Federal 2017 Policy Top Priorities: Right to life and freedom of faith, conscience and speech

Christian Medical Association / Freedom2Care

Federal Policy Top Priorities - 2017

The Washington office of the Christian Medical Association (which hosts Freedom2Care) focuses on the fundamental issues of the right to life and freedom of faith, conscience and speech, which serve as the foundation for all other rights and freedoms. Following are some of the top priorities for the new year:

Freedom of faith and conscience 

1.      Protect conscience rights in healthcare by restoring the conscience protection regulation for healthcare professionals and institutions, along with its educational outreach program.

2.      Prevent government coercion related to abortion by passing conscience-protecting legislation (e.g., Conscience Protection Act - S 2927, H.R.4828; Healthcare Conscience Rights Act - S 1919; Abortion Non-Discrimination Act - S 50).

3.      Overturn  "transgender mandate" regulation, which disallows medical judgment and redefines Congress' biological definition of sex to include LGBT issues, by winning our lawsuit vs. US Dept. of HHS.

4.      Sweep away radical federal regulations by empowering Congress (e.g., through the  Midnight Rules Relief Act - S.3483, HR 5982) to disapprove of federal agency regulations that fall within 60 legislative days of a president's final term.

Right to life

1.      Ban abortions of developing babies at the stage in which they can feel pain (e.g., Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - S.1670; HR 36-passed).

2.      Redirect tax dollars from abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood to federally qualified health centers (e.g., Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act - S 51, HR 217).

3.      Save lives of babies born in an abortion (e.g., Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act - S2066; HR 3504 passed).

Personnel

Promote and support pro-life, pro-religious freedom individuals for key positions including:

·         Supreme Court: new justices

·         Health and Human Services: Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretary for Health, Surgeon General, Assistant Secretary For Children And Families, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Director of National Institutes of Health, Director of faith-based office, Office of Civil Rights, Office of Global Health Affairs.

·         White House - Domestic Policy Advisor, director of faith-based office

·         Department of State – AIDS Ambassador (PEPFAR), Office of International Religious Freedom, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, faith-based office, Office of Religion and Global Affairs.

·         US Agency for International Development – Administrator, Asst. Admin. - Bureau of Global Health, faith-based office.

Three steps to landing a job in the new administration

1.    Learn about the opportunities and the process.

• Transition website: www.greatagain.com (President Elect Donald Trump’s website) - https://www.greatagain.gov/serve-america.html)
• Help Wanted: 4,000 Political Employee release: https://www.greatagain.gov/news/help-wanted-4000-presidential-appointees.html
• Presidential appointments listing - “Plum Book” – http://tinyurl.com/plum16 - research specific positions for each agency. Google job titles to find out more about the specifics of each position. Determine which of the different types of positions (e.g., senate-confirmed, non-career senior executive, etc.—see Types of Appointments list* below) in which you are interested.

o   Top Senate-confirmed appointments position descriptions: (http://presidentialtransition.org/publications/viewcontentdetails.php?id=1352).

o   Guide for employees applying for positions and rights (Office of Personnel Management) (https://www.opm.gov/about-us/our-people-organization/support-functions/executive-secretariat/presidential-transition-guide-2016.pdf).

• Partnership for Public Service website: www.presidentialtransition.org 

2.    Apply.

o   Administration application web page: https://apply.ptt.gov/ - submit your CV, brief essay and cover letter and indicate in what areas (i.e., agencies, job functions, policies) you'd like to work.

3.    Submit your information to candidate referrers.

Freedom2Care (exclusively for health professionals):

·         Send your CV (Word or .pdf format), along with 3-5 bullet points summarizing your qualifications, and a list of positions in which you are interested, to washington@cmda.org.

·         Federal Interest Survey: https://s.zoomerang.com/r/Freedom2Care - indicate your experience, interests and values.

·         Federal registry on LinkedIn -  keep your CV and get updates on opportunities for federal service. On the www.LinkedIn.com website (sign in or join for free), go to the search box, click the left arrow and select Groups. Type in Freedom2Care. (If you have problems, just email washington@cmda.org and ask to be added to the group.) How to import your CV to LinkedIn (http://tinyurl.com/h5q5yhk). Visibility options: http://tinyurl.com/hg28oj5

Heritage Foundation (for all candidates):

·         Restore America Candidate Form: http://tinyurl.com/jxpqo4p  – use to note your own availability. After completing this step, health professionals can email washington@cmda.org to request an endorsement (see below).

·         Restore America Recommendation Form: http://tinyurl.com/jtykn7o  – use to endorse/recommend a colleague.

*Types of Appointments:

• Presidential Appointments with Senate Confirmation (PAS): 1,212 senior leaders, including Cabinet secretaries and deputies, heads of most independent agencies and ambassadors, who must be confirmed by the Senate. These positions first require a Senate hearing in addition to background checks and other vetting.
• Presidential Appointments without Senate Confirmation (PA): 353 PA positions, mostly White House staff plus some in smaller federal agencies
• Non-career Senior Executive Service (NA): 680 key positions just below top presidential appointees, bridging gap between political leaders and civil service throughout the federal government. Most SES members are career officials, but up to 10 percent of the SES can be political appointees. (see https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service).
• Schedule C Appointments (SC): 1,403 Schedule C appointees who serve in a confidential or policy role, ranging from schedulers and confidential assistants to policy experts.

"My Election" tool: Who's running? Where do I vote? What's on the ballot?

Consider...

Besides the presidency, this election will determine the balance of power in the US Senate and House, the makeup of the future Supreme Court, plus many state governorships and legislators and local officials. ONE can make a huge difference:
• In 1801, one vote in the U.S. House broke the tie between presidential candidates Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
• In 1876, one vote in the Electoral College gave Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency.
• In 2000, the presidency came down to a few votes in one state.

"My Election" tool 

Who's running? Where do I vote? What's on the ballot?
Find out by entering your zip code at the Freedom2Care
"My Election" tool
http://cqrcengage.com/f2c/home.
Thank you for exercising your privilege and duty as an American citizen! May God grant you wisdom and discernment as you help direct our government toward justice and mercy.

Returning Power to the Patient: A 10-Point Prescription

I've enjoyed the rare privilege of advising presidential campaigns on domestic and international healthcare issues. Below are some broad-stroke recommendations on domestic healthcare reform:

Returning Power to the Patient

Transfer power from Government
back to the People

As the cost of government-centered healthcare punishes patients and doctors and wreaks havoc on the economy and job market, Americans clearly need a new, patient-focused healthcare reform movement. That movement must take power away from bureaucrats in Washington and return power to the patient, medical decision-making to doctors and proven principles of competition, efficiency, innovation and quality assurance to American healthcare. The following ten steps outline in broad strokes an approach that a new administration and Congress can take to begin to build a healthcare system driven by proven medical and economic principles.

Repeal costly regulations
and job-killing mandates

1.      Make competition for insurance customers national, so monopolistic insurance companies in each state can no longer get away with charging high rates in the absence of competition. Companies all across the country will be competing for customers by offering customers the best coverage at the best price.

2.      Promote tax-protected health savings accounts, so the consumer takes back the driver's seat for her own healthcare. Health savings accounts return insurance to what it was meant to be—low-cost protection against big health crises that patients just couldn't handle out of their own pockets.

3.      Repeal the job-killing mandate of Obamacare and let employers hire back and add hours to their employees. Health savings accounts will let employers continue to contribute to their employees' healthcare while keeping costs manageable.

4.      Make sure that patients with preexisting conditions can get coverage through state high-risk pools and that poor patients get the hand up that they need—without wrecking everyone else's healthcare in the process.

Let doctors make
professional judgments
based on medicine and ethics

5.      Repeal the time-killing, decision-robbing federal bureaucracy of Obamacare and its tangled web of regulations and let doctors turn their attention away from mindless paperwork and back to patients and making professional medical judgments.

6.      Eliminate Medicare and Medicaid waste and fraud and restore reasonable and sustainable reimbursement rates and funding, so poor patients will receive care and doctors will receive adequate reimbursement for providing that care.

Streamline medicines and
promote price transparency

7.      Enforce the bipartisan conscience laws that protect some of our best doctors from discrimination and job loss simply because they follow the Hippocratic oath and won't participate in abortions, or because they base their decisions about controversial treatments on medical evidence and not government social policy.

8.      Follow the proven example of states that have implemented sensible controls on malpractice lawsuits. Patients with legitimate complaints must receive just compensation, but ambulance-chasing lawyers should not be allowed to milk the system with baseless cases that are more expensive to fight than settle.

9.      Streamline affordable medicines by incentivizing innovation and eliminating needless costly regulations and delays in bringing new lifesaving drugs to market.

10.  Empower patients and control spending by promoting price transparency to enable consumers to comparison shop easily and make informed decisions based on the actual cost of treatments.

Bedrock biblical principles for a seismic election

By Jonathan Imbody*

In over two decades of public policy advocacy in Washington, DC, I have never witnessed such division among colleagues and people of faith as in this polarizing election.

Taking a deep breath and a step back to remember some bedrock biblical principles can help us navigate this tumultuous season. We can emerge on the other side of the election with both our relationships and our principles intact.

Consider the following passages and their implications for a time such as this:

"For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil" (Romans 13:3). 

Until His heavenly kingdom finally comes in its full glory, God's fundamental purpose for establishing government here on earth is to reward good and punish evil. So choose candidates who demonstrate by their words and actions that they understand the difference between good and evil and will govern accordingly. Otherwise it's a crapshoot on who and what gets rewarded or punished. After years of cultural decay and the erosion of religious liberties, people of faith are more vulnerable than ever to governing authorities who reward evil and punish righteousness (for examples, see www.Freedom2Care.org).

"I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men" (Acts 24:16). 

Pray for God's wisdom on voting and also be prepared to explain to others how your reasons fit the faith. If you're voting for a candidate with obvious flaws of character or policy, explain whatever higher principle motivates you to vote despite the problems. Otherwise you risk appearing to compromise your faith for expedience, personal preference or just plain ignorance.

"Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions" (Romans 14:1). 

Consider what your family and friends already know: You are not always as wise and righteous as you wish you were. And your disagreeing colleagues might not be as dumb or faithless as you think they are. So in humility remember that each believer will each stand before God on the final day, and in the meantime He has not appointed any of us as a surrogate judge.

"Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" (1 Corinthians 6:2). 

The Scriptures and the Holy Spirit provide the Christian believer with an understanding of how the King of the universe rules over His creation. He equips us with the ability to discern and choose good over evil and to exercise the antidote of love to counter the disease of enmity. God's Word illuminates this truth and power in a way that natural revelation (the testimony that the created world provides to its Creator and the voice of personal conscience He gives to each person) displays only dimly.

That means Christians carry a special responsibility, as far as within their power, to guide government toward good and away from evil. We do so for the good of others, and especially for the vulnerable.

In a democratic republic, voting is our bare minimum responsibility. Not voting represents a dereliction of duty and leaves governing to those who do not benefit from God's clear revelation. That puts people at risk whom God calls us to protect.

So if you know God's principles, vote for those who will come closest to carrying out those principles. If you can't in good conscience vote for a main party candidate for president, write in your choice and make sure to also vote for U.S. Senators and Representatives and state and local officials.

*Jonathan Imbody is the author of Faith Steps (http://www.freedom2care.org/learn/page/faith-steps-book-study-guide), VP of Government Relations for the Christian Medical Association (www.joincmda.org) and Director of Freedom2Care (www.Freedom2Care.org). 

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Rembrandt van Rijn paintings above:

1.      Conspiracy of Batavians under Claudius Civilis

2.      The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

3.      Return of the Prodigal Son

4.      Matthew and the Angel