March 23rd marks one year since President Obama signed the new health spending bill into law. In spite of the staggering costs associated with the bill, the president and Congressional Democrats promised again and again over the past year that if they could only explain the law a little better the American people would get on board. But no amount of spin can mask a bad idea.
A March 2011 poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports found that support for repeal of the health spending law has reached its highest level since May of last year. In response, the Obama Administration has scheduled nearly a half dozen cabinet members to hold events across the country to sell the American people on this deeply flawed bill. Despite the president's attempts to win the country over, the American public understands the serious consequences of the health spending law, namely its effect on the U.S. economy.
Our country's national debt is now more than $14 trillion, and the new law will spend an additional $2.6 trillion during the first decade it is fully implemented. Additionally, with our national unemployment hovering around nine percent, the health spending law threatens to decrease the American work force by approximately 800,000 jobs over the next 10 years. Instead of promoting private sector job growth, the new law will require the hiring of approximately 1,270 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) bureaucrats to implement the law.
The health spending law has not only proved devastating for our national economy, but has also had a direct effect on individual states. Obamacare is expected to impose nearly $118 billion worth of new requirements on state budgets just to implement the mandated Medicaid expansion. States will be forced to add an estimated 20 million people nationwide to their Medicaid rolls, which will only increase the heavy burden this law has put on states' backs. South Dakota alone will be forced to add 52,064 people to our state's Medicaid program, which was recently cut due to existing budget constraints.
While the Obama Administration continues its push to sell this massive government takeover, the American people continue to face the harsh realities of this law.
In recent months, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have begun to publicly acknowledge the need to repeal some of the most egregious sections of the health law, including the costly 1099 paperwork mandate, which requires all businesses, charities, churches, and state and local governments to file a 1099 tax form with the IRS every time they purchase $600 or more in goods from other businesses. Despite the passage of bipartisan 1099 repeal bills in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, an exact bill has yet to be passed, and the mandate has yet to be repealed.
In addition to final passage of 1099 repeal, I plan to use my seats on both the Senate Finance and Senate Budget Committees to repeal another troublesome provision of the health spending law, the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Act. This long-term care entitlement program was recently described by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as "totally unsustainable." I have asked for a Budget hearing on the CLASS Act, which Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad has described as "a Ponzi scheme of the first order," and will continue to work to find ways to repeal this unaffordable program.
A March 2011 poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports found that support for repeal of the health spending law has reached its highest level since May of last year. In response, the Obama Administration has scheduled nearly a half dozen cabinet members to hold events across the country to sell the American people on this deeply flawed bill. Despite the president's attempts to win the country over, the American public understands the serious consequences of the health spending law, namely its effect on the U.S. economy.
Our country's national debt is now more than $14 trillion, and the new law will spend an additional $2.6 trillion during the first decade it is fully implemented. Additionally, with our national unemployment hovering around nine percent, the health spending law threatens to decrease the American work force by approximately 800,000 jobs over the next 10 years. Instead of promoting private sector job growth, the new law will require the hiring of approximately 1,270 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) bureaucrats to implement the law.
The health spending law has not only proved devastating for our national economy, but has also had a direct effect on individual states. Obamacare is expected to impose nearly $118 billion worth of new requirements on state budgets just to implement the mandated Medicaid expansion. States will be forced to add an estimated 20 million people nationwide to their Medicaid rolls, which will only increase the heavy burden this law has put on states' backs. South Dakota alone will be forced to add 52,064 people to our state's Medicaid program, which was recently cut due to existing budget constraints.
While the Obama Administration continues its push to sell this massive government takeover, the American people continue to face the harsh realities of this law.
In recent months, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have begun to publicly acknowledge the need to repeal some of the most egregious sections of the health law, including the costly 1099 paperwork mandate, which requires all businesses, charities, churches, and state and local governments to file a 1099 tax form with the IRS every time they purchase $600 or more in goods from other businesses. Despite the passage of bipartisan 1099 repeal bills in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, an exact bill has yet to be passed, and the mandate has yet to be repealed.
In addition to final passage of 1099 repeal, I plan to use my seats on both the Senate Finance and Senate Budget Committees to repeal another troublesome provision of the health spending law, the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Act. This long-term care entitlement program was recently described by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as "totally unsustainable." I have asked for a Budget hearing on the CLASS Act, which Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad has described as "a Ponzi scheme of the first order," and will continue to work to find ways to repeal this unaffordable program.