It may be true that August is just a month, but it’s also true that the longer we have to expose the real intentions and the economic ramifications of the Cap and Tax and health care reform legislation on the table, the more afraid Ms. Pelosi, Senator Reid, and President Obama should be.

As it stands, Cap and Trade must still pass the Senate and health care legislation is waiting in the wings in both the House and Senate.

1. Download the August Recess Action Kit. Use the talking points and questions to pin down where legislators stand on these important issues. Share invitations with your friends to join you at town hall meetings.

2. Find a town hall meeting near you.

If your representative or senator isn't holding one - ask them why.

3. Read, print and share these other resources.

• Health Care Petitions
• ObamaCare Insurance Cards
• 9/12 Invitation Flyer
• ObamaCare Translator - cut through the spin
• How Many Are Really Uninsured? - a new study from FreedomWorks foundation

4. Trying to contact your legislators? Click here to find Representatives. And here to find Senators.

5. Remember to send photos and videos to Nan Swift, our campaign coordinator.

6. Use the form below to tell us how your phone call, visit, or town hall meeting went . Where do our leaders stand on Cap and Trade and health care reform?

FreedomWorks, a grassroots organization with more than 750,000 members nationwide, is disappointed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s vote today on the Eshoo-Barton Amendment to the “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.” This anti-competitive amendment severely restricts competition and consumer choice while stifling the emerging market for biogeneric drugs. Much like generics expanded consumer access to life-saving drugs, biogenerics, or biologic follow-ons, hold the promise of greater consumer choice for new therapies to treat a variety of conditions, from AIDS to Alzheimer’s, to several different cancers. Unfortunately, today’s votes promises to restrict access and promote higher prices for these important new drugs.

“With the rising cost of pharmaceutical drugs and healthcare, it is increasingly important to encourage competition in the market for life saving therapies,” said Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks. “Biologics show great promise and have been used to produce insulin, human growth hormone, and other important therapies. Congress should be working to develop a regulatory pathway that allows the FDA to increase the availability of these drugs and promote competition. Instead, the Eshoo-Barton amendment shores up existing monopolies at the expense of consumers.”

Already, the European Union and Australia have established procedures to approve biogenerics. As an important component of health care reform, Congress should adopt measures promoting competition and growth in the biogenerics market, ensuring all Americans enjoy access to these latest therapeutic drugs at the most affordable prices. Unfortunately, the Eshoo-Barton amendment will do little to promote the competition necessary to expand consumer choice and check rising health care costs.

“A market approach is the correct solution to getting less expensive therapies to patients, as it also encourages the development of new and desperately needed medicines,” said Kibbe. “FreedomWorks is disappointed with today’s committee vote and we will work vigorously to expand patient choice and improve access to life-saving therapies by encouraging Congress to create a pathway for FDA approval of biologics in a timely manner.”

Washington, DC – FreedomWorks applauds Rep. Sam Johnson (TX-3) for re-introducing the Medicare Beneficiary Freedom to Choose Act, H.R. 3356. The updated legislation, which Mr. Johnson first unveiled last October, allows seniors the right to make their own decisions with regards to health care—a right they currently do not have.

As the law stands now, Medicare’s bureaucracy prevents seniors from paying for their own doctor out of pocket, mandates that everyone over age 65 enroll to receive Medicare, and prevents seniors from contributing to their tax-free health savings account, HSA, once they hit 65.

The “Freedom to Choose Act” would put seniors in control of their healthcare decisions by allowing them to select their own doctor by allowing doctors who serve Medicare patients to also private contract with other seniors. The bill will also allow seniors to opt out of Medicare Part A if they don’t want to receive the benefit.  Under a bureaucratic dictate, seniors that do enroll in Medicare Part A forfeit the social security benefit they paid into their entire lives. The proposed legislation would allow seniors to contribute pre-tax dollars to a health savings account, HSA, when used in conjunction with high-deductible health coverage.

In addition, such legislation would undoubtedly lower the costs of Medicare at a time when baby boomers are aging and the system is insolvent.

FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: “Can you imagine the outrage if the day Americans turned 65 they could no longer purchase their own food, but were forced to buy groceries only with food stamps? But this is what happens in Medicare. The day you turn 65 you are forced to receive your health care through Medicare, even if you want to continue to purchase the same health insurance you had at age 64.”

“A free society is based on choice and individual responsibility.  Medicare makes it illegal for me to have a choice in health insurance, and prohibits me from taking responsibility for my own health decisions. I applaud Congressman Johnson for standing up for seniors, and fighting for folks like me over the age of 65 to have an option to purchase our own health insurance, and give the taxpayers a break.”

On Wednesday the FreedomWorks North Carolina State Chapter, under the leadership of State Director Allen Page, plans to meet ObamaCare head on as the President holds a town hall meeting at Broughton High School’s Holiday Gymnasium in Raleigh to tout his controversial healthcare reform plan before heading on to Southwest Virginia as part of the ObamaCare tour. North Carolina activists have secured a permit to counter-protest ObamaCare’s media and press blitz as support for government-run health care continues to slide in the midst of ever-increasing questions to its size ($1.5 trillion plus) and scope (a Trojan Horse public option that will crowd out private insurance).

Doors open at 9:30 a.m., with President Obama expected to discuss his legislative crown jewel with the citizens of North Carolina’s capital beginning at 11:45 a.m. For the FreedomWorks activists, this counter-protest figures to be the third healthcare event in as many weeks. The turnouts from the previous weeks have been increasingly positive, reflecting a wider mood shift with the president’s agenda among Americans at large. The response and results from our freedom-loving, grassroots activists has been more than encouraging. But as ObamaCare’s poll numbers continue to slump and the pressure mounts to pass a consensus piece of legislation, FreedomWorks activists are not letting up in the least. Instead, as Mr. Page notes, “[W]e’re gearing up for the homestretch just as the Obama team makes their final preparations.”

The permit is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. for the corner of W. Peace St. and Smallwood Dr. If you would like to take part in the healthcare reform counter-protest, please coordinate with our Southeast Regional Director, Allen Page. He can be reached at 336.213.1167 or a.page@mindspring.com.

Today over 60 activists from the Philadelphia area, Virginia and Delaware will be coming to Washington to receive formal grassroots policy training with regards to the ongoing healthcare debate before heading to Capitol Hill in hopes of swaying politicians still on the fence. The activists are expected to arrive at 10 am and will meet with FreedomWorks Vice President of Public Policy, Max Pappas for a robust exercise on the ins and outs of ObamaCare, with a strong focus on the recently released House bill, the $1.5 trillion America’s Affordable Health Choices Act.

From there the disgruntled activists will head over to Capitol Hill to lobby their respective representatives and hope to influence the pivotal-players in the debate, the Blue Dog Democrats. Fed up with politicians’ fiscal irresponsibility and a “spend and tax” agenda, the activists are missing work on a Monday to voice their displeasure with a nation-altering piece of legislation that is being rushed through Congress with blatant disregard for public uneasiness with government-run health care. The day will culminate in a small protest outside the Russell House Office Building at 1 pm.

At the root of ObamaCare will be tax hikes, employee mandates, and employer mandates, a federal council that would make decisions on benefits, community rating mechanisms to determine care, and would end private insurance through the Trojan Horse public option that will eventually crowd out private insurance.   

House Democrats are already looking at tax hikes to fund this massive new entitlement.  Under the proposed plan, the top marginal tax rate would climb above 45 percent, on top of state, local, and Medicare taxes. This will put the American tax rates on par with that of European nations such as France (46 percent) and Italy (45 percent).

These new taxes directly contradict President Barack Obama’s pledge to not raise taxes on anyone earning less that $250,000.  “I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains tax, not any of your taxes.”