Susan Brooks - PANTS ON FIRE

It is common political practice these days when running for Congress to bash Congress as an institution and especially if one is running against an incumbent.

Which makes me surprised that GOP Fifth District Congressional candidate Susan Brooks went out of her way to state something blatantly false about Congress and the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare").  In a handout on her website, Brooks makes this statement:

One strong criticism of the Affordable Health Care Act is that Congress attempted to exempt itself from compliance, which is a strong signal to Americans that Congress does not have to live by the same rules.

The link is here:  http://www.susanbrooks2012.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Restoring-Public-Confidence-in-Congress-Website-Handout2.pdf


The problem is, it is completely false.  Members of Congress ARE governed by Obamacare, under Section 1312 of the Act.  The Congressional Research Service was asked to look into this, and concluded:

the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are--

(I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or

(II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).

The report is here:  http://healthlawandlitigation.com/PDF/crs-on-health-care-fines.pdf


Other than perceived political gain from bashing Obamacare, why would Brooks utter such a blatant falsehood?  This may be appealing to her right-wing base, but it is not going to fly with voters who actually check out what candidates claim.  


If she would make such a utterly false statement about this, what else does she claim which is not true?  


To borrow the phrase from Politifact, I rate this one:  PANTS ON FIRE!   

 

Happy REAL Independence Day

You may be wondering at the title, since most have always been taught that July 4th is Independence Day.

On July 2, 1776, the Continential Congress adopted the resolution of Richard Henry Lee to declare the American colonies independent of Great Britain.  The vote was unanimous, except for New York, which abstained. 

The (edited) version of Jefferson's historic Declaration of Independence was adopted two days later, on July 4, 1776.  But the version of the Declaration that was adopted was actually signed on August 2, 1776. 

So, if you want to go according to the first official act of the American colonies to declare themselves "free and independent states", you would go by July 2, 1776, the date the United States of America came into being. 

Happy Birthday America.