Democrats Admit Congressman Waxman Was Wrong

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has admitted that Congressmen Waxman and Stupack were wrong to call in major Corporations for a Kangaroo court in front of the committee.

Last month AT&T, the biggest U.S. phone company, joined companies such as John Deere and Verizon announcing plans to book one-time costs related to the Obamacare law. AT&T said in the regulatory filing yesterday it would record $1 billion of costs, small change for the Progressive Congress, but real cash, even for a big company like AT&T

Along with AT&T,  large companies such as Verizon, Caterpillar, Deere, Valero Energy, AK Steel and 3M  announced that a tax provision in the new health care law will create new costs that would require regulatory filings. Naturally that kind of news is an embarrassment for Democrats.

Commerce secretary, Gary F. Locke, said the companies were being “premature and irresponsible” in taking such write-downs. Since the POTUS and Progressive Congressional leaders have been saying that Obamacare will solve all of the world's problems they don't want to hear that some of the nation's biggest companies are saying it will mean higher costs and lower profits.




The NY Times is reporting that the House Energy and Commerce Committee has released a report saying that the charges and filings made by those companies were indeed legitimate.

...Henry A. Waxman of California and Bart Stupak of Michigan, both Democrats, opened an investigation and demanded that four companies — AT&T, Caterpillar, Deere and Verizon — supply documents analyzing the “impact of health care reform,” together with an explanation of their accounting methods.

Representative Joe L. Barton of Texas, the senior Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said, “From a financial standpoint, from a purely economic standpoint, many companies would be better off discontinuing health care as a fringe benefit, paying the penalty and pocketing the savings.”

In a memorandum summarizing its investigation, the Democratic staff of the committee said, “The companies acted properly and in accordance with accounting standards in submitting filings to the S.E.C. in March and April.”

Moreover, it said, “these one-time charges were required by applicable accounting rules.” The committee staff said this view was confirmed by independent experts at the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the American Academy of Actuaries.

Wait a second! Can you say that again?  The companies HAD to make those financial filing?  What happened to those letters you sent out, implying that the corporations were lying

"The new law is designed to expand coverage and bring down costs, so your assertions are a matter of concern," Waxman wrote to Stephenson [ATT&T] , in addition to letters to Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Caterpillar CEO James Owens, and Deere & Company CEO Samuel Allen. The companies' decisions, Waxman wrote, "appear to conflict with independent analyses."

Congressmen Waxman and Stupak along with Commerce Secretary  Locke certainly owe these companies a public apology, they abused their offices in an attempt to intimidate companies out of doing the right thing.  But sadly the only time you get an apology out of Washington politicians is when the infraction involves alcohol, theft, or sex.