Rick Crawford for Congress

U.S. Representative for Arkansas' 1st Congressional District

Democrats’ Opinion about Healthcare Entitlement Improves

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According to the Democratic polling firm Rasmussen Reports, Democrats attitudes toward President Obama’s healthcare entitlement program are improving.  The report states:

Sixty-five percent (65%) of Democrats now are optimistic about the nation’s current course, a 17-point jump from the week before. Thirty percent (30%) are not. A week ago, Democrats were almost evenly divided on the question: 48% said the country was headed in the right direction, and 44% felt it was going down the wrong track.

It is unclear if Democrats in Arkansas are also becoming more favorable toward the new law, but this poll is certainly a cause for concern to anyone who cares about the direction our country.

I believe many, if not most, Democrats in Arkansas do not favor giving taxpayer-funded health insurance to 32 million people when our government is on the hook for $56.5 trillion and growing at a rate of $340 million an hour.  When people understand the deep, deep financial hole our country is in, I have to believe there is overwhelming opposition to spending trillion more – regardless of party.

In less than 12 years, interest payments on the national debt will be more than what we spend on national defense.  It will be more than we repay in Social Security benefits.  It will even exceed what our government pays for Medicare.  In less than 12 years, our nation’s interest payments will be larger than any other single budget program in our entire government.

Join me is spreading this message throughout the First District and we will seize control of the House from Nancy Pelosi and start the long process of restoring fiscal responsibility.

Crawford Chides State Democratic Party for Lurching to Change Subject from Healthcare

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Rick Crawford today called Gabe Holmstrom’s PR stunt a blatant attempt to divert attention away from President Obama’s creation of a massive new entitlement program.  “Gabe is an incredibly clever political operative,” said Crawford.  “Changing the subject is something our politicians and their spinsters have been doing for far too long.  Instead of talking about the fact that every man, woman, and child in America each owes $184,000 as their share of the unfunded promises our politicians have made, Mr. Holmstrom wants to talk about the President’s birth certificate.”

“The sad fact is that Congressman Berry, who voted for and against this massive new entitlement program, wants to avoid addressing the long-term financial problem facing our country,” continued Crawford.  “While he talks about balancing the budget back home, he has enabled Speaker Pelosi and President Obama to push through a massive new entitlement program that will use taxpayer money to pay health insurance premiums for 32 million Americans.  We need elected officials who will stand up and say, ‘STOP!  Stop digging the hole deeper.’  We need an elected official who will stand up to say our government will not expand or create any new government programs until we restore fiscal soundness.  If we do not do this, our children and grandchildren will pay taxes that are double or triple what we pay today…and that is the best-case scenario.”

Healthcare Vote Highlighted Leadership Void

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As I watched last night’s healthcare debate, and the final vote that will enact a new massive entitlement program, I couldn’t help but think about how we got here.Unfortunately, Republicans and Democrats alike have failed us in recent years. Ethical violations, special interest deal-making, and saying one thing while doing another has led to the lowest approval rating of Congress in the modern era.

The primary reason why Republicans were unable to prevent passage of this multi-trillion dollar entitlement program is because they had played the same games when they were in power. Simply put, when you are a two-faced hypocrite, people don’t care what you say.

Folks, we need leadership. We need people who will go to Washington swearing on their life that they will fight the budget and process gimmickry regardless which party seeks to employ it. Country first, party second…period.

Our nation is truly at a crossroad, and I am not sure many have an appreciation for the trouble in which our republic finds itself.  Yes we now have $12 trillion in debt that has been piled up by both political parties. Yes our deficit, the yearly shortfall that adds to our total debt, has been averaging more than $1.5 trillion.  But what our “leaders” rarely talk about is the $56.5 trillion we have in total unfunded promises.

Add it all up and it equates to $184,000 for every man, woman, and child in America. While anyone with common sense would know that we must stop digging the hole deeper, last night Congress used a nuclear bomb to blast the hole even deeper.  And guess who gets to pay for it?

As I pondered this question myself, I realized that what we are doing is quite disturbing. Each generation leaves an inheritance for the next – usually a house, some land, etc.  In our case, we are leaving a brand new, 20,000 square-foot multi-level mansion. In the basement, however, is a dirty bomb of unpaid bills that will obliterate our kids and grandkids not long after we have slipped into the by-and-by.  While some may draw comparisons to certain spine-less acts of war, it really boils down to the superlative form of Selfishness.

Our elected officials have abandoned the founding principles that made our country great. If we are to return to these principles, and avert devastation for our kids and grandkids, then we must not only vote the self-serving hypocrites out of office in November but replace them with men and women who will swear to restore fiscal discipline.

Three Reasons to Oppose the Healthcare “Reform” Bill

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I wanted to take a moment and articulate three reasons why I would vote against the healthcare reform bill that will be considered in the House of Representatives Sunday afternoon.

  • The United States simply cannot afford to enact a new entitlement program. Our government is currently saddled with a burden of $56.5 trillion in unfunded promises, which is a burden far too heavy for our long-term economic and political stability. Ringing up trillions more in bills that our kids and grandkids will have to repay is unacceptable. Excluding the price for a new entitlement program, our government will have to more than double current tax rates to pay for these unfunded promises. Do we really want to triple tax rates?
  • The “reform bill” will do nothing to control cost. Sure the bill provides a few Band-Aids that make a good snake-oil pitch to people who haven’t studied the issue. However, it is mathematically impossible to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare to 30 million people and expect the initiative to “save” money. Interestingly enough, the Congressional Budget Office didn’t point to any provision that would provide meaningful healthcare cost savings. Instead, the bill raises taxes to offset some of the bill’s price tag.
  • The bill currently provides taxpayer money to pay for abortions. This is unacceptable. Period. The executive order that President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are offering as a fig leaf to protect pro-life Democrats whom they are pressuring to support the bill is meaningless. An executive order can be rescinded at any time by any president. As I have stated previously, one of Obama’s first acts as president was to rescind several executive orders.

The Healthcare Games Continue

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Today Congressman Berry told the Tolbert Report that he remains undecided on the house healthcare measure that will be considered on Sunday. News reports that President Obama has proposed addressing concerns of abortion by signing an executive order to bar public funding of abortion. This is one of the weakest possible ways to address this issue.

The biggest problem with this approach is that he or any future president simply can sign another executive order to reverse the previous one. One of the first orders of business President Obama conducted was to reverse a number of Bush’s executive orders.

Anyone serious about protecting unborn lives would never agree to this sham “solution.”

Obama’s Healthcare Pitch High and Outside

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In his televised address to a joint session of Congress last night, President Obama’s pitch for a nationalized healthcare system missed the strike zone by a mile. His speech served only to fan the flames of partisan wrangling and politics as usual in Washington. President Obama did nothing more than change the wording on a few key issues, but did not eliminate key areas of contention that so many Americans have with this proposed nationalization of our healthcare system.

President Obama’s plan would federally mandate coverage on every American, whether they want it or not. This is nothing more than another power grab allowing the Federal Government just one more avenue of intervention into the lives of private citizens. Instead of a government mandate, Congress should consider free market principles and actions that would make insurance coverage more affordable in a competitive marketplace. Not only does the President’s plan propose further government mandates on individuals, it would also impose fines on businesses that do not provide coverage for employees. Small businesses, the engine that drives our economy, would essentially be further hamstrung by more unnecessary government regulation. My question to such a ludicrous notion is this: if a family or small business doesn’t have the money to pay for healthcare in the first place, how can they be expected to pay the fine for not having that coverage?

The answer is simple; universal coverage. I believe that this proposal, made by Sen. Max Baucaus (D-MT), is a way to coerce the American people into a “public option” that would simply be a more affordable alternative to a government imposed fine or private healthcare insurance. Simply stated, if an individual decides (for whatever reason) to forgo health insurance coverage, he or she would then be forced to either pay a sizable federal fine, or “opt in” to a public option “insurance exchange.” Of course they could go the private route, but the fine would most certainly be high enough force them into the public option, but low enough to make private coverage cost prohibitive. The end result being an increase in public “option” participants, and ultimately the beginning of system that mimics the Canadian or European policy – hardly a model of efficiency.

In his speech, the President himself stated that a not-for-profit “insurance exchange” – public option – would be part of his proposal and no more than 5% of the American public would likely sign up. But consider this: how can insurance companies – or any other private business for that matter – be expected to compete with Uncle Sam? When the federal government levies a fine on those individuals or businesses who choose not to carry health insurance, it would obviously be more cost effective to exercise the public option. It doesn’t take an economist to figure out that the initial projection of 5% participation will grow exponentially in a very short span of time. This is nothing more than a back door to a single payer universal coverage system and the people in the First District are far too intelligent for the President to try and slide that past them the way he did last night.

Since he made no mention of it in his address, the people of the First District may still wonder if President Obama will continue to work with Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Reid (D-NV) in a way that keeps the details of a government run healthcare scheme – and its associated hidden costs and controversies – buried in a 1,000-page bill that no one will have an opportunity to read before rushing it to the President’s desk for his signature.

Another unanswered question – how will the entire proposal be paid for? President Obama told the American people that he would not sign a bill that would add one single dime to our deficit. How can he make such a promise when the numerous plans that are currently being drafted all have a cost well over $500 billion dollars? He also talked about cost cutting measures he would impose that would eliminate costs if the proposed savings are not realized. Yet, in Medicare alone as one example, we see billions of dollars every year wasted and the system routinely defrauded with no plan in place to address those lost billions. How can we count on President Obama and this liberal Congress led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to lead the way on healthcare reform when they’re not even willing to start by implementing cost cutting measures, trimming waste, and ending the fraud rampant in our already existing programs? More promises that will never be fulfilled.

Lastly, and most importantly to the people of the First District, we still don’t know where Congressman Berry stands on this critical issue. However, we do know that late yesterday, the Majority Whip List was made public detailing those 44 House Democrats who oppose HR3200. Congressman Berry was not on that list. So where will Congressman Berry come down on this issue? Will he go against his party and vote ‘no’ on a program that a significant majority of his constituents have indicated they do not want? Or will he go along with his party and vote ‘yes’ on a program that is destined to be a major burden on every single American family and cripple our government while lowering our standard of care? That is the biggest question, and I anxiously await an answer.