It was my honor to spend Monday morning with local farmers, members of the Fuquay-Varina and Wake Forest-Rolesville FFA, and others at the annual Wake County Farm Bureau breakfast before returning to Washington for a busy week.
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In spite of the anticipated snow storm, my offices in Washington and the Second District were open for business all week, including offering tours of the U.S. Capitol.
In this newsletter, you will find information about some of my activity in Washington this week that directly affects you and your family. Please read it carefully and share this information with your friends by forwarding this email and using the social media tools in the sidebar.
Thank you for your interest in your community and your government. Please also follow me at ellmers.house.gov, and on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
My Vote to Fund the Government through the Fiscal Year
This week, my colleagues and I passed a continuing resolution that will fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year. We have taken the appropriate steps to act responsibly and provide the necessary funding of our government three weeks before the deadline to avert another funding battle.
The great news for the American family is that this bill will save money. It is $63 billion below the current funding levels. Furthermore, this bill provides common sense policies that will forbid funding for contracts that do not comply with E-Verify requirements and prohibits the sale of F-22 aircraft to any foreign government. It also denies providing $949 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to pay for the implementation of key Obamacare programs.
The American people elected us to be responsible stewards of their tax dollars and this bill ensures that the government is providing the right resources for the right reasons.
Click here to read the rest of my statement on my vote to fund the government through the fiscal year.
The Republican Women’s Policy Committee
This week I received the gavel as the new Chairwoman of the Republican Women’s Policy Committee (RWPC) in our first meeting of 2013.
The Republican Women’s Policy Committee is composed of Republican Congresswomen who are advancing and communicating the Republican agenda including job creation, less government, lower taxes, regulatory relief, personal responsibility, individual freedoms, and a strong national defense.
You can follow the activity of the RWPC and its members on the RWPC Facebook page.
The Deadly Consequences of Expanding Medicaid
The following is an excerpt from my Op-Ed in the Fayetteville Observer today regarding the need to fix and reform Medicaid by addressing existing problems, rather than expanding a broken system:
“This month, states across the nation will be deciding whether or not they will accept the expansion of Medicaid as part of Obamacare. Governors are tasked with choosing to accept federal funding to put President Obama’s health care law in place, and the rules and regulations that come with it. As with any major decision, governors must not only weigh the costs and benefits, but more important, determine how the law will affect those who are most vulnerable and need this care the most.
Last month, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation that will block Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion in our state. Gov. Pat McCrory signed it into law last week. He said, “Our Medicaid system is broken, and I cannot expand a broken system. It would be unfair to the taxpayers, unfair to the citizens currently receiving Medicaid and unfair to create a new bureaucracy to implement the system.” Gov. McCrory is right, and the facts behind his decision cast a dangerous warning to anyone seeking to expand the ranks of our poor and needy on this troubled program.
The problem is that Medicaid harms the poor and vulnerable that it was set up to protect. This is not a scare tactic or partisan maneuver, it’s a sobering fact. In 2010, the University of Virginia released a landmark study showing that surgical patients on Medicaid have a 13 percent higher chance of dying than if they had no insurance at all, and they are 97 percent more likely to die than people with private insurance.
…These are the numbers. These are the facts. The fair and logical thing to do would be to address these horrifying results by reforming Medicaid and working to address these problems, lower the costs, and protect the poor and vulnerable from what is becoming an epidemic in medical care. But instead, Obamacare is taking this program and expanding it.”
To read my full op-ed in the Fayetteville Observer, click here.
In the News
Ellmers votes for cuts, says she has support from her district
Raleigh News & Observer
Republican U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers’ congressional district includes Fort Bragg and many civilian defense workers and defense businesses that will be hard hit by across-the-board spending cuts. But Ellmers says that she’s getting support for her position that the cuts are necessary.
“The calls that we’re really getting are more people saying ‘Thank you for not giving in on this issue. We know it’s going to be painful, and we know we have communities that are going to be affected by this, but we feel very strongly that spending needs to be cut,’?” Ellmers said in an interview Wednesday…
Ellmers said the across-the-board cuts, also known as sequestration, were not the right way to cut federal spending.
“The issue here is, $85 billion is really just a small fraction” of needed spending cuts, Ellmers said. “It’s not going in and cutting a chunk of your budget. It’s just slowing the growth over time.”
Ellmers called it “an essential first step” toward a goal of balancing the budget in 10 years. She agreed with other Republicans who have called the automatic cuts a necessary evil.
Read the full article at the News & Observer website.
Are You Visiting Washington This Spring?
The White House has cancelled tours, but my office is still hosting visitors to the United States Capitol. If you are planning a trip to DC, be sure to check out the Visit Washington page on my website and use the webform to schedule a tour.