Thousands and thousands (including hundreds from Delaware) came to a house call at the people’s house. The diagnosis was kill the bill. The crowd had a lot of interesting signs. My favorite was if you can’t read the bill, read the Constitution.
Congresswoman Michelle Bachman,Congressman Wilson, and actor John Voight fired up the crowd. They called for rejecting the bill and embracing our founder’s values. Congressman Wilson celebrated the victories in VA and NJ.
The Delaware Delegation was able to to get a 2:00pm appointment with our senior senator due to the persistence of 9/12 Delaware Patriot Founder Russ Murphy and supporting calls from others. We were told that we would meet with health care advisor, Ms. Lynn Shaw. Right before the meeting the Senator entered and was greeted by mild cheers and applause.
The Senator decided to listen to us first. Donna outlined a case familiar to our readers in a damning indictment of the bills under consideration. An American Patriot from Ireland spoke about problems with government run health care. She had traveled extensively and has family overseas. She gave her personal experiences. The Senator responded that many countries have better health outcomes at a lower cost. That was disputed. The life expectancy statistics discrepancies have nothing to do with the health system, but our crime rates, it was proclaimed. The Senator added that and our obesity rate.
I was honored to be allowed to ask questions even though I am not a member, and was told they went well. I first addressed the public option. I stated that the public option would be an open ended drain on the federal budget when we are already set to pile up $20 trillion in debt. There would be no way to control the drain in the future. The Senator stated that he agreed that a public option is not the best choice. We should have large buying polls and encourage interstate compacts to buy across state lines. He also favored co-ops started by the states.
Russ asked him if he would vote against a bill with a public option. The Senator was noncommittal.
I asked him to support a Hyde style ban on funding abortions in the bill with any tax money so not to force people of faith to have to choose between the new laws and fundamental values. Many of those in attendance voiced support, but the Senator did not answer that concern except with a sympathetic nod.
I then expressed concern that Health Savings Accounts are being eliminated from the Senate bills. I pointed out that they work and gave examples in the business world and mentioned the flexibility and experience of Safeway and Whole Foods. The Senator finally smiled and lit up. He promised that he would “champion health savings accounts” and promised that he would ensure they would not be eliminated. I will be your HSA champion he repeated.
When asked by others if he would support the final bill, he avoided answering until he said to the fifth questioner that he is a Democrat. I will let readers determine what that means for themselves.
The Senator gave a short speech. It was geared to the idea that he believed in market based systems over a government based system and supported letting states have rights to adopt a public option if they felt like they did not have enough competition in the state. He voiced support for a trigger like that which exists in the Medicare Part D. He pointed out that it has never been used and costs are actually lower than projected. He went back to Safeway and said that should be the model we encourage. We should do what we know works and not experiment.
Encouraged, the participants asked if that meant he would vote against the bill if it was not changed to meet his options. One participant said because I don’t want Pelosi care. He quickly seized on that and answered that he could not support the “House Bill” and would not get a chance to vote on it. He had to leave to speak with two or three other groups.
The Senator did come through and communicated with us. We are grateful for that.
Some others went to our other members in Congress. Senator Kaufman was busy. Congressman Castle is definitely opposed.
Glad to hear that Castle is opposed. Kaufmann giving the stiff arm to the people of Delaware is no shock. He is definitely Biden’s guy.
Carper does deserve credit for meeting with constituents.
[...] See the original post: The trip-Hey Michelle, we came-Conversation with Senator Carper [...]
I can affirm that Congressman Castle is opposed to the health care bill. He graciously met with about two dozen of us and discussed the bill (and also Cap & Trade).
I also stopped by Congresswoman Bachmann’s office to publicly thank her for this call to action.
I hope that you do a post on his cap your jobs and trade your future vote. I would love to see his discussion of that.
Carper will cave in to the Dem leadership, count on it.
Mike Protack
Carper will cave in to the Dem leadership, count on it.
It’s about time.
While Carper’s apparent commitment to HSA’s may appear to be encouraging, don’t bet the house on it. One actually needs private sector Health insurers to exist for HSA’s to make a difference. If Carper votes for a socialized so called public option then we can all kiss HSA’s good bye. In that event we should take any extra cash and put it into an IRA, Roth IRA, or 401 K until such time as the government confiscates these vehicles as well.