With arm-twisting from President Barack Obama, 219 Democrat members of the House of Representatives — with 216 needed for passage — have approved catastrophically costly ObamaCare.
There is a promise to spend a trillion dollars the government doesn’t have. That will mean more debt, more interest payments and more taxes on Americans.
Was it wise to add a trillion dollars of spending obligations when our national debt was already $12.5 trillion?
Was it wise to vote to spend an additional trillion dollars when the budget deficit is $1.5 trillion?
Even 34 Democrat representatives didn’t think so. They joined all 178 Republicans against such financial irresponsibility.
Tennessee Republican Reps. Zach Wamp, John Duncan, Marsha Blackburn and Phil Roe responsibly voted against the enormous, unfunded bill.
Tennessee Democrat Reps. Lincoln Davis and John Tanner also voted responsibly against it.
Tennessee Democrat Reps. Steve Cohen, Jim Cooper and Bart Gordon unfortunately voted for it.
In Georgia, all Republicans, including neighboring Rep. Nathan Deal, voted against it. Two Georgia Democrats — Reps. John Barrow and Jim Marshall responsibly opposed it. Four other Democrats unfortunately voted for it.
All Alabama representatives — Democrats as well as Republicans — soundly voted against it.
Unbelievably, those voting for the bad bill pretended it would cut deficits $138 billion — over a decade. After the spending occurs, and that myth is proved unfounded, the deficit damage long will have been done.
The terribly bad bill does not specifically ban the use of taxpayers’ money to pay for killing unwanted babies through abortion. The only “protection” is an Obama “executive order” — not law — saying no tax funds shall be used for the “elective” killing of babies. What about “after Obama?”
Do you believe this bill will “reduce” costs when it promises to cover 32 million people who do not have medical insurance? No one really knows what the ultimate costs will be.
There will be fines for some who do not choose to buy insurance. That’s something new, penalizing people for not buying.
There will be subsidies for some families earning less than $88,000 a year.
The claim is that 95 percent of our people under 65 will be “covered.” That’s desirable — but must be paid for by the people — through taxes, debt or both.
This bill most unwisely imposes atrocious costs upon our national economy in a time of very serious recession.