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U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers of Dunn will deliver the official Republican response to President Barack Obama’s radio address Saturday morning.

Ellmers, a nurse, and her husband, a surgeon, own a medical practice together. She also is chairwoman of a Small Business subcommittee. Ellmers will talk about Republicans’ job creation plan, according to House Speaker John Boehner.

U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers has launched an interactive feature on her website encouraging business owners to tell her how government rules are hurting their companies.

The feature works alongside a project among House Republicans called “American Job Creators,” led by Majority Whip Eric Canter. Many GOP members are sending the message that they want everyday Americans to tell them how to cut government regulation and business taxes.

Ellmers’ effort focuses on government regulation as a barrier to job growth. In a video on her website, she tells viewers, “I’m a small business owner of a local medical practice and have experienced firsthand the burdens that government regulations place on creating jobs and allowing businesses to grow and hire more workers.”

Ellmers, of Dunn, owns a practice with her husband, a surgeon.

She encourages business owners to fill out a form on her website on which government rules are impeding their work.

“Your frontline facts will come right to me, and I’ll use them to strengthen the rules we need, and cut the red tape we don’t,” she says in her video.

U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers has introduced legislation that would allow small doctor’s offices to avoid a new requirement in the health care overhaul that passed in 2010.

The health care law requires hospitals and doctors to offer electronic prescriptions as a requirement to show that they are following new rules for electronic health records.

The federal government has been pushing for the increased use of electronic medical records, including a switch to what is known as e-prescribing, or offering prescriptions without using paper.

But Ellmers, a Dunn Republican, argues that many small hospitals and doctor offices don’t yet have the capacity to prescribe electronically. Ellmers is a registered nurse who helps run a medical practice for her husband, a surgeon.

Democratic activists are again targeting U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers, a freshman Republican from Dunn.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced today that it is launching automated phone calls in her district.

The calls take aim at the Republican budget plan, which would phase out the current Medicare structure for those under 55 years old in favor of a voucher system.

The DCCC’s phone calls focus on the 44-55 age group, who Democrats say could spend an additional $182,000 over their lifetime for health care needs.

The phone calls come as House members are back home during a district work week. Ellmers is one of 20 incumbents being targeted by the calls, according to the DCCC.

The text of the automated phone calls targeting Ellmers follows: 

Hi, I’m calling from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee calling about Congressman Renee Ellmers’s vote to end Medicare.

You’ve paid into Medicare for more than 25 years and deserve the Medicare benefits you’ve earned. Under the Ellmers plan, Medicare ends and you’ll have to save about $182,000 more to pay for your health care.  Where will you get $182,000?

Everyone agrees we must cut spending and tighten our belt, but Ellmers has made the wrong choice.  Ending Medicare to pay for subsidies for Big Oil making huge profits or tax breaks for the ultra rich!  That’s not right.

Please call Congressman Ellmers at (910) 230-1910 and tell her to keep his hands off our Medicare!

U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers joined 40 other freshmen Republican today in urging President Barack Obama to take the politics out of discussions about Medicare reform and other entitlement programs.

“We ask you to stand above partisanship,” the letter read.

Ellmers, of Dunn, focused on entitlement reform during many of her town hall meetings during the recent congressional recess, holding PowerPoint presentations about the proposed Medicare changes in the Republican 2012 budget proposal for people now under 55 years old.

Today’s letter was organized by U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

The letter says that Obama recognized the Republican Medicare reform as a “serious proposal,” but that Democrats are demonizing the idea. The letter asks Obama to condemn the Democrats’ attacks and work with the GOP on cutting entitlement spending.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Monday began making automated phone calls into the district of Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, attacking her for her vote for the Republican budget vote that would alter the Medicare people under 55.

Ellmers is one of 50 targeted Republicans who are being accused of trying "to end Medicare," the  the government health insurance program for seniors.

“Everyone agrees we must cut spending and tighten our belt, but Congressman Ellmers has made all the wrong choices,” says the caller. “She actually voted to end Medicare, rather than end taxpayer giveaways for big Oil making record profits or tax breaks for the ultra rich.”

The Republican-backed tax plan that passed the House would eventually turn Medicare into a program that pays private insurers a set amount of money with beneficiaries making up any costs not covered.

During last fall's campaign Republican congressional Rene Ellmers hammered Democratic Congressman Bob Etheridge for voting to cut Medicare.

But now she is in Congress, Ellmers seems poised to vote for a Republican plan that will end Medicare for people under 55, turning it essentially into a voucher plan.

During the campaign, Ellmers ran a TV ad, that attacked Etheridge for backing the Democrats' health care plan, which makes some future cuts in Medicare.

“Should Congress have cut Medicare a half trillion dollars – to pay for Obama-care?'' said one Ellmers ad. “Renee Ellmers says no. She says Cutting Medicare hurts senior citizens. Bob Etheridge voted yes. He voted with President Obama and cut Medicare half a trillion dollars. As long as Obama's in the White House, we can't let a Democrat represent us in Congress.”

The House is scheduled to vote Friday on a Republican plan that essentially end Medicare for people under 55, converting it a “premium support” system in which participants would choose among private plans and the government would pay the first $15,000 in premiums.

Ellmers said there were major distinctions between what she was supporting and what Etheridge voted for.

“President Obama and Washington Democrats took a half a trillion dollars from Medicare and used it to fund Obamacare,” Ellmers said in a statement.

“The Path to Propserity (The Republican Plan) takes it back and uses it to strengthen Medicare,” Ellmers said. “This budget does not cut Medicare funding. It makes no changes to Medicare for anyone 55 or older. For those 54 or younger it offers options to plans like those that are currently available to those in Congress and other federal employes, resulting in savings to turn a currently unsustainable program into one that will be there for future generations.”

Two top staffers within North Carolina’s congressional delegation are among at least 130 chiefs of staff and legislative directors who are former lobbyists, according to a report out this week from the Center for Responsive Politics and Remapping Debate.

There currently are about 990 staffers in top roles in House and Senate offices, according to the report.

U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers said in a statement this morning that she’ll back the alternative spending measure House Republicans are putting forward to keep the federal government running for another two weeks.

Ellmers, a Dunn Republican, urged the Senate to pass HR1, the continuing resolution that makes deep cuts in spending for the current fiscal year.

That bill has a tough road ahead of it in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and President Barack Obama has pledged to veto the bill because of its cuts.

But GOP leaders said this weekend that they’ll offer another, shorter-term alternative.

“The short term resolution includes $4 billion in spending cuts, an amount that over time would equal the $100 billion in cuts passed in H.R.1,” Ellmers said in her statement. “To reach the $4 billion in cuts, House Republicans focused on areas the President and Democrats have already agreed to target for savings -- $2.7 billion by removing earmark slush funds and $1.24 billion through program cuts and terminations.”

She continued: “The goal of House Republicans is not to shut down the government, but to rein in the out-of-control spending that is devastating our economy. We cannot continue to borrow 42 cents out of every dollar from the Chinese and other foreign countries to fund a spending spree. We must cut spending to turn our economy around.

“Unfortunately, the Democrats are using the threat of a government shutdown as a political wedge to cling to their old ways of reckless spending. House Republicans have now answered them with two plans that will keep the government running and cut spending at the same time. It is time for the Democrats in Congress to stop playing politics and join us.”

New Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers is the target of a Democratic campaign that criticizes her vote on the GOP House budget.

Ellmers is one a number of Republicans singled out by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in an effort that begins today with automated phone calls, web ads, live phone calls, and emails.

The text of the automated phone call reads: “Everyone knows we need to cut spending and reduce the deficit in Washington. And we can do that by reforming government, cutting wasteful spending, and getting rid of taxpayer subsidies for the big oil companies that are making record profits.”

“Instead, Representative Renee Ellmers voted for a partisan plan that will mean 20,000 fewer science researchers in labs and huge cuts in disease research. This makes it harder to compete with India and China and sets back life-saving research into cancer and other diseases. Her priorities don't make sense.”

“Call Renee Ellmers and tell her to cut taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil, not life-saving science and research to keep America ahead.”