Tuesday, August 25, 2009

U.S. Rep Lincoln Diaz-Balart

Got up early this morning to attend a small meeting with my Representative Lincoln Diaz Balart. He is a Republican so there was definitely a lot of like minded thinking going on with his constituents and staff. He detailed the main issues he has with H.R. 3200, went over some options he is looking into, talked about the issues we are facing as a country, discussed the Cap and Trade Bill as well as talked about the general attitude in Congress.

...............................................................................................................................................................

Most Important Tidbit I Learned:
In HR 3200 on pg 198 it says that funds for the new program will come from Medicare but it goes on to say that "taxes will automatically increase if saving is not achieved." Since Medicare is bankrupt and they are in the red every year, this is a nice way of hiding a 600 billion tax increase.
  • Diaz-Balart is looking at an alternative bill, HR # 2520
  • Things he and other Republicans are wanting to see in a bill:
    --Provisions for pooling of small business in order to negotiate with insurance companies for better rates and access across state lines.
    --Tax Credits
    --TORT Reform
  • One of the attendees was the Ex Insurance Commissioner of FL and he told a story about a woman who worked for him that was unable to pay the approx $300 monthly fee for insurance. So this man recommended the Florida Healthy Kids for her. She applied and was happy with the help she was receiving. 6 months later she came to him and wanted to be enrolled in the insurance program. When asked what happened with the FL Healthy Kids, she said that if she was going to have to be filling out paperwork every 6 months she would rather just pay the $300 in insurance.
  • Rep. Balart explained that when he left for the Recess he felt it was a done deal and that the recess was a technicality that the Blue Dogs won, but he is starting to hope that we have a chance.
  • He said he didn't know one Republican supporting Bill HR #3200
  • "This is an ideological battle." Diaz-Balart
  • Out of all the Blue Dogs, there are 50 from Districts that were won by McCain in the election and those are the ones that this bill is going to depend on.
  • In Florida, Rep. Boyd and Sen. Bill Nelson are two to focus on contacting
  • 1/6th of economy is dependent on the Health Care field.
  • There was a conversation about the Lockerbie bomber and Diaz-Balart believed that "Obama could have stopped it." I also learned that Prince Andrew was a Lobbyist for the Lockerbie Bomber.
Overall it was a good meeting with great information about several topics facing this country. It was nice to meet with my Representative and feel like our voices are being heard even if its not the majority.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Counter