Small Business Owners Besieged -- Day Lee Briefing 7/10/2012

Jul 10, 2012

From the Senator’s Desk

In comments in Ohio late last week, President Obama criticized Republicans for “playing politics” by recognizing the fact that the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare’s individual mandate ONLY AS A TAX INCREASE.  He criticized the idea that political pressure would compel someone to change their position on the status of the mandate.  He claimed he would “make no apologies” for the individual mandate in Obamacare, and also went so far as to say the following:  “One of the things that you learn as president is that what you say matters and your principles matter.…And sometimes, you've got to fight for things that you believe in and you can't just switch on a dime.”

Which is interesting, because in 2009 the President said that “For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase….George, the fact that you looked up Merriam’s Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you’re stretching a little bit right now.  Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition.”

But two years later, in January 2012, here’s what the Obama Administration argued in federal court – take a look at the headings on page 52 of the government’s appeals court brief in the case of HHS v. Florida (emphasis in the original):

 

THE MINIMUM COVERAGE PROVISION IS INDEPEND­ENTLY AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS’S TAXING POWER

The Minimum Coverage Provision Operates As A Tax Law

 

Why did President Obama and his Administration change positions – twice – on the individual mandate, saying the mandate was not a tax increase before passage, arguing before federal courts it was a tax increase after the law passed, and then arguing for the past week-plus the mandate isn’t a tax increase?  Well, George Stephanopoulos knows why.  In an exchange with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on his show last week, the Democrat journalist admitted that such flip-floppery was the only way to get the law passed in the first place:

RYAN:  The president on your show said this is not a tax.  Then he sent his solicitor general to the Supreme Court to argue that it is a tax in order to get this past the Supreme Court….Believe me, if this was brought to the public as a tax, there's no way this law would have passed into law in the first place.  That's what's so frustrating and disappointing with this law.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I think you may be right about that.

So you tell me: Who’s the one playing politics here?

 

On Twitter

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Why small business owners feel besieged

The National Federation of Independent Business released its business optimism index Tuesday, its gauge of confidence among small businesses.

 

Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare

Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.

 

Looking Ahead

 

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of Utah Metal Works. He will also host a Jell-O bar for office visitors at 3:30 PM EDT (1:30 MDT).

August 2012 - Mobile Office Schedule

Jul 10, 2012

1.  Mobile Office Visit to Uintah County
When: Wednesday 1 August 2012 @ 10 AM – 12 PM
Where:  Naples, Utah @ Naples City Hall, 1420 East 2850 South, Naples, Utah 84078 (Council Chambers)

2.  Mobile Office Visit to Uintah County
When: Wednesday 1 August 2012 @ 1 PM – 3 PM
Where: Vernal, Utah @ Uintah County Building, 147 East Main Street, Vernal, Utah 84078  (Commission Chambers)

3.  Mobile Office Visit to Daggett County
When: Thursday 2 August 2012 @ 10 AM – 12 PM
Where: Manila, Utah @ Daggett County Courthouse, 95 North 1st West, Manila, Utah 84046 (Commission Chambers)

4.  Mobile Office Visit to Daggett County
When: Thursday 2 August 2012 @ 1 PM – 3 PM
Where: Spirit Lake, Utah @ Spirit Lake Lodge, Spirit Lake Road, Daggett County, Utah 84023 (Lodge Dining Room)[Business/Constituent Outreach]

5.  Mobile Office Visit to Wasatch County
When: Wednesday 8 August 2012 @ 10 AM – 12:00 PM
Where: Charleston, Utah @ Charleston Town Hall, 3454 West 3400 South, Charleston, Utah 84032 (Town Hall Room)

6.  Mobile Office Visit to Wasatch County
When:  Wednesday 8 August 2012 @ 1 PM - 3 PM
Where: Heber City, Utah @ Wasatch County Administration Building, 25 North Main Street, Heber City, Utah 84032 (Commission Chambers)

7.  Mobile Office Visit to Utah County
When: Thursday 9 August 2012 @ 10 AM – 12 PM
Where:  Orem, Utah @ Orem City Center, 56 North State Street, Orem, Utah 84057 (Conference Room)

8.  Mobile Office Visit to Utah County
When: Thursday 9 August 2012 @ 1 PM – 3 PM
Where: Provo, Utah @ Provo City Center, 351 West Center Street, Provo, Utah 84601 (Council Chambers) 

9.  Mobile Office Visit to Rich County
When: Tuesday 21 August 2012 @ 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM 
Where: Laketown, Utah @ Laketown Office, 20 North 200 East, Laketown, Utah 84038 (Conference Room)
10.  Mobile Office Visit to Rich County
When:  Tuesday 21 August 2012 @ 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where: Garden City, Utah @  Town of Garden City, 69 North Paradise Parkway, Building C, Garden City, Utah 84028 (Lakeview Room)
11.  Mobile Office Visit to Cache County
When: Wednesday 22 August 2012 @ 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Where:  Hyrum, Utah @ Hyrum City Hall, 83 West Main Street, Hyrum, Utah 84319  (Council Chambers)
12.  Mobile Office Visit to Cache County
When: Wednesday 22 August 2012 @ 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where: Nibley, Utah @ Nibley City Office, 455 West 3200 South, Nibley, Utah 84321 (Council Chambers)
13.  Mobile Office Visit to Morgan County
When: Thursday 23 August 2012 @ 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Where: Morgan, Utah @ Morgan County Couthouse, 48 West Young Street, Morgan, Utah 84050 (Council Room)
14.  Mobile Office Business Outreach Courtesy Visit to Morgan County
When: Thursday 23 August 2012 @ 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where: Mountain Green, Utah @  Browning Arms Company, 6175 North Cottonwood Canyon Road, Mountain Green, Utah 84050 

Out of Work -- Day Lee Briefing 7/09/2012

Jul 9, 2012

From the Senator’s Desk

 

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House panel probes UN agency’s tech shipments

A House panel launched an investigation Monday into whether a U.N. agency sent computers and other technology to Iran and North Korea in possible violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions.

 

Perry: Texas won’t expand Medicaid

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Monday his state won't expand Medicaid or set up an insurance exchange, joining a growing number of Republican governors who are rejecting two key parts of President Obama's health care law.

Obama isn't Working -- Day Lee Briefing 7/06/2012

Jul 6, 2012

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Senate Republican Conference:

June Jobs Report: 8.2 Percent Unemployment

The Obama Economy Isn’t Working

 

  • Today’s jobs report confirms what millions of Americans already know: the Obama economy isn’t working.
  •  President Obama’s failed policies have led to the worst recovery since WWII.
  •  Republicans have solutions to grow the economy and help create jobs.

 

Millions continue to suffer under the Obama economy:

  • The president promised his nearly $1-trillion stimulus would keep unemployment below 8 percent, but June marks 41 straight months of unemployment at or above 8 percent.
  • Over 23 million Americans remain unemployed or underemployed. Almost 5.4 million have been out of work for over one year. 
  • A less-than-expected 80,000 jobs were created in June, well below the 150,000 new jobs needed each month just to keep up with population growth.

 

President Obama’s policies have led to the worst recovery since WWII:

  • Over the past 28 months, President Obama has the worst private sector job creation record of any recovery since WWII.
  • Under the president’s policies, GDP growth is the slowest of any recovery since WWII.

 

Republicans have a better way:

  • Reform the tax code to fuel economic growth.
  •  Increase energy security to create homegrown American jobs.
  •  Cut reckless government spending.
  • Stop job-killing regulations.
  • Repeal ObamaCare and enact common-sense, step-by-step reforms that protect Americans’ access to the care they need, from the doctor they choose, at a lower cost.

 

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GOP teachers balk at Obama-centric NEA convention

It had all the trappings of a re-election rally: thousands packing a convention center, Barack Obama T-shirts, videos celebrating the health care law, and a wall-size banner with encouraging messages to the incumbent president.

 

June jobs report misses expectations, unemployment 8.2%

U.S. payrolls expanded by just 80,000 net jobs in June keeping the unemployment rate flat at 8.2 percent, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.

 

Celebrating our Independence -- Day Lee Briefing 7/05/2012

Jul 5, 2012

From the Senator’s Desk

 

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Obama remains silent while spokesman denies mandate is a tax

In an interview on CNN Thursday morning, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said that President Obama disagrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling that the individual mandate in Obamacare is a tax.

 

France: Ready to jump ship

Roger, a senior expatriate executive working for an international company in Paris, is thinking seriously of taking a walk down David Cameron’s “red carpet”.

Facilitating the Unfettered Expansion of Government -- Day Lee Briefing 7/3/2012

Jul 3, 2012

Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will appear on the Fox News Channel special Out of Work, which will air at 9:00 PM EDT (7:00 MDT).

 

From the Senator’s Desk

 

On Twitter

Around the Water Cooler

Celebrating Independence Day without breaking the bank

The Fourth of July is almost here but celebrating Independence Day doesn't have to be pricey.

 

Government Motors: As GM shares near record low, taxpayer loss on bailout rises to $35 billion

To quote Lando Calrissian, this deal's getting worse all the time.

 

More Supreme Court Analysis -- Day Lee Briefing 7/02/2012

Jul 2, 2012

Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will be a guest on Fox News Channel’s America Live at 1:15 PM EDT (11:15 AM MDT).

 

From the Senator’s Desk

 

On Twitter

Around the Water Cooler

Utah about to claim a bit more congressional clout

The internal party warfare is over, the ballot is set and now Utahns have until November to decide who they want representing them in Congress.

 

US manufacturing shrinks for first time in 3 years

U.S. manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in nearly three years, a troubling sign as evidence builds that economic growth is slowing.

A Hollow Victory for ObamaCare

Jul 2, 2012

This morning the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  But I believe it will ultimately prove to be a hollow and short-lived victory for the health care law.  

I believe it will prove hollow because the Supreme Court was able to find the individual mandate constitutional only through a series of extraordinary logical gymnastics that led the Court to conclude that the mandate is actually a tax.  But, of course, members of Congress did not vote to pass the ACA as a tax.  Nor did the American people understand it to be a tax.  Indeed, President Obama himself flatly stated that the individual mandate “is absolutely not a tax increase”—that “nobody” considers it a tax.

As Justice Kennedy noted in his dissent, “[i]mposing a tax through judicial legislation inverts the constitutional scheme, and places the power to tax in the branch of government least accountable to the citizenry.”  There is simply no way that the ACA would have become law had the American public and their representatives understood it as a tax.

As a result, I believe the practical effect of today’s Supreme Court decision upholding the mandate will be short-lived.  As numerous public opinion polls confirm, the majority of citizens already oppose the individual mandate.  As more Americans come to understand the individual mandate as a middle-class tax hike, it will only become more unpopular.  According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, at least 75 percent of the penalties or “taxes” imposed by the individual mandate will fall on hard-working Americans who make less than $250,000.  In making choices at the ballot box this November, I believe the American people simply will not stand for the ACA to remain the law of the land.

When we look back at today’s decision in the coming months and years, it may ultimately be regarded less as a victory for the Affordable Care Act and instead as an important recognition and validation of the freedoms protected by our constitutional structure.  The Court’s decision today upheld the individual mandate as a tax, but it also validated fundamental principles of limited government and federalism.   

A majority of the justices rightfully concluded that Congress had exceeded its regulatory authority under the Commerce Clause by attempting to impose the individual mandate as a government directive.  As Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion explained, “The power to regulate commerce presupposes the existence of commercial activity to be regulated. . . . Construing the Commerce Clause to permit Congress to regulate individuals precisely because they are doing nothing would open a new and potentially vast domain to congressional authority. . . . That is not the country the Framers of our Constitution envisioned.” 

In so holding, the majority opinion expressly embraced the limiting implications of the distinction between activity and inactivity, put forward by critics of the Act.  The Court noted that although its Commerce Clause jurisprudence throughout much of the last century had been notoriously expansive, even at its most expansive in cases like Wickard v. Filburn, it had always limited Congress to regulating preexisting activity.  The ACA, by contrast, impermissibly attempted to reach inactivity.  The Court refused to countenance such limitless congressional regulatory power. 

Today’s ruling also includes an important precedent upholding the right of the States not to be coerced into administering federal regulatory programs.  The Court held that the manner in which the ACA sought to expand Medicaid violates the Constitution and our nation’s system of federalism.  The federal government may not bully the States into expanding Medicaid coverage by threatening to take away all preexisting Medicaid funding.  As the federal government increasingly attempts to circumvent the Constitution by coercing States through funding threats, this aspect of the Court’s opinion may prove to have enormous significance.

For now, the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ACA’s individual mandate as a tax puts the call to action squarely back on the people’s elected leaders in Congress.  As the majority opinion reminded, the Court “possesses neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments.  Those decisions are entrusted to our nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them.”

Without a single Republican vote, Congress enacted an intrusive and burdensome mandate on the American people—a mandate that is hugely unpopular and has the potential to do our country great harm.  The individual mandate violates basic American freedoms and personal liberty in a way no Congress had before attempted in the 225 year-history of our Republic.

With a new administration and new leadership in Congress, we can repeal the ACA and restore individual liberty to all Americans.

Click here to read article as originally published in the National Review

Senator Lee Reacts to Supreme Court Healthcare Decision -- Day Lee Briefing 6/29/2012

Jun 29, 2012

The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act left Utah Republicans stunned and disappointed, but not demoralized, as they said the ruling will help galvanize conservative voters and eventually lead to the law’s demise.

Healthcare Bill Upheld -- Day Lee Briefing 6/28/2012

Jun 28, 2012

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld virtually all of President Barack Obama’s historic health care overhaul, including the hotly debated core requirement that nearly every American have health insurance.