The Club for Growth urges all House members to vote "NO" on HR 1549, a bill designed to extend an ObamaCare program that has run out of money. Consideration of the bill is expected sometime next week. The vote on this plan will be included in the Club's 2013 Congressional Scorecard.

The Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan (PCIP) is a program that even President Obama found to be too expensive. Enrollment was below expectations and it was overrun with costs.

This proposal would further extend the federal government's role in healthcare. Because this bill eliminates a previous requirement for enrollees to be uninsured for six months, it creates the moral hazard of avoiding insurance until it is needed and provides an extra incentive for people to enroll in federally-run insurance.

Furthermore, this bill does nothing to lower healthcare costs, which should always be the goal of any health reform proposal. There are numerous ways to provide private insurance to people with pre-existing conditions. This includes making insurance portable when changing jobs, giving individuals the same tax break that employees receive, allowing a national market for insurance, and allowing mandate-free insurance. If high-risk pools need to be established, they should be created and maintained at the state level with no interference from the federal government. Finally, the fact that this bill is offset with the repeal of another ObamaCare program is irrelevant. ObamaCare as a whole was financed in part with borrowed money, so this bill will only contribute to more debt. Fiscal conservatives should be squarely focused on repealing ObamaCare, not strengthening it by supporting the parts that are politically attractive.

Our Congressional Scorecard for the 113th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.

UPDATE (April 24, 2013): Earlier this week, the Club issued a key vote alert against the PCIP Extension bill, (HR 1549). You can read that alert to re-examine our reasons for opposing the bill. Since then, the House Rules Committee made in order a Pitts/Upton amendment that many assumed was suppose to assuage conservatives' concerns with the bill. But the underlying proposal still funds an ObamaCare program that pays for federal high risk pools. Had the Pitts amendment re-directed funds away from this program towards state-level pools, rather than add on state-level pools, we would have been more open to dropping our key vote against the bill. But the fact remains that it doesn't do that. Therefore, we remain opposed to the bill, and the vote will be included in our 2013 congressional scorecard.

Separately, we remain strongly opposed to the Prevention Fund, and hope that House leaders will offer up a bill that terminates it and uses the savings to reduce the deficit.

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Casey Black DeSantis, the wife of Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-FL), recently showed off her Club for Growth mug on her TV show "First Coast Living" down in Jacksonville, FL. Thanks for the shout-out, Casey!


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The Club for Growth is urging all Senators to oppose the re-nomination of Fred Hochberg as chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank. This vote will be included in the Club's 2013 Congressional Scorecard.

In 2008, when President Obama was a Senator, he called the Bank "little more than a fund for corporate welfare." Nothing has changed since then. In fact, the Bank has only gotten larger - in 2012, it received a 40% increase in its financing authority. This means its ability to distort the free market by handing out huge discounted loans and loan guarantees to special interests has only grown in size.

Conservatives should oppose Hochberg's nomination until a real plan is implemented for reducing the Bank's authority with the ultimate goal of ending its charter completely.

Our Congressional Scorecard for the 113th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.

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The Club for Growth will be scoring the following amendments during the debate on the Senate budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 8). These votes could be considered as early as today. These votes will be included in the Club's 2013 Congressional Scorecard.

1. "YES" on the Ron Johnson (#212) Amendment to bar the use of federal funds to bail out state and local governments that are defaulting on their debts.


2. "YES" on the Thune Amendment (#307) to fully and permanently repeal the Death Tax.


3. "YES" on the Flake Amendment (#225) to establish a point of order to strike earmarks from future legislation.


4. "YES" on the Lee Amendment (#374) to unwind the Export-Import Bank.

Also, since there are over 300 possible amendments that could be swiftly considered, the Club for Growth, as always, reserves the right to retro-score any and all amendments. Therefore, if your office has any questions on any of the amendments, please call us to get our opinion.

Our Congressional Scorecard for the 113th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.

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From Jay Leno:

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 There are two great news articles about the Club and the Club's PAC today:

New York Times: 

As the Republican Party and the conservative movement continue to debate the lessons of 2012 – a discussion that will get further attention this week at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington – the Club for Growth [PAC] is playing the role of principle-driven counterweight to Karl Rove, whose political operation has been leading the charge favoring of a more pragmatic view of how Republicans can best regain power.

Reuters: 

The anti-tax advocacy group Club for Growth, an unapologetic purveyor of in-your-face fiscal conservatism, has no time for the Republican hand-wringing that followed November's bitter election loss. The combative Club['s PAC] is preparing to spend millions of dollars next year on its latest round of primary challenges to Republican lawmakers who it believes have violated its conservative economic principles. The confrontational strategy flies in the face of post-election Republican efforts to become a more accommodating and less ideological party, and is certain to deepen the rift between the party's conservative warriors and more pragmatic establishment wing. It also is certain to cement the Club [for Growth PAC]'s reputation, earned over more than a decade of sometimes brutal primary battles, as the outside group most likely to frustrate party bosses.


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