A Dainty Letter To Your "Dear Congressman"

Dear Congressman,

May I encourage you to oppose government-run health care and any legislation which might broaden the federal government's control over my health care. Current health care legislation will result in lost health insurance, lost jobs, and insurmountable debt for the American people and will push us deeper into recession.

Nobody has ever attempted this level of centralized planning. The federal government does not have my trust to run a program as big as the economy of France. I disagree with how this whole tdebacle has been handled, behind closed doors, with favors and insidious, outright bribes. The way this is being done feels criminal, especially this Slaughter shenanigan.

I agree with the WSJ, who said yesterday, this gambit is a brazen affront to the plain language of the Constitution. If this "reform" is truly about "controlling costs," why did the democrats rig the estimate on the first decade of costs by delaying the program's start by five years?

Is anyone listening to the CBO? How about the admission from the State Treasurer of Taxxachusetts advising that the USA will be bankrupt in four years if this leviathan is implemented. Hello?!

Why hasn't tort reform be front and center? Why hasn't opening up competition across state lines be part of the proposal?

The federal government should NOT be funding abortions or health care for illegal immigrants. No matter what the democrat leadership says about this, I don't trust them. And I don't trust the government to interfere with the doctor/patient relationship.

Lastly, how are we going to pay for this monstrosity? Answer me! The country cannot afford another huge program and you know it; you saw how Moody's warned yesterday about preserving debt affordability, right?

Last week S&P warned our triple A credit rating was at risk. The only way the U.S. will rise to the financial challenges we face is if we stop spending money we don't have, and that means voting no on this healthcare bill.

I hope that you fight against health care legislation that would drive up costs, diminish quality and limit access. It is just not right, especially not in a republic, to cram this down our throats. There's a reason the congressional switchboard was nearing overload Wednesday. Folks don't want this!

The Washington Post reported Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it. That's a joke, right? Who does she think she is, Tony Soprano? So now you want to go from passing bills without reading them to passing bills without even voting on them? Are the democrats on crack?

Please listen to us and vote no.

Sincerely,

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Thank You Jim Bunning

In 1957, Bunning led the American League in victories with 20.

Why I took a stand

‘If the Senate cannot find $10 billion to pay for a measure we all support, we will never pay for anything.’

By Jim Bunning

I have been serving the citizens of Kentucky for nearly 24 years in Washington. During that time I have been a member of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. I have taken thousands of votes in relation to spending the taxpayers' money. I will be the first one to admit that I have cast some bad votes during my tenure, and I wish I could have some of them back. For too long, both Republicans and Democrats have treated the taxpayers' money as a slush fund that does not ever end. At some point, the madness has to stop.

Over a month ago, Democrats passed and President Obama signed into law the "Pay-Go" legislation. It calls on Congress to pay for bills by not adding to our debt. It sounds like a common sense tool that would rein in government spending. Unfortunately, Pay-Go is a paper tiger. It has no teeth. I did not vote for the Democrats' Pay-Go legislation because I knew it was just a political dog-and-pony show to get some good press after some political setbacks. Since the Pay-Go rule was enacted, the national debt has gone up $244,992,297,448.11 (as of Wednesday, that is).

Why now?

Last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asked to pass a 30-day extensions bill for unemployment insurance and other federal programs. Earlier in February, those extensions were included in a broader bipartisan bill that was paid for but did not meet Sen. Reid's approval, and he nixed the deal. When I saw the Democrats in Congress were going to vote on the extensions bill without paying for it and not following their own Pay-Go rules, I said enough is enough.

Many people asked me, "Why now?" My answer is, "Why not now?" Why can't a non-controversial measure in the Senate that would help those in need be paid for? If the Senate cannot find $10 billion to pay for a measure we all support, we will never pay for anything.

America is under a mountain of debt. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a hearing last month that the United States' debt is unsustainable. We are on the verge of a tipping point where America's debt will bring down our economy, and more people will join the unemployment lines. That is why I used my right as a United States Senator and objected.

Only in Washington

After four legislative days of impasse, I reached a supposed deal with Majority Leader Reid to have an up-or-down vote on a pay-for amendment that would fully fund the legislation and not add to the debt. Only minutes before the vote, Democrats used a parliamentary maneuver to set aside my amendment and not vote on the actual substance of it. Only in Washington could this happen. The Democrats did not want to vote on my amendment because they knew they were in the wrong and ignored their own rules. Hypocrisy again rules the day in Washington.

I have 40 grandchildren, and I want them to grow up in a country where they have all of the same opportunities I had as a child. I fear that they will not have those opportunities if Washington continues on its course of spending without paying for it. We are at over $12 trillion in debt. I know many Americans sit around their kitchen table and make the tough decisions. It is time for the politicians in Washington to do the same.

Position: Pitcher
Teams: Detroit Tigers, 1955-1963; Philadelphia Phillies, 1964-1967, 1970-1971; Pittsburgh Pirates, 1968-1969; Los Angeles Dodgers, 1969
Jim Bunning was the consummate intelligent professional pitcher. Recent research ranked him high among 20th-century pitchers in consistency, in terms of how seldom he missed a start. At the time of his retirement, only Walter Johnson had registered more career strikeouts, and Bunning had accomplished his feat while allowing only 1,000 walks in a 17-year career, making him one of the best strikeout-control pitchers of all time.

Jim Bunning is a Republican senator from Kentucky.

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Why Are We Not Drilling?

Our own USGS says we have 48 Billion Barrels of Recoverable Oil within the borders of the United States and Alaska. That's more than 180 years of future domestic oil consumption based upon our current inefficient pace. We wouldn't need to import one shiny drop of oil from foreign lands. And, What are the chances that cleaner, cost effective alternative energy sources will develop dramatically within that 180+ years?

"We need jobs," is the current mantra. Why are we not feverishly hiring, drilling, producing, refining, packaging, transporting, and selling with this birthright? You want jobs? Who is standing in the way and stubbornly encumbering us to foreign debt and eventual economic servitude? With an economy on the ropes, and unemployment rising, why are we not pursuing these domestic resources?

Who's in charge here? Or, rather, what exactly is their agenda?

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