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“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1]
                                                       
“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…” [page 2]
                                                      
Criminal penalties
Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses.  Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]

Senator Gregg: Updated CBO Estimate of House Bill Pulls Back the Curtain on Majority’s Intent to Grow Government by $3 Trillion.

Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee today commented on the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) more detailed cost estimate of the manager’s amendment to the House health reform bill.

Senator Gregg stated, “The CBO estimate released last night finally sheds light on the smoke and mirrors game the majority has been playing with the cost of their health care reform proposal. Over the first 10 years, this legislation builds in gross new spending of $1.7 trillion – and most of the new spending doesn’t even start until 2014. Once that spending is fully phased in, the House Democratic bill rings up at more than $3 trillion over ten years.

“Additionally, this bill cuts critical Medicare and Medicaid funding by $628 billion, accounts for nearly $1.2 trillion in tax and fee increases and will explode the scope of government by putting the nation’s health care system in the hands of Washington bureaucrats. The $3 trillion price tag defies common sense – we simply cannot add all this new spending to the government rolls and claim to control the deficit.

“If we continue to pile more and more debt on the next generation, they will never be able to get out from under it. The health care system needs reform, but this massive expansion of government, financed by our children and grandchildren, is the wrong way to proceed.”

"We don't know all the answers yet. And I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts."

"I don’t know – not having been there and not seeing all the facts – what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two that he Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home."

First, it is important to make a distinction between the number released earlier today and what is happening in reality.  Don’t let the 10.2% figure fool you.  Out in the real world, unemployment is 17.5%.  The figure released by the Department of Labor does not include those individuals who have given up on finding work or those who are underemployed, such as individuals working part time but looking for full-time work. 

Meanwhile, back in D.C., Nancy Pelosi and President Obama are intent on passing legislation on global warming and health care which analysis has shown will kill jobs and only exacerbate our current economic woes.

When roughly 1/5^th of the American population is unemployed or unable to find full-time work, why is the President and Speaker intent of making work harder to find for even more Americans?

In July, I wrote a blog on TownHall.com about Bisphenol A (BPA) in which I brought to your attention the behavior of many major media outlets with regard to their accusations against BPA, which is a chemical used to make lightweight, versatile, durable, high-performance plastics. In that piece I identified that contrary to those that claim that BPA is dangerous and hazardous to all, new research was telling an opposite story:

… After years of hand-wringing, biased media reports and witch hunts about BPA -- a new Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) report out of George Mason University (a non profit, non partisan group) has found that the risks were misleading and caused unnecessary public anxiety.

As the report noted,  "A handful of scientists and environmental activist groups claim that bisphenol A is the biological equivalent of global warming, and its presence in plastic bottles and can linings is endangering “millions of babies.” Their message – and their accusation that the Food and Drug Administration has been swayed by industry-sponsored studies and has ignored vital scientific evidence – has led Congress to ask the agency to re-examine the safety of the chemical. A decision is expected by the end of the summer."

... Of course, if someone claims your product harms babies, they don't really need to prove it.  The accusation is so incendiary that the mere suggestion could bankrupt most companies -- which, of course, is the point if you are trying to sell a "safer" plastic product.  In short, it's a "scare racket"…

And yet, many popular media outlets continue to baselessly attack BPA as a dangerous and unsafe chemical.

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