By Jarrod Martin, Representative of the 70th Ohio House District
At the hands of your “representatives” in Washington, a $940 billion health care spending bill will skyrocket your taxes, diminish care services and expand the federal government’s control over your personal decisions. Are you willing to sacrifice more of your hard-earned money, as well as your liberties that are guaranteed by the Constitution, to satisfy Congress’s spending spree they call reform?
The political elites believe that inundating families and small businesses with taxes, penalties, mandates and bureaucratic red tape is the right course of action in this recession. However, as a fiscal conservative I believe that we cannot fix a deficit by accruing more debt, nor can we fix our nation’s spending problem with more spending.
After receiving feedback from the residents of the 70th Ohio House District, I’ve found that our community, just like other communities across the nation, believes that America’s health care system needs to be reformed. However, this partisan, corrupt bill that caters to special interests is not the “change” that any of us want.
America and especially Ohio does not want or need a multitrillion-dollar entitlement program that entails backroom deals, special interests, intimidation tactics and dishonest circumventing of a fair democratic process. We don’t want a bill in which the only bipartisanship was in the opposition-especially a bill that allows the government to now control one-sixth of the American economy.
What hard-working Ohioans do want is a government that is accountable and transparent. It is important that elected officials fight to preserve the people’s rights and freedoms, while still working to protect the most vulnerable among us.
Here in Ohio, the aftermath of this bill will be profound. We will likely see accelerated job loss when small businesses that cannot afford the new government mandates eliminate more jobs just to make ends meet. With an $8 billion deficit fast approaching in the next budget, it is crucial that lawmakers take steps now to not only avoid undue costs and mandates, but also become more conscious of our spending habits.
Although the Ohio legislature has no control over federal bills and was unable to stop the passage of the health care bill, House Republicans are working to ensure that new pricey mandates will not be imposed on the people of Ohio. We are urging the passage of two pieces of legislation, House Joint Resolution 3 and House Bill 489, to protect the freedom of Ohioans to make their own health care decisions. Specifically, these measures will help prevent individuals from being forced to buy into any particular health care plan according to our state policies. I cosponsored both of these proposals because I believe that although we certainly need to improve the affordability and accessibility of health care, this bill will unnecessarily raise costs at a time when families and businesses can least afford them.
The American people would have greatly benefited from a bipartisan effort to improve our health care system with the best ideas both Democrats and Republicans could bring to the table. I will continue to defend your family’s concerns as I fight to hold down the tax burden and protect your liberties from Washington’s growing control.