Friday, March 1, 2013

Defund Obamacare Now!

Red State - Cross-posted from The Madison Project:

Next week House Republicans plan to bring a Continuing Resolution to the floor, which will fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year. If nothing is done to stop them, GOP leaders plan to put forth a clean CR that funds Obamacare. This is unacceptable.

With health insurance premiums skyrocketing, employers dumping workers from health plans, and new reports predicting trillions in new debt as a result of Obamacare, we must defund this behemoth before it fully takes effect next year. Many of the new members pledged to defund Obamacare, yet they have dithered for two years in the hopes that it would be struck down by the Supreme Court or that Republicans would win the White House. In fact, 105 current members of the House GOP Conference signed a letter last August committing to defund Obamacare.

Let’s not be fooled, if Obamacare is allowed to take effect for one year, it will be impossible to reform Medicare, roll back dependency, and balance the budget. This is the GOP Waterloo. There’s nothing worth fighting for if we allow the motherload of entitlements to take effect. Before we make empty promises about reforming popular entitlements that are over 50 years old, let’s muster the courage to draw a line in the sand on a new entitlement that is still unpopular with the public.

Reps. Jim Bridenstine (OK) and Tim Huelskamp (KS) have the courage of their convictions to abide by their campaign promises. They are circulating a letter to their colleagues requesting leadership to defund Obamacare through the CR. Remember that this will not be a clean CR anyway. The White House has already requested dozens of spending “anomalies” to increase funds for pet projects. Well, defunding Obamacare at the HHS and IRS should be our request.

What does the HHS do with this extra discretionary funding? They have just finalized 700 pages of new healthcare regulations. There is no way our nation will ever recover from that. Healthcare is the biggest part of the private economy and the federal budget. This is the one thing that is worth fighting for. This will be our last chance to block Obamacare.

Take action: Please call the Republican members of the House, particularly the 105 members mentioned in this article, and request that they sign onto the Bridenstine-Huelskamp letter and commit to voting against any budget bill that funds Obamacare.

Democrats were willing to pass this 2700-page abomination despite the political risks. Our members should have the courage to defund and disrupt its implementation while the public is feeling the pain of rising costs as a result of the law. We must all watch this upcoming vote carefully and be prepared to replace some of the ineffective members in upcoming primaries.

When it comes to Obamacare, we must remember Ronald Reagan’s indelible warning, “if not us, then who? And if not now, when?”

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