Reason #5,749: Why Ohio MUST Pass the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment

The love of freedom, liberty and respect of the U.S. Constitution should be good enough reasons to stand strong against Obamacare and support the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment at the polls this November.

While Obamacare and the forced health insurance mandate was "Billed" as the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, it appears this Act will leave familes uanable to afford the bill...

From The Hill --  (Emphasis Added)

A major provision of the healthcare reform law designed to prevent businesses from dropping coverage for their workers could inadvertently leave families without access to subsidized health insurance.

The problem is a huge headache for the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, because it could leave families unable to buy affordable health insurance when the healthcare law requires that everyone be insured starting in 2014.

At issue is a so-called “firewall” in the law that denies subsidies to workers whose employers offer quality, affordable coverage.


The firewall applies to plans with premiums that cost less than 9.5 percent of a worker’s income. If a worker has to dole out more than that amount to buy coverage, the employer coverage is considered unaffordable and the worker is eligible for subsidies to buy coverage on the new exchanges.

Initially, advocates thought the threshold also applied to family coverage. If premium costs paid to cover a worker’s family cost 20 percent of a worker’s income, for example, the worker and his or her family should be eligible for subsidies.

This means the costs to an employee for covering his or her family could be too high to afford for many working families.

“If you’ve got employer-based coverage that’s affordable for the employee only,” Guyer said, “the family is expected to take the employer coverage even if it“s totally unaffordable and no one in the family is eligible for the exchange subsidies.”

The glitch is causing heartburn for advocates who worry that it could leave thousands of children and spouses uninsured and subject to penalties for not having insurance.

To learn more about the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment and how you can help stop the forced health insurance mandate in Obamacare from hurting your family, please click here.

Liar, Liar, Pant's on Fire! (Part II) Chief Actuary disputes Obama's Fear-Mongering Fibs on Social Security & the Debt Ceiling

Confirming President Obama's fear-mongering and fibs that he may have to hold back Social Security checks from going out next month if the debt ceiling is not raised is Chief Actuary for the Social Security Administration, Stephen Goss....

Reposted from Gateway Pundit --

Yesterday Barack Obama told CBS that there simply may not be enough money in the coffers next month to pay Social Security payments.



But Obama was just playing games with seniors.

Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) pointed out that the decision to withhold checks “would be a political one” made by the President.

During this morning’s Budget Committee meeting, Congressman Huelskamp asked Stephen Goss, Chief Actuary for the Social Security Administration, to explain how the Obama administration could withhold Social Security checks to American seniors. The question was prompted by a statement by President Obama that he could not guarantee that Social Security checks would be mailed August 3, 2011, if Congress fails to increase the debt limit.

Yesterday, Congressman Huelskamp issued a statement noting that it is irresponsible for the President to use seniors on Social Security as pawns to leverage his point in the debt limit negotiations.

Mr. Goss told Congressman Huelskamp: “The responsibility of the Social Security Administration per se, my boss, Commissioner Astrue, is to in fact determine how much in the way of benefit payments people are supposed to receive. We send that information actually over to the Department of the Treasury. They are the ones who actually send out the payments, whether it’s electronic funds, transfers, or check.”

Here’s the video:

Operation Stop the Bleeding; Contact Congress NOW!

Operation Stop the Bleeding

Contact Congress NOW!

Make no mistake - this fight to cut spending is just as important as our fight against Obamacare! Budgets, spending, and debt may not feel as personal as health care, but it is! We've seen how personal it's gotten in Greece, and we know what happens when a nation crumbles under the weight of its bureaucracy.

Because we simply can't afford to be making trips to DC to rally around the Capitol, Tea Party Patriots (www.teapartypatriots.org) have been hosting a weeklong Virtual Rally. Up until the day of the Debt Ceiling vote will will continue pressuring members of Congress to vote NO on raising the debt ceiling.

Think about this: To pay for the overspending that government has already overspent, $45,000 in debt is now strapped to the back of each child born in America.  To pay for the overspending that government has committed to overspend in the future, but has yet made no provision to pay for, each American household is now on the hook for $528,000. 

Action Items

Republican Freshmen

• Call GOP freshman today. You can call just one, just the ones from Ohio or all of them. It's up to you. For a list of all the freshmen in Congress, please click here.  Ohio freshmen are listd below.  Please post on their Facebook page too.

• Fax all of the GOP freshmen at once - for free! Click here to fax them all!

• Sign our No Debt Increase petition. Click here to sign the petition.

• Forward these action items, materials, and petition to every person you know that cares about this country by sending them a link to this page.

• Post the link to this page on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. For easy instructions  on how to Tweet, click here. Bonus: Use the hashtag #stopthebleeding when you tweet about this!

Ohio Freshman

Rep. Steve Chabot, OH-1

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepSteveChabot

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/repstevechabot

D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-2216
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-3012

Cincinnati Office Phone: (513)684-2723

Cincinnati Office Fax: (513)421-8722

Website: http://chabot.house.gov
Email: https://chabot.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Rep. Bill Johnson, OH-6

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepBillJohnson

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RepBillJohnson

D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5705
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-5907

Marietta Office Phone: (740)376-0868

Marietta Office Fax: (740)376-0886

Website: http://billjohnson.house.gov

Rep. Steve Stivers, OH-15

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rep-Steve-Stivers/116058275133542

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RepSteveStivers

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2015
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3529

Columbus Office Phone: (614)771-4968

Columbus Office Fax: (614)771-3990

Website: http://stivers.house.gov 
E-mail: https://stivers.house.gov/contact-me/email-me Rep. Jim Renacci, OH-16

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/repjimrenacci

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/repjimrenacci

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-3876
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3059

Canton Office Phone: (330)489-4414

Canton Office Fax: (330)493-9265

E-mail: https://renacci.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Website: http://renacci.house.gov

Rep. Bob Gibbs, OH-18

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepBobGibbs

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/repbobgibbs

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6265
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3394

Zanesville Office PH: (740)452-2279

Zanesville Office FX: (740)452-2557

Website: http://gibbs.house.gov

E-mail: https://gibbs.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Ohio Freshman Congressman, Rep. Jim Renacci (OH-16), who supports raising the debt ceiling, has a poll on his homepage asking if the debt ceiling should be raised. Please go to Rep Renacci's page and vote against raising the debt ceiling. (Click here to vote in poll)

House Leadership

Speaker John Boehner, OH-8

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/johnboehner

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SpeakerBoehner

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6205

D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-0704

West Chester Office Phone: (513)779-5400

West Chester Office Fax: (513)779-5315

Website: http://www.johnboehner.house.gov

  

Rep. Eric Cantor, VA-7 / Majority Leader

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ericcantor

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2815

D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-0011

Richmond Office Phone: (804)747-4073

Richmond Office Fax: (804)747-5308

Website: http://cantor.house.gov

Email:  http://cantor.house.gov/contact

Tell Congress No More Debt!

Click here to send Congress a FREE Fax now! 

 

Liar, Liar, Pant's on Fire! TPP Co-founder challenges Obama's Fear-Mongering Fibs on the Debt Ceiling

Great job Mark.... Spot on in the argument!  Why is it the left just doesn't get it?

From MSLSD --

Here's a don't-miss interview with NBC's Savannah Guthrie and Tea Party Patriots leader Mark Meckler on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports.

Meckler was firmly against raising the debt ceiling, and dismissed consequences of it not passing. On President Obama's contention that Social Security checks might not go out, Meckler contended: "That's just simply a lie. There is plenty of revenue to pay our Social Security obligations. There's plenty of revenue to pay our debt, our interest on the debt obligations. If the president and Secretary Geithner choose not to pay Social Security, they'll be held responsible. They'll be held responsible by recipients, and they'll be held responsible by the American public."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

He provided no citations for his contention, but instead claimed that "there's enough money to pay for Social Security, to pay the basic entitlement programs, and to pay for critical services in the United States of America."

"This is fear-mongering," he said. "This is just fear mongering."

ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress No Debt Increase!

Action Alert

Tell Congress No Debt Increase!

Patriots,

As we sit on the edge of financial doom of our country,  please be aware -- the GOP freshmen from Ohio that campaigned on fiscal responsibility and limited government -- are showing they are only fiscally responsible to Speaker John Boehner and are limiting their actions to supporting the D.C. status quo.

Make no mistake, the tough talking headlines from both sides regarding the debt ceiling are nothing more than political posturing. It is nothing more than which party will hold the collective power over "We the People"!  We know for fact, the GOP does not expect the Cut, Cap & Balance Amendment to pass the House.  In fact, they are so convinced of this, they are not even bothering to whip the vote.  

Besides showing a complete lack of leadership on Speaker Boehner's part, this shows they really have no intentions of trying to pass CC&B.  Furthermore, CC&B does NOT stop the debt ceiling from being raised!  It only sets conditions to AGAIN raise the debt ceiling.  Raising the debt ceiling on promises of what a future congress will or will not do is not only reckless & irresponsible -- it only kicks the can down the road -- AGAIN.  But this time -- it may be kicking the can off a cliff of financial disaster.

CC&B, if passed in the House, then the Senate, then must be signed into law by President Obama, and being a Constitutional Amendment, STILL has to be ratified by 2/3rds of the states.  (Think about how long it took to ratify the U.S. Constitution!)

With Ohio sending 5 GOP freshmen to Congress and Speaker Boehner being from here, it is the responsibility of patriots from OH to not only speak out, but to speak out the loudest on the feelings of disgust and betrayal being expressed from fellow groups across the country!

Please find below action alert items being done as a concerted effort by Tea Party, 9/12 and liberty minded groups across the country. (Please forward these action items to your email lists, family and friends) .

Tuesday (Today)

·        Sign the “No Debt Increase” petition (http://www.nodebtincrease.com/), if you have not done so.

·        Use your Facebook and Twitter accounts to make arguments for cutting spending so that job creators can actually create jobs and not cave on any "deal."

·        Inform friends about this crucial fight and invite them to take action as well. These negotiations are putting the fate of our nation on the line. We must engage as many people as possible.

• Call targeted members (see list below) of Congress and your own member. We will send you the target lists with phone numbers as well as facts to share with these members. Let's melt those phone lines! 

Wednesday

• Social media blitz day. Let the targeted members of Congress know what you think by posting on their Facebook pages and tweeting to them. We'll send you the links to their pages and their Twitter ID's.

• Use the TPP No Debt Ceiling logo on your Facebook profile pic

Ohio Target List

House Speaker John Boehner

7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 

Suite B

West Chester, OH 45069

(513) 779-5400 tel

(513) 779-5315 fax

12 South Plum Street

Troy, OH 45373

(937) 339-1524

(937) 339-1878 fax

1011 Longworth H.O.B.

Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-6205

(202) 225-0704 fax

----------------------------

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

Richmond Office

4201 Dominion Blvd. Suite 110

Glen Allen, VA 23060

p: (804) 747-4073

Toll Free: (800) 438-3793

f: (804) 747-5308

Culpeper Office

763 Madison Road #207

Culpeper, VA 22701

p: (540) 825-8960

f: (540) 825-8964

DC Office

303 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

p: 202-225-2815

f: 202-225-0011

Ohio Freshmen

Rep. Steve Chabot, OH-1
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-2216
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-3012

Rep. Bill Johnson, OH-6
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5705
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-5907

Rep. Steve Stivers, OH-15
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2015D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3529

Rep. Jim Renacci, OH-16

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-3876

D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3059
Rep. Bob Gibbs, OH-18
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6265D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3394

OH Congressional Members

Rep. Jean Schmidt, OH-2
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-3164
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-1992

Rep. Mike Turner, OH-3
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-6465
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-6754

Rep. Bob Latta, OH-5
D.C. Office Phone: 1-800-541-6446 (OHIO)
D.C. Office Fax: 1-800-278-8203

Rep. Steve Austria, OH-7
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-4324
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-1984

Rep. John Boehner, OH-8
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-0600
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-5117

Rep. Patrick Tiberi, OH-12
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-5355
D.C. Office Fax: (202)226-4523

Rep. Steven LaTourette, OH-14
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5731
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-330

If the lines are busy or voice mails are full, please continue calling until you are able to speak to a live person or are able to leave a voicemail message.

Rep Broun introduces "Debt Ceiling Reduction Act"; Tells GOP "Ante up or Find a New Job"

The Debt Ceiling fight is heating up and Speaker John Boehner, is again ready to perform one of his famous "Boehner Buckle's" or even worse make one of his oh so great deals.  To put it bluntly... Speaker Boehner is a failure, cannot be trusted and is part of the problem we are trying to fix in this country.

The widely publicized plan of Cut, Cap and Balance, while a good step, falls short of what most Americans desire and will ultimately still allow for the debt ceiling to be raised.  At this point in time any step we take must be backwards from the spending cliff and not a side-step with more promises of what future legislators can and cannot do.

Telling his fellow GOP Congressmen to, "ante up or go find a new profession," Congressman Paul Broun has recently introduced HR 2409, the Debt Ceiling Reduction Act, which will CUT spending and LOWER the debt ceiling back down to $13 trillion from the current $14.3 trillion. There are no promises to break, pledges to weasel back on or tit for tat deals of raising the debt ceiling...

From Congressman Paul Broun --

Congressman Paul Broun, M.D. (GA-10) today introduced unique legislation, H.R. 2409 the Debt Ceiling Reduction Act, that would lower the debt ceiling from $14.3 trillion back down to $13 trillion.  The legislation would be enacted at the beginning of FY 2012 and would force Congress to begin to pay off a portion of the national debt while drastically reducing spending.

“Should my legislation be signed into law, Washington would have to actually make the cuts that until now they’ve only talked about, and our national debt would be one step closer to being manageable,” said Congressman Broun. “My legislation would not just slow down, or stop the reckless spending train; it would completely turn it around.

“Americans are tired of lawmakers who talk out of both sides of their mouths and make promises that they can’t keep.  This bill offers a real and true solution for our fiscal dilemma, and I whole heartedly hope that my colleagues will either ante up – or try their luck at another profession.”

###

The Left’s Desperate, Devious and Dangerous 14th Amendment Ploy to Raise the Debt Ceiling

The below piece by former Oklahoma Congressman Ernest Istook, illustrates how the left will employ, at the expense of future generations and the well-being of our country, deceitful and devious tactics to meet their desired agenda of spending our country into oblivion.

Being duplicitous, as when they ignored the U.S. Constitution when it came to ramming Obamacare down our throats,  they will cloak themselves with the U.S. Constitution through creative interpretations supporting their views when it comes to raising the debt ceiling.

From Ernest Istook --

Seeking to make virtue out of vice, the political Left has launched a desperate, devious and dangerous ploy to prevent the spending cuts that the public demands.

They are laying the groundwork for President Obama to bypass negotiations and to ignore the $14.3-trillion statutory ceiling on federal debt.  They want him to instruct the Treasury to borrow whatever it needs to satisfy grandiose spending designs, by claiming that the borrowing limit is unconstitutional.

If this happened, it would add a constitutional crisis to our economic crisis.  And it would worsen our economic problems.

The Left bases their plan on a dangerous misreading of the 14^th Amendment.  They employ deceptive rhetoric to depict the big spenders as the saviors of the Constitution.  They claim it’s the Constitutional remedy to protect our economy from the supposed alternative Armageddon’s of defaulting on debt or devastating reductions in spending.

The Left adds that this also would save us from the evil Republicans who won’t go along with job-killing tax hikes.

Declaring the debt ceiling unconstitutional and void would be a course reversal for Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner, who have been claiming that doom is around the corner because of the debt limit.  But a reversal would not be the first time Obama has declared his position is “evolving” to match his political interests.  Nor would it be the first time Obama claimed a Presidential prerogative to ignore laws that he finds inconvenient.

Twice offered a public opportunity to repudiate this horrid idea, Obama has twice refused to do so.

The 14^th Amendment idea began quietly percolating on the Left a few months ago.  As it became clear that they were losing the fight over deficit spending, the Left last week began to unveil articles by cooperative law professors, economists, columnists and pundits, covered by CBS News, MSNBC, USA Today, The Washington Post, and numerous other outlets.  The Huffington Post has been the biggest cheerleader for the plan.

The proponents base their false claim on a selective reading of the 14^th Amendment’s statement that, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law . . . shall not be questioned.”  The language was adopted after the Civil War.  Because the adjacent passage of the Amendment expressly disavows any debts of the former Confederacy, the drafters needed to distinguish this from the valid debt issued by the Union.

Nobody is questioning the validity of our legally-issued debt, nor should they, but the President has no authority to create additional debt that Congress has not approved.

As noted by The Heritage Foundation’s Andrew Grossman, “it does not follow that the debt ceiling is unconstitutional. . . . Indeed, unilateral action by the President to borrow money would be an unconstitutional usurpation of the legislative power.  The Constitution [in Article 1, Section 8] vests the power to ‘to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States’ and the power ‘to borrow money on the credit of the United States’ in the Congress, not the President.  The President lacks the authority to, on his own accord, make expenditures which have not been authorized by Congress (because Congress has imposed a debt ceiling that supersedes any such authorizations) or to undertake borrowing that has not been authorized by Congress.”

Constitutional expert and former federal appellate judge Dr. Michael McConnell sums up quite simply the notion that the 14^th Amendment invalidates the debt ceiling.  McConnell eloquently says, “Bunk.”

Since 1917, Congress has exercised its control over debt by placing a statutory cap on the total amount that can be borrowed.  This is an exercise of Congress’ explicit and exclusive Constitutional authority—as opposed to a drummed-up misinterpretation of the 14^th Amendment to create some new Presidential power to issue unlimited debt.  As noted by the Congressional Research Service, “The debt limit also provides Congress with the strings to control the federal purse, allowing Congress to assert its constitutional prerogatives to control spending.”

To sum it all up:  As the 14^th Amendment states, debt must be “authorized by law.”  As Article 1 states, only Congress can do that authorizing.

The Left’s effort to reverse this is desperate, devious and dangerous.  They have seen polls showing 60 to 70 percent of the public oppose an increase in borrowing, so they are desperately trying to preserve big government.  Their twisting of the Constitution is devious.  And ignoring the debt ceiling would be dangerous to future generations and to today’s economy.

Imagine the chaos in financial markets if they could not distinguish Congressionally-approved and valid Treasury notes from Presidentially-authorized and questionable debt.  The Left has a bad answer for this:  Get the Federal Reserve to buy the new debt.  That would mean printing more currency, inflating our money and further devaluing the dollar.

The entire 14^th Amendment ploy needs to be shot down and denounced for what it is—another liberal maneuver to bypass both the Constitution and public opinion and to protect big government at all costs.

Adding a constitutional crisis on top of our economic crisis would only make things worse.

To send Speaker John Boehner and members of Congress a message, please sign the Tea Party Patriots NO Debt Increase petition by clicking here.