Originally posted by jimH The problem is this: Health care reform may be good, however the bill was used to shove through a lot of legislation totally unrelated to health care. Such as: Regulation on the trading of Gold, and the imposition of a 3.8% sales tax on a home sale, and who know how much more that is hidden in the "unread" bill. How can this be sold as a health care reform bill?
Correct me if I'm wrong. I sure hope that I am, but I'm afraid that I'm not.
Honest question........ how many bills has ANYONE read..... As to health care how do you feel about the "Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2009"
good bill or bad?
How about the "Equity for Clinical Social Workers Act of 2009 "
Or my favorite........
"H.CON.RES.202
Title: Permitting the use of the rotunda of the Capitol for a ceremony to honor Constantino Brumidi on the 200th anniversary of his birth. "
Bills, Resolutions - THOMAS (Library of Congress)
knock yourself out......
---------- Post added 10-06-10 at 05:45 PM ----------
Originally posted by jimH I guess what I'm saying is: Congress can't pass a clean bill, they have to add in all of the crap that wouldn't pass on it's own. I'm old enough to feel like they are taking us for a bunch of fools. Especially, if we believe they have pure purposes.
After 111 Congress's this bothers you now??
Actually there are some things you really don't want to read........
Quote: The Senate has passed two provisions that would effectively raise the tax bills of major oil companies. One would reduce their ability to trim tax bills through an inventory-accounting method known as ``last-in, first-out,'' which ties the cost of goods sold to the cost of the most-recent purchases. The other would bar them from claiming credits against U.S. tax bills for the taxes they pay in some oil-rich countries. Oil-company officials say they consider the two a threat. Some analysts doubt the measures will pass the House.
Exxon has been trying to pre-empt a backlash. Exxon said it is boosting spending on finding and producing stores of oil and natural gas. Capital and exploration spending in the quarter was $5.3 billion, up 26% from a year earlier, a sizable rise by industry standards.
--
[From the New York Times, Apr. 13, 2006]
Exxon Chairman Got Retirement Package Worth at Least $398 Million
(By Jad Mouawad)
Last year's high oil prices not only helped Exxon Mobil report $36 billion in profit--the most ever for any corporation--they also allowed Lee R. Raymond to retire in style as chairman of Exxon Mobil.
Mr. Raymond received a compensation package worth about $140 million last year, including cash, stock, options and a pension plan. He is also still entitled to stock, options and long-term compensation worth at least another $258 million, according to a proxy statement filed by Exxon with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.
The total sum for Mr. Raymond's golden years comes to at least $398 million, among the richest compensation packages ever. The record was the payout of $550 million to Michael D. Eisner, the former head of Walt Disney, in 1997.
Exxon's board also agreed to pick up Mr. Raymond's country club fees, allow him to use the company aircraft and pay him another $1 million to stay on as a consultant for another year. Mr. Raymond agreed to reimburse Exxon partly when he uses the company jet for personal travel. ``It begs the old question again, When is enough, enough?'' said Brian Foley, an executive compensation consultant in White Plains. ``This looks like a spigot that you can't turn off.''
Mr. Raymond, 67, spent 43 years at Exxon, including 12 as chairman. He orchestrated the merger between Exxon and Mobil in 1999, making it the largest oil company in the world as well as the most profitable. He was widely recognized for his financial acumen and focus on cost-cutting, whether in good times or bad. Some of the company's recent success, of course, can also be attributed to the doubling of oil prices over the last two years, higher refining margins and record high demand.
While Exxon showed record earnings, the total return to shareholders over the last five years averaged just under 8 percent a
[Page: H1817] GPO's PDF
year, about the same as the industry average.
Madam Speaker, President Bush reminded the American people last week that he is a decider. His decisions affecting our economy, gas prices in particular, decidedly favor the wealthiest of his base. Thanks to terribly misguided economic priorities, oil and gas CEOs get two tax breaks for the price of one.
Subsidies worth $16.5 billion in the energy bill make it possible for oil and gas companies to lavish obscene compensation on their CEOs, who then, in turn, get to claim another break on capital gains and dividends.
This belies both the need for permanent rate cuts and the industry's argument that market forces instead of price fixing are responsible for gas approaching $4 a gallon. Do not take my word for it. IRS data show that for the 90 percent of all taxpayers who made less than $100,000, dividend cuts benefited only 1 in 7, and capital gains reductions helped just 1 in 20. While congressional leaders seem prepared to allow a stealth middle-class tax increase, which will negatively impact 19 million families, they are insisting on extending the dividends and capital gains cuts which will shower benefits on only 234,000 families in the main.
We can thank our President and congressional majority for these terrible choices and for the disastrous results.
Therefore, Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the McDermott motion to restore sanity to our economic and energy policies, and so that they reflect the real values, needs and priorities of middle-class families and consumers.The President told the American people in January that they were addicted to oil and signed a bill 5 months previous to that that provided huge subsidies, some $15 billion in tax giveaways, to the very companies who are feeding that addiction.
The "stuff" in the health care bill are really the last of your worries.. or should be.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r109:1:./temp/~r109zqkYod:e27952:
Last edited by jeffkrol; 10-06-2010 at 06:05 PM.