FREEDOMWORKS 02/05/2015

1. Individual Mandate Will Hurt Low-Income People - by Nate Russell A survey from The Urban Institute found that, as of June 2014, about 45 percent of all remaining uninsured adults had not heard about the individual mandate feature in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This will become an issue they will be forced to reckon with in April, when for the first time Americans who did not obtain approved health insurance in 2014 and did not qualify for an exemption will be forced to pay their penalties for not enrolling in the ACA. The Congressional Budget Office projects that this will impact about 4 million Americans. Read more here... 2. ObamaCare: Time to Change the Batter - by Michael Greibrok If you try to bake a cake, but after looking at a recipe you notice you made multiple mistakes in the batter, the best idea is usually to start over from scratch. If you used three eggs when the recipe called for two, a tablespoon of salt when the recipe called for a teaspoon and a chocolate mix but you find out a guest is allergic to chocolate, it is best to start over. Rather than try to pull an egg out of the batter, pick out the excess salt and sift the chocolate mix out, you should throw out the batter and make a batter that will actually work for the cake. This principle also applies to laws passed by Congress. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is much like that first batter that was hastily thrown together with multiple mistakes. The mistakes in Obamacare have not been minor; the biggest case before the Supreme Court in the last two years and three of the last four all concerned Obamacare. Read more here... 3. 5 Reasons to Oppose ObamaCare - by Anthony Kang 4. FreedomWorks Activists Send 5K+ Messages to Support Email Privacy A bipartisan group of legislators introduced a bill to protect email privacy today in the House and Senate. FreedomWorks activists sent over 5,000 messages to Congress prior to the bill’s release, urging their representatives to cosponsor this important piece of legislation. The outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act allows the government to read Americans’ old emails after 180 days, even without getting a warrant. This new bill, the Electronic Communications Privacy Amendments Act of 2015, will ensure that emails are protected by the Fourth Amendment. Read more here... 5. Tell Your Members of Congress: Support Email Privacy - by Matt Kibbe As one of our more than 6.7 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and senators today and ask them to support Electronic Communications Privacy Amendments Act. Introduced by Congressmen Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and by Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) the ECPA Amendments Act is an important defense of Americans’ right to privacy in the digital age. Read more here... 6. The House Freedom Caucus Could Push Republican Leaders into Pursuing a Bold Agenda - by Jason Pye A group of liberty-minded House Republicans made waves in late January when they announced that they were leaving the Republican Study Committee to form a new invitation-only caucus that will focus exclusively on presenting and advancing an agenda grounded in limited government and the Constitution. The Republican Study Committee was once considered a strong fiscally conservative caucus that sought to advance good policy in the House. Over time, however, it has become listless. Its ranks have swelled with members who have mixed voting records on fiscal issues and its chairmen have become more amenable to the lackluster agenda pushed by House Republican leaders. Read more here... 7. Freedom Art: My Mission to #TakeBackOurCulture - by Frances Byrd I didn't realize it at the time, but over a decade ago, I was laying the foundation for a movement to #TakeBackOurCulture. For years, I had been struggling with the desire to create art that would sell and painting things that I found inspiring or meaningful. My passion and inspiration took me in the direction of meaningful work, but the more involved I became in the art community, the more I realized that, as a libertarian, I was an outsider. See more here... 8. Government Statistics Paint a False Picture of Recovery - by Logan Albright Are you feeling the recovery yet? You should be, at least according to the president. In his State of the Union address, he said that the economy had “turned the page” and that “the shadow of crisis has passed.” Official government statistics put the unemployment rate at just 5.6 percent, there is no inflation, and GDP growth in the third quarter of 2014 was a booming 5 percent. Never mind that fourth quarter growth was half that, and the economy actually shrank in the first quarter - cherry picking is only bad when other people do it - just keep your eye on the shiny golden 5! Read more here... 9. School Choice for Lower-Income Children - by Ted Abram Who actually controls the force of government? Politicians and interest groups control the American political process. Special-interest groups – i.e. big business, big unions, education, seniors, and a multitude of others - seek favors: tax breaks, subsidies, exclusive legislation, etc. Special-interest groups give enormous amounts of money to political campaigns in order to receive gigantic benefits in return. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Congressman Luke Messer (R-IN) have introduced legislation allowing federal grants for low-income parents to choose public or private education for their children. Read more here... 10. Tell Your Rep: Do Not Vote for the Patriot Act Reauthorization! This year, Congress has a real opportunity to push through substantive NSA reforms. You may have read that the Patriot Act will expire this year but that’s not entirely true. Instead, a few provisions will sunset on June 1st. The most notable is Section 215. This is one of the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act which has given the NSA the authority to collect call records made by every American, without a warrant or even a suspicion of wrongdoing. Read more here... In Liberty, Jackie Bodnar Director of Communications, FreedomWorks