CCAGW Urges Rep. Childers to Oppose the Pelosi Healthcare Bill

WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), the nation`s premier
taxpayer watchdog lobbying group, today urges Rep. Travis Childers (D-Miss.) to
vote "nay" on H.R. 3962, the 1990-page, $1 trillion Pelosi healthcare reform
bill, which is scheduled for a vote on Saturday.

"America cannot afford the price tag for this monstrosity," said CCAGW President
Tom Schatz. "It may be the most fiscally irresponsible collection of ill-advised
legislative initiatives ever concocted. The House Democratic leadership is
willing to foist this deplorable bill and its trillion dollar cost on the
American people without one single Republican vote and without regard to what
the American people want. Rep. Childers must think of the fiscal carnage that
this bill will visit upon Americans now and in the future, vote against it
tomorrow, and go back to the drawing board to enact sensible, incremental,
bi-partisan healthcare reform."

The bill would inflict a whole host of new taxes and costly mandates on
individuals and businesses as American families struggle to make ends meet and
unemployment rises above 10 percent to its highest level since 1983. It would
impose a tax of up to 2.5 percent of income on individuals earning as little as
$9,350 who do not purchase "acceptable health care coverage." A Lewin Group
study projected that 83.4 million Americans would lose the private coverage they
have today if a "public option" becomes law. H.R. 3962 creates 118 new federal
boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs; expands Medicaid to all
individuals with incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty level, an
estimated additional 10 million Americans; and slashes Medicare by $400 billion
while doing virtually nothing to stem the tide of fraud and abuse that plagues
that program.

"CCAGW`s one million members and supporters vehemently oppose H.R. 3962 and have
deluged congressional offices with more than 100,000 messages urging Congress to
defeat this bill. Make no mistake, tomorrow`s vote is critical, and we hope that
Rep. Childers will vote 'nay' on behalf of the taxpayers," concluded Schatz.

CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation`s
largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste,
fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW)
Leslie K. Paige, 202-467-5334

Copyright Business Wire 2009