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Current health care reform plans failing, Boehner says

Not enough consensus, too many Americans are agaist the plan, he tells group at chamber event.

The U.S. House Minority Leader talks with Middletown Vice Mayor Anita Scott Jones Monday, March 1, after a Chamber of Commerce event.

Staff photo by Gary Stelzer The U.S. House Minority Leader talks with Middletown Vice Mayor Anita Scott Jones Monday, March 1, after a Chamber of Commerce event.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 8:46 AM Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Even a “White House séance” can do little to revive current health care reform legislation, as U.S. Rep. John Boehner said there is not enough consensus and too many constituents against it.

“If the American people stay engaged in this fight, I don’t think (current health care reform) is going to happen,” the House Minority Leader and West Chester Twp. Republican told an audience of about 140 residents, business leaders and politicians at a special speaking engagement Monday, March 1, at the Manchester Inn. The Chamber of Commerce Serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton sponsored the event.

Health care was the main topic of the hourlong discussion updating residents on the developments in Washington.

While Boehner said there are about eight to 10 points in the current health care legislation most Republicans agree with, he said Congress and the president need to find more common ground and not just “have some Republican crumbs sprinkled on top.”

Big points of contention remain with requiring all Americans to purchase health care and fining employers that don’t offer insurance. While “well-intentioned,” he said these items would have an adverse affect on the economy.

“What it is going to do is raise the cost of employment in a time where people are asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’ ” Boehner said.

He called the tea parties “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of the fear Americans have for the future because of all the political upheaval. Boehner also said fear of the future may be behind the five opponents he faces this year for re-election — the most he’s campaigned against since taking the 8th District seat in 1990.

Tom McMasters, one of his Republican opponents who was in attendance, said while he agreed with most of Boehner’s comments on health care, he said it was similar “to what you’d hear on the news” and that all Americans have been forced to pay for health care for years before now.

“People have been required to buy Medicare for years. You’ve all been paying for it, you’re just not paying for it for yourself,” he said.

Deficit spending must be reined in, Boehner says

While health care still looms large in Washington, U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner said even more pertinent to American politics are the talks on how to rein in the federal deficit.

During a special event Monday, March 1, at the Manchester Inn, the Republican congressman from West Chester Twp. conceded to an audience of 140 that “some of the Bush years weren’t very good, but we have got to get serious about the money we are spending.”

In terms of the budget deficit, according to an October 2008 report by the Bush administration, there was a federal budget deficit of $454.8 billion at the end of his presidency, at that time the highest in history .

In January, White House officials said they expect the government to post budget deficits of $1.556 trillion in fiscal year 2010.

Noting that legislators were able to balance the budget in the latter Clinton years, Boehner said following the event Monday that he believed spending got out of hand after Sept. 11 , when large funds were expended for the Department of Homeland Security and to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, he said none of these three areas could afford to lose funding and said he would rather see cuts made to three “entitlement programs” — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

“I think they are important programs, but they aren’t sustainable in the long-term,” he said. “We need to figure out ways to control that spending.”

Boehner specifically cited concerns involving Medicare, which he said would “swell to levels I can’t imagine” as more baby boomers start to retire.

In terms of the war in Afghanistan, Boehner said he has supported President Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops and begin training Afghanistan army and police forces for a U.S. withdrawal.

However, he said there are too many restrictions on troops and that the “Christmas bomber” serves as an example that you “can’t treat terrorists like common criminals. They don’t deserve the same kind of rights.”

It was a point Roger Brandenburg, event attendee and development director for Middletown Christian Schools, said he agreed with strongly, adding that current policies on terrorists’ rights “are tying our hands” and have a direct impact on how U.S. troops fight terrorists in Afghanistan.

A year after the stimulus bill passed, Boehner said he still maintains it did not create jobs, with the unemployment rate now above 10 percent and another 4 million people out of work.

He said he is working with the Obama administration on a “jobs tax credit” on which both Democrats and Republicans can agree, but added that more needs to be done today to relieve employment uncertainties.

“We are in the middle of a political rebellion in America. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this and I don’t think anyone alive in America today has seen anything like this,” he said.

The upheaval has led to a lot of calls for change in Washington, Boehner said, which may be behind the five opponents he may face in the November election.

He added that he would like to see Republicans pick up 40 seats in the House, which he said could make him speaker of the House. The idea was met with applause.

State Sen. Gary Cates, also a West Chester Twp. Republican, who attended the event, said he believes Boehner will have no trouble winning re-election, and noted it would be “a tremendous thing” for him to become speaker.

“We need his service, especially now,” Cates said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843  or jheffner@coxohio.com.

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