WASHINGTON — Congress' chief budget officer is contradicting President Barack Obama's oft-stated claim that seniors wouldn't see their Medicare benefits cut under a health care overhaul. The head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf, told senators Tuesday that seniors in Medicare's managed care plans would see reduced benefits under a bill in the Finance… Read more

WASHINGTON – Memo to President Barack Obama: It's a tax. Obama insisted this weekend on national television that requiring people to carry health insurance — and fining them if they don't — isn't the same thing as a tax increase. But the language of Democratic bills to revamp the nation's health care system doesn't quibble. Both the House bill and the Senate Finance Committee proposal… Read more

Is President Obama a free trader? He has said so -- many times. At the April Group of 20 summit in London, he announced that he and the other assembled leaders had "rejected the protectionism that could deepen this crisis. History tells us that turning inward can help turn a downturn into a depression." From Wall Street on Monday, he declared that "this administration is committed to… Read more

  As Speaker Pelosi tries to cobble together 218 votes to ram through a government takeover of America’s health care system, we thought you’d find this article, written earlier this summer, of interest.The Roll Call story details a meeting between the Speaker and the 24 member strong Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a formidable voting bloc, whose support the Speaker needs to pass H.R.… Read more

Mayo Clinic’s reaction to House Tri-Committee bill: "Although there are some positive provisions in the current House Tri-Committee bill – including insurance for all and payment reform demonstration projects – the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite. "In general, the… Read more

SHANGHAI, - To address the serious threat of global warming, Americans should be required to "pay" for the carbon content of goods they consume from countries around the world, a top U.S. official said on Friday. "It's important that those who consume the products being made all around the world to the benefit of America -- and it's our own consumption activity that's causing the… Read more

  Concerned that the American Medical Association has taken too tepid a position on Democratic healthcare reform plans, a coalition of state medical associations and specialty organizations is breaking from the country's largest physicians' group to mount its own push against the inclusion of a public insurance option in any overhaul bill. Seventeen state medical associations and… Read more

By Charles W. Boustany Jr. (R-LA) Editor's note: Rep. Charles Boustany is a Republican who represents southwest Louisiana. Before being elected to Congress, Boustany practiced medicine as a cardiothoracic surgeon for 14 years.Rep. Charles Boustany says Democrats' health care plans don't focus on quality. (CNN) -- Americans deserve the best health care system in the world -- one that… Read more

When President Barack Obama arrives in Michigan today, he'll continue our national dialogue on giving Americans better access to affordable health care. The question is how we get there. House Republicans have a plan that will reduce costs, expand access and increase the quality of care in a way we can afford. Democrats, on the other hand, have responded with the same old formula of more… Read more

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's energy bill is intended to make the planet greener, but it will leave Ohioans and other Midwesterners seeing red. The Waxman-Markey bill, also known as Cap and Trade, should be known as Cap and Tax. In an answer to the liberal left's demands, Pelosi and Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman have tied climate change legislation to energy reform mandates that… Read more