A Dog Welcomes His Soldier Home

For the pet lovers out there…

Senator McCain – Cut Up Your AARP Card

McConnell Statement on McCain Amendment

A Statement from Senator McConnell’s Office on the McCain Amendment…

A Vote Against Medicare

Democrats vote ‘to use Medicare as a piggy-bank to fund their new government programs’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Thursday regarding Senate Democrats’ vote to keep a half-trillion dollar cut to Medicare in the Reid bill:

“If anyone had any question about the Democrat plan to use Medicare as a piggy-bank to fund their new government programs, those doubts are now gone. 58 Democrats just voted to reject a common-sense proposal to protect senior’s health care from a half-trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare. Only in Washington would anyone have the nerve to claim that such drastic cuts won’t harm the very program millions of seniors have paid into for years and now rely on.”

Some Health Care Common Sense From Senator McCain

Senator McCain wrote an opinion piece for USA Today Opposing view: Don’t slash Medicare. It’s a common sense opinion piece that one would hope would be something of a no-brainer for Democrats and Republicans alike. Cutting MediCare benefits to institute a new government health care program just isn’t logical…

The Democrats have proposed slashing Medicare by nearly $500 billion, one-half a trillion dollars, to create a new federal government-run health care entitlement and are trying to package it as “health care reform.”

Among other cuts, the proposed reductions in Medicare include $120 billion to the Medicare Advantage program; $150 billion to providers, including hospitals, hospices and nursing homes; and $23 billion in unspecified decreases to be determined by an “Independent Medicare Advisory board.”

I have consistently been a strong advocate of making Medicare a more efficient and stronger program through improving incentives for better coordinated care, reducing Medicare fraud and abuse, and eliminating preventable errors. These are common sense.

Unlike slashing the Medicare program by half a trillion dollars in order to finance more Washington spending and mandates, I have advocated putting any savings created by improvements to Medicare back into the program to improve it for our seniors and ensure its viability.

Simply put, the Democrats’ proposed cuts to Medicare would impact seniors’ access to quality care. This is a price that Americans should not be asked to pay.

Senator McCain is sponsoring an amendment to send the health care bill back to the finance committee so that it can be re-written in a way that doesn’t use MediCare cuts to fund reform.   His web site is also sponsoring a petition against using MediCare cuts to fund the health care bill.

Senator Barrasso: This Type of Legislation Would Have Cost My Wife Her Life

Senator Barrasso brings an interesting perspective to the health care debate as doctor/orthopedic surgeon. However, it is his experience as the husband of a breast cancer survivor that provided one of the most compelling moments of last Saturday’s health care debate from the Senate floor.   Senator McCain asked Senator Barrasso about how advisory boards factor into the proposed health care legislation…

Mr MCCAIN. Now that is a nice academic discussion. But I would ask-maybe Dr. Barrasso would answer it-isn’t that the kind of advisory board this legislation could put into law; that those kinds of mandates could come down, which could literally jeopardize the health and lives of Americans?

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I would say to my colleague and friend from Arizona, this type of legislation would have cost my wife her life. She is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed by a routine screening mammogram. She was in her forties when that mammogram was performed. She went through the testing and had the operation. In that age, in her forties, she already had the breast cancer spread from her breast to one of the lymph nodes. It was a screening mammogram that saved her life. She has had three operations, two bouts of chemotherapy. As a result, she is a survivor-6 years later.

But this piece of legislation says: No, no, do not worry about it. There is not going to be any denial of care. There is not going to be anything like that. But if you turn to page 1,150, it talks specifically about this preventative task force, specifically saying when they make their recommendations there is going to be money that taxpayers are going to pay to tell people what those recommendations are. Then, if you go to page 1,190, it says that if it is not approved, they will deny payment for that service-deny payment.

C-SPAN video of health care debate

What will and won’t be covered in a government-run health insurance option is no minor issue.  Two seperate panels in the last week have suggested less cancer screening, the most controversial of which stated that women in their forties don’t need mammograms.  As Senator Barrasso can attest, that could cost some women their lives.  Supporters of this bill owe the American people a better explanation of the nuts and bolts of this plan; probably more to the point, they owe the American people a better bill.

McConnell: Senators Who Support Health Care Bill Have A Lot of Explaining to Do

Senator McConnell gives a straight-forward reasonable explanation of why the Senate Health Care Bill is simply an ineffective, poorly reasoned, and written bill…

Cuts in Mammograms A Prelude to Government run Health Care?

“U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advising against routine mammograms for women in their 40s.”

This recommendation is being met with by strong protests among cancer groups and breast cancer survivors alike. The recommendation is based on the fact that while cancer is detected in some women there are also a good number of false positives among women in their forties. This recommendation currently has no insurance coverage implications, yet it does raise concerns about what would happen if a government option did exist, and these ‘task forces’ were charged with deciding what procedures would be covered and what wouldn’t. Health care reform legislation does not answer these pertinent questions, and this recommendation does little to instill confidence in the government’s ability to make these important decisions.

From CNN – I Want My Mammograms

John McCain Sponsors Petition Against Government Run Health Care

From JohnMcCain.com sponsored email…

Taxpayers simply cannot afford this government takeover of our health care system and this is our opportunity to put an end to it.

That’s why I urge you to add your name to this petition showing your opposition to government-run health care.

We still have an opportunity to stop the Democrats’ public option from becoming law, but I need to know you stand with us in opposition to a government takeover of health care – so, please sign this petition immediately.

The wasteful spending ways of Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress must be put to an end. Americans are angry and I share your frustration with our current leadership in Washington.

In less than one year, Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress have increased our nation’s spending by more than 80%. Our national debt has reached $9 trillion and will only go higher if the President signs a health care bill with provisions for a government-run option. Last month, unemployment surpassed 10%, the highest rate in over 20 years

Recent polls show clearly that Americans are against the health care takeover by Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress. And these same polls show that Americans understand and are infuriated by policies that are mortgaging our children’s and grandchildren’s future. It must be stopped. We must act now to show our continued opposition to the direction the Democratic leadership is taking our country.

McCain Health Care Petition Against Government Run Health Care.

South Carolina Republican Party Brand Themselves as Fools

In grand gesture of foolishness, Senator Lindsey Graham was censured last week by the Republican leadership in South Carolina for working with Democrats, specifically on a climate change bill. This is the same state whose Republican governor tried to sneak off to Argentina to have an affair. Hopefully his mistress wasn’t a Democrat, or Governor Sanford could find himself in a heap of trouble with the party leadership. When polled time and time again Americans say they don’t like the partisan divide in Washington, and want the parties to work together. But really, who cares what the American people want? South Carolina Republicans want purity. Not of the moral sort, but more specifically a narrowness of thought. Clearly they have all the answers, and just need to bonk enough Democrats over the head to get them to vote their way. The irony is that their own party’s presidential nominee, who won the primary in South Carolina, supported climate change legislation (though he is not in favor of the current climate change legislation).

Senator Graham is hardly a lefty. What he is, is smart and effective. During the latest recess from Congress he served in Afghanistan as a JAG, and he has served in the military since 1982. He has been a prominent member of both the judiciary and armed services committee. Certainly people and parties alike can find issues to disagree with the Senator, but censuring a member for having “weakened the Republican brand” while having done nothing wrong/questionable/immoral is foolish and incredibly myopic considering the current state of the Republican Party.

Washington Painting the Walls When the Roof is Leaking

As unemployment hit 10.2% last week the House in a special Saturday session of Congress passed health care bill that is costly and unpopular. In a great example of politicians being out of touch, Congress has decided that health care reform takes precedence over the economy and jobs even when poll after poll (including the exit polls taken during last weeks special elections) show that jobs and the economy is at the top of almost everybody’s list of important issues.

The House health care bill is extremely costly and attempts to pay for itself through massive MediCare cuts. There are tax hikes on small business that can’t help but have a negative effect on job creation. This bill will likely add greatly to our already staggering federal deficit, again not helpful for long-term economic recovery. Finally, it is a 2000 page bill that does little to reduce the cost of health care, one of the primary reasons that health care reform was needed in the first place. Congress has put the country on notice that they’re priorities are not those of the American people.