Challenger Chris Salvino Calls on Mitchell to Vote NO on ObamaCare until CBO Cost Estimate Revealed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2010

Dr. Salvino Calls on Mitchell to Vote NO on ObamaCare until CBO Cost Estimate Revealed

Tempe, AZ – Today, Dr. Chris Salvino called on Harry Mitchell to reverse course and vote NO on the Obama Pelosi health plan until he at least knows how much it will cost the American people.

“The Obama plan hasn’t even been written, and the Congressional Budget Office hasn’t had the chance to tell America how much this boondoggle will cost, that alone should be enough for Harry Mitchell to say no,” said Salvino.

Unofficial estimates for the new Obama plan are higher than the Senate or House Bill, which Mitchell already supported. “It’s like agreeing to buy a house and then asking how much does that cost? It lacks common sense, but it’s the status quo in Washington,” said Salvino.

“Of course I would vote no based on the facts of the legislation. This legislation hurts doctors and patients and that’s why I have introduced my HELP Plan, the Health Expense Lowering Plan as a sensible alternative which will help drive down costs and not lead to a government takeover of our healthcare system,” concluded Salvino.

Dr. Chris Salvino is seeking the Republican nomination for Congress from Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District. He is currently a trauma surgeon working at Banner Good Samaritan in Phoenix and is a retired Lt. Colonel and F-16 flight surgeon.

Nancy Pelosi Rewards Harry Mitchell with $15,000

Continuing on the same theme as the 2006 election cycle, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi has decided to donate even more money to the campaign of the liberal congressman from Arizona’s 5th congressional district.

That’s right. In the latest campaign finance report provided by Mr. Mitchell, it shows that two of Pelosi’s political action committees gave to Harry Mitchell’s campaign committee. Here is a listing of those donations:

That brings a total of $15,000 in cash to Harry’s campaign coffers as payback on several major pieces of legislation.

According to an article written by Josh Kraushaar in today’s Politico, Mitchell’s seat must be so important to Pelosi that he was one among a dozen she decided to reward. Mitchell tends to run with her pack of blue lapdogs.

Read the most recent PAC contributions report here.

‘Pelosi Index’ synchs Mitchell with Pelosi 67%

The new Pelosi Index website has ranked Congressman Harry Mitchell with a score of 67% on nine critical votes. When it comes to all votes as the “Pelosi Unity Team,” Mitchell has actually voted 80.8% of the time with Nancy Pelosi. The most egregious votes (as recorded by the Pelosi Index) are listed here:

HR 1 – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – 2/13/2009:
The massive $787 billion so called “Stimulus Bill” was rushed through both chambers of Congress before anyone had an opportunity to read it. A bill that was designed to spur economic recovery through shovel ready projects has done nothing but grow the government. The legislation passed without any GOP support. – Mitchell Voted YES

HR 2 – S-CHIP – 1/14/2009:
This $33 billion bill is a massive expansion of government run health insurance which goes far beyond the original scope of the program. Originally this program created in 1997 was implemented to help poor children. This legislation would expand its reach, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), to 50% higher-income children and massively increases the number of adults eligible. Additionally it will open the program to illegal immigrants. This government run healthcare bill imposes a 61-cent tax increase on tobacco products, which disproportionately impacts poor working families and is declining source of revenue. – Mitchell Voted YES

HR 11 – Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act – 1/9/2009:
This Act hands a major victory to trial lawyers by allowing pay discrimination lawsuits to proceed years or even decades after any alleged discrimination took place. This hand out to the plaintiffs bar will result in higher labor cost, lower wages and loss jobs. The legislation creates a new litigious business model of trolling for decades old employee complaints. The bill also redefined “discrimination” and opens businesses up to lawsuits beyond outright discrimination and covers even unintentional acts. – Mitchell Voted YES

Stupak Anti-Funding of Abortion Amendment – 11/7/2009:
The Stupak amendment was added to the Pelosi’s government takeover of Health Care legislation (HR-3962) to ban federal funds from being used for abortions. Pelosi and her liberal allies fought hard against this amendment and lost. The amendment passed despite 194 Democrats including Pelosi voting against its passage. Speaker Pelosi allowed the amendment to be offered on the House floor because it was the only way she could muster enough votes to pass her version of Obamacare. Despite this amendment passing, it is likely that it will be stripped out through legislative maneuvers before going final. – Mitchell Voted NO

HR 3962 – Affordable Health Care for America Act – 11/7/2009:
The Pelosi version of Obamacare represents a $1.3 trillion government takeover of the health care system that will raise insurance premiums, increase the overall cost of healthcare and raise taxes. The legislation includes more than $729 billion in new taxes and is riddled with budget gimmicks that attempt to mask the true fiscal impact on the American people. The legislation is falsely touted to lower health care costs. Even the Obama Administration has reported that this legislation actually increases costs by $289 billion over the next decade. – Mitchell Voted YES

HR 3961 – Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 – 12/19/2009:
The legislation known as the “doctor fix” is nothing more than a budgetary gimmick being used to lower the over all price of Pelosi’s government run healthcare package (HR-3962). The legislation will add more than $200 billion to the federal deficit and debt. Speaker Pelosi chose to remove the cost of this bill from the Obamacare package passed by the House to cosmetically lessen its overall cost. This is pure and simple a $200 billion legislative hoodwink that will be added to the American taxpayer’s tab. – Mitchell Voted YES

No Town Halls for You!

Here is the latest video put out by the Arizona Republican Party:

On the Run for Bigger Government!

The campaign to retake Arizona’s Congressional District 5 has already begun! Here is the latest ad put out by the David Schweikert Campaign committee featuring Congressman Mitchell dodging a simple citizen question on how he will vote on the Pelosi health care bill.

Much like his liberal Senate colleague, John Kerry, he can now say he voted against it before he voted for it!

Run Harry! They’re coming after you!