The RMC 2009 Choice Awards Dinner in New York City was a great success and we want to thank those of you who supported and attended this important event.
At the elegant Manhattan Club, overlooking a red, white and blue Empire State Building and a room filled with friends both new and old, RMC’s co-Chairs Susan Bevan and Candy Straight, and Executive Director Kellie Ferguson, espoused our vision of bringing more common sense real Republicans into office. These are real Republicans like Senate hopeful and current DE-AL Representative Mike Castle. Castle offered his remarks at the event, just one night after his interview on the Colbert Report featured Castle proudly stating that he was a common-sense, fiscally conservative Northeastern Republican. Castle spoke of the importance of a big-tent Republican Party, with its focus on the issues of creating jobs, cutting government spending and stabilizing the economy.
Honoree and Choice Award recipient Sam Pryor, a founding member of RMC, told of the rise of RMC- and how after NY-23, we are more important than ever. Our final speaker, and recipient of the Ford Visionary Award, Diana Taylor, gave a rousing speech about why choice- and access to all choices- was so important, inspiring the gathered crowd.
Next week, look for pictures of our events on our blogs and Facebook as we continue to bring you the highlights on the evening.
We also wanted to bring you a brief healthcare update. We are still waiting to see the Senate’s version of the healthcare reform bill. Senate Majority leadership has been melding two committee bills, with few details revealed. New rumored proposals would be an increase to Medicare payroll taxes. They are scrambling to find any way to offset the cost of their ballooning proposals. Unfortunately, none of the Democrats’ plans have meaningful medical inflation cost containment solutions, such as medical tort reform.
As you know, last weekend the House passed their healthcare reform bill. Democratic House leadership, facing dwindling support for their package, removed some essential coverage to get some “Blue Dog” Democrats to support the entire package. This just proves that the Democrats are willing to roll over on anything in order to pass some form of Health Care Reform. This is a sure-fire way to pass a highly flawed piece of legislation that should not be rushed and needs bipartisan input.
The Senate is expected to start debate on their package next week. We’ll see if Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (NV) rolls over on personal freedom issues and cuts out some forms of coverage, just like House leadership.
Posted by Elizabeth 
Posted by Elizabeth 
Posted by Elizabeth 
