FREEDOMWORKS 07/14/2015

1. Expand Health Savings Account - by Ted Abram
Since World War II, America’s health insurance systems has always had government distortions. During the war, America had wage and price control, and Kaiser, a shipbuilding company, had to abide by these wage controls. In order to attract better workers, Kaiser offered employer-paid health insurance. After the war, this morphed into employer-paid insurance, which was not taxed to the employee and deducted as a business expense for the employer. Too bad for employees that did not work for employers with health insurance; they paid for health insurance with their after-tax dollars.
Lesson One: In reality, health insurance was mostly prepaid healthcare with large and diverse risk populations – a big business and their employees. Health insurance had less to do with the risk of illness or injury. America’s government-distorted health insurance was very different from Lloyds of London, which originally was risk insurance on oceangoing ships of trade. Read More here...

2. Capitol Hill Update, 13 July 2015 - by Josh Withrow
House & Senate/Schedule: Both House and Senate remain in session this week, and will recess for the long August recess starting on 1 August.
Senate/Education: The Senate will spend much of this week finishing up consideration of its bill to reauthorize, with some reform, No Child Left Behind. The Every Child Achieves Act, S. 1177, will have a number of amendments voted on as well. The Senate bill is in many respects weaker than the House-passed Student Success Act, H.R. 5 - a bill that was itself problematic.
Senate/Transportation: Once finished with the education bill, the Senate may turn next to a bill to fund federal highway infrastructure spending. Funding for the Highway Trust Fund officially expires on July 31, and it is likely that a short-term extension will be agreed to in order to buy more time for a longer-term deal. The Highway Trust Fund has run a major deficit for years, and there is a danger that members of both parties will seek some sort of tax increase in order to fund what most lawmakers agree is a “must-pass” bill. Congress should, at a bare minimum, consider reforms such as Congressman Massie's DRIVE Act, which would ensure that federal highway dollars are actually getting spent on federal roads and bridges and not diverted to other pet projects. Read more here... 

3. Leftist Democrats foolishly urge Obama to expand Social Security - by Jason Pye
A number of congressional Democrats have signed a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to consider expansion of Social Security, the 80-year-old program designed to provide retirement benefits to Americans. The letter was sent on Monday for the White House Conference on Aging, a once-in-a-decade meeting where at attendees analyze and discuss various policy proposals for seniors and make recommendations.
The letter was spearheaded by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Senate Democrats. Signers are a "who's who" of leftist members from both chambers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). Read More here...
4. House Judiciary Committee Revisits Kelo, Decides State of Property Rights Not Good - by Sarah Gompper
Ten years ago, the United States Supreme Court effectively scratched the line “for public use” from the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, which allows the government to take and repurpose private property. The 5-4 decision in Kelo v. New London said that property may be taken from one private owner and given to another private owner if it will generate more revenue for the city.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in her dissent that “[t]he beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.” Read more here...
5. 9.12 Grassroots Summit 


6. Unlikely allies in the California Legislature urge colleagues to protect innocent people from abuse of federal forfeiture law - by Jason Pye
On Tuesday, the California House Public Safety Committee will hold a hearing on legislation that would protect the property rights of law-abiding citizens by closing a loophole in state law that allows overzealous law enforcement to seek forfeiture of property through federal civil asset forfeiture laws.
SB 443, which easily passed the California Senate in early June, would prohibit state and local law enforcement from using federal forfeiture laws to circumvent protections in state law for innocent property owners. Currently, under California forfeiture law, the burden of proof falls on the government and prosecutors must present "clear and convincing evidence," a very high standard of proof, to show that property is subject to forfeiture. Read more here... 

Iris Somberg
Press Secretary, FreedomWorks