Congressional Propoganda

It’s been a busy month in the Senate. The conclusion of debate in the Senate Finance Committee means another important step towards providing access to affordable insurance for millions of Americans. We are closer than ever to health insurance reform and I am urging my colleagues to bring to the floor of the Senate strong legislation that will provide quality, affordable access to health insurance for all New Mexicans.

In order to help the one in four New Mexicans who are uninsured and the thousands more who are underinsured, I believe health insurance reform must include:

• A public option for uninsured families and small business employees to get coverage and to keep insurance companies honest • Preventive care to change our current system from a sick care system to a health care system • Increased access to health care for rural communities, veterans and Indian country • Help for small businesses to cut through red tape and work together to cut costs

I’m proud of what my colleagues in the Senate have been able to accomplish so far, but there is still much work ahead.

Over the past two weeks, my fellow freshman senators and I came together on the Senate floor to sound a call for swift health insurance reform that will contain costs and improve care for all Americans. We took a look at the high price of inaction — more New Mexicans without insurance, more New Mexicans bankrupt from hospital bills, and more hidden taxes for us all to pay for the uninsured. The status quo is not an option. We cannot afford to go any longer without meaningful reform.

In New Mexico, we have an epidemic of preventable diseases and a real need for an emphasis on preventive care. In my second speech, I called for reform that makes clinical services like mammograms and colonoscopies and cholesterol screenings more available and provides incentives for adopting healthy lifestyles. Preventive care will not only cut costs, it will ensure the health of future generations.

This week I called on the Senate to pass legislation that will put our nation on a path towards energy independence. At the unveiling of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, I spoke of the urgency that we change our course from an addiction to foreign oil to a clean energy economy.

The best way to make this transition is through a "Do It All", "Do It Right" energy approach that includes renewable energy, natural gas, enhanced domestic production, safe nuclear power, real clean coal technology and energy efficiency. As part of that approach, I believe that New Mexico and the West can lead the way.

That’s it for this Udall Update. Stay tuned for the next one or follow me on Facebook or Twitter to get news as it happens.

Here is my reply

Dear Sir

I appreciate that you are doing what you believe is best for our state. I believe you are missing a major point in what we New Mexicans want in your push for a government takeover of the health industry. I am also disturbed by the rhetoric that comes out of Washington these days.

For my thoughts:

Primarily, any bill that is to big and confusing for the representatives voting on it to read is a boondoggle and needs to be broken up into multiple smaller bills. To this end if a bill is to large for you to read , please post it on-line where we could read it, and then you could have the benefit of our input - if you really care about what we think.

A public option is a public disaster - there is no way the public option can be budget neutral like some people are claiming. If you truly plan to contain costs then you will not be able to vote for the public option, my reason for saying the public options will not be budget neutral is this: Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA are broke or almost broke and the government has been running those for years and it is an institutional joke about how inefficient these programs have become.

Preventative care is not the governments responsibility. Change insurance so it is more like car insurance - it cover the catastrophes i.e. catastrophic insurance. My family and I are perfectly willing to save money by paying for our regular checkups and only have a true high end catastrophic insurance - this would save me money annually.

If you are truly concerned about improving health care for those whom you (the congress) have already promised health care please prove it by getting your colleges to put themselves under the VA or the Indian Affairs health system, instead you and your fellows in congress take a ridiculously expensive private health option paid for by us your constituents. This along with your extravagant raises during a recession - almost a depression as some in Washington have claimed during the last year- show a distinct lack of concern for what we New Mexicans think and a flippant disregard for how my hard earned taxes are spent. Finally, for this line of thought, it has long appeared to me and many of my friends that most politicians go to Washington to get rich, while this may not be true of you, it does appear to us that you are doing every thing you can to sell you loyalty to people and companies that will help you get reelected, instead you should be trusting us, your constituents, to believe you did what was best for New Mexico and for us to reelect you.

One of the best things you could do for all businesses large and small is to roll back some of the onerous federal regulations that inhibit the free market play in the health care system. Some of the Republican bills that have been blocked and ignored have some good ideas.

I believe and also teach my children that all actions have consequences, and I look forward to helping you learn this lesson at your next election. If you vote to take all my freedoms away - i.e. choices and responsibility to accept the consequences both good and bad of those choices - I will do everything I can to help defeat your reelection, but if you vote to expand my freedom - i.e. allow me the ability to profit or fail by my own actions - I will do everything I can do do ensure your reelection.

Two last things:

There is a joke that you can tell when a politician is lying by seeing when his lips are moving - this is a hard stereo type to overcome and I look forward to seeing you do it.

While I am personally taking time out of my day to respond to a form letter, I expect to only get a form letter back in response. I know you are busy talking to lobbyists so there won't be any time for you to respond and at best I might get a letter from one of your staff, even so I look forward to seeing your reply.

Sincerely

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