A Congressional Budget Office report this morning says the health care reform bill headed to the House has a price tag of $940 billion but will reduce the deficit by $130 billion over the next decade.

The bill would reduce the deficit by $1.3 trillion in its second decade, according to the report.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, released an analysis of the cost estimate from the GOP caucus of the House Budget Committee, accusing Democrats of leaking the preliminary estimate in order to gather support for the bill in their caucus.

"This is the latest in a long series of abuses by the Democratic Majority to jam through their health care bill by any means necessary," the GOP analysis states.

"This bill does not reduce deficits. This bill does not control costs. According to the Administration's CMS actuary, the legislation increases national health expenditures by $222 billion," Ryan adds. "This bill adds a new health care entitlement when we have no idea how to pay for the entitlements we already have."

The U.S. Senate has voted to pass an amendment authored by U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold to cancel unspent transportation earmarks.

The vote yesterday was 87-11. U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee, joined Feingold in voting for the amendment.

According to Feingold's office, the move could save about $478 million this year and may save more over time.

The legislation, based on the Middleton Democrat's "Control Spending Now Act," will rescind all transportation earmarks 10 or more years old with unobligated balances of 90 percent or more.

Feingold and Kohl also voted for a $17.6 billion jobs package, which passed by a 68-29 margin and now heads to the president to be signed into law.

Steve Kagen is one of seven House Dems targeted by a new Citizens United TV ad that says they're making tough times worse.

The spot notes the federal debt, out-of-control spending, and the highest unemployment in 27 years before saying Kagen and Nancy Pelosi want to spend $1 trillion on a health care system we can't afford rather than creating needed jobs.

"Tell him to fix the economy, not destroy our health care system," the narrator says. "Vote no on Obamacare, yes on jobs."

According to the conservative Citizens United, the spot began running today and will continue through the House vote on health care. The overall media buy targeting the seven lawmakers is worth $600,000, according to the group.

The other targeted Dems include Mark Schauer of Michigan, Mike Arcuri of New York, Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, Baron Hill of Indiana, Chris Carney of Pennsylvania and John Salazar of Colorado.

Citizen United also says it plans to make 1.3 million phone calls to the lawmakers' districts urging voters to contact their representative and urge them to vote no.

Police were called to a Wisconsin Dells conservative event Saturday by GOP congressional candidate Dan Mielke following a dispute with the wife of his primary opponent, Ashland County DA Sean Duffy.

Mielke and Duffy's campaign offered differing accounts of what took place at Americans for Prosperity's "Defending the American Dream" summit.

According to Mielke, Rachel Duffy-Campos tried to remove duct tape that was holding down a flyer titled "Why not Sean Duffy? 2003 starred in a pro-gay marriage video."

Duffy campaign spokesman Darrin Schmitz said Mielke "violently grabbed" Duffy-Campos' arm when she reached for the flyer.

"She's all of 5-feet tall and 8 1/2 months pregnant," Schmitz said. "She's going to give birth within the next couple of weeks. She obviously is not a threat to anyone."
Mielke said Duffy-Campos was "very aggressive," adding he got between her and the table and pulled her hand away to stop her from removing materials from his display.

"I didn't grab her. I held her (hand) in position so she wouldn't tear off the tape, and slid her hand away from the tape and let her go," he said.

In the film, called "The Wedding Video," the couple, both of whom are former cast members on the MTV show "The Real World," play characters named Rachel and Sean who attend a gay wedding. Mielke showed pieces of the film on his laptop at the event, claiming it promotes gay marriage.

"He claims to be this strong conservative, one-man one-woman person, but his background doesn't show that," said Mielke.

Mielke said he called 911 after Campos-Duffy went to organizers to complain about the display.

"I was not trying to create an incident. My goal was not to turn this into a political thing," he said.

After the officer arrived, Mielke said he offered to put a "view at your own risk" note on the laptop screen to warn viewers there may be objectionable content.

"Apparently it's OK to bash a Democrat, but it's not OK to expose a Republican, and I have a problem with that," Mielke said. "If I see something I disagree with ... then I believe I have a right to bring up that difference."

While he said there were a couple more instances in which Duffy supporters "laid into him" throughout the day, Mielke said there was no further interaction with Campos-Duffy and no one from Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin asked him to change his display.

Schmitz said the film is a "mockumentary" and Mielke apparently doesn't realize that it is a satire of reality TV shows, not a documentary stating Duffy's views. He says Duffy "supports traditional marriage," and voted for the constitutional amendment in 2006 banning gay marriage.

Schmitz said the police never spoke with Duffy-Campos.

"Certainly she was fearful and she pulled away and that's the reason she left is because he acted violently and he's fortunate someone didn't share that with authorities or he may have been taken down to the station or questioned," Schmitz said.

The Wisconsin Dells Police Department confirmed an officer responded to a call from the event shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday, as did security from Chula Vista Resort, the site of the conference.

No report was filed on the incident, a dispatcher said.

A complaint has been filed with the FEC alleging that 7th CD GOP candidate Dan Mielke used donor information from his primary rival's October campaign finance report to send out his own fundraising appeal, a violation of the Federal Elections Campaign Act of 1971.

The complaint, filed by Ashland resident Deborah Lulich, alleges that on or about Nov. 1 Mielke mailed a solicitation letter to some or all of the individuals listed as contributors to Ashland Co. DA Sean Duffy, who is also challenging U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wausau.

"This is another example of his campaign unraveling," Duffy Campaign spokesman Darrin Schmitz said. "He's a desperate, desperate man. He has made this campaign about himself and not about Dave Obey or Republicans providing a challenge this cycle to Representative Obey. It's about him, and he's willng to destroy anyone to make it through the primary to face Obey."

In the letter, Mielke writes that though he and Duffy have their differences, the "ultimate goal" of Republicans is to defeat Obey.

"This is why, for the sake of the nation, we are asking you to contribute to both candidates during this primary election," the letter states. "Allow us to campaign together and present our views and differences to the voters and let the cream rise to the top. Only then, will you know for sure which one truly has the support of the majority of the people."

Mielke said he was aware of the complaint and sent a letter to the FEC about it. He said he was unaware that information from Duffy's report was used, or that there was any restriction on using that information. He said he wasn't trying to give the impression that the letter was a joint fundraising solicitation with Duffy.

"There was no intent to deceive or break any laws," said Mielke, who added he hasn't heard back from the FEC.

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, appeared Monday on NBC Nightly News to discuss one provision of his "Control Spending Now Act" -- a proposal that would eliminate an exemption for precious metals miners from paying royalties for mining on public lands.

Feingold said the 1872 law was put in place to encourage mining activity in the 19th century, but currently amounts to "basically a rip-off on the American taxpayers." He estimates ending the exemption would save $946 million over ten years, and said the mining companies' arguments that the measure would cost jobs don't hold up.

"I'm sure that it'll cost them some money, but they're still going to be making a ton of money," Feingold said, noting the skyrocketing price of gold in particular. "I don't think it's going to be in their interest to lay off all kinds of miners, because they're still making very good return on $1,100 an ounce for gold."

Feingold said his interest in the issue dates back to his first run for U.S. Senate, when former Sen. Gaylord Nelson asked him to work to end the mining exemption.

"That really stuck in his craw as an abuse of the environment," Feingold said.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann delivered a 5,500-signature petition against Democrats' health care reform effort to U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore's Milwaukee office today.

Neumann told WisPolitics today that any expansion of health care -- from federal reform to the state's proposed BadgerCare Plus Basic plan -- should be postponed until lawmakers know where the funding for those programs would come from.

Neumann said he prefers a reform proposal that includes health savings accounts, noting that establishing $3,000 deductible HSAs in his homebuilding business has saved money and changed the behavior of his employees.

"Our employees are asking the questions. What does the procedure cost? Are the procedures necessary?" Neumann said. "They're asking the right questions."

Neumann, a former 1st District congressman, said Moore's staff was "very receptive and polite" and pledged to deliver the signatures to the congresswoman this week. He added that his campaign would be distributing the petition electronically to every member of the Wisconsin delegation.

Moore, D-Milwaukee, was in Washington today working on the House Budget Committee's markup of the health care bill.