Yes-23 » charles gonzalez

Response from Congressman Charles Gonzalez 20th Congressional District San Antonio Tx. To Concerns of Stimulus Spending

RodZ — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:46:23 +0000

Dear Mr. Zagala:

I want you to know that I understand why the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR 1) concern you, and I hope I can offer some reassurance.

The idea of borrowing more money, when our national debt has double in recent years, is counterintuitive at the least, but it’s a necessary move in our present situation. The best way to get our country out the red is to get Americans out of the red. That means putting Americans back to work, not just trimming wasteful government spending. The private sector is too frightened to hire people or begin projects, so cutting corporate taxes will just put millions into big companies that aren’t willing to spend it. By cutting individual taxes, from income tax to sales tax, for 95% of workers, we are giving the American people the money to buy necessities and creating consumer demand to spur private company spending. By providing contracts for construction companies, we not only get new roads and an updated electric grid, but we create business for those companies, all of their suppliers, and all of their workers, who can then go out and buy from other private companies, so the cycle builds on itself.

There have been plenty of rumors about wasteful projects supposedly hidden in HR 1, from the misleading claims about a $30 million dollar program for a mouse to baseless talk of honeybee insurance, but the bill is actually pretty well targeted and transparent. Much of the spending will go to the states, through established formulae, to keep teachers teaching and firemen on the job. The big projects will be under constant review – not only from Congress and government, but from you on the website www.Recovery.gov – and could lose their money if it isn’t spent within 90-days or if they’re wasteful.Putting money in the hands of Americans, through unemployment benefits or social security bonuses, will help mitigate the suffering of people innocent of causing this crisis. By getting our economy going again, we’ll be able to protect our citizens and pay down our debt in time. With HR 1, we have put a down-payment on our future. That’s a mortgage I’m ok with.

Sincerely,

Charles A. Gonzalez

Member of Congress

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Letter to Charles Gonzales, 20th Congressional District, TX

RodZ — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:45:41 +0000

The Honorable Charles Gonzalez

Dear Representative, it has been reported by Dylan Ratigan of MSNBC in the Huffington Post that health insurance companies are exempt from the Sherman anti-trust laws.

If this report is accurate and true why is this the case? You have stated you want fair and open competition but I fail to see how this can be accomplished if the insurance companies enjoy protection under the law from competing insurance companies.

I also understand from the report that Texas is one of the states that allows this to occur. Why aren’t you trying to have this law changed in order to lower the costs.

Are you so bent on a government option that you cannot support fair and open competition?

I think that Tort Reform and eliminating the exemption from the anti-trust laws would go along way to reforming health care and not cost us billions of dollars.

What is your position on this?

Thank you for your time

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More Stimulus, TARP dollars for jobs

Lady Kathleen — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:55:17 +0000

Yesterday I posted correspondence to and from my Congressional Representative, Charles Gonzalez. I had expressed my concern with growing size of the debt of this country and the continued spending by Washington without regard to the results. His reply to me illustrates how detached Congress is from the reality of what is happening to folks around the country. The controlling party in Congress and the Administration is convinced that they can continue to borrow and spend their way out of the financial catastrophe this country is currently experiencing. Representative Gonzalez made several statements in his response to me that I find very disingenuous at best. His response also clearly illustrates the mind set of the Democrats as they continue the insanity of borrow and spend.

Mr. Gonzalez vilified corporations and denied any tax cut to business would affect business growth, in fact claimed they would just keep the profits and not spend any money on job growth. He further explained how successful the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR 1) is and invited me to visit www.recovery.gov to see for myself how wonderful and transparent the program was. I invite you to go to the site and see how little of the money is actually being spent. I ask you to think about how few jobs are being created for the average American. If you really want to ask questions ask why a 6 million dollar contract was let to a PR firm to produce TV commercials for analog to digital conversion, Ask why million dollars was allocated to educate folks and implement this program. I would think that after a year or better of blanket TV coverage there would not be one person in this country that wasn’t aware of conversion from analog to digital TV. The FCC is reporting that most of the allocated dollars are spent and approximately 280k installations are completed. I would surmise the installers will soon be back on the unemployment rolls. I want you to ask yourselves what lasting jobs are being created by programs like this, what jobs are being created with the million of dollars the National Endowment for the Arts received? What permanent jobs are being created by any of this money? I would maintain that only private industry creates “lasting” jobs and the Government can only create policies and an environment in which they can sustain those jobs or on the flip side, policies and an environment to lose those same jobs.

Mr. Gonzalez also explained to me how the tax cut for 95% of Americans put money into the economy and stimulated said economy. I ask you, how much extra did you get on your check as a result of these cuts? I ask you to look at how much smaller your check will be after the so called Bush tax reductions end in 2010.

While one can make the claim our infrastructure is in need of repair I ask you to look at all the money being spent on research for “green” technology and ask how many years away are these research projects from producing lasting jobs if any?

The President has been on TV touting how we have turned the corner, how he has save the financial institutions of this country, but we have a long way to go. I ask you how he can say a 2 tenths of a percent drop in unemployment is a sign of recovery? I ask you to look at the real number of under or unemployed people. I ask you to look at the number of foreclosures and projected foreclosures because folks have lost their job. I ask you if you really think we have turned the corner. The President made one correct statement, we do have a long way to go.

I keep hearing, give it time, he has only been in office for x amount of time, well its close to a year now and his focus has not really been on jobs has it? Seems to me his focus has been on health care, what he perceives to be the land mark of his Presidency. The current polls now show over 50% of us are opposed to the current health care legislation, but once again Washington isn’t listening to us are they?

This Recovery Act is law and we will live with its success or failure and have to pay the debt we have incurred. I ask you though, based on the current results what will the additional 200 billion in TARP funds get us?

Mr. Gonzalez’s job is safe, the demographics of his district assure his job for as long as he wants it. I can only hope that in 2010 he becomes a member of the minority party where his party line vote is irrelevant

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Honorable Charles Gonzalez, 20th Congressional District

RodZ — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:49:52 +0000

To the Honorable Charles Gonzalez:
Sir I am writing this message to implore you to make every effort to reinstate one thing into the health care reform bill during the reconciliation process. The one thing is to remove the exemptions the insurance companies enjoy from our anti-trust laws.
I believe this single change will do more to lower costs and improve coverages than any other provision in the bill.
The fact that one Senator sold his vote to remove this important section is appalling to me. It appears that one person has affected all of us to gain favor from the insurance companies. I don’t know if it is the case, but it certainly appears that way. Regardless this section must be reinstated.

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Honorable Charles Gonzalez 20th District Replies, More Spin

RodZ — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:02:54 +0000

They honorable Charles Gonzalez once again responds with spin and a sales pitch. Once again he does not address the issue I posed to him about removing the exemptions the insurance companies enjoy regarding the anti-trust laws nor answer the question, “will he fight to get this law repealed?” I am so tired of being treated like a blind following sheep that will believe whatever a politician has to say. Come on San Antonio 20th district voters lets end his time in office and vote someone in who has respect for our concerns and not just the party line.
I am posting his response to me so you can see the sales job of how wonderful a job he is doing for us.
Glad to Hear From You
Wed, January 6, 2010 10:58:42 AM
From:
Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez

Dear Mr. Zagala:

Thank you for sharing your concerns with me about efforts to reform our healthcare system. As you may be aware, on October 29, 2009, the Congressional leadership unveiled the Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962.
Our healthcare system is failing too many Americans. In the 20th Congressional District, one in four people I represent do not have health insurance coverage. These folks can not access appropriate healthcare, so they end up putting off proper care until small problems become too big to ignore. Not only does this put lives at risk, but it is a great contributor to the high cost of healthcare that impacts the insured and the uninsured alike. Healthcare costs are too high and will only continue to skyrocket if we don’t do something now. Currently, they consume 18% of our gross domestic product, but if we don’t make substantial changes to the healthcare system, health care costs will consume 34% of our GDP by 2040.
Since costs are so high, even those with insurance are often underinsured. So, when life happens and medical care is needed, it is difficult for families to pay. In fact, 62% of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills. It is upsetting to know that 78% of the people with a medically-related bankruptcy had health insurance, but there were gaps in their coverage due to co-payments, deductibles, and uncovered services. The epidemic levels of uninsurance, the ever-increasing cost of care, and the inadequate coverage even for those with insurance is a formula for the economic ruin for our country and must be fixed now.
The Obama Administration and Congressional leadership have answered the call for reform and have rightly made healthcare reform a top priority. Since February, leaders in the House and the Senate have been working to develop healthcare reform proposals. Throughout this process, policymakers have taken input from constituents and other stakeholders to aid in the development of healthcare reform legislation. Thousands of townhalls have been held, over 100 witnesses have testified at multiple congressional hearings and H.R. 3200, the underlying bill, was debated in 3 committees. The House of Representatives has developed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which combines the efforts of the House Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor, as well as legislation considered in the Senate and other House Committees.
H.R. 3962 is a work in progress and is no small undertaking. However, it includes some very substantial reform efforts that are expected to provide affordable access to quality care for all Americans. It creates a Health Insurance Exchange that will give individuals and small businesses the opportunity to comparison shop for the insurance plan that works best for them. With the Exchange’s transparency requirements, one will be able to compare various plans’ costs, deductibles, co-pays, and covered services easily. Sliding scale affordability credits will be provided to low income individuals and families to help with the purchase of health insurance. H.R. 3962 also creates a public health insurance option that will be sold through the Exchange alongside privately-offered plans. There are many misconceptions about this proposal which I would like to clear up. No one will be forced into this plan. It is simply another insurance plan from which consumers can choose. Also, this plan is not funded by the government. It will be financed only through premiums, just like traditional private insurance plans.
H.R. 3962 will create a number of necessary consumer protections. For example, insurance companies will no longer be able deny coverage for treatments of a pre-existing condition or charge higher rates due to health status, gender, or other factors. It requires that minimum standards be set for all insurance plans which will include preventive and mental health services, oral health and vision services for children, and will cap the amount of money a person or family spends on covered services in a year (which will help prevent bankruptcies).
It also improves Medicare by helping to fill the “donut hole” over time in the Part D drug program. This problem has been of great detriment to many seniors and disabled folks in our community. The bill also extends the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by improving payment accuracy and encouraging delivery system reforms. H.R. 3962 also makes significant investments in the healthcare workforce. In particular, the bill aims to increase the number of folks who choose to be primary care physicians or nurses. There is significant investment in the recruitment, training, and retention of these valuable healthcare workers in medically underserved communities.
One issue of great concern to many folks I have spoken to is the cost of this proposal. This is a costly proposition but as someone recently observed: “The cost of failure far exceeds the cost of progress.” Our economy can not sustain the consequences of escalating healthcare costs and unavailable or inadequate health insurance coverage. While the upfront costs are daunting, policymakers are determined to develop a bill that will create overall savings for families and businesses. In fact, the House of Representatives is not even allowed to pass a bill unless it meets pay-go rules, which require bills to be paid for. H.R. 3962 will be paid for through a surcharge on the top 0.3% of wage earners, a surcharge on businesses that choose to not provide coverage for their employees (with an exemption that will apply to 98.8% of small businesses), improving payment accuracy in Medicare, and preventing waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the healthcare system. It will also reduce the growth in health care spending through stronger prevention and wellness measures and increasing access to primary care.
As you may be aware, on November 7th, 2009, I along with 219 members of the House of Representatives voiced our support by approving H.R. 3962. While the House has approved this landmark piece of legislation, H.R. 3962 will continue through the legislative process as it is considered in the Senate.
The healthcare debate has created very strong feelings from Americans of every persuasion. This is because every single one of us has a very real, very direct stake in this debate. People’s beliefs on this matter are also incredibly divergent. My offices in San Antonio and Washington, DC have received thousands of calls, letters, emails, and faxes. While balancing these very divergent opinions is an enormous challenge, I am very heartened that the people I represent in Congress are so engaged. I hope that you will continue to involve yourself in the debate as the legislative process continues on this historic effort.

Sincerely,

Charles A. Gonzalez
Member of Congress

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New Letter to the Honorable Charles Gonzalez, 20th Congressional District

RodZ — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:06:59 +0000

This is my latest communication with my Congressman. I truly believe the one thing that will lower the cost of coverage is competition. The fact that the health insurance industry enjoys an exemption and is allowed to establish monopolies is ridiculous. The fact that one Senator had it removed from the Senate version to enhance his campaign coffers is criminal. Instead of getting a good bill for the people of this country we are being forced to suffer through too many political games.
“Sir, I am writing this message to implore you to make every effort to reinstate one thing into the health care reform bill during the reconciliation process. The one thing is to remove the exemptions the insurance companies enjoy from our anti-trust laws.
I believe this single change will do more to lower costs and improve coverages than any other provision in the bill.
The fact that one Senator sold his vote to remove this important sections is appalling to me. It appears that one person has affected all of us to gain favor from the insurance companies. I don’t know if it is the case, but it certainly appears that way. Regardless this section must be reinstated.”.

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More Stimulus, TARP Dollars For Jobs and Congressional Representative Charles Gonzalez Views on the Subject

RodZ — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:23:38 +0000

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Charles Gonzalez Congressman 20th Congressional District, Response to a Constituents Letter of Concern of National Debt

RodZ — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:49:22 +0000

The following is a response from Mr Gonzalez to a letter I sent to voicing my concerns about the extremely large debt the United States is amassing due to the current laws being enacted by the Congress. I received the following letter from the Honorable Charles Gonzalez, of the 20th district, San Antonio TX. Following that is my response.

Dear Mr. Zagala:

I want you to know that I understand why the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR 1) concern you, and I hope I can offer some reassurance.

Sincerely,

Charles A. Gonzalez

Member of Congress

It is my opinion that the Honorable Mr. Gonzalez is well intentioned but none the less, the policies implemented by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR 1) will at best create temporary jobs and only forward an agenda of government programs long sought by many of our representatives.

Some of the funding requirements in HR 1 should have been ongoing over the years because of programs put into law in past years, the Super Fund and funding for the Base Realignment and Closure Act or only two examples.

Most of the funding in HR 1 does cover infrastructure construction that is truly needed but again, creates only temporary jobs. I am sure that the folks who benefit by these jobs will be thankful and I hope it will lessen the unemployment until the economy recovers.

The Honorable Mr. Gonzalez clearly believes that Americans need to get back to work and that the government must create and fund opportunities for them. He believes The private sector is too frightened to hire people or begin projects. He clearly believes that cutting taxes will only make these corporations richer and they will not be willing to spend it on new hiring, but he is clearly not opposed to awarding contracts to them using taxpayer money to perform the tasks in the bill.

The Honorable Mr. Gonzalez seems to overlook the fact that many businesses are afraid to hire or expand because of the uncertainty created by Congress and the administration concerning the legislation currently moving forward. They cannot plan effectively when they do not know the impact of this legislation on their bottom line. The Honorable Mr. Gonzalez further states that just trimming wasteful government spending is not the answer, I wonder if any of us have seen any trimming of government spending recently. I wonder why President Clinton had a balanced budget and a surplus. My guess is he reduced spending in combination with raising the income tax a bit. Of course I also believe that not raising the income tax would have generated a larger surplus and any surplus is a sure sign that we are being over taxed.

I strongly disagree with The Honorable Mr. Gonzalez’s implied characterization that the corporations of this country are evil and greedy. They do exist for one purpose and that is to make money. They also employ thousands of people and provide goods and services for all of us. I would ask Mr. Gonzalez if he ever heard of anyone getting a job from a poor person. I would also ask him what about our small business community who are said to create 80% of all the jobs, is he including them in his characterization?

I find the reference to the 95% of workers tax break a little disingenuous considering the amount of the reduction was extremely small and will be overcome when the current tax reductions expire at the end of 2010. Do you really believe that an average of $13 a month net per person will stimulate the economy? What is the reference to sales tax reduction? I wasn’t aware the Federal Government had a sales tax.

Mr Gonzalez statement, “by providing contracts for construction companies, we not only get new roads and an updated electric grid, but we create business for those companies, all of their suppliers, and all of their workers, who can then go out and buy from other private companies, so the cycle builds on itself.” is true in theory I suppose, but at what cost to we the people?

I read the bill and I can clearly see the growth of government via the establishment of boards, councils and staffing to support the oversight and administration of all these new programs. There are a lot of things in this bill that have nothing to do with infrastructure or construction and will not generate any jobs for the average American citizen. They will however create more Federal jobs and more regulations.

This bill has implemented changes to medicare, medicaid, provides funding to purchase land for flood control, provides funding for implementation of IT programs for healthcare, NASA funding for climate studies, low income energy assistance, child care assistance, head start funding, expansion of head start, provides money to the compassionate capital fund and faith based community organizations and WIC benefits increase and a 150 million dollar funding line for WIC administration costs? I question what are the job gains from this funding

Mr. Gonzalez provides two examples of misleading claims and rumors in HR 1. I never referenced these claims in my letter to him but I do have more than a few things in the bill I find questionable. $50,000,000 to the National Endowment to the Arts is an example of an actual questionable expenditure of money in a bill entitled American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I also question why many of the studies fund 1.5 million dollars for a report about the cost of the program.

Finally I would ask Mr. Gonzalez why are we providing home ownership opportunities for low income citizens? You may not know but Mr. Gonzalez co-authored Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act in 1997. The funding for this in the recovery bill is 1.5 billion dollars. I wonder if this 1997 bill contributed in anyway to the housing problem and many folks not being able to afford the home loans they purchased.

Mr. Gonzalez suggested I go to the website www.Recovery.gov to see how well the money is being spent. I have been there several times both before and after I received his reply. I suggest you look at it yourself. I was not impressed.

Finally Mr. Gonzalez, I strongly disagree with your last statement to me. “With HR 1, we have put a down-payment on our future. That’s a mortgage I’m ok with.”

Mr Gonzalez, maybe your ok with the size of that mortgage but I am not.” It seems to me that Mr Gonzalez just fine spending money that doesn’t belong to him.

Mr. Gonzalez is elected in a district where his continued job is very secure, in fact the opposing party will never challenge him because of the demographics of his district. He is not threatened with losing an election and will probably have his position for as long as he wants it. As a result Mr. Gonzalez will continue to vote the Democratic party line. Is this right or wrong? No, but it is what it is, a waste of taxpayer money without any thought of the consequences.

Mr. Gonzalez do you really think we can borrow our way out of debt? Would your treat your personal budget in the same way? I am very sure you would not borrow against one credit care to pay off another in you personal budget, why are you so intent on having the American people do this with the Federal budget?

I know this bill is law and we must live with the consequences of it but I implore you to stop amassing anymore debt before it becomes to large to ever pay back.

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Charles Gonzalez 20th District: Response to RodZ on Healthcare Anti-trust Repeal

RodZ — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:05:30 +0000

Here is the response from Representative Gonzalez concerning repeal of the anti-trust exemption for the insurance companies. It would have been nice to get a status of the bill. The summary states:

Official Summary

9/17/2009–Introduced.Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 – Declares that nothing in the McCarran-Ferguson Act shall be construed to permit health insurance issuers or issuers of medical malpractice insurance to engage in any form of price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations in connection with providing health insurance coverage or coverage for medical malpractice claims or actions. Makes this Act nonapplicable to any information gathering and rate setting activities of any state commission of insurance or any other state regulatory entity with authority to set insurance rates.

I am not sure how this addresses the facts Representative Gonzalez states in his letter to me or if it eliminates insurance companies from the acts protections. I do know that the act is addressed in the new house healthcare reform bill, but that is a blog for another day.

Dear Mr. Zagala:

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 3596, the Health Insurance IndustryAntitrust Enforcement Act of 2009. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.

As you know, federal antitrust laws were established to protect consumers. Antitrust laws ensure that markets are competitive by governing market behaviors such as price discrimination, predatory pricing, and monopolization. Throughout the current healthcare debate, concerns have been expressed about health insurance companies and how their exemption from antitrust laws might impact consumers.

It is clear that consumer choice and competition has been stymied by the rampant consolidation of the health care industry over the past decade (400 mergers have taken place in that time period). The American Medical Association has found that almost 95% of all markets are “highly concentrated.” Other reports support this by showing that two firms control at least 50% of the market in 39 states. Worse yet, single firms control over 75% of the market in nine states. This has not benefitted the consumer. Insurance premiums have increased more than 87% over the past six years. This is four times faster than average wages have increased. Meanwhile, the annual profits of the ten largest health insurers increased by 428% from 2000-2007 (from $2.4 billion to $12.9 billion). The consolidation of market control has not only hurt consumers; it has been found that doctors earn less in concentrated markets.

This lack of competition hurts consumers’ pocketbooks and health. H.R. 3596 aims to correct this situation by clarifying that health insurance companies and medical malpractice insurers are not exempt from federal antitrust laws. I am proud to cosponsor this legislation and will support its inclusion in any healthcare reform legislation that is considered in Congress.

Again, thank you for sharing your concerns with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about any legislation concern that is a priority for you.

Sincerely,

Charles A. Gonzalez
Member of Congress

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