Chairman UpendObamacare ( The Michigan View 12.8.10)

Posted by hpayne on December 8, 2010

Maul the Midwest. Coddle California. Dictate to doctors. Hobble health care. Ban the bulb. Cancel coal. Destroy Detroit. Grovel to the Greens.

Goodbye to all that.

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Left Coast) is out. Hail the new Chairman Fred Upton (R-Middle America).

In a demonstration of the sea change that November 2 has brought to Washington, Upton – an auto-friendly, Obamacare-reviling, global warming critic – has been given the reins over the House committee with perhaps more power to reverse President Obama’s radical agenda than any other: Energy and Commerce.

With jurisdiction over the EPA and the Department of Health and Human Series, Upton has a chance to deal crippling blows to Obama’s anti-carbon and pro-national health care vision. In an extraordinary turnabout, Michigan will go from being in the cross-hairs of Chairman Waxman, a Green religious zealot with a Left Coast disdain for “flyover country,” to being in the driver’s seat under the 13- term Chairman Upton from St. Joseph. Upton will also be a very different chair from the last Michigander to hold the post, John Dingell, who – though pro-auto – used the bully pulpit to preach socialized medicine.

Upton seems energized by the challenge.

“I look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with Speaker Boehner, Leader Cantor, Whip McCarthy and the entire Republican Conference as we repeal Obamacare, fight rampant job-killing regulations, cut spending, and help put folks back to work,” he roared upon learning of his coveted new post Tuesday afternoon.

“We face many challenges, but priority number one is to repeal the job-killing Obamacare law,” continued Upton, signaling to the Tea Party-led electorate that Republicans heard them loud and clear.

Under Waxman, leftist HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was given a free hand to impose Obamacare and demonize business. Just days after the election, Waxman applauded Sebelius’ new rules mandating how insurers had to spend their premium dollars..

“In today’s market, too many insurers – particularly in the individual health care market – charge high premiums and yet spend 30 percent or more on administrative costs, high salaries, and profits,” declared the Dictator from Beverly Hills.

Shot back Upton today: “If we have learned anything these last two years of soaring unemployment and out-of-control spending, it is that government is not the answer to all our ills.” Ultimately, Upton recognizes that his committee’s charge is not just to oversee – but to reverse Obama’s agenda entirely.

The congressman, who served in the Reagan Administration from 1981-5, told the Washington Examiner’s Byron York that his task is like the “game Jenga, in which small wooden blocks are stacked in a tower. Players remove blocks from the lower part of the tower and place them on the top, seeing how high they can raise the structure before it collapses from lack of support below.”

“Ultimately the tower falls,” Upton told York. “I’m convinced that if you take the health care law and begin to look at all of the different parts, you can make it fall.”

He will also fight a rogue EPA which Waxman gave free run to regulate carbon emissions in defiance of public will and the failure of Washington to pass cap and trade.” The Obama administration is on notice – they will not be allowed to regulate what they have been unable to legislate,” says Upton in direct shot across EPA’s bow.

Upton’s reward comes after a challenge from Joe Barton of Texas. Barton’s opposition was fueled by concern about Upton’s commitment to principle as he was a co-sponsor of the outrageous 2007 law that banned Americans from buying incandescent light bulbs by 2012. The law has not only denied consumers’ choice but destroyed hundreds of American manufacturing jobs. Upton, a team player by reputation, pushed the law on behalf of his president at the time, George Bush – who himself was trying to buy his way into Green heaven after a lifetime as an oil man.

Upton has indicated has learned his lesson. While repeal of Obamacare will take some time, Upton can reassure the troops immediately with one bold stroke:

Restore the bulb.

Comments are closed.