Democratic Health Bills Don't Offer Americans Enough Freedom To Choose, Say GOP'ers

By Chingyu Wang - Talk Radio News Service

Members of the GOP Solutions Group blasted the White House's health reform proposal during a conference call with reporters on Thursday.

"The new plan looks a lot like the old plan, and every time when they are talking about the old plan I think Democrats lost this debate," said Group Chairman Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). "We'd like to see a plan that reduces costs, increases access and doesn't cripple the states."

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a physician himself, slammed a provision within both Democratic health bills that would require Americans to purchase health insurance. Price said the question of who should decide what kind of medical care individuals receive is one of the main factors dividing Republicans and Democrats on the issue of healthcare reform.

A proposal by the Republicans would allow Americans "To truly shop across state lines to purchase the insurance that you want for yourself or your family," said Price, adding that the Democrats' bills would allow the "government to dictate [your insurance policy] for you."

"Democrat solutions come down on the side of larger government [and] integrated bureaucracy." he argued.

Key U.S.-Russia Non-Proliferation Treaty May Expire Without Renewal, Say Foreign Affairs Experts

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

Charles D. Ferguson and Stephen Sestanovich, Senior Fellows at the Council on Foreign Relations, explained that the 1991 START non-proliferation treaty may not be renewed following the U.S.-Russia Summit this July.

“There can’t be an agreement unless there’s also a formal renunciation by the U.S of the missile defense plan. That’s rather unlikely to happen, and if the Russian stick to that line, the chances of arms control are [slim],” said Sestanovich.

START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was ratified in 1991 by Russia and the U.S in an effort to achieve a dramatic reduction in strategic forces such as warheads and inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the post-Cold War era.

According to the U.S. based Arms Control Association, “Russia claimed 4,237 total deployed strategic warheads under the terms of the 1991 START nuclear reductions agreement” while the U.S has 3,696 deployed strategic warheads.

“What has really agitated the Russians... is the American plan to deploy some rather basic elements of the missile defense system in Eastern Europe,” Sestanovich explained, referencing the Bush administration’s decision to install missiles at a base in Poland and to build a radar station in the Czech Republic. Both deals intended to protect Europe from “rogue states” such as Iran.

Ferguson added, “The [Obama] administration has a review of its missile defense policy on the way, and that makes it a little more difficult for them to reach any specific understandings with the Russian about this issue. They can’t offer certain kinds of assurances.”

President Barack Obama has recently agreed to halt military developments in Eastern Europe if Russia agrees to participate actively against Iran.

Ferguson countered Moscow’s accusations that a U.S presence in neighboring states is a serious military threat, saying “What we are looking at is a much smaller, much more modest missile defense system... There’s really no technical reasons for the Russians to be worried at this stage about missile defense as it is currently proposed.”

The enterprise strikes back!

Small business owners gathered at the 2008 National Small Business Summit held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Guest speaker William D. Novelli, Chief Executive Officer of American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) doled out alarming statistics saying that only a fifth of American workers have a defined pension plan and only half of all Americans have money in their retirement fund. Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the woman who is recognized as the first of 78 million baby boomers, just received her Social Security retirement benefit.

The opening general session broke out into four concurrent sessions, namely ‘Coping with Immigration Crackdowns’, ‘10 Ways a Small Business Owner Can Avoid Legal Trouble’, ‘Planning for Future Tax Increases’ and ‘Elements of eBay Selling Success’.

Among the speakers at the tax legislation session was Mary Baker from the Internal Revenue. She discussed the Tax Extenders Bill which is meant to extend tax relief to businesses. At the moment, there is a debate as to whether the bill should be paid for or not. Forty-one Republican members from the Senate do not support paying for the Extenders Bill.

Beth Milito, Senior Executive Council of Nation Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Legal Center spoke on how small businesses can avoid legal trouble. She emphasized that far too many small business owners get sued because of ignorance of the law. Employees should be trained on anti-discrimination laws. Milito said small business owners spend 1.7 billion hours on tax compliance.