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Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will meet with Wayne County’s commissioners and mayors, Piute County’s commissioners and mayors, Garfield County’s commissioners, and Kane County’s commissioners. He will also hold a town hall meeting at the Washington City Community Center at 7:00 PM MDT (9:00 PM EDT). The meeting can be watched live online here.

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee:

The Congressional Budget Office released its updated economic forecasts this morning and, today as before, the results reflect the Obama Administration’s “stewardship” of the economy.  In the health care sector, CBO made some significant updates to its baseline, reflecting both economic and technical changes.  With respect to the former, because economic productivity has lagged, and because most Medicare payment rates for hospitals and other providers are linked to “market-basket” updates of goods and services, CBO raised projected Medicare spending based on this economic factor.  From page 52 of the report:

CBO’s current projections of productivity are lower than they were in its previous forecast, and its projected prices for goods and services (including the cost of both labor and non-labor inputs) are now higher.  Consequently, CBO now anticipates higher payment rates for Medicare than it forecast in March, a change that raises projected outlays by $136 billion (or about 2 percent) over the 2013–2022 period.  In the Medicaid program, higher projected prices for medical services and the cost of labor are also expected to boost spending, by $27 billion, between 2013 and 2022.

Admittedly, CBO made a larger downward adjustment ($169 billion) in projected Medicare spending, which it termed a technical adjustment to reflect the current slowdown in health spending.  However, the Medicare actuary and others have said much of this slowdown is linked to the poorly recovering economy – which means spending could pick up whenever the economy fully recovers.

Either way, however, the report reflects an indictment on the Obama economy – lower productivity growth raising Medicare spending, offset only by people cutting back on health expenditures because they can’t afford to go to the doctor.  That’s not evidence Obamacare is working – that’s evidence the “stimulus” didn’t.

A couple of other related points from the CBO report:

·         According to the updated baseline, the federal government will in 2022 spend a total of $1.064 trillion on Medicare, and $592 billion on Medicaid (not counting the state share of Medicaid payments).  The vast – and vastly increasing – amounts of money the federal government is spending on these programs makes the best case for comprehensive entitlement reform.

·         The update projects the decade-long cost of a freeze in Medicare physician payments at $245 billion.  If said legislation is not paid for, CBO estimates debt service payments on the $245 billion would total an additional $36 billion.

On Twitter

SenMikeLee

If you live in the Washington County area, you are invited to my town hall meeting tonight in Washington City: http://ow.ly/d7MQ8 #utpol

SenLeeComs

It's a mathematical certainty that Democrats' do-nothing plan will "end Medicare as we know it".
 

SenLeePressSec

RELEASE: @SenMikeLee pleased Verizon-Spectrum Co will be approved http://bit.ly/MCuUdi  #utpol #judiciary

SenLeeResearch

How #ObamaCare creates incentives for employers to stop expanding and stop hiring: http://on.wsj.com/MSRYWa  #jobs#unemployment #tcot #tlot

Around the Water Cooler

Europe’s leaders face post-holiday blues

After their holidays spent soaking up the August sun, Europe’s political leaders are bracing themselves for storm clouds this fall.

The latest economic figures show that Europe is edging closer to recession, dragged down by the crippling debt problems of the 17 countries that use the euro.
 

Labor Department spends stimulus funds for ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows 

The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two MSNBC cable shows, records show.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of Washington County, Iron County, and Beaver County. He will also hold a town hall at the Sevier County Administration Building in Richfield.

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee:

Speaking on Fox News Sunday yesterday, Robert Gibbs was challenged about the composition of Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB.  He said that the IPAB would be composed of “medical professionals. They are people that we trust to make medical decisions.”

Actually, that statement is FALSE.  Obamacare specifically states that practicing medical professionals may NOT comprise the majority of the IPAB’s membership – meaning economists and other potential bean-counters will by definition maintain a majority voting share on the board.  Here’s the specific language from page 423 of the statute (emphasis mine):

(iii) MAJORITY NONPROVIDERS.—Individuals who are directly involved in the provision or management of the delivery of items and services covered under this title shall not constitute a majority of the appointed membership of the Board.

Of course, if Gibbs – and by extension the Obama campaign – want to argue that the IPAB’s members will be thoroughly respected, then President Obama could actually follow the law and appoint IPAB nominees.  According to page 426 of the statute, the law appropriates funds for IPAB (originally $15 million, but lowered to $5 million last December) “for fiscal year 2012” – that’s the fiscal year ending this September 30.  So Obamacare contemplates IPAB being up and running NOW – yet President Obama has failed to nominate any appointees to the board.  If the President wants to save Medicare so badly – and IPAB is so critical to saving Medicare – what’s he waiting for?  And if IPAB is so innocuous and won’t harm seniors, why is he waiting until AFTER his re-election campaign to announce who he wants to put on the board?

Given the massive powers of the IPAB officials – the rulings of these bureaucrats will be exempt from both administrative AND judicial review – there’s a good government argument to be made that the American people should have full knowledge of who these powerful people will be BEFORE they make their choice in November.  Of course, given this Administration’s history of radical appointees – i.e., Donald “Rationing with Our Eyes Open” Berwick – it’s entirely likely that the Administration does NOT want to tell the American people exactly who will be supervising the Medicare program under IPAB’s new world order.

On Twitter

SenMikeLee

The last time the Senate's Democrat majority passed a budget, the iPad did not yet exist: http://youtu.be/2fMfwDm6w18 

SenLeeComs

Obama talking about reducing the deficit and debt. *shakes head* His own budget ADDS $11 trillion to the debt.
 

SenLeePressSec

RELEASE: @SenMikeLee pleased Verizon-Spectrum Co will be approved http://bit.ly/MCuUdi  #utpol #judiciary

SenLeeResearch

@kc135guy Thanks, that's some great info. We keep a close eye on the #Fed and support significant monetary reform: http://bit.ly/I2ytVG

Around the Water Cooler 

Summertime blues for drivers: Gas at August record

You may pay more than ever for a late-summer drive.

U.S. drivers paid an average of $3.72 per gallon on Monday. That's the highest price ever on this date, according to auto club AAA, a shade above the $3.717 average on Aug. 20, 2008. A year ago, the average was $3.578.
 

Study: Red states more charitable

Red states give more money to charity than blue states, according to a new study on Monday.

The eight states with residents who gave the highest share of their income to charity supported Sen. John McCain in 2008, while the seven states with the least generous residents went for President Barack Obama, the Chronicle of Philanthropy found in its new survey of tax data from the IRS for 2008.

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee: 

Politifact this afternoon issued a “ruling” calling Mostly False a statement that Obamacare utilized Medicare funds to pay for its coverage expansions.  The Politifact piece claims – correctly – that other Presidents have signed laws reducing Medicare spending, and that therefore claims about Obamacare’s impact on Medicare are overblown.  However, there’s a BIG difference between those prior laws and Obamacare – Obamacare used Medicare savings to pay for more government spending.  On that count, there is near universal agreement that’s exactly what the law did:

·         The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that the Medicare reductions in Obamacare “will not enhance the ability of the government to pay for future Medicare benefits” – because those savings will be used to fund other unsustainable entitlements.  If Democrats want to use the Medicare savings provisions to extend the life of the Medicare trust fund – and not to fund the new entitlements created by the law – the Congressional Budget Office previously estimated what the fiscal impact would be:  “A net increase in federal deficits of $260 billion” through 2019.

·         Likewise, the Medicare actuary has written that the Medicare provisions in the law “cannot be simultaneously used to finance other Federal outlays (such as the coverage expansions under the PPACA) and to extend the [Medicare] trust fund, despite the appearance of this result from the respective accounting conventions.”

·         Back in November, even Nancy Pelosi admitted that Democrats “took a half a trillion dollars out of Medicare in [Obamacare], the health care bill” to pay for more federal spending.  

President Obama himself admitted the problems with Obamacare’s supposed logic in a 2010 interview, when he stated that “You can’t say that you are saving on Medicare and then spending the money twice.”  Yet that’s EXACTLY what the law did – and no amount of spin can change that fact.

On Twitter

SenMikeLee

The last time the Senate's Democrat majority passed a budget, the iPad did not yet exist: http://youtu.be/2fMfwDm6w18 

SenLeeComs

GOP Budget leaders say lack of Senate budget a failure of 'moral leadership' http://ow.ly/cSUYu  @BudgetGOP #3YearsNoBudget

SenLeePressSec

Working from our SLC office today! If I worked here permanently, I fear all of my money would be spent at City Creek during lunch breaks.

SenLeeResearch

@kc135guy Thanks, that's some great info. We keep a close eye on the #Fed and support significant monetary reform: http://bit.ly/I2ytVG

Around the Water Cooler 

US government’s foreign debt hits record $5.29 trillion

The money the U.S. government owes to foreign entities rose to a record $5.2923 trillion in June, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury Wednesday afternoon.

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee:

Ezra Klein has a post this afternoon in which he claims that Democrats have a plan to reform Medicare, but that this plan is fundamentally different from the vision conservatives have put forward.  To which only two questions show the incomplete nature of Democrats’ supposed “plan:”

1.     How does the Democrat plan deal with changing demographics?  As we previously noted, CBO has estimated that changing demographics represent at least half, and up to three-quarters, of the shortfall in entitlement programs over the coming generation.  What this analysis means is that, even if the growth of health costs does manage to slow (and both CBO and the Medicare actuary think Obamacare’s cost reductions will not be sustainable in the long-term), slowing health costs alone won’t solve Medicare’s financial problems. 

The House Republican budget addresses the demographic bulge in part by raising the Medicare retirement age for future generations.  How does the President propose to address this issue?  He doesn’t – he has consistently ducked it.  Does he want to raise taxes (again) to address the demographic concerns?  He won’t say.  Will the President agree to raise the retirement age?  Maybe – but he hasn’t said so publicly, and he most likely won’t before November 6.  So the President’s views on how to address the “Baby Boom bulge” are unclear – because he has avoided these issues for political gain.

2.       Where are the IPAB nominees?  Klein’s post admits that the “most famous” way the President would reduce Medicare costs is through the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).  Klein also notes that the President has proposed “expanding IPAB’s mandate such that it can change Medicare’s benefit package” and lowering Medicare’s overall growth rate.  But here’s the interesting thing:  According to page 426 of the statute, the law appropriates funds for IPAB (originally $15 million, but lowered to $5 million last December) “for fiscal year 2012” – that’s the fiscal year ending this September 30.  So Obamacare contemplates IPAB being up and running NOW – yet President Obama has failed to nominate any appointees to the board.  If the President wants to save Medicare so badly – and IPAB is so critical to saving Medicare – what’s he waiting for?  And if IPAB is so innocuous and won’t harm seniors, why is he waiting until AFTER his re-election campaign to announce who he wants to put on the board? 

Klein would probably argue that conservatives will oppose whomever the President nominates, so there’s no point in the President putting forward appointees now who are going to get attacked.  But it’s more than a tad hypocritical for Democrats to be gleeful about running “Mediscare” attack ads against conservatives – only for these same Democrats to claim they can’t put forward IPAB nominees whose records will be subject to similar public scrutiny.  And given the massive powers of the IPAB officials – the rulings of these bureaucrats will be exempt from both administrative AND judicial review – there’s a good government argument to be made that the American people should have full knowledge of who these powerful people will be BEFORE they make their choice in November.

When it comes to both the demographic challenges facing Medicare, and the specific IPAB officials who will implement the lynchpin of Obamacare’s plan to lower costs, President Obama has failed to offer any specifics or any vision – meaning that even under favorable circumstances, the best grade one can offer for the President’s Medicare “plan” is an Incomplete.

On Twitter

SenMikeLee

This article does a good job explaining my opposition to the UN's disability convention: http://ow.ly/cNANP 
 

SenLeeComs

GOP Budget leaders say lack of Senate budget a failure of 'moral leadership' http://ow.ly/cSUYu  @BudgetGOP #3YearsNoBudget

SenLeePressSec

Lee: One year ago the S&P downgraded the US credit rating. Cut, Cap, and Balance would have preserved the AAA ratinghttp://on.fb.me/gICihR 

SenLeeResearch

How #ObamaCare creates incentives for employers to stop expanding and stop hiring: http://on.wsj.com/MSRYWa  #jobs#unemployment #tcot #tlot

Around the Water Cooler

Social Security surplus dwarfed by future deficit

As millions of baby boomers flood Social Security with applications for benefits, the program's $2.7 trillion surplus is starting to look small.
 

Investors prepare for euro collapse

Otmar Issing is looking a bit tired. The former chief economist at the European Central Bank (ECB) is sitting on a barstool in a room adjoining the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. He resembles a father whose troubled teenager has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Issing is just about to explain again all the things that have gone wrong with the euro, and why the current, as yet unsuccessful efforts to save the European common currency are cause for grave concern.