It’s official, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York) has been charged with violating Congressional ethics rules following some bizarre financial activity.  Congressman Rangel will appear before the House Ethics Committee next week to defend himself against a barrage of allegations such as not paying taxes on rental properties and under-reporting his assets by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Congressman Brad Ellsworth is an embattled Rangel colleague who has been aided by the Democrat leader.  Ellsworth has received at least $12,000 from Rangel, and in the months since the accusations against Rangel began he has been an unapologetic supporter and has refused to return the money.

Congressman Ellsworth, who is running for the U.S. Senate, was outraised by Republican Dan Coats $1.5 million to $600k last quarter.  His recent television ads have tried to tell a much different story of Ellsworth’s time in Congress.  Ellsworth calls for an end to politics as usual and laments special interests that he thinks have too much control in Washington.  Of course, his ads are paid for my hundreds of thousands of dollars of special interest money (55% of Ellsworth’s contributions have come from lobbyists) and a fellow Congressman who could be headed for expulsion from the House for ethics violations.

Far from the Beltway outsider he claims to be, Ellsworth is Washington.  He’s been in Congress for four years and it’s clearly been enough time to learn how to say one thing in Indiana and do another in DC.

We all knew that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the official name of Obamacare, was just the beginning.  It set in motion a lifetime of amendments to expand coverage, benefits and subsidies.  Well, Congressman Brad Ellsworth isn’t about to let the ink dry on the PPACA before he gets to work making it an even larger burden on the American taxpayer.

Congressman Ellsworth has introduced H.R. 5664, an amendment to Obamacare that allows people who are losing their COBRA coverage to access state high risk pools.  For people who have lost their jobs, COBRA offers an option to buy into their group coverage for a period of time.  It intends to bridge the gap between employment so individuals can maintain uninterrupted insurance coverage.

I’m sure Congressman Ellsworth’s well-intended effort is tied to an individual constituent, but the nation is going broke on an agenda of good intentions.  The Congressman’s legislation simply extends coverage to people in the most expensive way possible.

State high risk insurance pools were created under Obamacare and required to be implemented 90 days after the passage of the PPACA.  Most states, including Indiana, already have high risk pools, but Obamacare adds another one.  The goal was to put in place a stopgap measure for the uninsurable before federal health reform takes effect in 2014.  High risk pools cover those who cannot obtain insurance in the private market and don’t qualify for government services, many of whom have catastrophic health care conditions and associated costs.  COBRA insurance is for anyone who can afford to continue coverage under their employer plan.  These aren’t people with chronic diseases, they’re just people who want to continue their insurance coverage.  Congressman Ellsworth’s plan puts two completely different groups of people together in the most expensive insurance coverage system we have.

State high risk pools are already underfunded, Obamacare appropriated only $5 billion to fund pools in all states through 2014.  No one expects that money to last to 2012, which means Congress will have to step in and spend more to keep it going.  Congressman Ellsworth’s effort pours hundreds of thousands if not millions of people into an underfunded system that isn’t designed to cover them.

Just to be clear, health care reform won’t do anything for the unemployed and uninsured in this situation after 2014… other than require that they purchase insurance subject to criminal penalty.  If you happen to be poor enough, you’ll probably be subsidized or dumped into Medicaid.  If you believe what no one believes, that health care reform will pay for itself, it is the constant effort to add onto it that will cause costs to soar beyond the naive political notion that we can insure an additional 30 million people for free.

1. Lugar takes heat over Kagan support — Indianapolis Star

2. Indiana Congressmen join Tea Party Caucus — WTHR

3. The Liberal Dilemma — Wall Street Journal

4. Obama’s words sting CEOs — Politico

5. Top Ten Republican Dark Horse Presidential Candidates — Human Events

When you’re at the Hendricks County Fair this week, be sure to stop by our booth in the Exposition Hall and sign up to volunteer and help Republicans win this November!

Congressman Baron Hill isn’t about to become a YouTube celebrity two summers in a row. One year after defining the arrogance of incumbency by telling a room full of constituents that they weren’t going to tell him how run his Congressional office… you know, because it belongs to him… Congressman Hill is opting for a carefully managed town hall meeting via telephone.

The Congressional recess last summer defined voter discontent with Democrat policies. Now, skittish Democrats aren’t about to host forums where voter outrage can be on full display. Not again anyway, and certainly not before an election where Democrats expect to incur massive electoral losses.

Those constituents who want to participate must first complete a registration form and provide their name, phone number, e-mail address and zip code. Democrats now require more information from constituents to participate in town hall meetings than they want to require from people to vote or enter the country.

Funny… sort of.