at an all-time record high of $12 trillion, and states like Arkansas struggling to balance their budgets, is Blanche Lincoln prepared to rubber-stamp a new $2.5 trillion government-run health care program to appease President Obama and Harry Reid in Washington?" asked National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson Marchand.

"This bill means higher premiums for Arkansas families, higher taxes for Arkansas small businesses, Medicare cuts for Arkansas seniors, and tens of millions of dollars in a new unfunded mandate for Arkansas’ state government," Wilkerson Marchand continued. "Despite the Democrats’ rhetoric, this bill is filled with accounting gimmicks that disguise its true cost, and even attempts to disguise its allowance for taxpayer-funded abortions."

"Senator Lincoln should make no mistake about it - a vote to move this bill forward is a vote paving the way for passage for this costly legislation. Arkansans deserve to know: Will Lincoln stand with Harry Reid and rubber-stamp another controversial and costly bill for President Obama? Or will she stand up for Arkansas families, small businesses, and seniors to protect them from the higher premiums, higher taxes, and massive cuts to Medicare that would pay for this government takeover?" Wilkerson Marchand concluded.

Key Facts About Harry Reid’s Government-Run Health Care Bill:

Total Number of Pages: 2,074

Spending: The actual cost of the bill is $2.5 trillion over 10 years of full implementation (2014 - 2023). The $894 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score disguises its true cost due to the fact that many of the major programs do not take effect until 2014.

Taxes Increases: Taxes will go up $493.6 billion-nearly half a trillion dollars.

Medicare Cuts: Medicare will be cut $464.6 billion-another half a trillion dollars.

Abortion: Reid’s bill permits the use of accounting gimmicks that will, for the first time, allow federal dollars to go to plans covering abortion. The bill does not include the House legislation’s Stupak amendment language, and as a result, the National Right to Life called Reid’s bill "completely unacceptable" and said it would "result in coverage of abortion on demand in two big new federal government programs."

Government Plan: The bill includes a government-run plan and provides states with the possibility of opting out of participating in that plan. According to CBO, the government run plan "would typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges."

Employer Mandate: The bill will impose $28 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide government approved health plans. These new taxes will ultimately be paid by American workers in the form of reduced wages and lost jobs.