Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, Feb. 3, 2010
With a new stimulus jobs bill in motion and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on the line, President Obama is still trying to reset the play clock on health care reform. Yesterday, he made it clear who was calling the plays, saying that Congress is still huddling on the plan’s “minor” problems. At a townhall meeting in New Hampshire, the Sports Fan-in-Chief used every football analogy in the book. 
Health care reform is on “the five yard line,” he promised. (Maybe this is fantasy football?) “We’re in the red zone,” he said. “We’ve got to punch it through.” Well, they’re in the red zone all right–but only when it comes to cost.
While the President says the bill is “90%” there, most Americans would argue that he’s 100% wrong. He can try the hurry-up offense, the quarterback sneak, but none of it will change the fact that the legislation has been blown dead in its current form with taxpayer-funded abortion, higher premiums, new taxes, rationing, state-driven bribery, and trillions in the bottom line. Yet, as the President told New England yesterday, “[I]t’s not over.”
As recently as yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced that Democrats will try to eat up small yardage by scheduling votes on popular slivers of the bill like antitrust laws. According to Politico, “The vote is part of her new two-track strategy to tackle things that won’t be included in a more sweeping bill…while giving her members something politically popular to vote on.” In the meantime, both chambers are pouring over their playbooks to find a reasonable way to move forward. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was less optimistic. “Don’t pin me down as to days or number of weeks,” he said.
Speaking of switching teams, a U.S. tax court handed down a ridiculous ruling yesterday on a man’s sex-change operation, ordering the government to accept a $5,000 tax deduction of the costs. In its decision, the court rebuked the IRS for dismissing it as a legitimate medical claim. Attorneys for the IRS argued that the surgery was “cosmetic,” not a medical necessity. If the ruling stands, however, it could have sweeping implications for taxpayers and the transgender community–particularly since “gender identity disorder” (still considered a mental illness by the American Psychological Association), would not only be legitimized by the federal government–but subsidized as well. Welcome to ObamaCare.
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU10B03&f=PG07J01
Obama Fumbles after Health Care Blitz
Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, Feb. 3, 2010
With a new stimulus jobs bill in motion and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on the line, President Obama is still trying to reset the play clock on health care reform. Yesterday, he made it clear who was calling the plays, saying that Congress is still huddling on the plan’s “minor” problems. At a townhall meeting in New Hampshire, the Sports Fan-in-Chief used every football analogy in the book.
Health care reform is on “the five yard line,” he promised. (Maybe this is fantasy football?) “We’re in the red zone,” he said. “We’ve got to punch it through.” Well, they’re in the red zone all right–but only when it comes to cost.
While the President says the bill is “90%” there, most Americans would argue that he’s 100% wrong. He can try the hurry-up offense, the quarterback sneak, but none of it will change the fact that the legislation has been blown dead in its current form with taxpayer-funded abortion, higher premiums, new taxes, rationing, state-driven bribery, and trillions in the bottom line. Yet, as the President told New England yesterday, “[I]t’s not over.”
As recently as yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced that Democrats will try to eat up small yardage by scheduling votes on popular slivers of the bill like antitrust laws. According to Politico, “The vote is part of her new two-track strategy to tackle things that won’t be included in a more sweeping bill…while giving her members something politically popular to vote on.” In the meantime, both chambers are pouring over their playbooks to find a reasonable way to move forward. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was less optimistic. “Don’t pin me down as to days or number of weeks,” he said.
Speaking of switching teams, a U.S. tax court handed down a ridiculous ruling yesterday on a man’s sex-change operation, ordering the government to accept a $5,000 tax deduction of the costs. In its decision, the court rebuked the IRS for dismissing it as a legitimate medical claim. Attorneys for the IRS argued that the surgery was “cosmetic,” not a medical necessity. If the ruling stands, however, it could have sweeping implications for taxpayers and the transgender community–particularly since “gender identity disorder” (still considered a mental illness by the American Psychological Association), would not only be legitimized by the federal government–but subsidized as well. Welcome to ObamaCare.
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU10B03&f=PG07J01