Yes-23 » Congress

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

RodZ — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:09:00 +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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Health Care/Insurance Reform, Consequences?

RodZ — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:55:13 +0000

I’ve been sitting back watching the debacle of this so called reform bill and have been wondering what the consequences will be. I think we are starting to see the big sales job and a lot of intimidation from our government. I would like to think that Henry Waxman is calling the CEO’s in to see where the Congress went wrong with their numbers, but I am more suspicious of him than that. I really think he is going to challenge them. The Administration is already saying that it is just a bunch of Republican CEO’s trying to scare the American people. While it seems that all but one of the CEO’s is a Republican it is also true, that by law they must report the financial impact of any legislation to their bottom line. If they don’t then the FTC is all over them and they risk a legal situation and fines. I think the effects of this bill are going to be far reaching and will impact American business and the average person in extremely negative way.

This Administration and the leadership in Congress have put into effect a law that by all accounts is going to be very costly. I’ve been against this bill from the beginning simply because I believe the cost of entitlements are way to high, have a tendency to grow exponentially over time and once in place are almost never repealed or replace. When the full effect of this bill is felt several years from now people will be surprised at how it will affect the bottom line of their own budgets.

I don’t believe for one minute this bill will be repealed, we are going to have health care reform and will see the consequences of rushing a bad bill through the legislative process on a straight party line vote. I also believe their success will cause them to push several other big ticket bills through in the same manner further increasing the deficit and the debt. Representative Charles Gonzales of the 20th district in San Antonio TX. tells me this is a mortgage he is willing to live with, well it’s easy to incur debt with other peoples money.

I guess we will just have to wait and see who is right about the effects and benefits of this bill. I suspect it will not improve the health care delivery system nor lower costs for the average American.

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Obama’s Fundamental Transformation

RodZ — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:18:40 +0000

This is the flow chart of how our President has circumvented the normal processes of a representative government. Flow chart is from Glennbeck.com. This is not leadership and it is not the normal way things should be done in our form of government. In my previous post, Bridgid, a friend of the site, thought I was only referencing the health care bill reconciliation, but as you can see I was talking about many of the processes and procedures used by this administration to implement policies that should have gone through the Congress.

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Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda; Super Majority Fails

RodZ — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:04:27 +0000

It is striking to me that our government is in such a dysfunctional state. This is what happens when people become so opposed in their views that they cannot reasonably arrive at a solutions to problems. They Democrats had a super majority, in theory they should have been able to pass any legislation they wanted to pass. They could not achieve one single super vote. Why was this?
I maintain we have lost our moral compass, we cannot seem to look at any problem without a “what’s in for me” point of view. Our government is a prime example of this. The leadership of the United States has an obligation to the people to protect us not provide for us. Our leadership has been told this by the reaction of the people to the latest rounds of legislation being put forward by the Democrats. They are still not listening to us or the more reasonable legislators in their own party. They Pelosi, Reed and Obama camp are still trying to pass the health care bill, cap and trade and more stimulus. I don’t see any chance of them backing off and looking at what would really benefit the American people.
Our debt is staggering, our spending is staggering, our ability to pay this debt is not a reality. If the government doesn’t cut spending across the board and introduce a balanced budget law we will continue towards bankruptcy. The Pay-Go bill is a good start but will not solve the problem until substantial cuts are made to the spending side.
I wonder why so many Democratic legislators are deciding not to run for re-election. I wonder what they know that we don’t. I wonder if many of them are just plain tired of the constant left movement of their party.
The constant chant of the left that the Republicans are the “party of no” is just so much crap, you guys had a super majority, shoulda, coulda, woulda. The constant blaming of the previous administration is getting tiring, when the debt quadruples in one year and you start taking credit for accomplishments set in place by the previous administration. The new push towards jobs legislation and bipartisanship is laughable. It is a political show designed to once again blame the party of no. I say god bless the party of no, and the American people, they are the only thing that will stop the insanity.

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Washington’s View on Health Care

RodZ — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:24:23 +0000

I have been watching the health care wars for sometime now and believe that we have an administration that is sending a mixed message to the American people. If you listen to the President and all the others telling you that we must do something to cut costs because we cannot sustain doing nothing, you begin to see that this statement really applies to the governments spending on health care. I believe that Medicare and the governments handling of this program has caused our entire medical industry to become more of a government run program and less or a free market enterprise.
The politicians have a way of spending tax receipts on everything but the programs the money was intended for. If the money withheld from our paychecks was really in a trust and not sold as treasuries and then reallocated back to the general fund the crisis we now face would at least have been far less expensive than it is currently.
If you really ask questions of your medical provider and get a truthful answer you would also find that Medicare cost fixing sets the baseline for what the insurance companies negotiate with the providers. In addition the monopoly enjoyed by the insurance companies, created by our government, further negates competition and does not provide the consumer with the benefits of a free market place.
My question is simply, why not fix Medicare and follow up on the promise to end the wast, fraud and abuse of that program? Why not end the monopolies and lower the overall cost of medical insurance through competition?
We are still not being listened to by this administration. The President is still pushing forward with health care reform and the Congress is now developing another stimulus bill in secret. This is simply not acceptable and we the people must continue to make our voices heard. We have already seen that votes do trump dollars, we must not stop telling our representatives what we want in loud clear terms.

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Washington Is dysfunctional, State of the Union, Chaos

RodZ — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:57:15 +0000

I think we have a dysfunctional legislative body. They are unable to put aside ideological agendas and sit down and negotiate legislation that works for the American people. It has become very clear that they are so disconnected from middle America that they cannot understand what we want or need. Their economic status is simply so much better than the average American that they cannot relate to what it means to have more month than money. I actually heard a Senator say that health insurance through the proposed exchange would only be about $600 per month. That statement would have been laughable if the situation wasn’t so serious. Only $600 per month to someone making $30K or less a year is not really doable. I use this as an example to illustrate the mind set of our Congressional leaders.
They are now polling and trying to find the meaning of the Massachusetts elections results. From what I am hearing from them on the news and the Presidents State of the Union speech is clearly demonstrating that they still don’t get it. I believe that Washington has no regard for out tax dollars or our needs. I believe they are driven by Ideological agendas, desire to stay in power and special interest groups providing money for their re-election.
They health care bill is now dead because they could not and would not work together to implement even the small issues they could agree on. I still think that the anti-trust exemption the insurance companies enjoy should be repealed. I also believe that pre-existing conditions and several items like that could be managed if not for the, all or nothing, mindset of our legislators.
What happened to the waste, fraud and abuse issues with Medicare? Are they no longer important? Will they no longer save the American taxpayer billions of dollars? Why are they not fixing Medicare? All you hear is that it is a great and popular program and yet it is going broke and many doctors and health care providers are not accepting it any longer.
The new message is “we get it, focus on jobs and the economy” so now all the work health care reform will just go away while we implement a spending freeze create a new stimulus jobs program. How can you have a freeze and put $200 billion new dollars towards a new stimulus? What happened to $500 plus billion left unspent in the first stimulus? It is obvious that the first stimulus was really not designed to create jobs but put forward many ideological ideals from the liberal Democrats. I suggest they revisit that bill and not spend the remaining money. The Tarp money was originally supposed to be repaid and returned to the treasury for repayment towards reducing our debt, not reallocated for additional social programs under the guise of jobs stimulus.
Stop the “pork spending” it is not appropriate to load any bill will non related spending items that do not benefit the country as a whole. I just cannot understand the mindset of our legislative body during a recession that would increase cost to the nation to build a library in any state.
A spending freeze at the new spending levels is just ridiculous, the spending rate is said to be 28% higher than that of the Bush administration and growing. Cut spending, review all the programs and start cutting your spending. Reduce income taxes across the board, along with capital gains and payroll taxes. Regan accomplished an excellent environment for business to flourish using this principle as did Clinton, even though Clinton raise taxes slightly his spending polices were in check.
I am to a point where I see not relief for the American people, the system is geared to work against us unless we really become active as voters and stay in communication with our representatives. I urge all of you to write your representatives and clearly state what you want. Do not let the polls and the limited thinking of Washington advisors dictate what we get. Let them know that we do not want the Czars and commissions of unelected officials driving policy. In fact lets start the spending cuts with firing these guys and saving the money spent on their salaries and staff salaries.

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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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Arizona Mayo Clinic Drops Medicare Patients.

RodZ — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:57:04 +0000

Fox News reported that the Mayo Clinic in Arizona is no longer taking Medicare patients because they are only recovering about 55% of their costs. I see this as a trend that is not likely to end anytime soon. The Congress thinks it can fix health care but has never done anything to fix Medicare. They establish prices for participating health care providers and the insurance companies use these as a guideline to establish what they will pay the same providers.
We have heard about the evil insurance companies and their exorbitant profits and yet no one talks about the high cost of service from the health care providers. I know doctors spend many years and dollars to learn their craft and no doubt they deserve compensation. I know it is extremely costly to run a hospital, but what are the limits.
The market would determine pricing if the government and insurance companies were not paying the bills. We have created a third party payment system that begs to be abused.
I don’t have the answer to the problem because I know when your sick or injured you want care and will try to get it no matter what. Congress has created a monster that will only keep getting worse because they don’t have the answers either. I do know that regardless of what anyone does medical care will continue to get more expensive as will our health insurance.
I am facing Medicare in a few years, I have no choice even though I currently have a private insurance plan. What will I get when I join the ranks of a government run system that is going broke and will not be accepted by the health care industry?
The Congress is returning to session and will complete work on this bill, we will get a bunch of laws that make the current system more expensive and cumbersome than it is now. I honestly believe that our representatives have no concept of how the average American lives. I really think they believe that a cost $400 to $600 a month for folks making $20 to $30K a year is no big deal. I really don’t believe Nancy Pelosi even needs health insurance. She is very rich in case you didn’t know.
Well folks we are going to get something none of us wanted at a price we can’t afford simply because certain elements of our population feels the government is better equipped to take care of us than we are. They are doing it because they want to control us and maintain or increase their perceived power over us. I know many of you don’t believe this to be true and think we should have health care for all. I don’t disagree with this in principle, I only disagree with how our leadership is going about the process. You see they have lost sight of the original premise, which was, lower cost, cover all.
I believe if you look at what is being forced on us by Congress you will see it doesn’t even come close to meeting the President’s stated goals.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE US SENATE

RodZ — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:30:41 +0000

Nice gift this year, a stripped down expensive do nothing health care plan. What’s next? Oh I know an expensive Cap and Trade bill designed to make your friends richer.
This is a short blog today because I am just too frustrated to comment. So let me just say get ready for higher taxes, higher insurance premiums and more unemployment.
Nice job Congress. Thanks.

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OUR CONGRESS AT WORK

Lady Kathleen — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:24:30 +0000

This is one of their THREE-DAY WORK WEEKS that we all pay for. I am ready to start from the beginning by voting out all elected officials and not letting any of them stay in office for more than two terms. No more lifelong healthcare, retirement, voting in their own pay raises, taking perks on our taxes, etc.

Two play solitaire; the guy sitting in front of these two… he’s on Facebook, and the guy behind them is checking out the baseball scores.

Should we buy them larger screen computers – or – a ticket home, permanently?

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