House Rangeling Over Senate Mandates

President Obama is urging House members to accept the Senate's 40% excise tax on Cadillac health care plans (excluding union members) and it's .09% increase on Medicare tax for individuals making over $200,000 and couples making over $250,000 to help pay for his $1 trillion heath care bill. He understands that the longer this debate continues, the greater the potential for the deal to completely fall apart (however unlikely that seemed once the Senate reached 60 votes). The problem is, Democratic leaders in the House realize the Cadillac tax falls most heavily on the middle class, which will give GOP members the perfect fodder for campaign commercials in November. Their answer? Charlie Rangel, the raspy Boss Hog of the House, has proposed a 5.45% income surtax on singles who earn more than $500,000 and couples who make more than $1 million. The problem with that is that less than 1% of Americans fall into that category. Try again, Charlie. What does that mean for you? If this health care bill passes, your taxes will increase via the excise and Medicare tax increases. There aren't enough rich people to pay for a $1 trillion bill. And although its passage seems a foregone conclusion, as House members will succumb to White House pressures as did the Senate, Scott Brown could still foil the bill. He is the last remaining hope. If Brown somehow makes history by taking the "people's seat" back from the Kennedys in Boston on Tuesday, I believe, as Krauthammer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VenrJCDRT2M), that this bill is toast.