July, 25 2017, 04:30pm EDT
Small Businesses Oppose Senate Vote on Health Care
Small business owners and small business groups across the country staunchly oppose the Senate's Motion to Proceed today on health care legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
WASHINGTON
Small business owners and small business groups across the country staunchly oppose the Senate's Motion to Proceed today on health care legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This morning, more than one thousand small business owners delivered a letter to Congress, urging Senators to protect the health care gains they made under the ACA.
Senate Republicans have put forward several versions of their bill, including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act without replacement, yet none of the options of the table serve to improve the quality, cost, or coverage of health care for small businesses or their employees. In fact, every version of this bill poses a grave threat to the health care of tens of millions of people and the economy - decimating Medicaid's budget, destabilizing the private market, and throwing no fewer than 22 million people off insurance.
The Main Street Alliance and its allies urge the Senate to stop the Motion to Proceed on reckless legislation that will once again make it difficult for small business owners and their employees to afford high quality health care.
"Senate Republican leadership is gutting our healthcare system in order to give tax breaks to the very wealthy and drug and insurance companies. This is a move that will hurt millions of people and drive up costs for small business owners. Americans do not want this bill, and neither do America's small business owners." -- Amanda Ballantyne, National Director of Main Street Alliance.
"Senate Republicans have had a difficult time mustering support to pass a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and with good reason. These bills hurt small business owners, entrepreneurs and the economy. Congress should now stop the political games, and work together to find bipartisan solutions that will improve upon the successes of the existing law." -- Rhett Buttle, founder of Public Private Strategies and former director of private sector engagement in the Office of the HHS Secretary.
"If Congress truly cared about American business, it would tackle the high administrative costs and high drug prices that undermine our economy and hamper the international competitiveness of our businesses. Congress should not be playing politics with our healthcare system. Instead we need comprehensive reform with best business practices such as lean production, and processes that are transparent, evidence-based and priced as a function of measurable value." -- David Levine, Co-founder and CEO, American Sustainable Business Council.
"For the good of America's small businesses, the U.S. Senate must immediately stop its efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. None of the healthcare proposals offered by congressional Republicans thus far will do anything but hurt small firms. In fact, their proposals will make health insurance less accessible for small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs by driving up premiums, scaling back tax credits and Medicaid expansion and limiting protections for those with pre-existing conditions. Instead of continuing to tinker with a plan that cannot be fixed with minor adjustments, lawmakers should craft a bipartisan solution that focuses on improving the ACA because it is already working for America's job creators." -- John Arensmeyer, Founder & CEO, Small Business Majority.
"If the Senate proceeds to debate healthcare reform, they will vote to have either 32, 22 or 15 million Americans lose their health insurance. Deductibles would soar by thousands of dollars. The end result of all proposals would be an economic disaster for the nation and small businesses." -- Frank Knapp Jr., President & CEO, South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.
"With all of the talk today in Washington, D.C. about how to address the future of healthcare in the United States, it is clear that there are no easy answers. But let's start with at least this: small businesses and motivated entrepreneurs looking to pursue the American Dream cannot afford to go back to the days before the ACA. One of the great strengths of the American economy is its national backbone of small businesses. Small businesses who desperately need Washington to put policy before politics. If we choose to work together on fixes, and not succumb to the partisan politics that calls for moving backward instead of forward, we can continue on the path to making America's health care system the envy of the world. Our small businesses deserve nothing less." -- David Borris, owner of Hel's Kitchen Catering in Illinois, and Main Street Alliance Executive Committee member.
"The Affordable Care Act is the first real attempt to bring some order and consistency to our approach to delivery of health care in the United States. It didn't address every challenge but there is no question that for millions of Americans and small business owners the ACA has been an important improvement in their lives. The Republican plans are not only cruel and amoral they are an economic travesty that will drive up cost, deny timely care, put lives at risk and draw trillions out of the general economy to prop up an inefficient and cumbersome patch work of health care delivery. This is simple- we cannot afford to move backwards. We need the Senate to reject the motion to proceed." -- Kelly Conklin, owner of Foley-Waite Associates in New Jersey and Main Street Alliance Executive Committee member.
"Affordable health care is critical to the well being of Vermonters and the health of our local economies. I was encouraged to see Governor Phil Scott stand with our congressional delegation in opposition to recent attempts by the Republicans in Washington to dismantle the ACA and slash Medicaid. The bipartisanship in our state sends a clear message. I urge all of Vermont's elected officials to continue to stand together to protect the progress that has been made and build a healthy future for our state." -- Jen Kimmich, Owner of The Alchemist in Stowe, Vermont, and Main Street Alliance Vermont Board Chair.
"The ACA afforded Zootility another way to be risk averse. Instead committing to health plans that all of our employees would be satisfied with and committing to an amount that we cover for all of our employees, we could roll our total compensation into pure salary. This affords us the flexibility to reward the best performing employees differently than across the board. When considering replacing the ACA, legislators should be considering how the result will impact makers and startups as these are the engines of the change that American's are truly hungry for." -- Nate Barr, owner of Zootility in Maine, and Maine Small Business Coalition member.
"As a small businessperson, my family and most of my employees are dependent on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), so I have a hard time understanding the controversy. Keeping the ACA in place puts Pennsylvania's businesses and customers in the best place to succeed. Not without its flaws, it's the best approach to a market dominated by powerful drug manufacturers and healthcare providers with a storied history of putting profits before patients." -- Michael Row, owner of Penn Book Center in Philadelphia, Main Street Alliance member.
"Fulfillment in my career was an intangible dream I never thought I would achieve. The monotony of the daily routine of clocking in and out of a job I didn't enjoy for the sole purpose of providing health benefits for myself and my children was beginning to wear me down and take away my joie de vivre. After the Affordable Care Act was signed into law I able to take a chance and become a small business owner without fear of financial ruin due to a medical catastrophe. The security of having medical benefits for my family and I gave me the opportunity to become the business woman I had always dreamed of -- don't take that away from us." -- Amber Tamayo owner of High Ridge Construction Oregon, and Main Street Alliance member.
"I'm lucky to be afforded the ability to work at building a business around my passions, however, it came at the cost of my husband's dreams. Before the Affordable Care Act, he had to give up his small business to work for the public school system so that we could afford the insurance coverage that our growing family needed. Now my daughter is a budding entrepreneur and I don't want to see her sacrifice her dreams in order to have the health care that every human deserves. I want to see us strengthen the ACA -- not repeal it." -- Martha Ehlman owner of Tenfold Fair Trade in West Virginia and Main Street Alliance member
"As someone who suffers from chronic pain, I'm only able to work because I can get treatment for my illness through Medicaid. If this coverage were taken from me, I definitely wouldn't be able to work or have my own business, and I would probably be on disability." -- Tim Foster, owner of Patriotic Motors in Spokane, Washington, and Main Street Alliance member.
The Main Street Alliance (MSA) is a national network of small business coalitions working to build a new voice for small businesses on important public policy issues. Main Street Alliance members are working throughout the country to build policies that work for business owners, their employees, and the communities they serve.
LATEST NEWS
Privacy Defenders Decry 'Spy Draft' in Section 702 Renewal Advanced by Senate
"It's not about who RISAA allows the government to spy on, it's about who RISAA allows the government to force to spy," explained one critic.
Apr 18, 2024
Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.
In a 273-147 vote last week, House lawmakers passed RISAA, including an amendment critics say dramatically expands the government's unchecked surveillance authority by compelling a wide range of individuals and organizations—including businesses and the media—to cooperate in government spying operations.
This so-called "Make Everyone a Spy" clause would allow the attorney general or director of national intelligence to force electronic communication service providers to "immediately provide... all information, facilities, or assistance" the government deems necessary.
"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, warned Thursday. "It will lead to significant distrust between journalists and sources, not to mention everyone else."
"It's not about who RISAA allows the government to spy on, it's about who RISAA allows the government to force to spy," he added. "Regardless of whether the end target of the surveillance is a foreigner, it's indisputable that the people the government can enlist to conduct the surveillance are Americans. And what's more, these civilians ordered to spy would be gagged and sworn to secrecy under the law."
In addition to the "Make Everyone a Spy" provision, civil libertarians have sounded the alarm over the House lawmakers' rejection of an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the legislation.
Critics accuse Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and colleagues including Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) of trying to rush a vote on RISAA while disingenuously claiming Section 702's powers will expire with the law on Friday. That's a misleading claim, as a national security court earlier this month approved the government's request to continue a disputed surveillance program even if Section 702 lapses.
"There is simply no defense of Majority Leader Schumer and Sen. Warner's duplicity," Sean Vitka, policy director at the progressive advocacy group Demand Progress, said in a statement. "House Intelligence Committee leaders poisoned this bill with one of the most repugnant surveillance expansions in history, and apparently the administration was too busy attacking commonsense privacy protections to notice. They know it, we know it, and now the American people know it."
"There can be no mistake: Sens. Schumer and Warner just helped hand the next president an unspeakably dangerous weapon that will be used against their own constituents," Vitka added. "And there is only one vote left to stop it."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)—who
said earlier this week that the bill would dragoon the American people into becoming "an agent for Big Brother"—on Thursday argued that "this issue demands a debate about meaningful reforms, not a rushed vote to rubber-stamp more warrantless government surveillance powers."
In an attempt to tackle the warrantless surveillance issue, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) on Thursday proposed a RISAA amendment that would require the government to obtain a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before accessing Americans' private communications.
However, the amendment contains exceptions to the warrant requirement in the event of unspecified emergencies and cyberattacks.
"If the government wants to spy on the private communications of Americans, they should be required to get approval from a judge—just as our Founders intended," Durbin said in a statement. "Congress has a responsibility to the American people to get this right."
The Biden administration and U.S. intelligence agencies vehemently oppose the Durbin-Cramer amendment. The White House called the measure "a reckless policy choice contrary to the key lessons of 9/11 and not grounded in any constitutional requirement or statute."
"The amendment outright bars the government from gaining access to lawfully collected information using terms associated with U.S. persons," the administration added. "Exceptions to that prohibition are narrow and unworkable. They are insufficient to protect our national security."
On Wednesday, the House also passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act, which would prohibit the government from buying Americans' information from data brokers if it would otherwise need a warrant to obtain the data, which includes location and internet records. The Senate will now take up FANFSA.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'The Opposite of Leadership': US Vetoes Palestine's UN Membership
Palestine's permanent observer at the United Nations said the resolution's failure "will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination."
Apr 18, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday used the country's veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block Palestine's bid to become a full member of the U.N.
While 12 nations voted in favor of Palestinian membership and two abstained, the United States is one of five countries—along with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom—who have veto authority at the Security Council.
Since Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has said is a "plausibly" genocidal assault of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led October attack, the Biden administration has blocked three cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council. Under mounting global pressure, the U.S. finally abstained last month, allowing a cease-fire measure to pass.
In the lead-up to Thursday's vote, the Biden administration was pressuring other countries to oppose the Palestinian Authority's renewed membership effort so it could possibly avoid a veto, according to leaked cables obtained by The Intercept.
"Take a moment to ponder how isolated Biden has made the U.S.," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, after the veto. "Biden lobbied Japan, South Korea, and Ecuador HARD to oppose the Palestine resolution so that the U.S. wouldn't have to veto. They refused. So Biden cast his fourth veto in seven months (!!) This is the opposite of leadership."
In addition to the nations Parsi highlighted, Algeria, China, France, Guyana, Malta, Mozambique, Russia, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia voted for giving Palestine full U.N. membership while Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstained.
After the vote, U.N. Newsreported on remarks from Riyad Mansour, a U.N. permanent observer for the state of Palestine:
"We came to the Security Council today as an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we could salvage what can be saved. We place you before a historic responsibility to establish the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace in our region."
Council members were given the opportunity "to revive the hope that has been lost among our people" and to translate their commitment towards a two-state solution into firm action "that cannot be maneuvered or retracted," and the majority of council members "have risen to the level of this historic moment, and they have stood on the side of justice and freedom and hope, in line with the ethical and humanitarian and legal principles that must govern our world and in line with simple logic."
"The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination," Mansour added. "We will not stop in our effort. The state of Palestine is inevitable. It is real. Perhaps they see it as far away, but we see it as near, and we are the faithful."
Parsi said that "a Western-friendly senior Global South diplomat" told him of Biden's veto: "Whatever agonizing claim the U.S. had to lead a self-appointed free world has died a very loud public death on the Security Council horseshoe tonight. YOU CAN'T LEAD IF YOU CAN'T LISTEN."
Biden, a Democrat seeking reelection in November, has faced fierce criticism in the United States and around the world for U.S. complicity in Israel's war on Gaza—which Hamas, not the Palestinian Authority, has controlled for nearly two decades. In under seven months, Israeli forces have killed 33,970 Palestinians, injured another 76,770, displaced most of the besieged enclave's 2.3 million population, devastated civilian infrastructure, and severely limited the flow of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
Israel—which already got $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid before October 7—continues to receive weapons support from the Biden administration, even as a growing chorus of critics, including some Democrats in Congress, argues that the arms transfers violate U.S. and international law.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Shameful': Columbia Greenlights Police Crackdown on Anti-War Encampment
Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
Apr 18, 2024
The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
On Thursday, police and Columbia employees took down about 50 tents that had been up for more than a day and disposed of them in trash cans and alleyways—but The New York Times reported later that "demonstrators repitched a couple of tents, and ... recovered the main signage from the encampment as well," while hundreds of students were "still gathered and chanting on the south side of the grass."
The arrests came a day after Shafik testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on campus.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the Barnard students who were suspended on Thursday for participating in the encampment protest, questioned Shafik about whether antisemitic protests have actually taken place at Columbia, prompting the president to say there have not.
"There has been a rise in targeting and harassment against anti-war protesters, because it's been pro-war and anti-war protesters is what it seems, like, correct?" asked Omar.
"Correct," replied Shafik.
On Thursday, Omar posted on social media two images of protesters at Columbia: one from the encampment this week, and one from 1968, when students protested the U.S. war in Vietnam.
New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
"Suspending and arresting Columbia/Barnard student activists and disbanding student organizations—including Jewish students and organizations—doesn't combat antisemitism or increase safety," said Cabán. "All it does is punish and intimidate those who believe in human rights for Palestinians. Shameful."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular