Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA), pictured above with (from left) Congressman Ander Crenshaw (R-FL) and Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-FL), makes good on a bet with Congresswoman Brown over the winner of the Georgia-Florida game. Congressman Kingston bet Claxton (Georgia) Fruit Cakes to Congresswoman Brown’s Florida oranges. While Congressman Crenshaw now represents northeast Florida in Congress, he attended the University of Georgia on a basketball scholarship.
Last night, Jack returned to Savannah after Saturday’s late night vote to pass Speaker Pelosi’s takeover of the nation’s health care. WTOC’s The Newsand WJCL/WTGS’s The Coastal Source were on hand to cover his return and get an update on health care. To view the clips, click below:
The Republican Conference points out that Speaker Pelosi’s Government Takeover of Health Care: Special Interest Groups Get Treats—While the American People Get Tricked.
Many may find the release of House Democrats’ health “reform” legislation the week of Halloween particularly apt, as the legislation includes several “monstrous” provisions likely to wreak havoc on the American people, their jobs, and their health care:
Werewolf of Government-Run Insurance
Count Taxula
Weird Scientists
Frankenstein
A Ghoulish Czar
While Halloween may come and go, many may be concerned that the monsters created in the bill will stay—causing permanent fright for all Americans forced to live under Democrats’ government takeover of health care.
Read about these “monstrous” provisions click here.
As we noted earlier, Speaker Pelosi’s “public” unveiling ceremony on the steps of the Capitol wasn’t quite so public as one would think.
Republican Whip Eric Cantor aptly points out that conventional wisdom would say that the “public” unveiling of the public option on the steps of public property would involve public access. Not so in Washington.
Congressman calls for same transparency on all legislation
The U.S. House of Representatives this week approved a measure offered by Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) that would require the Agriculture spending bill be made available on the Internet for at least 72 hours before coming to a vote. Citing the overwhelming 359-42 margin by which his motion was passed, Congressman Kingston called for the same standard to be applied to every bill considered by Congress.
“While this bill may stand up to congressional scrutiny, the American people also deserve to know what their elected representatives are doing,” Congressman Kingston said. “In the past year, we’ve seen bills like the ‘Wall Street Bailout,’ the President’s failed economic ‘stimulus’ and ‘Cap and Tax’ rushed through the House with little time for members or the public to read and fully understand what we’re voting on. I think almost everyone would agree with me that allowing members of Congress to read bills isn’t a radical idea.”
While hosting health care town halls in Adel and Valdosta, Jack got the chance yesterday to see Ashleigh Kenny again. In case you haven’t read about her yet, liberal blogs launched vicious attacks against Ashleigh after posing in this picture with Jack.
We gave the 21 year old student at Valdosta State University the chance to respond in this post which was picked up by Erick Erickson at RedState. Jack also weighed in with this note.
Pictured above, Ashleigh and Jack pose with the T-Shirt seen ’round the world in front of a billboard which was donated to Ashleigh by one of her many fans.
Congressman Kingston is the Co-Chair of the Media Fairness Caucus. The goals of the caucus center on stressing the need for objective and fair reporting. The caucus focuses on finding better ways for elected officials and the media to communicate openly in order to encourage fairness and balance in reporting. To view the September update click on the icon below.
In case you missed it, Jack was on Fox Business Network’s Cavuto last night discussing his ongoing efforts to bring more transparency and accountability to President Obama’s unprecedented use of czars.
Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1) will appear on Fox Business Channel’s Cavuto on Business tonight at 6:30 to discuss his ongoing efforts to bring accountability and transparency to President Obama’s czars.
Congressman Kingston has been a leading voice in this effort and later today will lead a press conference of House Republicans in a call to action.
For more information, click here or check your local listings.
Democrats have repeatedly pledged H.R. 3200 will expand insurance options and preserve Americans’ ability to keep the insurance they have and like. However, the language in H.R. 3200 doesn’t support this empty rhetoric.
Today, 11 million seniors, or 22% of all Medicare beneficiaries, are enrolled in a Medicare health plan, called Medicare Advantage. Under current law, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that 14 million seniors would choose to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan by 2019.
Because of the Medicare cuts contained in Section 1161 of H.R. 3200, CBO estimates that only 8 million seniors would be enrolled in these plans in 2019. This means that:
3 million seniors who are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans will be forced out of that plan due to the policies in H.R. 3200 that will rob them of choice or make their MA plan too costly to afford, forcing them back into the one-size fits all government-run program.
An additional 3 million seniors, whom CBO predicts would otherwise enroll in Medicare Advantage, will not enroll because they will no longer have access to an affordable plan.
A total of 6 million seniors will be denied access to an affordable Medicare Advantage plan because of H.R. 3200.
H.R. 3200 violates the Democrats’ and President Obama’s oft-repeated pledge that if you like what you have you can keep it and penalizes seniors in order to pay for a massive government health care expansion.
Currently, all seniors have access to at least one Medicare Advantage plan. However, according to the independent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) the Democrats’ plan will result in 1 in 5 seniors no longer having access to any Medicare Advantage plans. Their choice will be taken away.
Furthermore, MedPAC predicts that the value of additional benefits that seniors receive through Medicare Advantage will be slashed by $252 per year. These additional benefits include protections against high out-of-pocket costs, vision and dental coverage, and free preventive care and cancer screenings.
Seniors living in rural areas will be disproportionately harmed by H.R. 3200. These seniors will be more likely to see significant premium increases, greater reductions in benefits, and are the most at risk for having no access to Medicare Advantage plans.
H.R. 3200’s cuts to Medicare will force seniors out of the plans they like, rob many seniors of the option of choosing Medicare Advantage, and substantially reduce the benefits offered by these plans while increasing seniors’ health care costs.
In case you missed it, Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1) appeared on MSNBC today to react to the President’s speech to the nation’s school children and to discuss health care.
At 17 percent of our economy - $2.4 trillion - America’s health care system is larger than the gross domestic product of 200 countries including the United Kingdom, Canada and Russia. Changing our delivery system is an enormous task.
The debate did not start with President Obama. Twelve years ago, Republicans in Congress and President Clinton enacted sweeping reforms that created Medicare Advantage and a new children’s health insurance program, SCHIP, was started.
In 2004, President Bush created Medicare Part D to help seniors get life-saving medicine. In the last session of Congress, 2,000 bills were introduced to deal with health care. While we may disagree on the route, everyone wants to make health care more affordable and accessible.
It’s been six months since President Obama launched a $787 billion plan to right the nation’s economy. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows that the majority of Americans think his plan of new federal aid has cost too much and done too little to end the recession.
• 57% of adults say the stimulus package is having no impact on the economy or making it worse
• 60% doubt that the stimulus plan will help the economy in the years ahead
• 18% say it has done anything to help improve their personal situation
