By Sam Wechsler – Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stated Monday that “when you look at the Democrat proposal [for health care reform], it’s clear that it’s going to drive the cost of health care even higher.”

A few minutes later, down the hall of the Capitol, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said, “I don’t think we ought to be talking about what it’s going to cost us to do this plan. What we should be talking about is what is it going to cost us if we don’t do this.”

The differing partisan opinions didn’t end there.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) pointed out that the CEO of a top insurance company earned $24 million in compensation this past year. “It’s time to add more competition and more choice,” he said.

“If the Democrats get their way on health care, you’ll probably lose your health insurance and you might just lose your job,” House Republican Chair Mike Pence said Monday (R-Ind.). Pence cited White House chief economic advisor Christina Romer in saying that the business tax hikes alone will kill up to 4.7 million jobs. Boehner added that the tax hikes will disproportionately hit small businesses the most.

Meanwhile, House Democratic Chair John Larson (D-Conn.) estimated that close to 16,000 small business employees in Boehner’s district would be able to get health insurance thanks to Democratic health care reform. Larson also claimed that 91,000 people would have access to health insurance in Pence’s district.

Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), “This is about the American people. It’s about making them healthier, more economically secure, and to have more choices in their lives.”

Boehner, however, disagreed with the Speaker.

“At a time when most Americans are asking the question ‘where are the jobs?’ we don’t need to be instituting policies that will drive the cost of employment higher….and raise the unemployment rate,” he argued.

By Laura Woodhead – Talk Radio News Service

The energy and health care proposals currently being debated in Congress will be disastrous for the economy, House Republicans said at a press conference Tuesday. Speaking following the weekly House Republican conference, Rep. Mike Pence (R – Ind.) said that the Democrats seem determined to try and pass their bills despite the negative impact they’ll have on an already challenged economy. If it were to pass, the American Clean Energy Act and the Democrats’ health care plan would be a “disaster for this economy and a disaster for working Americans” he said.

“House Republicans are determined to step forward and demand that this Congress focus on putting this country back on its feet,” Pence added.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that there is a strong bi-partisan coalition opposing the current health care proposals.

“Either this bill fails or it changes dramatically,” Cantor said. “If the bill fails it will be because of disagreement among the Democrats as to the proper direction to head as far as health care reform is concerned.”

“This administration, this President has no one else to blame,” he added. “What they ought to be doing is coming to work with us in order to reflect a much more reasoned approach to try and accomplish health care for the American people.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio.) said that the “President is going to begin his barnstorming” on bills that will kill jobs.

“The stimulus bill isnt working, they bring along this health care bill that will cost 5 million jobs, and they bring this cap and trade bill up last month that will cost us 2.5 million jobs each year for the next ten years. This is not what the American people want.”

Boehner called on President Obama to abandon current health care proposals and negotiate with Republicans in order to achieve economically feasible health care reform.

“Mr President, it’s time to scrap this bill. It’s time to start working in a bi-partisan way,” he said.

By Justin Duckham-Talk Radio News Service

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) believes that congressional Democrats have taken the wrong approach to health care reform and suggests hitting the proverbial reset button.

“My advice would be that we start over,” Alexander said during a pen and pad session with reporters. “The main focus should be on the cost of health care for the 250 million Americans who already have it and on the cost of their government once we get through this legislation.”

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who also attended, took issue with the optimistic language the Obama administration has been using to describe the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“It’s becoming increasingly apparent to the American people that this administration and House Democrats are out of touch with this economy,” Pence argued. “The President on July 1st actually said that the stimulus bill had ‘done its job’.”

Alexander agreed, comparing the statement to a much derided misstep from the previous administration.

“I think his comment…sounds an awful lot to me like ‘Mission Accomplished’, and President Bush was held accountable for that and I think President Obama should be held accountable for this,” Alexander said, referencing former President Bush’s 2003 appearance in front of a banner marked “Mission Accomplished” prior to the worst days of the Iraqi insurgency.

Congressman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) accuses the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package of causing further job losses instead of decreasing unemployment rates. Pence argues that Republicans are advocating fiscal discipline and tax relief for working families and small businesses. (0:50)

 

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By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

During a press conference Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio.) said President Obama and Vice President Biden have been telling lies about why the Stimulus package hasn’t reversed the nation’s spiraling unemployment rate.

“I found it interesting in the last couple of days, the Vice President and the President mentioned the fact they didn’t realize how difficult an economic circumstance we were in. Now this is the biggest fabrication I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress. I’ve sat through those meetings at the White House with the President, the Vice President, trust me there’s not one person that sat in those rooms that didn’t know how serious our economic crisis was,” Boehner said.

Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio.), Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wa) cautioned that the recent legislation put forth by the Democrats will do nothing but increase taxes which, in the long term, will hinder consumer spending.

“Republicans know and the American people know that what we need is fiscal discipline in Washington D.C and we need to give the American people a tax relief, working families, small businesses and family
farms need more of their hard earned money to put this economy back on its feet,” said Pence.

As for health care, McMorris-Rodgers explained that “We cannot forget that doctors are the experts, we must guard that relationship between the doctor and his patient; it is one of the most valued relationships
that we have,” adding that “We can reform health care, and we can give options to the uninsured without the federal government setting up shop as a big health insurance company or the health care gate keeper.”

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) says millions of jobs will be lost if a national energy tax is passed. He added the Republican plan will gain American energy independence (1:04).

 

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By Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) discusses Republican plans to hear from experts and Americans the impact of Democratic cap-and-trade legislation and about “what better solutions would be,” says Pence. (1:02)

 

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Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News

Republican Representatives emerged from a GOP conference with continuing criticism of the Democratic budget.

This Sunday will be National Debt Day, the day on which federal spending surpasses revenue, and it occurs three and a half months earlier this year than last, said John Boehner (R-Ohio). “I attended a taxpayer tea party in Bakersfield, California; people are angry and they’re scared,” he said, “because the kind of spending and borrowing that are going on here are imprisoning their children’s future.”

Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said, “As we come to the end of the first hundred days of this administration, the era of bipartisanship we’d hoped for could be improved. We do want to work together. Washington should be more thoughtful.”

Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said that constituents are concerned about debt and the future of America and “The fact that we are facing $9 trillion worth of debt, and that’s going to be on the shoulders of our children and our grand-children.” She said that the Democratic budget lacks transparency and oversight. Constituents, she said, have to tighten their belts, while the federal government is “spending like crazy.”

Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) said the oil and gas producers in her fossil-fuel-rich state are very concerned about Obama’s policy of discouraging carbon-emitting energy. She said that jobs and production are already declining in anticipation of policy changes.
Fallin estimated the Cap-and-Trade taxes would hit $30 billion, working out to about $3,000 per year in increased energy costs for an average household, would fall most heavily on the poor and elderly and would cost seven million jobs.

Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said that hearings on Cap-and-Trade begin this week. He said the Democrats are not providing sufficient information about the costs, though Obama has acknowledged in the past that electricity prices would rise. “The reality is the Cap-and-Trade legislation offered by the Democrats amounts to an economic declaration of war on the Mid-West by liberals on Capitol Hill,” he said.

Pence said the $3,000 per household figure came from an M.I.T. study that estimated the total carbon fees and divided them by the total number of households in America. He acknowledged that the administration had promised ways of mitigating the economic impact for those hardest hit, but said that such promises are vague and “illusory.”

Boehner agreed that we must “get serious” about reducing carbon emissions and reducing the need to import oil, but he urged increased nuclear power as the only realistic way to do that.

By Suzia van Swol-University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service

President Obama may be getting too friendly with Venezuelan President.

House Republicans will have conversations this week concerning the after math of the Summit of the Americas. The summit, which was held last week in Trinidad and Tobago, raised concerns for Republicans who have taken a hard line against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who for years has ridiculed the U.S. and openly criticized its foreign policy.

Congressman Mike Pence (Ind.), Chairman of the House Republican Conference and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, outlined the upcoming week during a weekly pen and pad session, and said House Republicans will discuss Cap-and-Trade legislation which Democrats are proposing.

Cap-and-Trade would put a limit on the amount of greenhouse gas an oil or electric company can emit, and anything exceeding a set “cap” results in companies buying pollution allowances or credits from companies who have not exceeded their limits.

Pence said that Republicans are in the process of not only developing a rebuttal but offering alternatives to the “legislation that could result in utility rates of every American household increasing by $3,128 per year,” and leaves Republicans demanding details said Pence.

This dollar estimate is based on an Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, but according to a Pence staffer, Prof. John Reillyin, who is in charge of the study, believes the number should be cited lower due to anticipated rebates.

Pence said that “we are using the numbers that are in the public domain right now, the Democratic leadership has offered no numbers.”

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN) joined Pence in his discussions and said that there are other options that should be included in Cap-and-Trade legislation such as clean coal technologies and bio-diesels, and that it would be a shame to take things completely off the table simply because Democrats “are rushing to the finish line, trying to get in a tax as fast as they can,” said Blackburn.

“Congress has a gun held to our head, and we grab it and we shoot ourselves in the chest, ya know because that’s the action that they are taking this year,” she said.

Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va,), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) presented the broad outline of the Republican budget counter-proposal, stating that details would be forthcoming next week.
Boehner said the President’s proposal “spends, taxes, and borrows too much,” adding “I think it’s completely irresponsible. Our plan curbs spending, creates jobs, and cuts taxes, while controlling the debt.”

Pence called it “the most fiscally irresponsible budget in American history,” saying it calls for “more spending, more government, more bailouts.”

He said the “national energy tax” (Cap-and-Trade) would cost every American household more than $3,000 per year. The increase on marginal tax rates would fall most heavily on small business owners, he said. “We believe it is our obligation to offer a better solution if we are in disagreement,” he finished.

Cantor said the Republicans had presented an alternative stimulus plan and housing plan and were preparing an alternative energy plan as well. He accused the President of turning from a centrist campaign to “ambushing” and “strong-arming” Congress toward a “more ideological” agenda.

Ryan promised the details of the plan next Wednesday on the House floor, calling the president’s version “reckless and irresponsible. It’s a budget that doubles the national debt in 5 and 1/2 years, and triples it in ten and 1/2 years. It’s a budget that increases our national debt and our borrowing more than in all prior presidencies.”

The pamphlet accompanying the announcement was 18 pages long and contained no specifics, but outlined broad policies, such as promoting nuclear power, encouraging enrollment in private insurance plans, reducing spending, reducing taxes, liberalizing exploration for oil in areas currently protected for environmental reasons, and ending “bailouts.”