By Annie Berman-Talk Radio News Service

During a hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday, House Republicans expressed major qualms over how the formation of the upcoming health reform legislation has progressed.

“I’m very concerned and I think what many of us are struggling with today is that we don’t have the facts on this bill,” said Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) “We have been told that this will likely be our only hearing and we are talking about entirely changing the framework of healthcare in America with no debate of any substance.”

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the Committee’s ranking member, stated that in order for Congress to act responsibly, the members would need to know more vital facts concerning the bill.

“We need to know the price tag of this bill if we are going to do our jobs: write a bill our country can afford that will guarantee every American has access to affordable, quality health care.”

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) blasted the new health care plan for resembling the current Medicaid program, stating that he believes that most people on Medicaid are unhappy with the program.

“I have a lot of citizens in my district who are on Medicaid, and for the life of me, I can’t understand why we would want to make more people eligible for Medicaid…I don’t have anyone that I know of that likes being on Medicaid.” Nunes said.

The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to remain in session past 5:30 Wednesday evening. Witnesses representing insurance companies are slated to testify at the hearing’s end.

Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) says that he never imagined that after defending our country while at United States Military Academy (Westpoint), he never imagined he would have to defend our congress from “coastal liberal elites” (:31).

 

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Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) and his fellow House Republicans held a press conference today to, according to the congressman, “defend the Congress from liberal coastal elites” that he says are responsible for the suffering of American people today, resulting from high energy prices. Davis and others continue delivering speeches on the House floor calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to bring Congress into an emergency session to pass energy legislation.

Davis went on to say that the views of the Speaker do not represent the views of our nation as a whole, and she should not continue to put energy reform on the back burner. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) said that the one thing Pelosi has been unwilling to do is pass legislation that would bring immediate relief to the American people–drilling for oil in coastal and protected regions.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said that in his home district, many Americans have told him they will vote Republican in this upcoming election, some of these constituents being lifelong Democrats. Shimkus went on to say these partisan switches can be contributed to several reasons, in particular because they feel the Democratic Party has not, and continues to not do enough to help the American people.

In response to my question, “So what’s going to constitute a victory?”, Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY) says the ideal scenario is a stable Iraq that is governed by the rule of law. He says as an obligation to those with whom he served, we’ve got to make sure they’ve got all the support they need, and their voices are heard on the Hill. It’s important that if we say we support the troops, that we listen to what they say from the ground. It would be a “tragedy of generational proportions” to consign our military to defeat, when they believe they can bring stability in this. (1:09)

 

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Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY) says he is acutely aware of the stress on the force [the military] and his hope and confidence is that this is continuing to move in a direction of recovery and at the end of the day, we’ll maintain our strategic interests in the region. (0:24)

 

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In response to my question, what one aspect of the war do you feel is most important, Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY) says we have not had a national strategy since the days of the Cold War. We need to step back and have objectives ranging from diplomacy to economics to security. The number one issue, he says, is energy dependence. If we use our natural resources and become an energy exporter, that would give us tremendous leverage and reduce economic incentives in many of the OPEC nations. (1:24)

 

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