A New Day for the Republican Party in New Hampshire

A New Day for The Republican Party in New Hampshire
Call to Action: Time to Chuck ObamaBradleyCare

To my Republican friends in the state of New Hampshire:

Upon passage of Obamacare Medicaid expansion in the New Hampshire House, I ask you to join me in uniting the Republican Party against what we should now call ObamaBradleyCare, and in charting a new path forward to restore the Republican Party to a party of principle grounded in our state and federal constitutions, and the belief in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

The sponsors of SB 413 labelled the bill the “New Hampshire Health Protection Program.” Yet we know that a more appropriate title would be “The Obamacare Medicaid Crony Capitalism and Intergenerational Theft Bill.” This is NOT a Republican piece of legislation; it is the effort of a small group of Republicans against the overwhelming majority of Republicans in the state. 

Jeb Bradley is the primary architect of this piece of legislation. In fact, many are unaware of the fact that as a US Congressman, Jeb co-sponsored Medicare Part D (the prescription drug program). This program is now unfunded to the tune of $15 trillion. The architect of that program, hospital lobbyist and former administrator of CMS (Medicare and Medicaid), was founded guilty by the Congressional Research Service of withholding from Congress the cost information for the prescription drug program. So naturally, Jeb decided that we should use this huckster to architect our “New Hampshire” solution. 

For months many of us have worked non-stop to block this legislation. 
I serve as the Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire (RLCNH). A few months ago, we launched the following pledgehttp://stopnhincometax.com/stop-obamacare-pledge/ 

“I hereby pledge that I will not support the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in any form, including, but not limited to, expanding Medicaid in New Hampshire through the use of Federal funds, regardless of how those funds are allocated.”

Every New Hampshire Republican candidate for US Senate, US Congress, and Governor has supported this statement, as have countless members of the state house. Recently, this momentum has carried across the state with over 14 Republican County and Town committees passing resolutions in opposition to this legislation. Most of these resolutions have been unanimous. 

Unanimous opposition springs from the fact that upon examination, SB 413 is an omnishambles. 

1) It is Obamacare expansion: The nationwide rollout of Obamacare has been a complete failure. People have lost their insurance, can’t keep their doctors, and the costs have dramatically exceeded the worst-case projections of those who passed it. Despite the fact that a majority of Republicans and Democrats no longer support Obamacare, our Republican-leaders, Chuck Morse and Jeb Bradley, have voluntarily agreed to expand Obamacare through SB 413. 

2) Intergenerational Theft/No Taxation without Representation: The key hallmark of this program is that it utilizes what Senate leadership calls “free federal funds.” The federal government is in debt $17 trillion, and these entitlement programs are unfunded to the tune of $200 trillion dollars. We are not getting back the money we put in. We are going to borrow more money on the backs of our children and grandchildren who have NO VOICE in this vote.

3) The Federal Government will not live up to their end of the deal: I personally spoke with Rep. Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee. He told me explicitly that the Senate should not pass Medicaid expansion and that the House already has bi-partisan support to lower the 100% reimbursement rate within the first 3 years of the program. Failure is baked into the cake. Bradley tries to convince people that the program will sunset immediately if the government fails short of their obligation. If you think the New Hampshire legislature will immediately cut off insurance to 50,000 citizens, please contact Bernie Madoff in prison. I’m sure he would still be more than willing to invest your money for you. 

4) It will not reduce uncompensated care: Sen. Bradley claims that this bill will reduce our $427 million in uncompensated care. Uncompensated care is indeed a problem; however, the expansion of Medicaid is proven NOT to be the solution. Medicaid has been previously expanded in Arizona and Maine under the premise that it will reduce uncompensated care costs. What were the results? In Arizona, uncompensated care rose 9% on a compound annual basis over 10 years, and in Maine, uncompensated care costs increased 400%.

5) Using federal funds for private insurance has already failed: Arkansas already tried this, and it failed within one year.

While Senate leadership has failed us, we should remember and recognize that some have been fighting this program vigorously for months. We should thank and support Senator Andy Sanborn, who has worked tirelessly, without any support from Senate leadership, to defeat this massive entitlement expansion. He has demonstrated integrity, stuck to his principles in face of incredible adversity, and, in my opinion, should become the next President of the New Hampshire State Senate. Please contact and support Andy athttp://andysanborn.com./
We should also commend and support Senator Russell Prescott for speaking out against SB 413, and Senators John Reagan, Sam Cataldo, and Sharon Carson for holding firm against this piece of legislation. 

The following Republican Senators can expect vigorous and well-supported primary races: 

Chuck Morse 
Jeb Bradley
Dave Boutin 
Jeanie Forrester
Jim Rausch
Bob O’Dell 
Nancy Stiles

The RLCNH will be announcing our slate of candidates in the coming weeks.

I know that it is easy to be discouraged based on yesterday’s vote. Frankly, I believe that our problems run even deeper than just failed leadership in Senate. The leadership of the NH GOP has been, at best, grossly negligent on the Obamacare expansion issue. Last year, when Gov. Hassan tried to ram Obamacare Medicaid expansion through during a special session, the NH GOP Chair actually put out a memo supporting the Senate plan to expand Obamacare. While this memo was finally removed from their website, the damage has been done, and the leadership blocked all efforts to redress the impact of their earlier work. 

Now is not the time for apathy. Let us use the failure of the Senate and NH GOP leadership to galvanize our party on principle AND win the 2014 election. 

Let us recast the party from the “Party of No” to the “Party of Know.”

• We know that freedom and capitalism have led to the highest standard of living in human history. 
• We know that you cannot be both compassionate and insolvent at the same time.
• We know that our national and state constitutions were written to limit our government and protect our rights. 

Let us reclaim the Republican Party and take back the liberties that we all love in the “Live Free or Die” state. We can do this with 3 simple steps:

1) Unite in opposition to ObamaBradleyCare. Let us continue to get every town, county, candidate, elected representative, and individual to sign our pledge and hold firm in our resolve to block this gateway drug to full socialism. 
2) Win 2014 election: Let us not sit on the sidelines or merely complain about what we don’t like. We should take action. There are over 950 delegate positions available within the Republican Party, yet less than half of these positions are filled. If we don’t like how the party is run, then we need to run as delegates and change leadership. This is completely doable as approximately 50% of the delegate slots go unfilled because no one runs. Let us recruit candidates that will both adhere to our platform and win, but not trade off one for the other. The idea that getting people to win as Republicans and expect them to then change their ideology can be summed up in two words: EPIC FAIL. Jeb Bradley calls our 13-11 majority in the Senate a firewall. What kind of firewall leads the change on the passage of the largest entitlement expansion in New Hampshire state history? No More!
3) Change leadership: We have suffered long enough with “go along to get along” and “shut up and vote.” We need more Andy Sanborn and less Chuck Morse. 

By their actions yesterday, I guarantee with absolutely certainty that the Republican leadership has lost the support of a majority of their grassroots core, and have all but guaranteed major losses at the polls in November. 

However, if we unite in opposition to ObamaBradleyCare, recruit and elect principled candidates for delegate and elected office, and change leadership, we can restore our party and our honor.

It is for this reason that I have decided to run for Chair of the NH GOP. 

And to those who think that you can break my resolve and spirit through smear campaigns and intimidation, I say “MAKE MY DAY.” 

Please visit http://www.rlcnh.org/ or contact me directly to restore our future.

In liberty, 
Aaron Day, Chairman 
Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire