November 10, 2014

The President met with Congressional leaders in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House on Friday. If the president continues to work against Congress, the Three Musketeers contend, vetoing its work, he will be in direct violation of the will of the people.

Come January the Republicans will have control of the U.S. Senate, but the question remains will it be any different in Washington?  Some of us have seen, firsthand, Members of Congress going to Washington with great ideas and then buying into the Washington, DC culture.  In the past, Republicans have been as bad as Democrats about spending money, money we don’t have.   We’d like to suggest some areas where Congress should focus while forcing the government to live within its means:

• Border Security:  We need to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.  Human trafficking abounds in our area, drug smugglers have free access, and non-Latin Americans are walking across our borders.  Our borders provide wide open access for terrorist [including ISIS sympathizers].  Congress should work to craft a national policy to stop the flow of these folks into our country and then ensure it is implemented.
  
  
• Immigration:  At the same time we need to make it easier for people to legally immigrate.  Our nation has a shortage certain skilled workers.  We should encourage immigration for those who have these skills and who have a willingness to work.  We don’t have a problem granting a pathway to citizenship for those who enter our country legally.   The bottom line is we’re not against immigration; it’s doing so illegally where we have a problem.
  
  
• Healthcare:  The result of Obamacare, and its implementation, has been a disaster.  Keeping your own plan, keeping your doctor, being affordable, these turned out to be empty promises.  The way this law makes healthcare affordable is by forcing taxpayers to pay the premiums of others in the form of subsidies.  The implementation of parts of the bill has been postponed, in part for political reasons and partly because of the burden they will impose.    If the government has the constitutional authority to regulate healthcare in the first place, then we need a different approach. 
  
  Congress should start by limiting malpractice awards, allowing medical insurance to be sold across state lines, encouraging health savings accounts and reducing – not increasing – the federal role in healthcare.  Where insurance companies compete for policy holders the costs go down as do the deductible levels.  The Veterans Administration healthcare model shows how a single-payer government-run system fails in comparison to the private sector model. 
  
  As much as possible, Congress should get the government out of the healthcare business.  An exception is when a common threat like the Ebola virus threatens the safety and wellbeing of the nation.  When bona fide cases of this kind of virus exist then trained medical professionals should be called upon to treat and monitor the patients with this disease.  But quarantining someone just because he/she traveled to a certain part of the world can easily infringe on a person’s civil rights.  A balance must be found between protecting the public and safeguarding individual rights.
  
• Energy:  It is time for Congress to encourage the development and use of our domestic energy resources, and refrain from creating artificially competitive alternatives through taxpayer subsidies.  Allowing the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would be a good start!

For the wellbeing of our nation, the Congress must work together on these issues.  No more can we afford to have a Harry Reid who only allowed a small number of bills to be considered.  It’s time for Congress to pass bills that help get Americans working again.  If the President continues to work against Congress, vetoing its work, he will be in direct violation of the will of the people. 

Bill, Mark and John