More than a year after alarm bells sounded across the nation, a Sunday New York Times article reports that, “Alarmed by a shortage of primary care doctors, Obama administration officials are recruiting a team of ‘mystery shoppers’ to pose as patients, call doctors’ offices and request appointments to see how difficult it is for people to get care when they need it.”  This secret… Read more

Washington, DC – The Committee on Ways and Means today marked up the Report on Legislative and Oversight Activities for the Committee. The report, which was approved by the Committee favorably, details the committee’s actions taken through May 31, 2011, and reveals a near singular focus on legislation that promotes job creation.  Discussing the report, Ways and Means Chairman Dave… Read more

Rhetoric "Who is to blame for our debt crisis? 'The U.S. government cannot default on its debt, largely accrued by President George W. Bush,' Pelosi said."   Facts During the Obama Administration, the debt held by the public has risen more (by $3.4 trillion in 2+ years, compared with $2.9 trillion in the prior 8 years) and nearly four times faster than during the Bush… Read more

During a Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing focusing on the solvency of Medicare, two Medicare Trustees testified that findings in the 2011 Medicare Trustees report reinforce what has long been widely acknowledged:  Action must be taken quickly to prevent Medicare from collapsing.  However, despite comments by the Medicare Trustees urging Congress to act sooner, rather… Read more

Good morning and thank you for joining us today for another in the series of hearings on comprehensive tax reform. Under the leadership of Chairman Camp the Ways & Means Committee has been working through a full assessment of the tax code. From this assessment it’s clear the tax code stifles job creation at a time when unemployment rates in Ohio and across the country remain well… Read more

The bad news on the economic front continued this morning when the Department of Labor announced that 429,000 more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week – joining the nearly 14 million Americans already without a job.  Thursday’s initial unemployment insurance claims numbers illustrate an economy struggling to grow and create jobs and come less than 24 hours… Read more

As we heard from the Public Trustees at our June 3rd hearing, Social Security revenues will cover only 77 percent of benefits by 2036.  Congress must act and the sooner we do so, the sooner we can protect those who are most vulnerable, along with current retirees and those nearing retirement.  And for younger workers and families, we have a responsibility to provide certainty… Read more

Former Democrat Leader Dick Gephardt is out this week with a scathing editorial on the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which was created in the Democrats' health care law.  Below are just a few excerpts from Leader Gephardt's column.   Devastating for Seniors: "IPAB will be an unelected and unaccountable group whose sole charge is to reduce Medicare… Read more

Today’s hearing on the 2011 Medicare Trustees report reinforces what has long been widely acknowledged:  Action must be taken to prevent Medicare from reaching its rapidly approaching insolvency and collapsing. The trustees currently predict the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund will go bankrupt in 2024, five years earlier than they estimated in last year’s… Read more

Recent media accounts confirm the findings of a report from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT): a majority of American households do not pay any federal income taxes.  Almost incomprehensibly, significant numbers of both higher and lower earners are paying zero income tax.  A recent Bloomberg article highlighted the fact that the “number of people who reported incomes of… Read more