New Taxes and Forced Compliance

Congress:
You CANNOT force me to buy something I don't need or want, depsite what you think. If you continue to ignore the will of the people, the people will replace you. That's not a threat, it's a promise.

Examiner colleague Susan Ferrechio explains in concise fashion the costs and consequences of the most conservative of the health plans in Congress as described by the Congressional Budget Office: it’s less than $900 billion and doesn’t increase
the deficit but it also forces people out of their policies and levies large new taxes.

Writers Kristin Jensen and Brian Faler look ahead to see how moderate Democrats (and Olympia Snowe) are feeling now that the high water mark has been set for fiscal restraint. They welcomed the CBO report, but it was also clear that they didn’t greet it as a major breakthrough – Snowe even wants to wait until next week for a committee vote, a move that would screw up Majority Leader Harry Reid’s schedule. But the score did make it certain that the measure would pass the Finance Committee.

“[The] analysis shows the measure ‘is certainly moving in the right direction,’ said Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat and potential swing vote. He said he’d examine the findings and see what the legislation looks like at the end of the full Senate debate before deciding how to vote.

‘Anytime the numbers improve on something, you feel real good about it,’ Nelson said in an interview. North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad, a Democrat on the finance panel who’s worked closely with Baucus, told reporters the legislative process has a long way to go. ‘It will be months before this is concluded,’ he said.”