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Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of the National Campaign to Stop Violence, the Utah Association of Conservation Districts, Tobacco-Free Kids, Red Wing, Salt Lake City, and CenturyLink.

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Senate Republican Conference:

U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, today said a new report by Ernst & Young is further evidence that President Barack Obama's small business tax hike would kill jobs and hurt the economy. The new study found that the president's proposed tax hike on nearly one million businesses would slash over 700,000 jobs, shrink the economy by 1.3 percent, reduce investment by 2.4 percent, and cut wages by nearly 2 percent.

“This report further confirms that President Obama's small business tax hike is a direct attack on the middle class," said Thune. "More than 700,000 Americans stand to lose their jobs if the president has his way and taxes are increased on nearly one million businesses nationwide. Many American families are struggling to make ends meet, yet the president's tax hike threatens to cut wages by nearly 2 percent.

“With over 23 million unemployed or underemployed, America cannot afford President Obama's election-year small business tax hike. Just two years ago, President Obama said allowing taxes to increase would have been "a blow to our economy" and 40 Senate Democrats agreed. Economic growth is worse today than it was in 2010. Raising taxes was a bad idea then, and it's a bad idea now.”

On Twitter

Here is my mobile office schedule for July.We invite all Utahns to take advantage of this great resource: ow.ly/bZXJ1 #utpol

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 16, 2012

MT @joecienkowski: @SenMikeLee thank you, and God bless for standing for America against this LOST treaty. shows our Pres and Dems are lost

— Brian Phillips (@SenLeeComs) July 17, 2012

@KeriKSL That's actually our own photo! We found that the small cups make it easy to serve. Come by for some if you're ever in DC!

— Emily Bennion (@SenLeePressSec) July 17, 2012

Around the Water Cooler

‘7 Habits’ gave business guru Stephen R. Covey fame, fortune

Perhaps the most well-known Utahn of his generation, Stephen R. Covey catapulted himself to international fame and fortune with the 1989 publication of his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People."

DeMint: Law of the Sea treaty now dead

The United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty now has 34 senators opposed to it and thus lacks the Senate votes needed for U.S. ratification, a key opponent of the treaty announced Monday.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of the Assistive Technology Program, Christians United for Israel, the Ute Indian Tribe, and National Teenage Republicans. He will also host a Jell-O bar for office visitors at 3:30 PM EDT (1:30 MDT).

Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of Utah Metal Works. He will also attend a Judiciary hearing at 9:30 AM EDT (7:30 MDT) host a Jell-O bar for office visitors at 3:30 PM EDT (1:30 MDT).

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee:

Last week, the New York Times reported on a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, which found that the number of women in their 40s obtaining mammograms declined “in the year after an expert panel’s recommendation that women delay regular breast cancer screenings until age 50.”  The “expert panel” in question is the US Preventive Services Task Force – referenced 21 different times in Obamacare, and granted the power by the law to set federal coverage standards for preventive coverage by insurers.

The Mayo study leads to the unsurprising conclusion that if a government board decides a treatment is not “approved,” people will receive less of that treatment.  Empowering a government board will decrease access to preventive care screenings, as insurance companies will likely follow the directives of a federally-backed panel.  So rather than keeping choices between patients and doctors, Washington has effectively short-circuited that process, because the rulings of a government board will lead insurance companies to stop covering preventive treatments.

Unfortunately, it’s not just access to mammograms that may be affected – prostate cancer screening may well be next.  Earlier this year, the US Preventive Services Task Force released its final recommendations regarding prostate cancer screening.  Even before the Task Force’s draft recommendations were issued last October, insurers were already re-evaluating whether or not to cover screening tests in light of the Task Force’s decision. 

Yet even as the recommendations from the Preventive Services Task Force have reduced the use of preventive care screenings, the Administration has been promoting “preventive services” elsewhere.  Over the past several months, HHS has been handing out grants from Obamacare’s prevention new “slush fund” to finance things like jungle gyms, bike paths, and crosswalks.  So when it comes to prevention funding from this Administration, the mantra appears to be “Mammograms, no; jungle gyms, yes!”

On Twitter

@SenateDems are obstructing a vote on President Obama's #tax plan that would raise taxes on almost 1 million small businesses. #tcot

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 11, 2012

.@SenateDems, why are you filibustering the President's signature tax plan? GOP is ready to vote. Stop the #obstruction.

— Brian Phillips (@SenLeeComs) July 11, 2012

.@SenMikeLee questioning at #Judiciary hearing on oversight of impact on competition of #patents bit.ly/w3rCIo #antitrust

— Emily Bennion (@SenLeePressSec) July 11, 2012

Repealing #Obamacare got more votes from #Democrats than #Obama's own #budget. #ACA #tcot #tlot

— Joe Tauke (@SenLeeResearch) July 11, 2012

Around the Water Cooler

Another California city opts for bankruptcy

As recently as last month, no city in California had opted for bankruptcy since 2008, and no U.S. city of more than 200,000 people had ever chosen that route.

Report: Thousands fled Canada for health care in 2011

A Canadian study released Wednesday found that many provinces in our neighbor to the North have seen patients fleeing the country and opting for medical treatment in the United States.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of Orthodox Union and the National Youth Leaders Conference. He will also attend two Foreign Relations Committee hearings.

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

Here is my mobile office schedule for July.We invite all Utahns to take advantage of this great resource: ow.ly/bZXwo #utpol

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 9, 2012

Btw, O's budget has $2T in tax hikes. Does he pay down the debt with that? Nope. Uses it to fuel new spending. So why believe him now?

— Brian Phillips (@SenLeeComs) July 9, 2012

That explains the cake for breakfast! MT @OKnox: today is the birthday of the marvelous @ShawnaNBCNews. Happy Birthday!

— Emily Bennion (@SenLeePressSec) July 10, 2012

#Smallbusiness confidence plunges by most in two years: fxn.ws/NGACrd #ObamaIsntWorking #jobs #economy #tcot #tlot

— Joe Tauke (@SenLeeResearch) July 10, 2012

Around the Water Cooler

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).