As America heads towards a presidential election this
fall, the growth and size of the federal government
will and must be at the heart of the electoral debate.
Both Republicans and Democrats have had a hand in
increasing the size and scope of the federal
government for decades. But President Obama has
taken the expansion of government to a whole new
level with the passage of Obamacare, the “stimulus”
bill, and other government programs. In only a little
more than 3 years, President Obama has added an
astounding $5 trillion to our current $15.7 trillion
debt. The Founding Fathers would be cringing.
What are our prospects for reducing the size of
government? Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good: Congressman Marsha
Blackburn (R-TN) recently
introduced the Consolidate
Heavy-handed and Outdated
Programs Act of 2012 (CHOP
Act). This bold piece of
legislation will combine the
Department of Energy (DOE)
and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) into
one department known as the
Department of the Energy and
the Environment (DOEE).
The federal government is a wasteful alphabet soup of
agencies that often duplicates work, and this bill will
reduce that duplicity. Ideally, these two agencies
should be dismantled, but this is undoubtedly a step
in the right direction.
Congressman Blackburn’s approach will streamline
two very big bureaucracies into one, hopefully, more
efficient department. The CHOP Act will consolidate
20 offices into eight, cut four offices completely, and
May 2012 Volume 4 Issue 3
www.obamabidenwatch.org www.citizensunited.org
...your eyes and ears for the next year
© Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003
Size of Government: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Cont…
© Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003
eliminate or reduce 24 programs or initiatives. The savings from combining the
two agencies and implementing the cuts will save the American taxpayer an
estimated $5.3 billion. Now, compared to our ever-growing debt, that might not
seem like much, but it is a step in the right direction that must be repeated at every
agency.
The Bad: One agency that is ripe for some budget cuts and savings is the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS). Headed by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, HHS
is tasked with implementing Obamacare and all of the nefarious policies associated
with it. Most of the egregious parts of Obamacare do not go into effect until after
the 2012 election.
In a New York Post Op-Ed by Benjamin Sasse and Charles Hurt, the two expose
what can only be described as a crude shell game to protect President Obama’s
re-election prospects with Medicare Advantage, slated to be on the chopping block
next year. Medicare Advantage is a market oriented program that services an
estimated 12 million seniors. Liberals hate the program because they view it as an
affront to traditional Medicare. With the cuts set to take place next year, affected
seniors will be reminded when open enrollment starts this October 15th. The
problem for President Obama and his campaign is that they do not want to anger
12 million senior citizens right before an election - especially in major swing states
like Florida and Ohio with millions of seniors poised to hit the polls.
The Ugly: Big Government is ready and able to take care of this little problem for the Obama
campaign. A little used 1967 law gives the HHS Secretary the authority to spend
money that is not authorized by Congress for “demonstration projects” that are
“experiments.” HHS plans to spend over $8 billion to fund Medicare Advantage
through the election under this law to shield President Obama from the wrath of
seniors at the polls. The Government Accounting Office issued a report this week
calling on HHS to cancel this “demonstration project” and let this portion of
Obamacare take effect. Fleecing $8 billion from the American people to help his
reelection is a pox on President Obama and obviously an ugly misuse of taxpayers’
money. Congress should investigate the activity and hold hearings.
To curb our $15.6 trillion debt
America needs more pieces of
legislation like Congressman
Blackburn’s CHOP Act and less
incumbent-protection rackets like
President Obama’s HHS
“experiments.” Time and again
Congress and the President have
expanded government. Finally, a member of Congress is trying to shrink the size
of government, but is the President willing to do the same? Unfortunately, we’ll
just see more of the ugly for now.
In this Issue
Size of Government: The Good, The
Bad, and The Ugly
Pg. 1-2
War on Mothers
Pg. 3
The Tax Man is Coming Pg. 4
Two Philosophies On Display at
The Supreme Court Pg. 5
A Slip of the Tongue or Just The
Truth? Pg. 6
Citizens United Productions
Presents Pg. 7
Final Thought
Pg. 8 __________________________
Published By Citizens United
Editor David N. Bossie
Managing Editor J.T. Mastranadi
Contributors Jeff Marschner Alexa Coombs
Publication Design Kirk Risinger
Jennifer Humphrey
Copyright © 2012 by Citizens United
Page 2
© Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003
Page 3
Knowing how hypocritical they look, the Democrats are
now attempting to disavow their “War on Women” phrase,
even claiming it wasn’t their language. Clearly, they have
forgotten DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s
appearance on Meet The Press in early March that added
the “War on Women” to her long line of divisive and over
the top statements. They’re trying to pretend that former
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi never penned a
fundraising email used by the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee (DCCC) to garner donations based
on the plea that “the national media and our opponents
will use our grassroots fundraising totals to measure the
strength of our opposition to the Republicans’ War on
Women.” Next will be the disappearance of the DCCC’s
sale of “Stop the Republican War on Women” car magnets
and the “One Million Strong Against the Republican War
on Women” online petition. Will the Democratic Senato-
rial Campaign Committee remove their “Stop The Repub-
lican War On Women” action alert, too?
These false political theatrics and conjured up wars can’t
distract from the real issues facing all Americans, whether
it’s the painful price at the pump, the stubbornly high
unemployment rate, or our skyrocketing debt. America is
suffering from the failed policies of President Obama and
some of the loudest voices against these policies have been
women. They know that we cannot pass America's
crushing $15 trillion debt onto the next generation.
In the Citizens United Productions film, “Fire from the
Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative Woman,”
Michelle Malkin explains this maternal instinct by saying,
“We do not want our
kids’ and our grandkids’
futures taken away from
us and we’re going to
stand up and do whatever
we need to do to make
sure that doesn’t hap-
pen.”
This is not the war the
Left was hoping for, but
the Mama Grizzlies have
been reawakened – and
they’re ready for battle.
War On Mothers
There they go again. Liberals launched yet another
disgusting smear campaign and this time it blew up in
their faces. After months of hammering hateful “War on
Women” and class warfare messages, Democrat operative
Hilary Rosen got her signals crossed when she badgered
Mrs. Ann Romney, a stay at home mother of five with
multiple sclerosis who survived breast cancer, as never
having worked a day in her life.
Despite the outrage, Obama’s million dollar Super PAC
donor Bill Maher doubled down on the attack and pushed
it even further over the line, saying, “But what she meant
to say, I think, was that Ann Romney has never gotten her
[expletive] out of the house to work.”
Millions of women exploded at the slight against
hardworking mothers and it reignited the Mommy Wars.
Make no mistake, motherhood is a job and it is the most
important job in the world. Working and stay at home
mothers alike can agree that it is a thankless 24/7 job with
many sacrifices and frustrations but it is worth every
moment. This attack on Mrs. Romney is an attack on her
and every other underappreciated mother.
The Democrats’ “War on Women” message is not
working. In addition to this disrespect of mothers, the
Obama White House has been called a “hostile workplace
to women,” where women are paid less than men. Since
President Obama took office, 92.3 percent of the people
who have been laid off from their jobs have been women
– 858,000 of them.
© Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003
Page 4
The Tax Man Is Coming
Americans get a two-day reprieve from the Tax Man this
year due to April 15th falling on a Sunday and the
following day being a Washington, D.C. holiday. The
deadline to file federal taxes is April 17th, a day which
many Americans dread and Big Government relishes.
The old saying that death and taxes are the only things
certain in life rings truer every day. We are all going to
meet our Maker, but do we have to pay the government an
absurd amount, too?
According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, it will take
Americans 107 days in 2012 to pay an estimated
combined 29.2 percent of their salaries in federal, state,
and local taxes. Meaning, nearly thirty percent of income
is taxed one way or the other, from federal Social Security
and income taxes, to state gas and local property taxes.
Americans are simply overtaxed by the government at
every level in their lives.
Americans are overtaxed because federal, state, and local
governments like to spend money needlessly. The latest
example of government waste comes from the agency
charged with making sure the federal government is
accountable to the American taxpayer, the General
Services Administration (GSA). The GSA has been
embroiled in scandal over the last few weeks because it
spent lavishly on a Las Vegas conference. On the GSA’s
website, the agency states its mission is “…to use
expertise to provide innovative solutions for our
customers in support of their missions and by so doing
foster an effective, sustainable, and transparent
government for the American people.” Well that
“expertise” wasted $800,000 of taxpayers’ money on a
frivolous Las Vegas conference.
Thankfully, the foolish wasting of taxpayer money that
happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas. The GSA’s
Administrator has been sacked and the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee will launch a formal
inquiry on the matter. But as egregious and wasteful the
GSA episode has been, a new report about Obamacare
should make the American taxpayers’ blood boil. Charles
Blahous, a trustee for Medicare and Social Security
finances, says Obamacare will add at least $340 billion to
the deficit and refutes President Obama’s original claim
that Obamacare would reduce the deficit.
Of course, the White House pushed backed hard at the
report, but their math just does not add up because it was
flawed to begin with. What this means for the American
taxpayer is dire and only hurts those who are in need of
tax relief. Time and again President Obama has waged
war on those paying the most in taxes. Then he complains
when those same people do not invest in America. The
Obama Administration cannot have it both ways.
The Tax Man is coming on April 17th and he will be
shaking down the American people to pay for Big
Government policies. The Tax Man will only get fatter
with the current policies in place.
To solve the problem of high taxes, Americans need to
focus on shrinking the size of government, which means
America needs a new direction.
© Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003
Page 5
Two Philosophies On Display At The
Supreme Court
In our political system there is a fundamental divide
between the two political philosophies. Liberalism versus
conservatism has long been a battle of ideas and has ebbed
and flowed in various forms throughout our nation’s
history. Liberals advocate for Big Government whereas
conservatives call on government to get out of their lives.
President Obama has said that government “made this
country great.” Many would disagree, Mr. President.
America was made great because of her citizens – not
because of her government.
Government overstepping its boundaries was on full
display at the United States Supreme Court where
Obamacare was argued. By most accounts, President
Obama’s Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli Jr., did a
terrible job arguing the government’s case defending
Obamacare, particularly the individual mandate. The
individual mandate is the most egregious section of
Obamacare, requiring every American citizen to buy
healthcare on the presumption they will eventually need it
and be in the market for it.
As Justice Antonin Scalia said during oral arguments,
“Everybody has to buy food sooner or later. Therefore,
everybody is in the market; therefore you can make people
buy broccoli?” Justice Scalia’s comparison of healthcare
to broccoli may seem trivial to some, but in truth he hit the
government’s argument right on the head. It is
unconstitutional for the government to order its citizens to
buy anything, whether it is health insurance or broccoli.
Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli’s argument fell apart
and those watching this historic case knew it. Jeffrey
Toobin, a liberal commentator who writes for the New
Yorker and appears on CNN, seemed shaken by Verrilli’s
performance on Day 2, calling it a “train wreck” that put
the law “in grave, grave danger.” It is not totally Verrilli’s
fault because it is hard to defend the indefensible.
The three days of Obamacare oral arguments were remi-
niscent of some of the great moments from Citizens
United v. FEC. The most dramatic exchange that stands
out came when then-Deputy Solicitor General Malcom
Stewart was forced to admit during the first round of oral
arguments that the government had the power to ban
books. The reaction on the justices’ faces was priceless.
Undergrad political science students taking Con-Law
know that it is unconstitutional for the government to ban
books because of their First Amendment rights.
In the rearguing, then-Solicitor General and now-Supreme
Court Justice Elena Kagan attempted to argue that even
though the government could potentially ban books, it
never had, and so we must trust the government when it
says it never will. Kargan’s baseless argument just further
solidified a victory.
At the end of June the country will hear the Supreme
Court’s decision on Obamacare. Analysis of hearings
only that the Supreme Court - like it did in Citizens
United - will rule in favor of the Constitution, and a
smaller government. President Obama’s philosophy is
that Big Government is always right and just. It is now up
to the Supreme Court to keep President Obama and Big
Government in check.
.
© Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003
Page 6
A Slip of the Tongue
or
Just the Truth?
Recently, there were been two instances where President
Obama or a member of his administration were far more
candid than usual. Maybe it was because both were not in
front of Teleprompters or scripted on poll-tested talking
points. President Obama and his administration have
continuously altered the facts to prepare the landscape for
this year’s reelection campaign. With the uncommon
frankness from President Obama and Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner, the narrative that Team Obama and the
mainstream media have been trying to push unravels.
The first instance was an
underreported back and
forth between Secretary
Geithner and Congressman
Trey Gowdy (R-SC) at a
House Committee on
Oversight and Government
Reform hearing. To put
this telling exchange into
context, one has to rewind
to February 2009 when
President Obama said in a
major address from the
White House:
[T]oday I’m pledging to cut the deficit we
inherited in half by the end of my first term in of-
fice. This will not be easy. It will require us to
make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve
long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children
with a debt that they cannot repay – and that
means taking responsibility right now, in this
administration, for getting our spending under
control.
Now fast-forward to last week when Congressman Gowdy
asked Secretary Geithner, “If this were the last debt
ceiling increase you ask for, the final one, and you had to
make it large enough for all current and future obligations,
what would the request be?” After some banter back and
forth Secretary Geithner said, “It would be a lot,” and then
added, “It would make you uncomfortable.”
To hear the Treasury Secretary of the United States
disclose that it would “make” a Member of Congress
“uncomfortable,” because the amount would be so high,
turns my stomach. President Obama promised the
American people that he would make tough decisions,
take responsibility, and not leave future generations
saddled with debt. As with so many other words that have
come out of President Obama’s mouth, it was another
empty promise never intended to be enacted. America has
a $15.5 trillion debt that continues to rise and the Obama
administration does not want to tell the truth about it
because it might make people “uncomfortable.” The com-
ments from Secretary Geithner can only lead the Ameri-
can people to believe a course has been set for our nation
that we cannot recover from.
In the second instance, President Obama, in Seoul, South
Korea, had a very revealing exchange with Russian
President Dmitri Medvedev on an open mic . President
Obama said, “This is my last election. After my election I
have more flexibility.” First, President Obama seems
pretty confident that, despite his catastrophic failures, he
will be reelected to a second term. Second, President
Obama knows full well that in his anticipated second term
he will move even further to the left than he has in his first
term, even in the context of missile defense. There is no
doubt that President Obama will take advantage of his
“flexibility” on a myriad of issues that the people oppose.
This will no doubt be a boon for Big Government and a
bust for your everyday American if President Obama is
reelected.
What is even more troubling about the whole exchange is
that President Obama is more forthright with the President
of Russia than he is with the American people. Aided by
a friendly media, his campaign will try to pull the wool
over the eyes of Americans yet again. The American peo-
ple deserve the truth when they go into the voting booth
next fall, not just some $1 billion infomercial that does not
mean anything.
Thankfully, this time Americans can look back at the re-
vealing comments by President Obama and Secretary
Geithner to see their true agenda – more debt, even bigger
government, and no responsibility.
© Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003
Page 7
Our newest documentary!
The Gift of Life
The Tea Party Trilogy:
Our Newer Films:
Check out all 19 films online at www.CitizensUnited.org
© Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003
Page 8
FINAL THOUGHT FROM
CITIZENS UNITED PRESIDENT
DAVID N. BOSSIE
Dear Friend,
The last time the United States Senate passed a
budget was three years ago on April 29, 2009. It is a
complete outrage that what is supposed to be the
greatest deliberative body in the world cannot figure
out a fiscally sane budget that will put America back
on a path towards prosperity. I have said this before
and I will say it again, American families sit around
their kitchen tables and make hard choices – why
can’t the United States Senate do the same? Can
they ever be held accountable for failing the
American people? When will the American people
demand better?
Nevada Senator Dean Heller has stepped up to the
plate and introduced legislation that will hopefully
light a fire under his fellow colleagues to pass a
budget for the American people. The No Budget, No
Pay Act, (S.1981), calls on Members of both Houses
of Congress to pass a budget by the start of each
fiscal year. If Members of Congress fail in their
duties, then they will lose their pay until a budget is
finally signed by the President of the United States.
This noble piece of legislation will finally hold
members accountable, and will no doubt force them
to come up with a meaningful budget. All readers
should call their Members of Congress and demand
support.
Under Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s failed
leadership, the Senate has stopped doing the
people’s business. Since 2010, Democrats in the
United States Senate have not brought one single
budget to the floor for a vote. Not one! You would
think that since the federal government did not have
a budget, spending would decrease. However,
looking at the facts, that
couldn’t be further from
the truth. Since the last
budget was adopted in
2009, federal spending has
totaled $10.4 trillion.
During that same period
of time, the national debt
has increased by $4.5
trillion – meaning a
typical American family
would have to pay an
additional $39,000 to pay off the national debt.
The United States Senate cannot continue down this
road of inaction when it comes to the federal budget.
With America’s $15 trillion-plus national debt, it is
incumbent upon lawmakers to at least produce a
blueprint for how to get out of this fiscal mess.
Unfortunately, in my view, the reason Senate
Democrats do not want to produce a budget is
purely political. They just do not want to make the
tough choices that will affect their liberal
pocketbook issues. President Obama is also culpable
in this charade for not demanding a budget from
Congress.
Senator Heller’s legislation is a wake-up call for his
fellow colleagues. The current system under which
the United States Senate tries to produce a budget is
clearly not working. The No Budget, No Pay Act is
simply a good government piece of legislation that
will finally make lawmakers accountable. America’s
spending is out-of-control and our country needs a
fiscally responsible budget that will put us back on a
sustainable path. The No Budget, No Pay Act is part
of that solution.
Sincerely,
David N. Bossie
