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A Declaration of Health Care Independence |
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Dan's Blog
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By Dan McGrath on
1/29/2010
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 Demand Real Health Care Reform
In his state of the union address, President Barack Obama tried to assure us that he had the right plan for America's future. He asked members of Congress to support his political agenda, including a government takeover of health care reform.
The American people spoke last summer when thousands attended town hall meetings across our nation. They spoke out again in the fall when nearly a million people marched on Washington. Most recently, the voters of Massachusetts spoke by electing a Republican to the US Senate for the first time in 60 years. But President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi STILL don't seem to be getting the message (see here).
Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, together with other members of Congress, has unveiled the Declaration of Health Care Independence. The Declaration is a commitment to protect the rights of the American people to make their own health decisions, reduce bureaucratic red-tape, decrease intergenerational debt, and includes 10 common-sense principles that must be included in any future health care reforms.
Bachmann is calling on all concerned Americans to sign the Declaration and encourage their elected officials in Congress to do the same. Hopefully, Congressional leaders will finally get the message that it's time to start over and develop a set of common-sense health care reforms that have the support of the American people.
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A Victory for Freedom of Speech |
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Jeff's Blog
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By Jeff Davis on
1/25/2010
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The Supreme Court campaign finance ruling last Thursday means corporations can spend freely on political ads leading up to elections. The Thursday decision invalidates portions of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform law that sought to limit corporate influence. If you want to understand whether this decision was a positive development for everyday Americans, you need only look to the immediate reaction of those on the far Left -- elitists that want to speech to be controlled by government bureaucrats.
If you want to understand what was at stake in the Court's decision, watch the following 5 minute video produced by the CATO Institute.
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Majority Report: Election Integrity Part 2 |
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Dan's Blog
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By Dan McGrath on
1/18/2010
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Conclusion of Davis Elections Interview
Drew Emmer concludes his interview of Minnesota Majority's president, Jeff Davis about the integrity of Minnesota's elections in this second installment.
The supreme court elections lawsuits is explained and Drew and Jeff break down all the research, findings and evidence.
Are the dead voting? What do we do about non-existent voter registration addresses and felons registering to vote? Are they voting and is anybody investigating? Find out the answers to these questions and learn more than anyone else will teach you about Minnesota's election system on the Minnesota Majority Report.
Additional resources:
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2010 Legislative Session Outlook |
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Dan's Blog
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By Dan McGrath on
1/12/2010
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Legislative Outlook Holds Few Surprises. Budget Deficit and Jobs Top Priority Lists
Politics in Minnesota hosted a “Legislative Outlook,” panel this morning, featuring House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, Senate Minority Leader David Senjem and House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers. The event was moderated by TPT Channel 2’s Mary Lahammer. Representative Zellers suffered a flat tire on the way to the Sheraton but arrived in time to fully participate in the discussions.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that legislative leaders are in agreement on what the legislative session has in store and what the priority issues will be. Anyone who’s paying attention knows the state’s projected $1.2 billion budget deficit coming on the heels of last session’s even bigger shortfall has to be a top priority. The state’s structural budget problems and Minnesota’s economy are going to be front and center. Everyone talked about jobs, which is (in a somewhat rare convergence) exactly what these illustrious leaders’ constituents are talking about.
That the budget and jobs are top items to address is where the consensus ends, though. How best to deal with them, not surprisingly, broke down along party lines.
Moderator Mary Lahammer observed, “The old tax and spend argument.” Senator Poegamiller took exception to the remark, but as the discussion unfolded, it was apparent that Lahammer’s observation was apt. Some things never change. Democratic legislators argued that revenues (legislative code for taxes) have to be raised and resisted the idea that budget cuts are necessarily productive while the Republican leaders insisted that taxes shouldn’t be raised in our current economic environment. They advocated spending cuts. Representative Zellers noted that workers in the private sector are facing layoffs and wage cuts while state employees are getting raises. He said there has to be some shared sacrifice.
Speaker Kelliher stated that her legislative priorities this session will be #1 Jobs, #2 Restoring GAMC (General Assistance Medical Care) funding, #3 the Budget, though education cuts are off the table in her mind. There was general agreement among the panelists on these priorities.
As to ideas, Rep. Zellers and Rep. Kelliher made statements as to what they weren’t going to do. Kelliher said cuts to services were the same as a tax increase on the “most vulnerable” and families earning less than $40,000. Zellers, while advocating “growing” our way out of the deficit said we can’t give up-front equipment exemptions to businesses or cut corporate tax rates, because the money isn’t there.
Senator Senjem said his priorities were to protect K-12 spending, nursing homes, veterans and public safety budgets. "Everything else," he said, "is open to cuts."
For jobs creation, Speaker Kelliher suggested following the example of a Wisconsin government program called “The Network,” which provides step by step assistance to start-up businesses. She said it could cost as little as $200,000.
Senator Senjem suggested more public support for bio-sciences at the U of M and Mayo clinic as ways to stimulate the state’s economy. He said more U of M research would create a new stronger economy for Minnesota. Senjem also suggested that the legislature needed to focus on investing in areas he says Minnesota is strong in like renewable energy, citing biomass, wind and solar power as examples.
Senator Pogemiller said tax hikes wouldn’t hurt the jobs market or revenues, citing Delta Airlines’ recent move to increase bag-handling fees as an example of his reasoning. “Obviously, they wouldn’t do that unless the market could bear it,” he said.
Kelliher echoed Pogemiller’s philosophy, saying “budget cuts don’t keep jobs in Minnesota – History shows that the opposite is true.”
Nobody wanted to talk about funding a new Vikings stadium. When the question was raised, each of the four panelists said it wasn’t likely to be a priority and kept their answers short and vague. Senator Senjem and Rep. Zellers both mentioned a “Racino” as a possible funding source, but acknowledged such a plan wasn’t likely to pass or be signed by the governor.
Another issue briefly addressed by Speaker Kelliher was election reform. She said a bill would probably advance to move the state’s primary election up a month to comport with new federal legislation.
The one bright spot that stood out from the forum was a sense of general agreement that Minnesota's budget was structurally flawed and that a more permanent budget solution was needed, one that fundamentally reformed the way the state spends money. Senator Pogemiller summed up the notion saying, "We're in a state of denial about the budget. It's factual that we have to bring the cost structure down."
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Balanced Budget Amendment Will Do Just That |
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Dan's Blog
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By Dan McGrath on
1/12/2010
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 By Governor Tim Pawlenty
As we begin a new year and Congress reconvenes, an unpleasant reality is increasingly hitting home with ordinary Americans: Leaders in both parties have irresponsibly run up debt. And, since President Obama took office, the debt crisis has grown exponentially worse. The only way to solve the problem in the long run is with a Constitutional amendment.
The facts tell the story. The average American household now carries over half-a-million dollars in Federal debt. And it’s growing quickly: The Obama administration is now predicting that the federal budget deficit will exceed $10 trillion through 2019. Meanwhile, some economists are predicting that in about 15 years, our public debt will be more than 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). And that figure is just the tip of the iceberg: If you look at all of the unfunded liabilities of the Federal government, the national debt right now is already at least $65 trillion.
With the Federal government taking in about $2 trillion a year, this runaway spending is not sustainable. If we continue down the current path of runaway deficits, we’re going to have the Federal government creating a public-finances-equivalent to the subprime mortgage meltdown in the not too distant future.
When a family or business faces the sort of revenue gap we are facing as a nation, they have to drastically tighten their belts. Government must do the same.
States across the country are making difficult choices to balance their books. In Minnesota, we’ve prioritized veterans, public safety and schools, while making difficult cuts to almost everything else in order to avoid even higher taxes. Most other states are making similar tough choices – choices that could grow even harder depending on the changes to Medicaid being proposed by Congressional Democrats.
Cutting spending is necessary because our nation’s fiscal imbalance threatens our future prosperity, our national security, and the heart of the American dream. Without change, sooner or later massive Federal debt will force painful spending cuts, higher taxes, a weaker dollar and runaway inflation.
Fortunately, it’s not too late to turn things around. By reining in our spending now, we can right our fiscal ship. We can extend freedom and opportunity by making government live within its means. We can safeguard our prospects for long-term, future prosperity that will make this country an even greater place for future generations to grow up, live, work and raise a family than it already is—but we must act.
Balancing the budget will require some tough decisions. Congress must reduce discretionary spending in real terms, with exceptions for key programs such as military, veterans, and public safety. The Congress must also reject costly new spending initiatives, like new health care entitlements.
In the long run, sending different politicians to Washington will not be enough. We need a mechanism in place to enforce balanced budgets, because regardless of which party is in power, they have not done a good job of getting budgets to balance over time. That’s why I’m calling for a Constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget, with exceptions for war, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
That won’t be easy; it will require a lot of hard work; and it will be a hard agenda to sell. That’s what leadership is about, though. My wish, as we begin this year, is for us to see much more of that from this administration and Congress.
Take Action: Sign the Balanced Budget Amendment Petition.
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Majority Report on Minnesota Election Discrepancies |
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Dan's Blog
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By Dan McGrath on
1/11/2010
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A discrepancy remains between the 2008 Election canvassing board’s certified election results and the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS). Minnesota Majority’s initial research in May revealed that SVRS could not account for 40,000 votes certified by the canvassing board.
Legal Counsel for the Secretary of State’s office acknowledged a “widespread problem” to Minnesota Majority when the discrepancy was first raised. Subsequently, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie acknowledged the problem and told reporters his office was working to reconcile the numbers. In June of 2009, records indicated that the discrepancy had shrunk from 40,000 to about 30,000 ballots.
At the end of September 2009, Minnesota Majority again examined SVRS records and compared them to the canvassing board’s official election results and found that the discrepancy remains. The inability of SVRS to account for all the ballots cast on Election Day 2008 remains unexplained.
Drew Emmer interviewed Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis on election issues. In Part 1, background on Minnesota Majority’s involvement and the unexplained records imbalance phenomenon were discussed.
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Where's the Transparency? |
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Jeff's Blog
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By Jeff Davis on
1/7/2010
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President Obama repeatedly promised the American people that he planned to televise the health care reform negotiations on CSPAN. But the reality is that most of the most important negotiations that have taken place to date and are currently taking place in reconciling the House and Senate versions of the bills are occurring behind closed doors.
Earlier this week, C-SPAN's CEO Brian Lamb sent a letter to Henry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell requesting that all “important negotiations” in reconciling the differences between the House and be opened up to C-SPAN’s cameras. But C-SPAN's request has thus far fallen on deaf ears.
TAKE ACTION: Send a message to President Obama and Congress demanding that the President keep his promise to the American people to televise all important negotiations related to the health reform bill.
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