Tea Party Action 5.16

8/6/2019 Tea Party Action 5.16

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2/9

My Fellow Conservative,

Last November, we sent a strong message to Washington that politics as usual was no longeracceptable. Congressional recesses are one of the most important times we have to ensure ourvoice is heard by our elected representatives. Attached, you will find everything you need tohold Congress accountable praising those doing the right thing, pushing those who need to domore, and challenging those who have not yet received the message during the May 16recess.

It is my firm hope that you will use these materials to educate yourself on the details of twomajor issues currently before Congress: the Ryan budget and the debt ceiling. By doing so, youwill be armed with the facts when you communicate with your Congressman about theseserious issues and ensure they stay true to our conservative principles.

I am asking you to attend any town halls that your Member of Congressman is holding; withinthis packet, we give you information on how to find where your member of Congress will bethis week and how you can make your voice heard. If he or she voted for the game changingRyan budget, be supportive and thank them for voting for their bold stand. If they are hesitantabout their vote, encourage them to stay strong and remind them how important it is that weget spending under control so that future generations can enjoy America without crushing

most pressing challenge.

Similarly, we must press upon our elected representatives how important it is that theopportunity to leverage the vote on raising the debt ceiling to get transformative changes to

signed by President Obama. Raising the debtceiling without transformative changes attached is completely unacceptable.

I know that you are fired up about these issues, I am as well. Now is the time to go out andvoice your concerns, so that Congress hears you, and the nation hears you. Together, we will bethe difference between a nation crumbling beneath massive debt, and a strong nation where

government lives within its means and both freedom and prosperity flourish. Now is the time tofight the battles, I know it will be hard, but your fellow conservatives stand with you and futuregenerations are counting on you.

Sincerely,

Michael A. NeedhamChief Executive Officer


3/9

What You Need to Know About the Budget and Debt Ceiling

On April 15, 2011, the House of Representatives passed a budget, written by Rep. Paul Ryan(WI), that would reduce spending over the next ten years changethe fiscal trajectory of our country. It cuts more than $4 trillion in spending and contains

commonsense reforms to Medicare and Medicaid, which would preserve the programs forfuture generations without bankrupting taxpayers while decreasing our dependence ongovernment. To that end, the left has made killing this budget and ending all talk of entitlement reform their central goal . Although the Senate has yet to pass a budget plan, the

opportunity to advance the spending cuts and reforms contained in the Ryan Budget.

We are expected toObama Administration continues to use scare tactics to suggest that if the debt ceiling is notraised immediately the nation will default on its debt, ruining the full faith and credit of theUnited States. In fact, if the debt ceiling is not raised, the Treasury Secretary has the authorityand responsibility to direct $20 billion of the roughly $180 billion in incoming revenues to theTreasury each month to service our debt. And remember, the government does not shut downif the debt ceiling is not raised the federal government must simply operate on the revenuesthat come into the Treasury.

Accordingly, Heritage Action for America has been insistent that any legislation to raise thedebt ceiling be used as an opportunity to ensure that the United States avoids its current pathtowards a European-style debt crisis . To that end, Speaker John Boehner recently articulatedwhat many conservatives wanted to hear:

as I can be. Without spending cuts and reforms to reduce ourdebt, there will be no debt limit increase. And the cuts should be greater than theaccompanying increase in debt authority the president is given. We should be talkingabout cuts of trillions,

Speaker Boehner should be commended for making such a commitment to the Americanpeople. Now what?

Our Job Over the Next Week

As Members of Congress go back to their district for a recess to hear from their constituents,our job is twofold: 1) hold Speaker Boehner and his colleagues accountable for delivering onthat commitment; and, 2) defend proposals to reform Medicare and Medicaidvicious attacks. econservative case for spending reform, momentum will be lost. We cannot let that happen.


4/9

Specific Action Items to Get the Job Done

1) Get educated on the debt ceiling, the Ryan budget, and the false attacks from the left.Enclosed is a Myth versus Fact document from The Heritage Foundation to help youunderstand what the Ryan Budget does and does not do.

2) Investigate where your Congressman is holding town halls or other public gatherings tohear from constituents. Often, you will have to dig a little to find out when and wherethey are happening. Here are some suggestions:

and ask them when and where the town halls willoccur. If they tell you, let Heritage Action know, and we can help circulate suchinformation to others in your district or area. If they say that no town halls arescheduled, ask them what is the best way for you to meet your Congressman in

opportunity, a letter-to-the-editor of your local newspaper might be an appropriateway of registering concern that your Congressman is not meeting with constituents.Go t and sign up for their emails. Often, that is howMembers of Congress get such information out to their constituents. Also, visit theirFacebook page or follow them on Twitter.Check your local news frequently for information.

3) Show up at the town hall and participate. Here are a few suggestions on what tocommunicate to your Congressman:

If your Congressman is doing the right thing, be supportive . Thank your Congressman

if they support the Ryan budget by telling them that their vote makes you feel likeyour concerns have been heard and that our country is finally moving in the rightdirection.

If your Congressman seems to backing away from their vote on the Ryan budget, beencouraging. Tell your Congressman to stand tall and continue to support the Ryanbudget. Even if they are experiencing animosity from the left, tell them that the fightmay be hard, but we appreciate them standing up for what is right for our country.

If your Congressman opposed the Ryan budget, ask them why . Remind them of the

importance of getting spending under control and that our country can no longerwait to get our fiscal house in order. Let them know that you will not support them if they continue to oppose these commonsense reforms.

We can pull our country back from the fiscal brink, but we must demand that ourrepresentatives have the courage to fight for bold solutions. Onward!


5/9

Runaway spending and decits continue togrow unabated in part because any attempts to reinthem in are relentlessly demagogued by defenders

of big government. The latest example is the bud-get recently authored by House Budget Commit-tee chairman Paul Ryan (RWI) and passed by theHouse of Representatives.

Most critics have failed to provide any crediblealternative to the House budget. Yet that has notstopped them from relentlessly misrepresenting theHouse budget with the following myths.

Myth #1: The House budget recklessly cuts taxesby $4 trillion.Fact: It cancels a future tax increase.

Critics charge that the House budget is not seri-ous about decit reduction because it includes a $4trillion tax cut. This is patently false. The budgetwould keep tax rates at current levels. What criticscall a $4 trillion tax cut is actually the cancellationof a $4 trillion tax increase that is currently sched-uled to go into effect in 2013. Only in Washingtonis keeping tax rates at current levels considered areckless tax cut. The House budget would leave taxrevenues slightly above their 18 percent of GDP his-torical average.

Myth #2: The House budget increases the decitby giving tax cuts to the rich.Fact: The proposed change is a revenue-neutraltax reform plan that simplies the tax code.

The House tax plan proposes reducing the topindividual and corporate tax rates from 35 percent

to 25 percentand this is fully paid for by elimi-nating extraneous tax deductions, exemptions, andloopholes that currently allow some wealthy indi-

viduals and businesses to escape their fair share of taxes. Because this plan raises the same amount of revenue year by year as does current policy, it isnot a net tax cut. The Presidents scal commissionendorsed similar tax reforms because these reformswould make the tax code more efcient, fair, andpro-growth.

Myth #3: The House budget represents onlyminor decit reduction.Fact: It substantially reduces both short- andlong-term budget decits.

Critics claim that the House budget cuts just $1.7trillion out of the 10-year decit. As stated above,this measures the House budget against a baselinethat already assumes $4 trillion in tax increaseswhich even President Obama largely opposes. Sincethe House budget is relatively revenue-neutral com-pared to current tax policies, the main decit reduc-tion consists of $5.8 trillion in spending reductionsover the next decade. The savings include $1 tril-lion from phasing down overseas contingency oper-ations, $1.6 trillion from non-defense discretionary

No. 3253May 13, 2011

Ten Myths of Ryans House Budget PlanBrian M. Riedl, Robert E. Moft, Ph.D., and Romina Boccia

This paper, in its entirety, can be found at:http://report.heritage.org/wm 3253

Produced by the Thomas A. Roe Institutefor Economic Policy Studies

Published by The Heritage Foundation214 Massachusetts Avenue, NEWashington, DC 200024999

Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reecting

the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt toaid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress.
http://report.heritage.org/wmhttp://heritage.org/http://heritage.org/http://report.heritage.org/wm


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No. 3253 May 13, 2011 WebMemo

spending, $2.2 trillion from repealing Obamacareand block-granting Medicaid, and $1 trillion fromother entitlement and net interest savings.

Overall, the House budget would run $5.1 tril-lion in decits over the next decade, compared toPresident Obamas proposed $9.5 trillion in decits.

And these savings grow immensely in futuredecades. The Congressional Budget Ofces (CBO)long-term baseline shows runaway spending driv-ing the national debt to 95 percent of gross domes-tic product (GDP) within a decade and a staggering344 percent by 2050. 1 By contrast, the House budgetwould quickly stabilize the debt around 70 percentof GDP before reducing it to just 10 percent by 2050.

Myth #4: The House budget exaggerates thelong-term spending challenge.

Fact: The challenge is real and potentiallycalamitous.

Some suggest there is no long-term scal crisis.This is demonstrably false. The coming retirementof 77 million baby boomers is not a theoretical pro-

jection. Social Security is already in decit, and thetrust fund represents IOUs that must be redeemedby immediately raising taxes, cutting spending , orrunning additional decits. Obamacare is project-ed to increase federal spending by trillions of dol-lars over the next few decades. Small reforms like

eliminating corporate welfare, ending foreign aid,or repealing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for upper-income families would close merely a small fractionof the long-term debt.

In reality, the CBO estimates that the absenceof fundamental entitlement reform would pushthe debt to levels that would create an economiccatastrophe. 2

Myth #5: The House budget balances the budgeton the backs of seniors.Fact: Current and near-retirees are exempt fromreforms.

Much of the attention given to the House bud-get has focused on the effects on retirees. Howev-er, virtually none of the $5.8 trillion in spendingreductions in the rst decade would affect SocialSecurity and Medicare. In fact, seniors would ben-et from averting the large tax increases planned incurrent law and from tax reforms that lower theirrates while closing unneeded loopholes. Those cur-rently older than age 55 would be exempt from anyfuture changes to their Social Security and Medicarebenets.

Myth #6: The House budget would privatizeMedicare and hand seniors vouchers.Fact: Seniors would receive government supportto purchase health insurance coverage on a tight-ly regulated government exchange system.

A voucher is usually a certicate of speciedcash value that is redeemable for the purchase of goods or services. Under Ryans House budget plan,seniors would instead choose health plans and thegovernment would make direct and adequate con-tributions to the premium cost of the plans of theirchoice. This premium support would go to Medi-care-certied and -regulated plans that would com-pete in a Medicare exchange, which Ryan himself has described as tightly regulated.

In effect, this premium support system is broad-

ly similar to the kind of system that Members of Congress and federal employees and retirees enjoytoday in the widely popular and successful FederalEmployees Health Benets Program (FEHBP). As for

privatization, virtually all participating Medicaredoctors and hospitals (except public hospitals) areprivate, a quarter of all seniors are enrolled in pri-vate plans in Medicare Advantage, and 60 percentof seniors already purchase drug benets throughprivate plans in Medicare Part D. So, in effect, theHouse budget proposal extends the successful PartD nancing model to the coverage of benets under

Parts A and B.3

1. Congressional Budget Ofce, The Long-Term Budget Outlook: Federal Debt Held by the Public Under Two BudgetScenarios, revised August 2010, at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11579/06-30-LTBO.pdf (May 13, 2011).

2. Ibid.3. Robert Moft and Kathryn Nix, Transforming Medicare into a Modern Premium Support System: What Americans

Should Know, Heritage Foundation WebMemoNo. 3227, April 15, 2011, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/ Reports/2011/04/How-to-Transform-Medicare-into-a-Modern-Premium-Support-System.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11579/06-30-LTBO.pdfhttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/04/How-to-Transform-Medicare-into-a-Modern-Premium-Support-Systemhttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/04/How-to-Transform-Medicare-into-a-Modern-Premium-Support-Systemhttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/04/How-to-Transform-Medicare-into-a-Modern-Premium-Support-Systemhttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/04/How-to-Transform-Medicare-into-a-Modern-Premium-Support-Systemhttp://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11579/06-30-LTBO.pdf


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Myth #7: Medicare is more efcient than privatehealth insurance.Fact: Medicares administrative burdens are hid-den and they outweigh private-sector costs.

On paper, Medicares administrative costs com-

pared to the private sector appear comparativelysmall: 23 percent of benet expenditures. Evenaccounting for radically different patient prolesand functions of Medicare and private insurance,administrative costs per person under Medicarecompared to private insurance plans shows thatMedicares administrative costs exceed those of pri-vate health insurance. 4

Furthermore, Medicares administrative costsdo not include the enormous costs of providercompliance with massive Medicare red tape and

paperwork. A 2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers studyshowed that for every hour spent treating a typicalMedicare patient, hospital ofcials spent 30 min-utes complying with Medicare paperwork. 5

One administrative cost that is often overlookedis the tens of billions of dollars annually of Medicarewaste, fraud, and abuse. In sheer volume, there isno comparable cost in the private sector or in theFEHBP. Private insurers have strong incentives todetect fraudulent claims, as undetected fraud hurtstheir bottom lines.

Myth #8: The House budget plan would endMedicare as we know it.Fact: Obamacare ended Medicare as we know it.

Obamacare imposes record-breaking paymentcuts for Medicare providersplus an unprecedent-ed hard cap on Medicare spending to be enforced bythe newly created Independent Payments Advisory

Board, an unelected board of bureaucrats empow-ered to lower provider payments to preordainedlevels indexed to ination and economic growth.This will ensure rationing of care through providerpayment cuts. 6

Furthermore, under Section 3021 Congresstasks the new Center for Medicare and MedicaidInnovation with transitioning from the current fee-for-service reimbursement system toward capitatedor salary-based reimbursements. This would liter-ally be the end of traditional Medicare fee for service

as we know it.Both the House and Obama proposals impose

external spending caps on Medicare. But the Houseproposal aims to control costs primarily throughintense market competitionnot just deeper pay-ment cuts for Medicare providerswhile preserv-ing and enhancing the right of seniors to choosehealth care options.

Myth #9: The House budget plan would shiftMedicaid costs to the states and hurt the poor.Fact: Medicaid block grants would help stateslower Medicaid costs and provide them with theexibility to better serve the poor.

The House budget plan would remove the per-verse incentives resulting from the open-ended fed-eral reimbursement of state Medicaid spending. Theblock grant proposal would provide greater budgetcertainty at the federal and state levels. In addition,states would have greater exibility and greaterincentives to reduce costs. The proposal would alsoencourage states to spend their Medicaid dollarswisely and to consider innovative ways to deliverbetter care at lower costs. 7

4. Robert A. Book, Medicare Administrative Costs Are Higher, Not Lower, Than for Private Insurance, Heritage FoundationWebMemoNo. 2505, June 25, 2009, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/06/Medicare-Administrative-Costs-Are-Higher-Not-Lower-Than-for-Private-Insurance.

5. PricewaterhouseCoopers, Patients or Paperwork: The Regulatory Burden Facing Americas Hospitals, 2001, athttp://www.aha.org/aha/content/2001/pdf/FinalPaperworkReport.pdf (May 12, 2011).

6. Robert Moft and Kathryn Nix, The Future of Health Care Reform: Paul Ryans Roadmap and Its Critics, HeritageFoundation BackgrounderNo. 2495, December 3, 2010, at http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/12/the-future-of-health-care-reform-paul-ryan-s-roadmap-and-its-critics.

7. Brian Blase, Solving the National Medicaid Crisis, Heritage Foundation WebMemoNo. 3243, May 6, 2011, athttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/05/Solving-the-National-Medicaid-Crisis.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/06/Medicare-Administrative-Costs-Are-Higher-Not-Lower-Than-for-Private-Insurancehttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/06/Medicare-Administrative-Costs-Are-Higher-Not-Lower-Than-for-Private-Insurancehttp://www.aha.org/aha/content/2001/pdf/FinalPaperworkReport.pdfhttp://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/12/the-future-of-health-care-reform-paul-ryan-s-roadmap-and-its-criticshttp://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/12/the-future-of-health-care-reform-paul-ryan-s-roadmap-and-its-criticshttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/05/Solving-the-National-Medicaid-Crisishttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/05/Solving-the-National-Medicaid-Crisishttp://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/12/the-future-of-health-care-reform-paul-ryan-s-roadmap-and-its-criticshttp://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/12/the-future-of-health-care-reform-paul-ryan-s-roadmap-and-its-criticshttp://www.aha.org/aha/content/2001/pdf/FinalPaperworkReport.pdfhttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/06/Medicare-Administrative-Costs-Are-Higher-Not-Lower-Than-for-Private-Insurancehttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/06/Medicare-Administrative-Costs-Are-Higher-Not-Lower-Than-for-Private-Insurance


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Myth #10: Most Medicare costs would continueto rise, and retirees would bear those costs withinsufcient assistance.Fact: Intense market competition would reducecosts and enable Medicare patients to secure

value for their dollars.Projecting far into the future, CBO predicts thatunder the House budget proposal the governmentsshare of retirees health care costs would decreasefrom currently about 70 percent to just 32 per-cent by 2030. 8 But that static analysis assumesthatdespite a major change in economic incen-tives and intense market competitionhealth carecosts will not be reduced. Behavioral responses tosuch powerful new economic incentives should not

be ignored; experience with such changes provesotherwise.

Just What the Doctor Ordered. The Housebudget nally puts the brakes on soaring govern-ment spending. 9 It is just what the nation needs in

order to avert a debt-induced economic calamity. Itscritics would do well to read the plan and under-stand itand put forward their alternativebeforedismissing it.

Brian M. Riedl is Grover M. Hermann ResearchFellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas ARoe Institute for Economic Policy Studies;Robert E.Moft, Ph.D., is Senior Fellow in the Center for PolicyInnovation; andRomina Boccia is Research Coordina-tor in the Roe Institute at The Heritage Foundation.

8. Congressional Budget Ofce, Long-Term Analysis of a Budget Proposal by Chairman Ryan, April 5, 2011, table 1,at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12128/04-05-Ryan_Letter.pdf (May 13, 2011).

9. Alison Acosta Fraser, Chairman Ryans Budget Resolution Changes Americas Course, The Foundry, April 5, 2011,at http://blog.heritage.org/?p=56367.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12128/04-05-Ryan_Letter.pdfhttp://blog.heritage.org/?p=56367http://blog.heritage.org/?p=56367http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12128/04-05-Ryan_Letter.pdf


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Quick Facts: Gas Prices

meeting, gas prices are the talk of the town. And understandably so, as gas prices have risen bynearly a dollar per gallon since the beginning of the year.

$3.00

$3.10

$3.20

$3.30

$3.40

$3.50

$3.60

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$3.80

$3.90

$4.00

Jan03,

2011

Jan10,

2011

Jan17,

2011

Jan24,

2011

Jan31,

2011

Feb07,

2011

Feb14,

2011

Feb21,

2011

Feb28,

2011

Mar07,

2011

Mar14,

2011

Mar21,

2011

Mar28,

2011

Apr04,

2011

Apr11,

2011

Apr18,

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Apr25,

2011

May02,

2011

May09,

2011

2011 Gas Prices

Source: Energy InformationAdministration

Untangle the Spin: The administration is fond of noting U.S. crude oil production in 2010 wasthe highest it has been since 2003. They neglect several crucial facts: 1) the increasedproduction came from increased horizontal drilling in North Dakota; 2) production in thewestern Gulf of Mexico has dropped by nearly a third of a million barrels per day; 3) manyenergy-rich areas remain off limits; and 4) the government projects oil production will declinesignificantly in 2011 and 2012. (Learn More )

Real Solutions: By and large, Americans know the solution: increase domestic energyproduction. Numerous polls show support for offshore drilling at or above 60%.

A Heritage Foundation analysis found that increasing domestic supply by 1 million barrels perday would create an additional 128,000 jobs and generate $7.7 billion in economic activity.[4]The U.S. currently produces 5.3 million barrels of crude oil per day, so producing an additional 1million barrels per day would be a nearly 20 percent increase. (Learn More )

1. Access offshore. 19 billion barrels of oil in the currently restricted Pacific and Atlanticcoasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico and another 19 billion barrels estimated in theChukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast.

2. Access onshore. An estimated 10 billion barrels of oil lie beneath ANWR in Alaska and oiland natural gas leases in the West are down significantly, including in North Dakota.

3. Access to imports. Environmentalists want to block a $12 billion pipeline system thatwould increase the amount of petroleum the U.S. receives from Canada by over amillion barrels per day.

Outrageous Solution: Not content by the pain inflicted on families by soaring gasoline prices,the administration and some in Congress are exploring a so-called vehicle miles tax (VMT). AVMT would tax drivers based upon the miles they drive; and not surprisingly, some want it inaddition to the current 18.4 cent per gallon gasoline tax. (Learn More )
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/05/10/obama%E2%80%99s-gas-prices-picture-says-all-the-wrong-words/http://blog.heritage.org/2011/05/10/obama%E2%80%99s-gas-prices-picture-says-all-the-wrong-words/http://blog.heritage.org/2011/05/10/obama%E2%80%99s-gas-prices-picture-says-all-the-wrong-words/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/a-good-energy-bill-can-make-gas-prices-and-electricity-affordablehttp://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/a-good-energy-bill-can-make-gas-prices-and-electricity-affordablehttp://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/a-good-energy-bill-can-make-gas-prices-and-electricity-affordablehttp://heritageaction.com/2011/05/driving-the-day-taxing-the-miles-you-drive/http://heritageaction.com/2011/05/driving-the-day-taxing-the-miles-you-drive/http://heritageaction.com/2011/05/driving-the-day-taxing-the-miles-you-drive/http://heritageaction.com/2011/05/driving-the-day-taxing-the-miles-you-drive/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/a-good-energy-bill-can-make-gas-prices-and-electricity-affordablehttp://blog.heritage.org/2011/05/10/obama%E2%80%99s-gas-prices-picture-says-all-the-wrong-words/

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Tea Party Action 5.16