A winter storm brought many parts of the East Coast to a standstill this week, but we were still able to get some important work done in the House.
On Tuesday, I voted against a debt limit increase that failed to cut spending. Currently our federal government has accrued a 17.3 trillion dollar debt, and raising our debt limit to pay for out-of-control spending only perpetuates our nation’s spending problem. We need to get our priorities straight by making decisions that will bring about meaningful and lasting reforms. Additionally, I was honored to vote on Tuesday to restore COLA payments to our nation’s retired veterans. In this newsletter you will find my statement regarding that vote.
This week the president announced yet another Obamacare delay, which will affect the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate. President Obama has delayed or changed parts of Obamacare at least 23 times since the House voted to delay the mandate for individuals and families. Americans deserve fairness for all—not just for those the president chooses.
On Wednesday, February 19th, in Cary, I’ll be hosting a panel discussion on immigration. Below you will find information about time, location and how to register to attend the event.
Please share this newsletter with your friends and family via email using the “Tell a Friend” form in the right sidebar, and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Visit my website, ellmers.house.gov, for more information on Washington and the Second District. As always, please reach out to my office if there is any way we can be of assistance.
Voting to Restore Veterans’ Retirement Increase, Against Raising the Debt Limit
After voting to restore COLA payments to retired veterans and against an increase to the nation’s debt limit, I released the following statement regarding the vote:
“Our veterans have made countless sacrifices on behalf of our freedom, and today I was proud to vote in favor of restoring their full retirement benefits through the scheduled Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA). Simply put, this bill restores COLA benefits without adding more pain to our military. Our government has a serious spending problem, but this should not be placed on the backs of our nation’s heroes: the men and women of our armed forces.”
“We need to get our priorities straight and make common-sense decisions that will bring about meaningful reforms. Today’s vote on a bill to raise the debt limit without any fiscally-responsible alternatives fails on numerous accounts, which is why I voted against it. Absent meaningful reforms, raising our debt limit to pay for out-of-control past spending will only perpetuate the problem without solving it.”
“Here in the House, we will continue to act responsibly as stewards of taxpayer dollars. For the first time in over five years, we passed a budget and brought the power of the purse strings back where it belongs – with an appropriations process in Congress. There is certainly much more work to be done, but I remain committed to acting in the best interest of our nation and our children’s future.”
Join Me for a Discussion on Immigration
I’ll be hosting a panel of local employers and faith leaders in a discussion on the issue of immigration this week.
When: Wednesday, February 19, 2014
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Where: 301 Embassy Suites
201 Harrison Oaks Blvd.
Cary, NC
Register to attend by emailing your name, address, business or group affiliation (if any), along with any questions you would like to submit for the panel, HERE.
Another Obamacare Delay
Obamacare patients are now living with the effects of the broken promises the president made, including the promise that they would be able to keep their doctors. Fox News reported this week, “For instance, one study shows that while a commercial plan would have about 40 cardiologists per 100,000 people, a typical ObamaCare plan would have an average of only 15… AEI found a similar situation in a county in Florida where there are ‘seven pediatricians for a county that serviced almost a quarter of a million children.'”
According to a new National Small Business Association survey, 1 in 3 small businesses say they are purposefully not growing as a result of the health care law.
We have not yet seen the full effect of the mandates that require health insurance coverage since the president has delayed the mandates several times now — most recently this week. These mandates should not just be delayed for businesses, they should be lifted for individuals and families as well. The results of this disastrous law have already caused too much pain.
Time to Fix Medicare’s Competitive Bidding Process
My op-ed on the need to reform Medicare’s competitive bidding process ran in The Hill this week. Here is an excerpt:
Reform medical bidding process to protect seniors
The Hill
What was Medicare’s competitive bidding process meant to do?
Simply put, it was designed to provide competition and lower prices for our disabled citizens and seniors. But for years, this well-intended process has been overrun with errors and fraud.
When competitive bidding was first debated on Capitol Hill, there was widespread agreement among lawmakers and policymakers that Medicare needed a more cost-effective method of determining prices for home medical equipment such as oxygen therapy, wheelchairs, hospital beds and diabetic testing materials.
Yet, since its inception in 2011, the program began drawing concerns from consumer groups, Medicare beneficiaries, and businesses large and small. Their concerns were based on the fact that this program is jeopardizing the health of Medicare patients and forcing equipment suppliers to close or lay off workers.
Shortly after the program was first implemented, Congress legislatively delayed it for 18 months due to critical flaws in the bidding process, which produced fewer competitors, fewer homecare services, and a substantial decrease in the quality of care for seniors and the disabled. Since the delay, no significant improvements have been made to the program or the bidding process.
These problems have hit my own constituents in North Carolina, where patients and businesses have been negatively affected following the program’s launch in four locations throughout the state.
Businesses like Family Medical Supply in the Triangle area of North Carolina are being forced to close stores and lay off workers. In Gastonia, Joseph Reutter of BSI Medical Supply worried about how he would tell his employees that he couldn’t afford to keep them. And in New Bern, Medicare patients like 73-year-old Joseph Metts went through a lengthy ordeal trying to get the right diabetic testing supplies.
Read the rest of my op-ed in The Hill.
This Week In the Energy & Commerce Committee
On Tuesday, in a hearing of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, I questioned a representative of the FDA regarding the persistent threat of drug shortages in hospital systems. In this exchange I discussed the issues with manufacturing quality and shortages taking place in the Wake Med Hospital System and the lack of transparency in the process used to determine which drugs make it onto the “shortage list” and how they are later removed from that list.
In the News
Reaction to the latest Obamacare Delay
The Wall Street Journal This Morning
Most employers won’t face a fine next year if they fail to offer workers health insurance, the Obama administration said Monday, in the latest big delay of the health-law rollout. The Wall Street Journal This Morning spoke with Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) about the latest change to Obamacare and what she would do to improve the law.
House votes to keep cost-of-living increases for military pensions
Raleigh News & Observer
All of the members of the House from the greater Triangle area voted for the bill (Republicans George Holding of Raleigh, Renee Ellmers of Dunn, Howard Coble of Greensboro, and Democrats G.K. Butterfield of Wilson, David Price of Chapel Hill and Mike McIntyre of Lumberton).
House Republicans drop bid to tie other issues to debt ceiling
CNN
However, some Republicans immediately balked at the shift by their leader, saying they would oppose a debt ceiling measure that lacked additional provisions they sought. Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina said that she would vote against the clean proposal and that GOP leaders might be forced to go back to their original plan. Boehner ally Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, an influential House Republican, said he was undecided on how to vote on a clean measure.
NC Rep. Ellmers: Obama Leaves US “At Risk” by Easing Rules for Asylum
Newsmax
President Barack Obama’s decision to ease the rules for asylum seekers and those who have given “limited support” to terrorist groups leaves Americans “vulnerable” and “at risk,” Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina says.
Jail cells filled with broad range of mentally ill inmates
Wilmington Star News
Since 2001, the number of inpatient psychiatric beds in this state has decreased by 50 percent, from around 1,750 beds to approximately 850 beds, according to U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., who has signed on as a co-sponsor to the bill “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.” In a statement to the StarNews, she said her legislation fixes the state’s shortage of psychiatric beds in the state by “making two narrowly tailored exceptions” to Medicaid regulations for state hospital beds. Her office said the state currently has 761 beds and needs 4,000 – though not everyone agrees that dramatically increasing the bed count is the solution.
Snapshot from the District
My offices in Washington, Dunn and Asheboro were covered in blankets of snow this week from the massive winter storm that hit much of the East Coast.