RNC Women

In a report released today, a bipartisan commission warns that the federal government is piling up red ink so rapidly that the total federal debt could reach 85 percent of America’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2018, 100 percent by 2022, and an unthinkable 200 percent by 2038.

Of course, these projections were made without adding another trillion dollars in federal spending to finance a government takeover of health care. 

Any citizen who cares about the future of this country must be frightened by these numbers.  The debt is adding up almost faster than it can be counted.  According to the bipartisan report, our nation’s debt level soared from 41 percent of GDP to 53 percent in the last year alone.

The President and his liberal allies have lost touch with reality.  America is still in a recession.  Unemployment is stagnant at around 10 percent, with the true unemployment rate likely hovering around 17 percent when those workers who are so discouraged that they are no longer ... more

You can now add the Obama Administration itself to the chorus of voices telling the American public that health costs will go up, not down, under the health care plan moving through the U.S. Senate. 

Late last week, Richard Foster the Chief Actuary for the Centers for Medicare And Medicaid Services, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services, released a report estimating that total health spending would increase by $234 billion more in the next ten years under Harry Reid’s bill than otherwise, and would comprise 20.9 percent of the economy by 2019.  This official analysis showed that the Senate Democrats’ legislation could lead to price increases and negative changes in providers’ willingness to treat patients.  Foster also said that the proposed cuts in Medicare payment updates to hospitals, doctors and other health care providers would be outpaced by the costs of expanding health insurance coverage. 

Independent polling shows that Americans don’t want a government ... more

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen how the Democrats’ health care bills would give the force of law to a government panel’s dictate that mammograms are not necessary for women under age 50.  Unfortunately, that’s not the only reason Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid’s health bills are bad for American women. 

Studies show that women make most of the decisions, including health care, in as many as 85% of American households.  Yet the Democrats’ takeover of health care would put federal bureaucrats square in the middle between wives and mothers and their ability to make their own health care choices.  The Pelosi health care bill that passed the U.S. House actually goes so far as to allow federal bureaucrats to deny patient access to care if the treatment fails their cost-benefit analyses, which are difficult for Congress to overturn.  Under the Democrats’ plans, health care decisions will become more about cost than quality of care.    

Women also understand the importance of fiscal ... more

Yesterday, on the floor of the United States Senate, Harry Reid likened Republican efforts to stand up to the government takeover of health care to blocking women’s right to vote. 

Yet it is Reid himself who would block women from a fundamental right – the right to make their own health care decisions with their family and doctors.  It was just days ago when Reid voted in favor of Barbara Mikulski’s (D-MD) amendment that would put the force of law behind government panels like the one which made the determination that women under age 50 should not undergo mammograms or breast self examinations.  Passage of the health care bill that Reid is pushing through the Senate would pave the way for government rationing of mammograms and other medical care that could save lives. 

Senator Reid should be embarrassed to have lowered the debate to such a level.  But even worse, he should be ashamed for working to make it more difficult for lower income women to gain access to potentially ... more

Central to Harry Reid’s health care takeover are nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare over the next ten years.  Even some Democrats in Congress have conceded that cuts this steep would force some doctors to refuse to see Medicare patients. 

Already, we are seeing clinics across the country close their doors to patients who rely on Medicare.  Even worse, these cuts would especially target reimbursements to specialty providers.  Dr. John C. Lewin, chief executive of the American College of Cardiology, said “Cuts of this magnitude could cripple cardiology practices and threaten access to services for millions of patients.” 

As a senior citizen myself, I know how important Medicare coverage is to millions of Americans in my generation.  That’s why it’s so disappointing to see the organization that is supposed to represent the interests of senior citizens, the AARP, come out in favor of cutting billions from Medicare and limiting seniors’ access to the care they need. 

In a letter ... more

There are 6.5 million small businesses owned by women in the United States.

Unfortunately, it’s small businesses that were left out of yesterday’s “Jobs Summit” at the White House. 

Consider that Obama’s bailout of General Motors cost nearly $50 billion in direct aid from the federal government but small businesses received less than $400 million in loans under the federal stimulus package. 

The Obama Administration and its allies like Nancy Pelosi fail to understand that small businesses are the engine that will spur economic recovery.  According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses have generated 64% of all the new jobs created in the last 15 years and employ half of all private sectors employees.  Small businesses drive innovation and produce thirteen times the number of patents as big corporations. 

The White House will argue that representatives of the Small Business Administration and other small business advocates were invited to the summit at the White ... more

Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate know their health care bill is driving women voters into the arms of the Republican Party.  That’s why they tried to make preventive care for women their opening gambit as the floor debate on health care began this week in the U.S. Senate. 

Unfortunately for them, the Democrats’ health care plan would STILL give the force of law to the flawed findings of government panels, like recommending against routine mammograms for women under the age of 50. 

The first amendment Harry Reid allowed on the floor this week was brought by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).  Mikulski’s amendment is intended to increase preventive health services for women at little or no cost to the patients by eliminating or reducing co-payments and other cost sharing.  Unfortunately, Mikulski’s own amendment which was designed to defuse criticisms of rationing of mammograms does nothing to address the problem.  As the Associated Press reported, “However the amendment doesn't ... more