The House is expected to pass President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief spending package later this week, but in the Senate, Republicans plan to put up a fight. They're concerned about the "pork" attached to this latest relief package and how COVID emergency spending is driving up the federal deficit.
Dear Secretary Dortch:
We the undersigned organizations submit these comments pursuant to the Federal Communications Commission’s rules (47 C.F.R. §§ 1.415 & 1.419) in response to the abovereferenced proceeding that the FCC announced in its Public Notice DA 21-98 (“Notice”) of February 1, 2021.
In its Notice, the FCC focuses on specific areas of inquiry, including on page 6 where it asks for comments addressing “Funding and Prioritization,” stating that “substantially more funding might be needed than is potentially available to support remote learning through the E-Rate program.”
2 Our comments seek to illustrate how:
Additional funding for the E-Rate program is currently unnecessary because of the availability of more than $60 billion in public funding still unspent from other congressionally created programs. The FCC should assist in these disbursements before considering E-Rate expansion.
Congress has saddled our nation with almost $28 trillion in debt. Until we are committed to returning to regular order and a balanced budget, Congress has no business allowing earmarks to further complicate our totally dysfunctional appropriations process.
President of the Galen Institute U.S. President Biden, out of frame, meets with labor union leaders in the Oval Office on February 17, 2021 in Washington, D.C. to discuss his $1.9 trillion economic stimulus plan. Pete Marovich-Pool / Getty Images
Key Takeaways
Instead of addressing Obamacare’s many flaws and costly mandates, the Democrats’ misguided proposal simply throws more money at insurance companies.
The economic dislocation caused by COVID-19 did not appear to have had a significant adverse effect on health insurance coverage.
Congress should pursue policies that reduce health costs and expand access to care and health care choices by eliminating cost-increasing government mandates.
Grace-Marie Turner is president of the Galen Institute.
The following is an open letter from 68 leaders participating in the Health Policy Consensus Group. The full list of signatories follows the letter.
Democrats in Congress have proposed a COVID-19 relief bill that includes provisions to dramatically increase government subsidies for health care coverage for millions of people who already have insurance while further expanding government control over health care.
The legislation would increase for more than two years government payments to insurance companies via the Affordable Care Act by:
Removing even the de minimis premium payments required of people earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level.