The Patriot Post® · GOP Tackles ObamaCare With Pence and Pencils
After four years, Mike Pence is back on the Hill — but not as a congressman from Indiana. The new vice president-elect returned to his old stomping ground this week, as he starts paving the road for his boss’s first major act: gutting Obamacare and defunding Planned Parenthood. Long after the rest of Congress had adjourned for Christmas, Republicans were busy at work, mapping out an alternative to President Obama’s biggest failure.
On Tuesday, GOP leaders officially set those wheels in motion, as Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wy.) took the first step in repealing the health care law. By introducing a budget resolution, he’s set in motion the process for reconciliation, which gives Republicans the ability to pass a measure with just a simple majority instead of the normal 60-vote threshold. “The Senate is poised to pass a repeal resolution that will set the stage for true legislative relief from Obamacare that Americans have long demanded, while ensuring a stable transition in which those with insurance will not lose access to health care coverage,” he said. Enzi went on to vow a “stable transition period” and “more choices.”
As part of the bill, the Budget chair guaranteed plenty of late nights for members by including an order that congressional committees agree on a repeal plan by January 27. And while a lot of details are up in the air, one is not: stripping the taxpayer funding of the country’s biggest abortion business will absolutely be a part of any proposal offered. Donald Trump has said so; GOP leaders have said so; and [Wednesday] night at dinner on the Hill, members again told me so. In the meantime, the next few weeks are crucial — and one prominent figure will be a familiar one: Mike Pence.
The vice president-elect has already traded soundbites with President Obama, who was also on Capitol Hill to galvanize the Democratic resistance to any GOP plan. After hundreds of votes from his party to hollow out parts of the “Affordable” Care Act over the years, the minority will need the pep talk. For the past several years, the law has been just as unpopular with some Democrats, who are tired of taking a beating at the ballot box for the broken promises of Obamacare. So now, for politicians like Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), to take swipes at the effort is a little disingenuous, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) pointed out. “I’m frankly disappointed that the Democratic leader has now taken the position of obstruction when it comes to reforming a health care program that they know is flawed.”
Pence piled on with a truth that everyone but liberals seems to understand: “The simple fact is the American people know who owns Obamacare… it’s Obama and the party of Obama.” They’re the same people who own the culture of death and taxpayers’ forced partnership with it. With your help, both pillars of the Obama era will finally come toppling down. Contact your members and encourage them to support the budget resolution that will spark a return to America’s longtime ideals.
Originally published here.
Texas Tries to Upgrade Privacy Settings
If Texas thought it had seen the end of the transgender bathroom agenda, it was mistaken! After the overwhelming defeat voters delivered to the Houston mayor and city council for its gender-free, anti-religious liberty ordinance, conservatives are ready for the next chapter: more permanent protections against this dangerous and unpopular crusade of the Left. Like most sane people, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R) doesn’t think grown men should be sharing fitting rooms, locker rooms, showers, and restrooms with little girls.
To put the brakes on the Left’s campaign, Lt. Gov. Patrick has teamed up with State Senator Lois Kolkhorst in unveiling a statewide bill, the Texas Privacy Act of 2017 (S.B. 6), which would bar public schools, state government agencies, and political subdivisions from throwing open bathroom doors to people of the opposite sex. Sounds reasonable, right? Not to the Left, which is already fueling up its propaganda machine to pump out false information about the measure would and wouldn’t do. “I don’t know what problem he’s proposing to solve,” said Chuck Smith of Equality Texas. Why not ask the women and children at Target stores who have been victims of voyeurs or sexual predators under genderless policies like these? Or the high school girls in Illinois who are so afraid to undress in the locker room that they wear their gym clothes under their regular ones? The concern is not that transgendered individuals are more likely to be sexual predators, but rather that sexual predators could exploit such laws by posing as transgendered in order to gain access to women and girls.
Although the bill is similar to North Carolina’s H.B. 2, this version is exclusively focused on bathroom and shower privacy. It doesn’t preempt local entities from taking a position on gender identity in the context of hiring, housing, health care, or public accommodations like the Tar Heels did. “This is a public safety issue, not a discrimination issue,” Patrick said. “It’s about common courtesy and privacy, particularly for women.” And that’s a goal both sides can get behind!
Originally published here.
Report Issues Retort on Planned Parenthood
The House’s Select Panel on Infant Lives may have issued its final report, but some of the work is just beginning. Holding Planned Parenthood and the medical groups accountable will continue at every level, including the state and local. The baby-parts-for-profits scheme that launched a dozen criminal investigations will be front and center when the new administration comes to town, especially where Planned Parenthood’s funding is concerned. After a year’s worth of combing through documents and interviewing people close to the controversy, Panel Chair Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and company released 471 pages on their findings, including a long list of recommendations.
While Democrats have blasted the GOP for wasting time on a politically motivated “witch hunt,” the Panel uncovered plenty of dark and dubious dealings between the abortion industry and fetal tissue collectors. “The Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives succeeded in uncovering shameful practices, which undermined the very foundations of ethical American scientific research and have led to 15 criminal and regulatory referrals. Over the course of its year-long investigation of fetal tissue procurement companies and abortion businesses, the Select Panel found evidence that several tissue procurement companies and abortion clinics may have violated federal felony laws prohibiting the sale of human fetal tissue. As a physician and researcher, it is my sincere hope that our investigation and the subsequent referrals have put an end to these shady and unethical practices,” said Congressman (and doctor) Andy Harris (R-Md.). Among other things, the group suggests that Congress:
- Pull the plug on taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood until they stop performing abortions;
- Give states some flexibility under Medicaid to redirect funds away from Planned Parenthood;
- Ban funding of fetal tissue research from induced abortions;
- Pass criminal penalties for any violations of Born Alive Infant Protection Act;
- Pass a ban on abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy, when babies feel pain;
- Create a criminal division at DOJ to enforce Partial Birth Abortion and Born Alive infant protections;
- Ensure that HIPPA informed consent laws are enforced against abortionists;
- Prohibit funding for research using fetal tissue from induced abortions (but allow on fetal tissue from miscarriages or stillbirths).
As pro-life champion Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) summed it up, “The Select Investigative Panel has worked hard to uncover the illegal and highly repulsive activities of the organizations involved in the sale and trafficking of baby body parts. Now it is up to the judicial system to hold the perpetrators accountable and up to Congress and the new Administration to see that these heinous acts are continued no longer. The way we treat our young, our weak, and our voiceless does matter. History will hold us accountable for these atrocities.” And let’s hope not just history but the next administration will be taking the most important step of this panel: defunding the barbarians at the center of this controversy.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.