Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
8th Congressional District, Missouri - This Fourth of July will mark 239 years since 56 brave patriots from the original 13 colonies declared America’s independence from Great Britain. In the Declaration of Independence, American colonists recognized that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The list of grievances with Britain was long and included standing armies kept among the colonies during peace time, taxes levied on the colonies without any representation in Britain, and colonists being denied trial by jury. The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, one year after the Revolutionary War first began. Ultimately, the Revolutionary War gave rise to the greatest country in the world and our continued pursuit of democracy.
Nearly one hundred years ago William Tyler Page, a descendant from a signer of the Declaration of Independence, summed up what it means to be an American with his American’s Creed. This Independence Day, amid the barbeques and fireworks, let’s take a few minutes to reflect on his words:
“I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.
“I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”
Have a safe and happy Independence Day!
These students won an essay contest sponsored SEMO Electric Cooperative of Bloomfield, Missouri to represent their co-op in our nation's capital.
In addition to meeting with their member of Congress, students toured museums and experienced American history firsthand.
Pictured from left to right are Tyler Battles, Congressman Jason Smith, Daria Kern, and Adrianna Gensler.
8th Congressional District - Missouri - Next week, my conservative colleagues and I will vote to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) in Obamacare, often called the “Death Panel,” and to preserve Medicare for America’s seniors. This panel, hand-selected by the president, is tasked with recommending cuts to Medicare without congressional input. If health care spending gets too high, IPAB is charged with deciding which care to prioritize and which care to cut. Obamacare gave IPAB unprecedented power with no accountability, no judicial review, and no transparency requirements.
This panel moves America away from a patient-centered health care model and replaces it with the views of unelected bureaucrats. The panel’s recommendations automatically become law unless a super majority of Congress agrees to make cuts elsewhere. This process alone raises constitutional questions. Obamacare created a panel to push a one-size-fits-all solution from Washington, instead of giving you and your doctor the freedom to make these deeply personal decisions.
If IPAB cuts Medicare, seniors will have a more difficult time getting access to care. It is unacceptable to decrease benefits to individuals who have worked so hard and paid into Medicare for so long. I am not going to let IPAB ration care, trample the Constitution, and disregard the well-being of America’s seniors. The time to act is now, before the panel is selected and care is impacted. That’s why I support repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board before it comes to fruition.
I am still working toward a full repeal of Obamacare, but President Obama will never admit what a complete failure this law has been since its inception. In the meantime, repealing Obama’s Death Panel is a way to protect America’s seniors.
Dear 151st District Constituents,
Greetings! I hope this Capitol Report finds you and your family doing well! I apologize for the lengthy Capitol Report this week, I have combined last week’s report into this one due to not being able to send last week’s report due to internet issues.
I have been very busy these past two weeks since trying to reconnect with everyone. I have attended several meetings locally of various groups and organizations. I have been blessed with the privilege of being able to eat or volunteer at most of our local senior centers, I will hopefully be able to be at them all again soon!
I have attended several policy related meetings including one in Columbia regarding healthcare data sharing. This meeting was very informative and the discussion has actually led to much more discussion.
The big question that I have from this meeting is “What type of policies do we need to have in place and how do these policies need to be worded or structured to protect a person’s right to privacy while also using the available technology to allow healthcare information to be shared when needed for healthcare purposes of the person?”.
I hope to have an answer to this question, or at least some thoughts toward an answer by the end of this year so that this question may be addressed during the next session.
Later this month I will be attending a meeting in Washington DC regarding Medicaid Health Policy. I have several questions that I am preparing to ask at this meeting. There are so many changes happening currently in healthcare and with the Supreme Court decision regarding Obamacare, I feel that we will see even more changes in our healthcare. I hope this meeting will help to prepare me as we plan to meet the challenges ahead of us.
There are many issues that myself and my office are looking at regarding education. We have been reviewing the teacher and student testing issues. Currently I am comparing the “old” competencies with the “new”. There have been so many changes recently but I am not sure that our teachers have been consulted. I would like to find a way to return to more local decisions being made regarding curriculum. I do not agree with the way the decisions are currently being made from “higher up” and then being passed down without input from our teachers and local school boards.
I will keep you posted as work continues on this. I am looking forward to this next week, I will be able to attend my first meeting of the Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. We will be hearing from the Juvenile Office regarding how this office works, scope of practice and authority. I have many questions and hope to learn the process of how a child enters the juvenile system and exactly what a normal progression looks like as one would go through this process. I am most interested in learning what the progression looks like from the eyes of a child and the eyes of the parent.
I will close for now but please feel free to call my office or my cell number if I can be of service to you!
Until next week, Tila
Enough is enough and I am demanding answers. Last week, I wrote the Department of Justice along with my fellow Republican members of the Ways and Means Committee to again push for criminal prosecution of this bad actor. It's no surprise folks are scared of the IRS – they can make life miserable even without injecting personal politics into the equation.
Initially, Lerner's potentially incriminating emails were lost when her hard drive had crashed along with those of six other IRS employees. Miraculously though, the IRS Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found more than 30,000 of her emails on a back-up server. The IRS investigation found words like “tea party” or “patriot” were flagged for additional examination when groups applied for tax-exempt status, and hardworking, patriotic Americans were singled out for their political beliefs in direct violation of the Constitution. Lois Lerner has denied targeting conservative organizations for increased scrutiny and simultaneously apologized for the IRS's actions.
There have been Congressional hearings and an FBI probe. President Obama called the actions “intolerable and inexcusable,” and in the next breath said there was “not even a smidgen of corruption” at the IRS. Despite the hypocrisy, it's clear that taxpayers were violated and their trust in government was compromised, and still, Lerner has not been charged with a crime. Moreover, the Department of Justice has not even responded to Congress's call for prosecution.
An agency with as much power to destroy citizens as the IRS must be above reproach, and Congress won't be finished until Lois Lerner is held accountable.
