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Ryan Budget – Bad for Veterans
Much has been said over the past few weeks about the budget proposal in the House of Representatives, offered by Rep. Paul Ryan, and backed by Republican members, but not much has been said about how it will affect our veterans. As you know, the Paul Ryan plan will end Medicare, making it a voucher program, leaving seniors to buy their own insurance in the private system. It will therefore end one of the most popular and successful initiatives ever offered.
This plan will also punish veterans – harshly – and it’s important that you spread the word on how it will do so.
Here are the facts:
- Millions of veterans over 65 rely on Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance for their health care. In fact, according to the last survey of veterans by the Department of Veterans’ affairs, 39.3% of veterans use Medicare, compared with 14 percent of the general population.
- Many of these veterans are relying on Medicare as their sole health care provider. The Ryan plan would have an immediate impact on these veterans, forcing those falling into the “donut hole” with high-cost prescription drug costs to pay more for their medications in addition to paying more for preventative health services.
- Veterans who rely on Medicaid would not escape cuts either. The Republican plan could slash $1.4 trillion in health benefits over the next ten years. Forty-four states are already facing significant budget shortfall in Fiscal Year 2012,and the cuts could force the state to either ration health care benefits for veterans across the country, restrict eligibility rules and leave thousands uninsured, including veterans, or raise taxes to cover the shortfall.
- Finally, many veterans rely on private insurance, mostly through their employer. Because Republicans want to repeal the recent health insurance law, these veterans will no longer have guaranteed access to health insurance regardless of pre-existing conditions and may see annual or lifetime caps on coverage under the Republican budget.
In short, Republicans and Paul Ryan will strip away care for our veterans, in the name of budget cutting. These proposals are draconian, cruel, and unfair to those men and women who put their lives on the line for this country. But, unless we spread the word about how severely the Ryan/Republican plan will hurt veterans, most Americans won’t ever know.
Take some time to read their propaganda and get to know what they’re trying to do. Be an informed voter, not someone who swallowed their propaganda, hook, line and anchor.
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| GOP 2012 Platform | GOP Growth Opportunities | 2009 Road to Recovery | 2010-Better Solutions |
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| 2010-Pledge to America | P2P v1.0 | P2P v2.0 | P2P v3.0 |
Read/compare a few to see what you think — and if you’d like you can compare the actual budget numbers between plans here.
RADICAL REPUBLICAN BUDGET: ROBIN HOOD IN REVERSE
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee today is continuing the drumbeat against House Republicans who voted for the radical Republican budget, releasing a new web video to highlight the chasm between mainstream Americans’ priorities and House Republicans’ radical approach. In the video – “Radical Republican Budget: Robin Hood in Reverse” – Republicans describe the budget as the best way to communicate their “governing philosophy.” The video goes on to show the GOP Doctrine for Governance in clear terms: higher taxes for the middle class, bigger medical bills for seniors on Medicare, more expensive student loans and a tax break for millionaires.
Under the Republican doctrine for governance, the Ryan budget, middle class Americans could pay $3,000 more in taxes and the Medicare guarantee, paid for with deductions from every dollar earned by working Americans …. will END. Thus, their governance philosophy will take that money to fund other things like a $245,000 tax for millionaires, and force seniors to pay more for their care — if they can find an insurance company to cover it and if they can find a doctor to provide it. And, while the middle class would be paying more in taxes, folks like Mitt Romney, whose tax liability is imposed primarily by capital gains taxes, would see their tax liabilities plummet with Ryan’s slash to capital gains taxes. Valuing making money off the fruits of others’ labors, without having to exert an ounce of labor yourself, is not an “American” value.
“Republicans themselves tell us that their budget is the best way to communicate their ‘governing philosophy’ and that’s exactly what they did – more for millionaires and corporate special interests, less for the middle class and seniors,” said Emily Bittner of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Americans rejected the philosophy of this radical Republican budget in the last election because it ends the Medicare guarantee for seniors and asks the middle class to pay more – all while cutting taxes for millionaires and corporate special interests. It might be the Republicans’ governing philosophy but it isn’t the right philosophy for America’s middle class.”
Ryan’s Path to Poverty budget is the third in a series, all espousing their out of touch governance doctrine. The GOP hasn’t learned that their “philosophy” isn’t what Americans want. Instead, thick-headed GOP members of the House are continuing to push philosophies the American people don’t want. Bound to their millionaire donors and determined to implement their demands, the GOP intends — to impose their revolutionary doctrine — to convert America into a Plutocracy ruled over by the uber-rich — using budgets — without firing a single bullet.
Here’s their “philosophy” documents introduced since 2008 along with their platform. Read/compare a few to see what you think — and if you’d like you can compare the actual budget numbers here.
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| GOP 2012 Platform | GOP Growth Opportunities | 2009 Road to Recovery | 2010-Better Solutions |
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| 2010-Pledge to America | P2P v1.0 | P2P v2.0 | P2P v3.0 |
Related Posts:
- Paul Ryan’s “The Path to Prosperity, A Responsible Balanced Budget.”
- Paul Ryan’s class warfare on behalf of the rich.
- The top 5 worst things about the GOP budget.
- GOP budget keeps Obamacare’s cuts and taxes, repeals all the benefits.
- The GOP budget maintains 100 year-old tax breaks for Big Oil.
- How the GOP budget will undermine the recovery.
- Even Paul Ryan admits that we’re not facing a debt crisis.
- Latest GOP budget gives millionaires at least a $200,000 tax cut.
Affordable Care Act at 3: Increased Savings for Seniors
— by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, March 21, 2013
In the three years since the Affordable Care Act became law, the slower growth of health care costs is saving money in Medicare and the private insurance market, helping to curb previously skyrocketing premiums and making Medicare stronger.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that Medicare and Medicaid spending would be 15 percent less — or about $200 billion— in 2020 than was previously projected, thanks to this slower growth. Medicare spending per beneficiary rose by just 0.4% in 2012, while Medicaid spending per beneficiary actually dropped by 1.9% last year. We are making Medicare stronger, too, by spending smarter, promoting coordinated care, and fighting fraud. Not only does this ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. It means that those who count on Medicare — our grandparents, parents, our friends, and neighbors – will have it for years to come.
Today, we are announcing that thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more than 6.3 million seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare have saved more than $6.1 billion on prescription drugs since the health care law was enacted three years ago. This is the result of the law’s closing of the prescription coverage gap known as “the donut hole.”
Nearly 3.5 million people with Medicare saved an average of more than $706 each on their prescriptions in 2012.
In the case of Helen Rayon of Pennsylvania, the savings on her medications is enough to help her contribute to the education of her grandson. She says: “I take seven different medications. Getting the donut hole closed … gives me a little more money in my pocket.”
David Lutz, a community pharmacist from Hummelstown, PA, described his elderly customers, “splitting pills, taking doses every other day, missing doses, stretching their medications.” But he says this has begun to change with the savings resulting from the Affordable Care Act, and that’s good for their health as well as their budgets.
After the law was passed, the Affordable Care Act provided a one-time $250 check for people with Medicare who reached the Part D prescription drug coverage gap in 2010. Since then, individuals in the donut hole have continued to receive savings on prescription drugs. In 2013 individuals in the donut hole are saving over 50% off of the cost of branded drugs. The savings on both brand name and generic drugs will continue to increase until the coverage gap is closed in 2020.
Along with savings on their medications, American seniors have also benefited from access to vital preventive services — such as mammograms, cholesterol checks, cancer screenings, and annual wellness visits — with no Part B coinsurance or deductibles. In 2012, more than 34 million seniors and people with disabilities with Medicare received at least one free preventive service. Having easier access to preventive services without worrying about the cost helps seniors stay healthier and identify health conditions before they become more serious and costly.
Helen works as a health-and-wellness coordinator at a senior center, arranging for health and fitness activities for seniors older than herself. She knows they struggle with the costs of staying healthy. “If it weren’t for the health care reform, many of our seniors would not get to a doctor,” to get a check up, Helen says. “It is expensive for us to keep good health.”
Affordable Care Act initiatives are also ensuring that if Medicare beneficiaries do end up in the hospital that their care is coordinated and they stay out of the hospital once they’re discharged. This also gives Medicare beneficiaries – and other taxpayers – more value for their health care dollars. In fact, hospital readmissions in Medicare have fallen for the first time on record, resulting in 70,000 fewer readmissions in the last half of 2012.
The Affordable Care Act is helping us keep our moral commitment to ensure that our grandparents and other seniors get the high-quality, affordable health care and security they need and deserve.
To learn more about how the Affordable Care Act is saving seniors on prescription drug costs by closing the donut hole coverage gap, visit www.hhs.gov/news/press/2013pres/03/20130321a.html
NOTE: Today, in the U.S. House of Representatives, GOP members of that House, on a purely partisan vote, passed the Ryan Budget which, if it were to become law, would repeal the Affordable Care Act, and all of it’s provisions which help not just those folks on Medicare, but those of us who might have what the insurance industry has termed a “pre-existing condition” that they can then use to deny coverage. It would also allow insurance companies to once again impose both annual and lifetime limits on coverage. Those of you with children under 26 would no longer be able to continue to carry them on your existing health insurance policy once they reach age 18. And that’s just a few of the provisions that make a difference in ordinary Americans’ lives. Please take the time to review exactly “what” is covered under Obamacare and then help us bury Senator Heller in emails, tweets, and letters letting him know you will not forget any vote he takes to repeal this needed and necessary law by voting for Ryan’s Path to Poverty budget.
In the News—What I’ve Been Reading
Dean Baker | Economists and Future Living Standards
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Monsanto Protection Act Proves Corporations More Powerful than US Government
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Monsanto’s Death Grip on Your Food
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My Food Fight: IBD vs. Monsanto
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Ten Years Later, U.S. has Left Iraq with Mass Displacement and Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers
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Right To Heal: Iraqi Civilians Join U.S. Veterans in New Effort to Recover from War’s Devastation
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Back to Work Budget is Defeated, But the Struggle Will Continue
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The Plague of Wall Street Banking
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Dumb Wars, Now and Forever
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SOPAC Expedites New Seabed Mining Legislation for Lockheed Martin
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Dean Baker, Op-Ed: At this point everyone has heard the story of how Social Security and Medicare are going to bankrupt our children. There is a whole industry dedicated to promoting the idea that our kids risk having much lower standards of living than their parents or grandparents because of these programs. This story is routinely repeated in various forms by politicians and columnists who decry the fact that we don’t care enough for our children and that the elderly have too much political power. The remarkable part of this story is that there is no conceivable way that it is true and every economist knows it. 
Anthony Gucciardi, News Analysis: It’s called the Monsanto Protection Act among activists and concerned citizens who have been following the developments on the issue, and it consists of a legislative ‘rider’ inside (Farmer Assurance Provision, Sec. 735) a majority-wise unrelated Senate Continuing Resolution spending bill. You may already be aware of what this rider consists of, but in case not you will likely be blown away by the tenacity of Monsanto lobbyist goons. 
Fritz Kreiss, News Report: Monsanto has yet another case pending in the court system, this time before the U.S. Supreme Court on the exclusivity of its genetically modified seed patents. Narrowly at issue is whether Monsanto retains patent rights on soybeans that have been replanted after showing up in generic stocks rather than being sold specifically as seeds, or whether those patent rights are “exhausted” after the initial planting. But more broadly the case also raises implications regarding control of the food supply and the patenting of life—questions that current patent laws are ill-equipped to meaningfully address. 
Dhruv Shah and Fritz Kreiss, News Report: “1 in every 250 persons in the UK are affected by inflammatory bowel diseases. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with a type of inflammatory bowel disease called Ulcerative Colitis. It affects up to 120,000 people in the UK, that’s about 1 in 500 and between 6,000 and 12,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.(i) For me it meant that I had to keep running to the bathroom up to 25 times a day. My large bowel at the worst of times would produce bloody mucus and I would have severe cramps. Due to the toxins created by the inflammation it also meant that I would be severely nauseous and could not hold down liquids, let alone food.” 
Amy Goodman, Video Interview: In part two of our interview, Al Jazeera reporter Dahr Jamail discusses how the U.S. invasion of Iraq has left behind a legacy of cancer and birth defects suspected of being caused by the U.S. military’s extensive use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus. Jamail has also reported on the refugee crisis of more than one million displaced Iraqis still inside the country, who are struggling to survive without government aid, a majority of them living in Baghdad. 
Amy Goodman, Video Interview: On the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, we look at how U.S. military veterans and Iraqi civilians have come together to launch “The Right to Heal” campaign for those who continue to struggle with the war’s aftermath. The video interview features U.S. Army Sgt. Maggie Martin, who was part of the invading force in March 2003 and is now director of organizing for Iraq Veterans Against the War. Also Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, joins the conversation and describes how the condition of women has deteriorated in Iraq. 
Isaiah J. Poole, Op-Ed: The Congressional Progressive Caucus Back to Work Budget, as expected, did not prevail on the floor of the House of Representatives today. It went down to defeat, 84-327. In fact, it did not even win support from a majority of Democrats. But it did win a dramatic outpouring of support from ordinary Americans, which was demonstrated when one of the sponsors of the Back to Work Budget, Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., held a stack of papers representing the more than 102,000 people who signed our petition calling for a “yes” vote for the budget and a “no” vote on the Republican budget of Rep. Paul Ryan, D-Wis. 
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Op-Ed: The economic news this week highlights what happens when governments are unable to confront the root cause of the financial collapse—the risky speculation and securities fraud of the big banks. What happens? They blame the people, cut their benefits, tax their savings and demand they work harder for less money. In the U.S. there have been no criminal prosecutions for securities fraud in the big banks. Just as the Justice Department has made it clear that the big banks are too big to jail because doing so jeopardizes the stability of the banking system; financial fraud investigator Bill Black points out that the SEC cannot institute fines that are too big for the same reason. 
Robert Scheer, Op-Ed: Yes, a majority of Americans, 53 percent according to this week’s Gallup poll, think it was “a mistake sending troops to fight in Iraq” 10 years ago. But the lessons of our folly will likely not stick for long. The memories fade as we now see in that same Gallup poll with perceptions of the Vietnam War. A majority of Americans ages 18-29 believe sending U.S. troops to Vietnam was “not a mistake.” By contrast, 70 percent of those 50 and older, the generation with contemporary knowledge of the war, think it was. 
Arnie Saiki, News Report: Currently, U.S. military contractor Lockheed Martin is negotiating with Fiji’s Bainimarama administration to fast-track and sponsor new legislation that would allow the private U.S.-based transnational titan to delve into experimental deep seabed mining. Because the U.S. has not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), U.S. industries cannot engage in deep seabed mining in international waters, outside of a country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). On the 3rd Anniversary …
As we celebrate its 3rd anniversary, the Republicans in Congress are STILL trying to repeal ALL provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They could could care less that the health care law provides health care protections for everyday Americans and in fact, have NO of passing any form of replacement bill should they actually manage to repeal it.
The Tea Party Republicans are once again demanding that drastic cuts be made in Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants, and Head Start, to mention a few, instead of ending the tax breaks for Big Oil Companies and the wealthiest Americans, not just for their yachts and vacation homes, but proposing a serious reduction in the top tax rates (a reduction from the Bush rates for millionaires) and an elimination of the Capital Gains Tax — making it such that folks like Romney would pay absolutely NO taxes whatsoever. And to make matters even worse for ordinary Americans, their budget does nothing to create jobs. It would voucherize Medicare with declining value vouchers, turn Medicaid into a block grant program, where funds could easily be diverted for other political interests, and finally, as if that wasn’t enough damage, includes yet another provision to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The Affordable Care Act provides meaningful savings and better health care options for ordinary American — and in 2014, it adds its final layer of expanded access to coverage and new health care options. Launching this year (2014) will be competitive private health insurance Affordable Insurance Exchanges. These State-based, competitive marketplaces will provide millions of Americans and small businesses with “one-stop shopping” for affordable coverage. Once these exchanges are in place, a large number of ordinary Americans will finally be able to “sever the tether” between their employer and their health care, finally being able to achieve a form of health care portability. Those exchanges will also provide the sole venue where Members of Congress will get their health insurance. (Might that be the reason Republicans are so intent on its demise?)
The health care law offers clear choices for consumers and provides new ways to hold insurance companies accountable . The most important parts of the law are broken into groups below. You might want to have your Republican neighbors review this list before the start arbitrarily supporting Republican legislators intent on voting AGAINST their constituent’s best interests, and instead, in favor of corporate and insurance company interests instead.
Rights and Protections
- Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) and Uniform Glossary
- Consumer Assistance Program
- Appealing Health Plan Decisions
- Preventive Care
- Patient’s Bill of Rights
- Children’s Pre-Existing Conditions
- Doctor Choice & ER Access
- Grandfathered Health Plans
- Curbing Insurance Cancellations
Insurance Choices
- Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP)
- Young Adult Coverage
- The Health Insurance Marketplace
- CO-OP Insurance Plans
Insurance Costs
- Value for Your Premium Dollar: 80/20 Rule and MLR
- Lifetime and Annual Limits
- Flexible Spending Account Changes
- Rate Review
65 or Older
- Medicare Preventive Services
- Medicare Drug Discounts
- $250 “Donut Hole” Rebate (2010)
- Strengthening Medicare
Employers
If you need help dealing with your insurance, finding insurance, or getting answers to questions about how the health care system works, visit the Insurance Basics section on the Health & Human Services website.
Finally Confirmed: GOP ‘IS’ Out of Touch
GOP Report Shows Party is Out of Touch With Americans on Threats to Democracy: Money in Politics and Voter Suppression
The Republican National Committee released a report today reviewing its losses in the 2012 election cycle and laying out a roadmap for the future of the party. People For the American Way Vice President Marge Baker released the following statement:
“This report highlights what we already knew: that the Republican party is out of touch with America. Instead of addressing the party’s anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-worker policies that voters resoundingly rejected in 2012, today’s report calls for a complete gutting of campaign finance reform – in essence calling for even more big money to be poured into our elections. If the Republican party were listening to Americans, they would know that the country supports finding systemic solutions to the problem of unregulated money in our political system. The answer is certainly not to gut the regulations we already have in place. Instead, we need to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC and related cases so that we can create more effective regulations to get big money out of our democracy.
“The GOP report’s recommendations on voting rights also underscore a continuing focus on keeping certain voters from the polls. After an election cycle overflowing with examples of discriminatory voter suppression efforts aimed at historically disenfranchised communities, the report recommends an ongoing focus on so-called ‘ballot security training initiatives.’ This is simply another phrase for the same voter intimidation tactics used in the name of preventing supposed ‘voter fraud.’ It’s baffling that the GOP thinks it can improve its image with people of color while still working to block their access to the ballot box.
“This report is yet another example that the GOP’s ‘soul-searching’ hasn’t gotten them very far. It’s time to refocus our efforts on getting the big money out of elections and the voters into the voting booth.”
Ready to go?
Just exactly how much lipstick have they purchased? Maybeline and Revlon combined couldn’t make enough lipstick to take care of that pachyderm.
Yesterday— the Republican National Committee released its wide-ranging “autopsy” report called the “Growth And Opportunity Project Report.” In it, the party admits to several shortcomings that contributed to the party’s wide losses in the 2012 election. A portion of the report includes market research from voter focus groups around the country. Not surprisingly, when asked to describe Republicans, respondents said that the party was “scary,” “narrow-minded,” “out of touch,” and full of “stuffy old men.” What’s most interesting is that the report failed to quantify just how out of touch their party has become on a number of issues, from climate change, to marriage equality, to universal background checks, to women’s rights, to the minimum wage, and more.
The GOP thinks they merely have a messaging problem … and just need to change a few words they used to talk about things. HAH! Now that’s a joke and a half. Maybe they should look at their 2012 Platform. Better yet, maybe they should look at what is happening in State Legislatures and what members of their party have introduced in the Congress:
- Restricting access to or insurance reimbursement of costs associated with an abortion;
- Restricting time frames in which a woman could seek an abortion to 12-weeks and in on case, to 6-weeks from conception;
- Mandating the use of transvaginal ultrasounds and other medically unnecessary procedures as a means to shame women;
- Gleefully and gloatingly defunding Planned Parenthood;
- Attempting to elevate “religious” rights above all others to allow zealots to assert their religious rights to deny all types of service and/or medications should it offend “their” personal religious beliefs, making their beliefs superior to yours;
- Continually attempting to repeal Obamacare and providing NO replacement;
- Promoting continued systemic discrimination against the LGBT community, as a whole, via marriage inequality espoused throughout our Nation’s income tax and estate tax structures;
- Attempting to enact one voter suppression tactic after another to disenfranchise voters as well as restricting early voting opportunities;
- Continually filibustering one bill after another, even those introduced by Republicans;
- Blocking Consumer Financial Protection and making multiple attempts to repeal Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform;
- Promoting racial profiling as a means of harassment to convince Hispanics to “self-deport’ ;
- Promoting Personhood for embryos and essentially demoting women’s status to nothing more than an incubator;
- Replacing Democracy with Dictatorships (Overseers);
- Promoting fatherhood visitation rights for rapists.
I’m sure I’ve missed of few other big issues we’ve had to overcome … but need I go on? There’s a politically incorrect term we frequently used when I was in the Navy to define that kind of behavior. The term stars with “cluster.” The GOPs (Grouchy Old Patriarchs) problem is much more than a “messaging” problem. It’s a policy problem and we should cheer them on in pursuit of their messaging delusion. It will most certainly shorten their path to minor party status. We may have a few challenges to overcome in the short run, but we’ll all be much better off in the long run.
Don’t believe me? See for yourself, take your pick, click a pic or two. Read/compare a few — then compare the numbers.
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| GOP 2012 Platform | GOP Growth Opportunites | 2009 Path to Recovery | 2010-Better Solutions |
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| 2010-Pledge to America | P2P v1.0 | P2P v2.0 | P2P v3.0 |
Will ‘Compromise’ Mean Sacrificing Our Social Safety Net?
— by Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary under President Bill Clinton
Disturbing reports that the White House is already caving on Social Security and Medicare — telling Republicans it’s willing to cut yearly inflation adjustments to Social Security (thereby stranding seniors who must already pay 20-40% of their incomes for drugs and healthcare, whose prices are surging faster than inflation); and means-test Medicare (thereby greasing the way for it to become akin to Medicaid, a program for the poor). Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are on board.
But these so-called entitlement programs aren’t entitlements; people have paid into them their whole working lives. They’re the nation’s key programs of social insurance — and they’re wildly popular. Democrats are and should be the protectors of these programs, not the first proponents of reducing them. Republicans, meanwhile, won’t give an inch on closing giant tax loopholes for the rich (such as Mitt Romney’s “carried interest” boondoggle) or raising capital gains on the rich or capping the mortgage interest deduction for the wealthy or adopting a wealth tax or a tax on financial transactions. Why do Democrats always negotiate with themselves? Please send a message to the White House: Stop giving away the store!
Read more from Robert Reich here.
Latest GOP Budget Marks Latest Attack on Women
Budgets are statements of values and priorities. Based on the GOP’s latest budget, apparently the interests of women are not a priority.
Here’s a look at how the GOP budget is bad for women and children.
Here’s a link to a comparison of the numbers of all three versions of Ryan’s Path to Poverty budgets. [Numbers compiled from 112-HCONRES34, 112-HCONRES112, 113-HCONRES###]
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed
- No, lowering taxes doesn’t grow the economy.
- South Carolina GOP lawmaker suggest they blocked Medicaid expansion because Obama is black.
- Is Texas turning blue?
- Even Paul Ryan admits that we’re not facing a debt crisis.
- Latest GOP budget gives millionaires at least a $200,000 tax cut.
- It’s time for the Obama administration to lift its secrecy on drones.
- The new pope’s views on LGBT equality.
- Everything you need to know about the Steubenville rape trial.
- President Obama evolves even further on marriage equality.
This material [the article above] was created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. It was created for the Progress Report, the daily e-mail publication of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Click here to subscribe.
State Legislatures Gone Wild—9 Terrible Proposed State Laws
— by ThinkProgress War Room, March 15, 2013
If you think that irresponsible and outright ridiculous bills only come out of Washington, D.C., think again. Ever since the big GOP wave election in 2010, state legislatures across the country have been racing to pass offensive, unconstitutional, and just outright bizarre laws. Other states long controlled by Republicans are also rushing to pass unconstitutional and ridiculous laws just for good measure, it appears.
Here are 9 terrible proposed state laws:
- NORTH DAKOTA: The state is getting in on the latest anti-abortion fad sweeping the nation: so-called “heartbeat bills” that ban abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected. North Dakota is set to pass a law that bans abortions (at its single remaining abortion clinic) after just six weeks. The law, the most stringent in the nation, is clearly unconstitutional.
- TEXAS: An “avid proponent of tort reform” in the state legislature has proposed a law that will allow people to be served notice of a lawsuit through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
- OKLAHOMA: The Sooner State is still fighting Obamacare and just this week the Oklahoma House passed an unconstitutional Obamacare “nullification” law.
- INDIANA: Newly elected Gov. Mike Pence (R) is pushing for a 10 percent cut in the state’s income tax, something which could gut investments in education and infrastructure. Even Republican legislators are wary, but the Koch Brothers front group, Americans for Prosperity is pushing the proposal.
- MISSISSIPPI: The Magnolia state, which has the highest obesity rate in the nation, passed a so-called “anti-Bloomberg” bill to prevent localities from “enacting rules that require calorie counts to be posted, that cap portion sizes, or that keep toys out of kids’ meals.”
- SOUTH CAROLINA: The Palmetto State said no to expanding Medicaid under Obamacare, which sadly is hardly a novel feat. The South Carolina GOP’s innovation was to explain its motivation for doing so was because the president is black.
- OHIO: Ohio’s radical anti-union law was overturned by a statewide referendum and its anti-voting law was headed for the same fate until the legislature preemptively repealed it on their own. Now Ohio legislators are trying to make it harder for voters to initiate referenda to overturn the radical laws passed by the GOP-controlled legislature.
- NEW HAMPSHIRE: You might think that the 13th amendment to the Constitution is the one that banned slavery, but some Republican legislators in New Hampshire would like to tell you otherwise. They claim the “original 13th amendment” is one that banned people with titles of nobility from holding office and that it was deleted by some sort of conspiracy. They aren’t taking this lying down and have introduced a bill to restore the “original” version, in order “to end the infiltration of the Bar Association and the judicial branch into the executive and legislative branches of government and the unlawful usurpation of the people’s right.”
- IOWA: An Iowa Republican wanted to ban no-fault divorces for couples with children, out of fears that easier divorces may make teenage girls “more promiscuous.” Fortunately, legislative leaders shut that whole thing down.
While some of these bills are laughable, it’s not very funny when they actually become law. In Arkansas, for instance, the legislature just overrode the governor’s veto (which, bizarrely, only requires a simple majority in Arkansas) of a measure banning abortion after 12 weeks. This was briefly the nation’s strictest abortion ban until it was outdone by the North Dakota law mentioned above.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed
- Medicare spending may fix itself even without more spending cuts.
- CPAC attendees blast GOP senator who came out for marriage equality.
- Low-income kids being kicked out of preschool thanks to the sequester.
- Morning Joe blasts Tea Party darling Ted Cruz: ‘Willfully ignorant,’ ‘condescending,’ ‘playing to illiterates.’
- Republican House Appropriations Committee chairman says GOP budget “cuts too much.”
- The true cost of the Iraq War: $2.2 TRILLION, 200,000 lives.
- Senate Democratic budget cuts same amount of spending, raises less revenue than tax plan often touted by the GOP.
- GOP Senate candidate suggests all national non-discrimination laws are unconstitutional.
- Maryland abolished the death penalty, becoming the 18th state to do so.
This material [the article above] was created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. It was created for the Progress Report, the daily e-mail publication of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Click here to subscribe.
Ryan’s Path to Poverty v3.0 = Romney Plan
— by ThinkProgress War Room, March 12, 2013
The New Old GOP Plan That Favors Millionaires Over the Middle Class
As you may recall, we had an election last year in which Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and their ideas were soundly rejected by voters.
Well, one person appears to have not gotten the message: Paul Ryan. Today, Ryan released the latest draconian budget from House Republicans and it is “almost identical to the Republican presidential platform in 2012.”
Here’s a closer at just how closely Ryan hewed to the unpopular and extreme policies he and Romney ran on — and lost.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed
- Paul Ryan’s “The Path to Prosperity, A Responsible Balanced Budget.”
- Paul Ryan’s class warfare on behalf of the rich.
- The top 5 worst things about the GOP budget.
- GOP budget keeps Obamacare’s cuts and taxes, repeals all the benefits.
- The GOP budget maintains 100 year-old tax breaks for Big Oil.
- How the GOP budget will undermine the recovery.
- Paul Ryan cites myth to justify selling off millions of acres of public lands.
- The Koch Brothers might buy several major American newspapers.
- Bill to expand background checks for gun purchases moves to the full Senate.
- Five Guys franchise owner tries to avoid giving his employees health benefits under Obamacare.
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