Of the Utmost Importance

Courtesy of my a good friend and DC insider, here's what the GOP House Budget does:

The House passed the FY11 CR with the devastating cuts to HHS programs last night. Now its onto the Senate. Here are the amendments of interest that were adopted on the House floor.............

o An amendment from Rep. Rehberg (R-MT) that prohibits federal funding from being used to pay any employee, officer or contractor to implement the provisions of President Obama’s health care law, stopping the Department of Health and Human Services from implementing the law.

o An amendment from Rep. King (R-IA) that strips funding for any provision of the President’s health care law.

o An amendment from Rep. King (R-IA) that prohibits the payment of salaries for any officer or employee of any federal department or agency with respect to carrying out the President’s health care law. (This amendment has virtually the same effect as Rep. Rehberg’s amendment.)

o An amendment from Rep. Emerson (R-MO) that bars the use of funds in the bill from being used to implement the individual mandate and penalties and reporting requirements of the President’s health care law.

o An amendment from Rep. Price (R-GA) that prohibits the use of federal funds from being used to carry out the medical loss ratio restrictions in the President’s health care law. These provisions require insurers to spend at least a certain percent of their premium revenues on medical care.

o An amendment from Rep. Gardner (R-CO) that blocks funds for Health Insurance Exchanges, a set of state-regulated health care plans offered under the President’s health care law.

o An amendment from Rep. Burgess (R-TX) prohibiting the use of funds for employee and officer salaries at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services, created by the President’s health care reform bill.

o An amendment from Rep. Pitts (R-PA) that prohibits the funding of salaries for any officer or employee of the government to issue regulations on essential benefits under section 1302 of the President’s health care law.

o An amendment from Rep. Hayworth (R-NY) that prohibits funds for the independent payment advisory board.

They also de-funded Planned Parenthood and made over $61 billion in other cuts from discretionary programs that would be devastating to research at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Food and Drug Administration, among many others.

If EVER you were going to call your Senators and weigh in in favor of health reform (if you agree), now would be the time. Of course, they're on recess for a whole week due to President's Day, so the fight will happen the week of February 28. We are seriously looking at a government shut-down. Nancy Pelosi has introduced a continuing resolution that would fund the status quo through the month of March to avoid a shut-down, but I don't know if the GOP will go for it.

We are at crunch time, people. Be heard today. To find your Senator, go here. To find your House member, go here.

If you are on Social Security disability or are waiting for other government payments, understand that if this is not resolved by March 4, we will face a government shut-down. Make provisions for if your checks are late, which was one of the things that happened when the government shut down in 1995.

This is a really big deal. We can't afford to ignore it. If ever you were going to call your member of Congress, now is the time. Jennifer