This week, we learned that the U.S. economy declined at a 2.9% annual rate in the first quarter of 2014 — the most in five years! This latest news just highlights the need for the Senate to pass the dozens of House jobs bills that are still awaiting action.
In addition to the bad economic news this week, we received even more bad news on Obamacare, including news that health insurance premiums are increasing dramatically as a result of the health care law. More information on this can be found in this newsletter.
On the legislative front, this week I introduced a bill — H.R. 4978 the Bottled Water Quality Information Act — to remove some of the unnecessary burdens on businesses, while at the same time providing consumers with better information about the bottled water they purchase. Also this week, the House passed five Energy and Commerce bills to improve public health.
Also in this newsletter you will find a link to video from the Energy and Commerce Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee hearing, where I questioned CMS and DHS representatives about some of the issues medical service providers in the second district have encountered.
For too long we have seen the president disregard separation of powers and overstep the boundaries of the executive branch—choosing to selectively enforce some laws while ignoring others. On Wednesday, Speaker Boehner announced in a memo that the House will file suit to compel President Obama to “follow his oath of office and faithfully execute the laws of our country. Click here to read the Speaker’s memo in its entirety.
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Reducing the Burden on Businesses, Making Consumers Lives’ Easier
I released the following statement Thursday after introducing H.R. 4978 – the Bottled Water Quality Information Act:
“Companies throughout the United States face increasing uncertainty due to a patchwork of laws that vary from state to state. In order to help alleviate these problems, I introduced new legislation today known as the Bottled Water Quality Information Act.”
“This legislation will ensure that we have one, national, uniform standard for bottled water quality reports. It will also allow the public to obtain the information they need regarding the safety and quality of the bottled water they consume. This is an important step to providing these businesses with a less burdensome process, while also making consumers lives’ easier.”
This morning, Congresswoman Ellmers introduced H.R. 4978 – the Bottled Water Quality Information Act. Consumers should have the ability to obtain clear, consistent and timely information about the safety and quality of their water. This bill would require bottled water companies to provide this information to consumers upon their request.
This has a direct impact not only on companies across America, but back home in Congresswoman Ellmers’ district. As Robert Smith of Pure Water said:
“As the owner of a small bottled water company in North Carolina that competes nationally, this legislation will help me grow my business. Having a federal standard that provides consumers with uniform and consistent information on bottled water safety and quality is important for expanding my access to other markets. And, it also helps to continue our industry’s tradition of providing consumers with information about the bottled water products they buy.”
This week on Energy and Commerce
This week in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee hearing, “Medicare Program Integrity: Screening Out Errors, Fraud and Abuse,” I questioned representatives from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) regarding inefficiencies and wasteful spending in Medicare programs. The video linked below shows questions I raised about the inconsistency and delay in receiving payment that medical providers in the second district have experienced.
Also this week, the House passed five Energy & Commerce bills to improve public health. Click here for information about this legislation.
More Bad Obamacare News
This week we saw additional bad news released about Obamacare. From Bloomberg — “data suggest that insurers will respond to having to cover more people who are relatively sicker by raising premiums in 2015 and beyond. As Chet Burrell, the chief executive officer of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, concluded, ‘Over a period of time, the rates have to go up to catch up with the reality of who enrolled.’ If that reality didn’t look good for Obamacare in 2014, it isn’t likely to improve in 2015, either.”
From The Washington Post via the Energy and Commerce Committee blog:” One of the president’s now infamous broken health care promises was the assurance that, “We’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year…Now, The Washington Post reports that women actually face cost increases in the range of what the president promised families would save. As Joann Weiner explains in the Post’s ‘She the People’ section, ‘Women age 55 to 64 will pay from $2,185 to $2,738 more in premiums and out of pocket expenses under the new health insurance environment than they did pre-ACA.'”
The average increase of individual-market premiums for women aged 64 in North Carolina due to Obamacare is 197 percent, but in Hoke, Moore and Harnett counties, senior women have seen increases of over 200 percent.
Snapshots of the Week
In the News
Ellmers On Obama Foreign Policy: “Our Enemies Don’t Fear Us”
The Shark Tank
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R), discusses her recent trip to Afghanistan and states the obvious, when stating, “Our allies don’t know if we’re with them, our enemies don’t fear us.”
Afghanistan’s Success Will Be Measured by Women’s Progress
Op-Ed – Time Magazine
Inclusion of women in society indicates stability, and a stable Afghanistan will lead to greater international security. While we were meeting with women journalists in Afghanistan this past May, another group of Afghan women journalists were in Washington, D.C., meeting with congressional staff members. The overlap was coincidental, but both groups of Afghan women recounted similar stories of their growing role in Afghan media and, more importantly, the fight for Afghanistan’s democracy. Reports have illustrated an effort on the part of Afghan journalists to ensure their media is not a platform for promoting Taliban violence.
White House pushes family-friendly workplaces
NBC News
And those that are lucky enough to have a job are barely getting by with stagnant wages and higher costs on nearly everything. The House has passed bill after bill to help working families. In a recent guest post on the Speaker’s blog, Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC), chair of the Republican Women’s Policy Committee, highlighted several of these solutions, including legislation allowing private-sector workers the same comp time flexibility as their public-sector counterparts.” Don’t miss the political backdrop of this event: Democrats want to exploit what is a growing gender gap between the two parties. And working mothers are a VERY important part of the swing vote that Democrats are counting on winning to save the Senate.