Obama Sells Reform "As Seen on TV"
Obama Sells Reform "As Seen on TV"
By February 25, the District’s ice may have thawed–but the same can’t be said of tensions over health care reform. In a pre-game interview during yesterday’s Super Bowl, the President told a captive audience that he was setting aside that Thursday for a "large meeting" with both parties to overcome what he called a "blizzard" of political opposition. "What I have been doing," the President told Katie Couric, "is consulting closely with the leaders in the House, the leaders in the Senate on the Democratic side, and I want to consult closely with our Republican colleagues… What I want to do is to ask them to put their ideas on the table."
Funny, the President didn’t seem this eager to "consult" with Republicans last year. Instead, he blocked them from health care meetings, ignored their suggestions, and then painted them as obstructionists. Now that the President’s plan is in jeopardy, the White House has no choice but to include the GOP. And, unlike the actual negotiations that took place in December behind closed doors, this event will be televised live. Naturally, the Republicans’ biggest concern is the President will use the opportunity to say he listened to the other side–only to ignore their ideas once the cameras stop rolling. In the meantime, Republicans should follow Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) lead in saying they need to scrap the unpopular bills passed by both chambers and start afresh. "There are a number of issues with bipartisan support that we can start with when the 2,700-page bill is put on the shelf."
Fortunately, leaders won’t have to look far for common ground. No other amendment had as much bipartisan support as Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-Mich.) amendment to ban taxpayer-funded abortion from government health care. By overwhelming margins, both Democrats and Republicans went to the mat to defend taxpayers from being forced into the bloody business of abortion. If leaders don’t agree to take abortion off the table, there can be no bipartisanship–not on February 25′s telecast and certainly not in a final bill.
100 Years of Scouts’ Honor
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has certainly mastered its survival skills. Today, the entire country celebrates with BSA as it commemorates 100 years of molding boys into men worthy of respect. Despite being under relentless pressure to make their message more politically correct, the Boy Scouts have never wavered from instilling traditional values into generations of young leaders. Although the Scouts have been under fire from the Left, they continue to show the same character that the organization has developed in millions of American boys. We applaud the Boy Scouts for its commitment to faith and for serving as an example to other groups of what it means to continue stand up for the truth after years of dedicated service.
An Abortion a Day Should Keep the Taxpayers Away…
Regardless of who’s been in the White House or controlled Congress, Planned Parenthood has flourished. According to its most recent annual report, the nation’s largest abortion provider had an annual budget of over one billion dollars in 2008. Of this, approximately 34% (or $349,600,000) came from specific government grants. From the most recent year that national statistics are available, Planned Parenthood accounted for about one of every five abortions. In the latest health care bills, Planned Parenthood would have significantly profited from the Senate’s budgetary gimmicks, which would have given the government the green light to pay for abortion.
Another provision in the House bill (Section 1255) expanded school-based health clinics in such a way that would have allowed them to refer for abortions or facilitate one at another location. Under this language, Planned Parenthood could have even run the school clinics! A separate provision in one of the Senate bills authorized the Health Resources and Services Administration to include abortion as a "preventive care" in its guidelines, forcing all group and individual health plans to be required by law to cover abortion. Last but hardly least, Sen. Reid bought off numerous votes in exchange for health care support. One of those payoffs was to Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.): a $10 billion grant for "community health centers"–money that could easily funneled to clinics that perform abortions.
