Congressman-elect Bill Owens (D-NY), the newly minted congressman from NY-23, didn't take long to break campaign promises.
This has to be a world record though. He was sworn in Saturday at noon. Shortly thereafter in a press release, that he was in favor of the the "Affordable Healthcare for America Act" bill in direct contrast to his earlier position during the election campaign.
That's a big problem because first, Mr. Owens had recanted his solid position against public option later in the campaign, ( a flip-flop) clarifying that he did not wish public option to be a 'litmus test' for the Health Reform bill and that on Oct. 30th, several days prior to the election, in a debate had stated that he generally supported the public option as it was written at that time.
Next, "Mr. Owens also indicated during his campaign that he was firmly opposed to cutting Medicare benefits, taxing health care benefits, and increased taxes on the middle class in any way as you can see clearly in the screenshot below, taken directly from Mr. Owens' campaign website."
The House Health reform bill contains sections that cut Medicare benefits, tax existing health care benefits, and increases taxes on the middle class, yet Mr. Owens stated today that he will now vote in favor of those things contrary to what he had promised the voters of NY's 23rd Congressional District that he would vote against.
Mr. Owens also indicated in his press release Saturday that "This legislation will reform the insurance industry and provide increased access to affordable healthcare without taxing healthcare benefits, cutting Medicare benefits or raising taxes on the middle class, and that is exactly the direction we need to go." Spoken like a good little leftist, and so very misleading!!
From The Gouverneur Times (my comments in parentheses):
Both FactCheck.org and the Congressional Budget Office agree that HR 3962 contains potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in planned cuts to Medicare, yet Mr. Owens indicates that he supports this legislation and says that it does not cut Medicare benefits. Either Mr. Owens has been snowed or the public is about to be.
HR 3962 also includes a range of various taxes on middle-class families as well as language to repeal tax relief already in place. Has Congressman Owens blindly followed Ms. Pelosi's rhetoric in believing that the end to a tax cut is not the same thing as an increase in taxes or is he hedging his bet with very carefully chosen words?
HR 3962 now also contains language that allows illegal immigrants to be covered under the legislation. When The Gouverneur Times attempted to contact Mr. Owens for clarification of this language, we received no response other than the press release heretofore mentioned. Specifically, we asked if illegal immigrants would be forced to purchase healthcare insurance as citizens will be and whether or not they would be forced to do so at standard rates or if they would qualify for the public option subsidy.
The Associated Press said Saturday morning that: "House leaders said that, in keeping with the Hispanic Caucus' demands, there was not likely to be any prohibition added to the House bill against illegal immigrants shopping in the exchange." (Guess this means Rep Joe Wilson (R-SC) was telling the truth and Obama is a liar after all.)
The mixed-up mess that was the 23rd Congressional District Special Election was a close race between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Doug Hoffman. Many feel that it was unlikely Mr. Owens would have won those crucial few thousand votes if the voting public was aware of his intent with regard to the Health Care bill. The majority of residents in this district do not support the Health Reform bill as it is now written and many feel like they've become victims of a fraud perpetrated by their chosen candidate.
What happened in NY-23 just now happened to the nation last November. In both cases the lesson learned is you can't trust a liberal Democrat to do the right thing. I've said this before, and it bears repeating: In 2010, Americans need to throw out as many Democrats as possible to take this country back. (HT The Gouverneur Times):
The Gouverneur Times: Owens Breaks 4 Campaign Promises In First Hour In Congress
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