Phillips Philes: Republican Study Committee

The American Health Care Reform Act of 2017

Documents:

Bill Text Two-Pager Section-By-Section Summary Supplement: SHDI Explanation

Highlights:

Fully Repeals Obamacare: AHCRA goes into effect on January 1, 2018 and fully repeals the president’s health care law.

Increases Access to Affordable, Portable Health Insurance: AHCRA levels the playing field between people who receive their insurance through their employer and those who purchase it on the individual market by creating a standard deduction for health insurance. Under the RSC’s plan, individuals with qualifying insurance receive a $7,500 tax deduction and families receive a $20,500 deduction.

Expands Insurance Access for Vulnerable Americans: AHCRA ensures those with pre-existing conditions have access to health insurance by expanding federal support for state high-risk pools and expanding portability so Americans can easily move between insurance markets without fear of discrimination based on health status.

Spurs Competition Between Insurers: AHCRA allows people to shop for and purchase insurance plans across state lines, like other forms of insurance already allow. The plan also allows small businesses to pool together to negotiate for better rates.

The America Without Faith Project

America Without Faith in the News:

What Is It?

Why Is It Needed?

The Faith project aims to help Members of Congress and religious liberty advocates communicate about how important the work of faith-based groups are for our nation today, and how federal polices can affect these efforts. Over 45 million Americans live below the poverty line. Over 500,000 people in a single night experience homelessness in America. Over 15 million children live in households without enough to eat. American families, and families across the globe, are suffering. Despite more than 80 federal programs in place to provide federal welfare benefits at a cost of $1 trillion per year, the government is overspending and underperforming, and people are suffering.

At the same time, America’s religious institutions exist on shaky ground. Over the past decade they have faced repeated challenges to their very existence, including threats to revoke their tax-exempt status—the very thing that makes it possible for many of these organizations to do the good work that they do. In order for our government and Americans to truly understand the value of our religious community, we need to give a better understanding of how this community serves those in need and how much they provide to the social safety net in ways the government does not.

Visit the America Without Faith Website

The Empowerment Initiative

Documents:

About the Empowerment Initiative

The Republican Study Committee continues to lead the way toward turning this positive vision into action. The RSC Empowerment Initiative, led by Representatives Andy Barr and Todd Young, is a task force of RSC members focused on combating poverty and reforming the welfare system to empower individuals, families, and communities. The reforms recommended by this proposal would restore the opportunity to pursue prosperity for millions of Americans.

Highlights

Eliminate Marriage Penalties: If a low-income person receiving government assistance marries an employed person, their welfare benefits would be reduced or eliminated, sometimes by an amount larger than income of the employed spouse. These policies encourage broken families. The RSC recommends that Congress take steps to eliminate these penalties against the single best antipoverty measure: marriage and a stable family structure.

Restore and Implement Work Requirements: Building on the success of the 1996 welfare reforms, all federal benefit programs should be reformed to include work promotion requirements that would help people move away from dependence and toward self- sufficiency. Programs would be strengthened with such incentives. To be eligible for benefits, able-bodied adults without dependents would be required to work or be preparing for work, including participating in educational or job training programs, community service, or a supervised job search.

Reform the Earned Income Tax Credit: The tax credit should be simplified. Allowing the credit to be paid concurrently with a paycheck (rather than once per year under current law), in addition to reducing the difficulty of filing a claim, could help simplify the program and reduce low-income individuals’ reliance on paid tax preparers, who often file fraudulent overclaims. Paying the credit over a monthly schedule will also improve monthly budgeting for Americans, rather than embracing the habit of spending an entire tax refund at once on a luxury.

Food Stamp Reform: This proposal recommends that the House Agriculture Committee put forward legislation that would authorize the food stamp program as a block grant to the states, with funding subject to the annual appropriations process. Nutrition assistance funds would be distributed to states based on a formula that accounts for poverty and unemployment in each state. States would have flexibility to administer their own programs, subject to the common sense requirements outlined below, and supplement federal funds with state funds.

Federal Housing Reform: The federal government spends over $50 billion per year on housing assistance and development programs.The two largest programs, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and Project-Based Rental Assistance, provide subsidies for tenants to pay rent and for housing units to be subsidized. These programs are in much need of reform, as evidence suggests that beneficiaries “do not experience substantial improvement in education or earnings” while receiving assistance.

The Blueprint for a Balanced Budget 2.0

Documents:

Highlights:

Balances the Federal Budget. Blueprint 2.0 balances the federal budget in just eight years, by 2024. In contrast, last year’s House budget balanced within a 10 year window. President Obama’s proposed FY 2017 budget never balances – ever. With national debt topping $19 trillion and interest rates soon set to surpass defense spending, the Blueprint takes a serious approach to reigning in overspending.

Reduces Rampant Overspending. Blueprint 2.0 includes more than 200 specific spending reductions and reforms that will save taxpayers $8.6 trillion over the next decade. By setting base discretionary spending at $974 billion and prioritize spending to provide for our national defense, we can ensure a brighter fiscal future for our nation.

Strengthens Our National Security.Blueprint 2.0 fully provides for our national security needs, so America can properly address the growing threats we face. This budget provides $574 billion for base discretionary funding in FY2017, along with $59 billion to carry out the Global War on Terror.

Promotes Pro-Growth Reforms. Blueprint 2.0 provides the principles for tax reform that simplify our sprawling, unintelligible tax code and make our system fairer for American families. The budget would set top tax rates at 25 percent, eliminate special interest tax breaks and loopholes and shifts collection duties from the scandal-plagued Internal Revenue Service to the Treasury Department.

Restore America’s Social Safety-Net Programs. Blueprint 2.0 takes robust measures to rebuild America’s social safety net programs so they empower individuals, serve those who rely on them and endure for future generations.

Repeal and Replace Obamacare. Blueprint 2.0 fully repeals the president’s disastrous health care law and implements the RSC’s American Health Care Reform Act (ACHRA) instead. ACHRA would increase competition, lower costs, improve access to care, and level the playing field between families and employers when purchasing the health insurance plan that best fits their needs.