Target Dems Back ObamaCare Power Grab

FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following districts: John Adler (NJ-03); Jason Altmire (PA-04); Michael Arcuri (NY-24); John Barrow (GA-12); Sanford Bishop (GA-02); Tim Bishop (NY-01); John Boccieri (OH-16); Leonard Boswell (IA-03); Rick Boucher (VA-09); Allen Boyd (FL-02); Dennis Cardoza (CA-18); Russ Carnahan (MO-03); Chris Carney (PA-10); Ben Chandler (KY-06); Gerry Connolly (VA-11); Jim Costa (CA-20); Joe Courtney (CT-02); Mark Critz (PA-12); Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03); Lincoln Davis (TN-04); Joe Donnelly (IN-02); Steve Driehaus (OH-01); Chet Edwards (TX-17); Bob Etheridge (NC-02); Bill Foster (IL-14); Alan Grayson (FL-08); John Hall (NY-19); Debbie Halvorson (IL-11); Martin Heinrich (NM-01); Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL); Jim Himes (CT-04); Maurice Hinchey (NY-22); Paul Hodes (NH-02); Tim Holden (PA-17); Rush Holt (NJ-12); Steve Kagen (WI-08); Paul Kanjorski (PA-11); Marcy Kaptur (OH-09); Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15); Ron Kind (WI-03); Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01); Larry Kissell (NC-08); Ron Klein (FL-22); Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24); Frank Kratovil (MD-01); Rick Larsen (WA-02); Dave Loebsack (IA-02); Dan Maffei (NY-25); Betsy Markey (CO-04); Jim Marshall (GA-08); Jim Matheson (UT-02); Michael McMahon (NY-13); Jerry McNerney (CA-11); Walt Minnick (ID-01); Chris Murphy (CT-05); Patrick Murphy (PA-08); Scott Murphy (NY-20); Glenn Nye (VA-02); Bill Owens (NY-23); Ed Perlmutter (CO-07); Tom Perriello (VA-05); Gary Peters (MI-09); Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL); Nick Rahall (WV-03); Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23); Mike Ross (AR-04); John Salazar (CO-03); Loretta Sanchez (CA-47); Mark Schauer (MI-07); Kurt Schrader (OR-05); Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01); Heath Shuler (NC-11); Ike Skelton (MO-04); Zack Space (OH-18); John Spratt (SC-05); Betty Sutton (OH-13); Harry Teague (NM-02); Dina Titus (NV-03); Niki Tsongas (MA-05); Tim Walz (MN-01); Charlie Wilson (OH-06); David Wu (OR-01) and John Yarmuth (KY-03).

Washington- John Boccieri cast yet another vote for more government and more spending today when he endorsed one of the most controversial provisions of his party’s healthcare takeover legislation. Given the opportunity to block federal funding to the Internal Revenue Service to enforce ObamaCare’s individual mandate requiring all Americans to purchase insurance coverage, Boccieri instead gave the green light for the federal government to enforce this constitutionally questionable provision (House Roll Call 385). Cutting this burdensome spending measure would save taxpayers between five and ten billion dollars:

“There are too many needed cuts to list, but this week, my YouCut proposal seeks to prohibit the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from hiring thousands of additional agents and employees to implement the new government health care law—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—which would save taxpayers upwards of $5 to $10 billion over the next ten years.” (Fred Upton, “Have your voices heard, YouCut America – and working together, we can cut spending,” Daily Caller, 6/24/2010)

The controversial individual mandate is at the heart of the Democrats’ unpopular government takeover of healthcare, which continues to receive low marks from the American people thanks to its hefty price tag and broken promises. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that a plurality of Americans disapprove of the legislation:

From what you have heard about Barack Obama’s health care plan that was recently passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, do you think his plan is a good idea or a bad idea?

Total Good Idea: 40
Total Bad Idea: 44
(NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey, 6/17-6/21, 2010)

“After constantly backing more government and more spending, it should sadly surprise no one that John Boccieri just gave the green light for the feds to target Americans for not complying with ObamaCare,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “The American people have repeatedly rejected the Democrats’ healthcare takeover, but Boccieri continues to walk the party line instead of standing up the people he’s supposed to represent. With Americans already suffering under the burden of big government, John Boccieri continues to write his political obituary by backing his party’s wildly unpopular agenda.”