Hang in There America
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
That is the oath I stood, raised my right hand and swore to uphold before god and the American people this Tuesday as the 115th Congress convened.
This oath is something I take very seriously. Hearing those words this week reminded me that our 45th President, Donald J. Trump will very soon raise his right hand and take an oath of his own in less than 14 days. Soon thereafter he will layout his vision for rebuilding our economy, restoring personal freedoms and liberties and getting the government off the backs and out of the lives of so many families, farmers and small business owners.
This week started the congressional work needed to lay the groundwork for our new President to hit the ground running on day one. The very first action we took was to strengthen the balance of power outlined in our Constitution and give power back to the people by taking the authority to legislate and regulate out of the hands of federal bureaucrats. Over the past 8 years, unelected Washington bureaucrats have run amuck under the Obama Administration, imposing thousands of unnecessary federal regulations that are crushing American families, small businesses and all of rural America. Americans simply cannot continue to survive under the weight of the heavy hand of the federal government.
In fact, the Obama administration has attempted to force through hundreds of “midnight regulations” on their way out the door. That is why I helped pass two pieces of legislation this week that will stop the outgoing administration from further hurting the American people. The passage of the Midnight Rules Relief Act and the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act paved the way for the restoration of the Constitution under the Trump administration.
President Trump will also hit the ground running on day one in the White House following his inauguration. Instead of spending Inauguration Day parading through the streets of Washington DC for hours before hopping from one celebrity filled Inauguration ball to the next as his predecessor did, Trump has promised to spend the first few hours of his presidency actually doing the job he was elected to do – changing the direction of this country for the American people. Trump has broken with tradition by requesting that his inauguration parade be shorter than presidents of the past and reducing the number of public events and appearances. In comparison, President Obama attended a whopping 10 balls following his second inauguration in 2009. In a meeting I had with Vice-President elect Mike Pence this week, I heard the same eagerness to get to work – the same refreshing zeal for putting the needs of Americans first, not the needs of a bloated government.
We have a lot of work to do to clean up the mess the Obama Administration created in our country, but President-elect Trump will waste no time on January 20th getting to work. You won’t see President Trump basking in the glory of his new title as commander and chief of the United States atop a float in Washington or rubbing elbows with celebrities at fancy inaugural balls. Instead his first hours in office will be behind a desk, repealing some of the worst unconstitutional regulatory overreaches President Obama and his liberal allies have concocted.
Congress began the process of restoring the power of our Constitution this week, paving the way for President Trump once he takes the oath of office. Americans only need to hang in there for a few more days, then it'll be a matter of hanging on as we watch a President who is excited to get to work at a rapid pace to make America great again.
Dexter, Missouri - The Stoddard County Teen Age Republicans (TARS) will host their first monthly meeting of the 2017.
Stoddard County Teen Age Republicans are young men and women ages 13 - 19 who have an interest in politics, government, and serving their community!
They hope you will join them!
TARS will meet at McDonald's in Dexter on Sunday, January 29, 2017 from 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, Patricia Breckenridge, took the dais and administered the oath of office during the day’s ceremony.
Hubrecht has been known as a leader in Missouri’s healthcare and social service legislation. For her upcoming term, she has been assigned to serve on the Standing Committees on Utilities, as well as the Budget Committee. Special committees have not yet been assigned.
“I am so honored to again be allowed to serve the people of the 151st District,” said Representative Hubrecht. “I look forward to continuing to work towards better economic and healthcare opportunities for the Bootheel region.”
The Missouri Legislature is in Session this year from January 4th until 6:00 PM on May 12th. This is the 1st Regular Session of the 99th General Assembly.
To keep informed with what is happening in the Capitol this session you can visit www.house.mo.gov and search for Representative Hubrecht’s personal webpage, where you can also sign up for weekly Capitol Reports. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter by searching “Missouri State Representative Tila Hubrecht”.
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement today after being sworn-in to his second term as U.S. Senator for Missouri:
“It is an honor and a privilege to continue representing Missourians in the 115th Congress,” said Blunt. “I look forward to working with the incoming administration to roll back burdensome and unnecessary regulations, improve access to quality, affordable health care, and keep the promises we’ve made to our nation’s heroes. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to once again serve on the Appropriations, Commerce, Science, & Transportation, Intelligence, and Rules Committees, where I will continue working to address Missouri families’ top priorities.”
Making Healthcare Affordable Again
December 16, 2016
The rolling hills and flatland of southeast and south central Missouri are a beautiful place during the Holiday Season; we take time to gather with family and friends, and we also reflect on the previous days and months throughout the year. For those of us who are Christians, Christmas is a joyful time of celebration for the birth of our savior, and also a reminder that the true spirit of the Holiday is the gift of giving itself.
One of the things we are often most thankful for this time of year is good health and well-being, but with escalating costs of care and government mandates coming in between you and your doctor of choice, our entire healthcare system is something that many families are rightfully concerned about this year.
Over the next week, I will be conducting half a dozen healthcare roundtables throughout southeast and south central Missouri. I plan to meet with doctors, patients, pharmacists, small business owners, families and anyone else interested in discussing the rising cost of care in this country. We need to have an open and honest discussion about the impact Obamacare has had on coverage and access to care, the collapsing of the Obamacare marketplace, and solutions for how we can provide fair, open, transparent and affordable healthcare coverage in this country. I will be hosting roundtables in Farmington, Cape Girardeau, Kennett, Poplar Bluff, West Plains and Rolla.
I believe it is important to hear directly from families about the struggles they are experiencing and the changes they would like to see in healthcare. I have already heard a great deal from people across southeast and south central Missouri who have been personally impacted by diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and opioid addiction who desperately want to strengthen research and delivery systems to find better treatments and ultimately cures for these diseases. I’ve also heard from parents whose children are suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy who want a cure so that their children can enjoy the same simple joys as other children. I’ve heard from the epilepsy community who want to accelerate the discovery and development of new therapies that individuals with epilepsy need to help them live their lives to the fullest potential, as well as the ALS community who are in desperate need of a treatment for ALS, which at this point has no effective treatment option and leaves patients with few options. And, I also heard from some of the 11,000 folks across southeast and south central Missouri who are living with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) who are some of those most in need of access to affordable and flexible high-quality care that they are currently being denied access to by the federal government.
These stories and the painful struggles so many families have shared have had a profound impact on me personally. Recently, “21st Century Cures” was passed and signed into law and while it included important provisions to advance medical research in this country, it also included language I authored to provide those with ESRD more choice, options and flexibility in their care coverage. My provision removed an arbitrary government rule which stood in the way of these patients from receiving the care they deserve.
My hope is that the healthcare roundtables we conduct in the coming weeks will bring forward more stories and issues and provide us a better understanding of how to address the real problems, while also making a difference for our families. The ideas and problems we identify will be something I can then work directly with the new Trump Administration and incoming Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on in order to include those ideas in our healthcare replacement for the disastrous Obamacare. I have found the incoming Administration to be open and accessible and really interested in getting healthcare coverage right in this country while lowering out of pocket costs for patients. I want to share your ideas directly with them. I also hope to find better ways to work with the local resources we have like the recently opened Delbert Day Cancer Institute in Rolla which will help provide better treatments for cancer patients. However, perhaps the thing I am looking towards the most is the chance to meet new families, and make new friends, and provide greater hope during this season of giving.
