FREEDOM WORKS 06/14/2016

Health Insurance Companies Set to Raise ObamaCare Premiums - via NBC News Millions of people who pay the full cost of their health insurance will face the sting of rising premiums next year, with no financial help from government subsidies. Renewal notices bearing the bad news will go out this fall, just as the presidential election is in the home stretch. "I don't know if I could swallow another 30 or 40 percent without severely cutting into other things I'm trying to do, like retirement savings or reducing debt," said Bob Byrnes, of Blaine, Minnesota, a Twin Cities suburb. His monthly premium of $524 is already about 50 percent more than he was paying in 2015, and he has a higher deductible.  Read more here... 2. Back Stage with Rep. Thomas Massie 3. How ObamaCare Hides $104 Billion in Federal Spending - via The Weekly Standard Obamacare has invented a dangerous new way to hide federal spending, including more than $100 billion designed to look like tax cuts. In defiance of standard United States government accounting practices (and the government's standard definitions of terms), Obamacare labels its direct outlays to insurance companies "tax credits" (not outlays)—even though they don't actually cut anyone's taxes. In this way, Obamacare is masking some $104 billion in federal spending over a decade—that is, the portion of Obamacare's direct payments to insurers that the Congressional Budget Office is counting as tax cuts. If not stopped, this false labeling of federal outlays as "tax credits" stands to create a notorious precedent. It's a novel way to mask essentially any federal spending that is tied to a particular taxpaying individual. By this rationale, for example, outlays under Medicare, up to the amount that a given senior pays in income taxes, could be re-labeled "tax credits"—and hence "tax cuts"—rather than spending.  Read more here... 4. Key Vote YES on HR 5053, the Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act - by Adam Brandon As one of our over 5.7 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask them to vote YES on H.R. 5053, the Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act, introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.). This bill would stop the IRS from collecting and releasing information about donors to tax-exempt organizations, chilling political speech. H.R. 5053 is expected to be considered on the House floor as soon as tomorrow. The legislation would protect the free speech of donors to nonprofit organizations by modifying IRS disclosure requirements of information such as donor names and addresses. With this legislation, tax-exempt organizations would be required to report only information on donors who contribute $5,000 or more and who are either an officer of the organization or one of its five highest paid employees. This legislation is an important step in protecting the First Amendment rights of Americans against harassment and coercion from the IRS. Read more here... 5. House Panel to Again Consider IRS Commissioner Impeachment - via The Hill The second House Judiciary Committee hearing to consider whether IRS Commissioner John Koskinen should be impeached will take place on June 22. A committee spokeswoman informed The Hill of the misconduct hearing date on Monday without explicitly using the word "impeachment."  Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) argued at a hearing last month that Koskinen should be impeached because he failed to comply with a subpoena and made false statements under oath during Congress's investigation into 2013 revelations that the agency was subjecting conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status to additional scrutiny.  Read more here... Jason Pye Communications Director, FreedomWorks