Question: Could it be true that big Labor has struck a behind closed door deal with health care negotiators to exempt union members from the 40% excise tax on high-priced health insurance premiums and, if so, why?
The following article and/or blog post reveals that the leftist majorities in Congress and the Obama administration are making behind closed doors deals to pay for President Obama’s likely $1 trillion health care plan without raising taxes on one of the President’s most loyal constituencies: labor unions-You Decide:
Morning Bell: Behind Closed Doors, Unions Win, You Lose–Posted On The Heritage Foundation-On January 14, 2010:
These are pertinent excerpts from this article and/or blog post:
“Yesterday, President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and nine other lawmakers met face-to-face for seven hours to resolve differences between the House and Senate health care bills. At the same time these talks were going on, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger met with other Obama administration officials in a separate room in the White House. This all comes after these same labor leaders met personally with Speaker Pelosi yesterday, and after they met face-to-face with President Obama in the White House on Monday. Despite then-candidate Barack Obama’s explicit promises to the American people, absolutely none of these meetings were open to the public or televised on C-SPAN. In fact, Politico reports: “Those involved in the talks sought to keep details of their progress under wraps.”
And just what deals were Big Labor, the leftist majorities in Congress and the Obama administration making behind closed doors? How to pay for President Obama’s likely $1 trillion health care plan without raising taxes on one of the President’s most loyal constituencies: labor unions. Specifically, Big Labor reportedly has struck a deal with health care negotiators to exempt union members from the 40% excise tax on high-priced health insurance premiums. By some estimates, the tax would hit one in four union members. Now Big Labor will get all of the big government health care spending they always wanted, but they will not have to pay for it.
And Obamacare’s Big Labor handouts don’t end there. The legislation also sets aside $5 billion to subsidize the costs of employer health benefits for early retirees. As Heritage fellow James Sherk notes, few nonunion employers, of course, pay pension and health benefits for workers to retire at 55. And then there’s the small business exemption from the employer mandate for businesses with less than 50 employees. At first this applied to all small businesses, but after aggressive lobbying by Big Labor, non-unionized construction businesses were unexempted. Big Labor lobbyists explicitly admitted they wanted to use Obamacare’s job-killing employer mandates as a competitive advantage to drive non-unionized firms out of business.
So where does the White House and Congress propose to regain the revenue lost from exempting unions from the health care excise tax? The people who fund job creation: investors. The Obama administration wants to apply the Medicare payroll tax not just to wages but to capital gains, and for the first time ever, to dividends and other forms of investment income. This tax will hit seniors the hardest since many of them live off their dividend and interest income, in addition to their pension and Social Security checks. But it also hurts us all since high taxes on capital gains, dividends, interest and business income increase the cost of capital, thus depressing investment at the very time the economy needs new investment to grow and create jobs.
Big Labor’s high wages and inflexible work rules have already bankrupted our nation’s once proud automobile industry. Across the country, their early retirement and exorbitant pensions are bankrupting states. The health insurance excise tax was once the signature health care spending cost cutter of Obama’s entire health care plan. Now it has been gutted at the altar of Big Labor power. The big loser in all of these cases is you, the American taxpayer.”
Note: The following articles and/or blog posts and videos relate to and/or support this article-You Decide:
Judicial Watch Obtains New Documents Related to Closed-Door Obamacare Meetings: “Documents Detail Meetings with Union Officials, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Obamacare Czar Nancy-Ann Min DeParle”–Posted on Judicial Watch-On August 25, 2010:
Health Care Bill Handouts to Big Labor Have Already Begun… Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You–Posted on Freedom @ Work-By Nick Cote-On May 11, 2010:
http://nrtw.org/en/blog/dont-say-we-didnt-warn-you-05112010
Unions Making Postal Service Unsustainable, GAO Says–Posted on CNSNews.com-By Gred Lucas, Staff Writer-On April 14, 2010:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=64139
Morning Bell: Andy Stern’s America–Posted on The Heritage Foundation-On April 13, 2010:
U.S. Attorney Reviews Call for Probe of SEIU Activities with White House, Congress–Posted On CNSNews.Com-By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer-On February 1, 2010:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=60735
The NLRB Becker Fight “Shakes and Bakes” Again–Posted On Right to Work Blog:
http://www.nrtwc.org/blog/archives/2902
The Obama White House – Where Everybody Knows the Union Bosses’ Names–Posted On Freedom @ Work-On January 27, 2010:
http://www.nrtw.org/en/blog/new-right-work-video-obama-white-house-where-01272109
Another Rank Deal–Posted On New York Post-By Rich Lowry-On January 15, 2010:
Right to Work on Glenn Beck: Obamacare’s Big Labor Giveaways-Posted On Freedom@Work.Org-On January 14, 2010:
http://www.nrtw.org/en/blog/right-work-glenn-beck-obamacares-big-labor-gi-11409
Democratic Leaders Reach Compromise on Taxing Health Plans-Posted on New York Times-By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN-On January 14, 2010:
Mark Mix: Big Labor’s Transparency Exemption–Posted On The Washington Examiner-By Mark Mix, Op-Ed Contributor-On December 9, 2009:
Bad Faith & Broken Promises: “Accountability and Transparency Casualties of Health Care Debate”–Posted On National Policy Analysis #596-By Matt Patterson-January 2010:
http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA596.html
Schwarzenegger on Obamacare: “They Got the Corn, We Got the Husk”–Posted On The Heritage Foundation-On January 7, 2010:
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/07/schwarzenegger-on-obamacare-they-got-the-corn-we-got-the-husk/
The C-SPAN Lie? See Eight Clips of Obama Promising Televised Healthcare Negotiations:
http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?v=Gd2GZu8z8z
Note: These articles and/or blog posts and video support my blog posts-You Decide:
Supreme Court to Strike Down Obamacare!
https://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/supreme-court-to-strike-down-obamacare/
Health Care Reform: “The Perils of Inaction and the Promise of Effective Action”:
Ongoing Concerns With This President and His Administration!
“Food For Thought”
“God Bless & Keep Our USA Safe”
Semper Fi!
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