-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Reply from Congressman Bob Goodlatte Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 13:15:26 -0400 From: Congressman Bob Goodlatte To: Dear Mr. Evans: Thank you for contacting me regarding the full repeal of the Presidents health care law, welfare reform, and the atrocious acts of terror against Americans in Benghazi, Libya. I appreciate hearing from you. I share your concern about Obamacare and have voted over 40 times to repeal, defund, or dismantle Obamacare. I have fought President Obamas health care law since its earliest stages, voting against the bill when it passed the Democrat-controlled 111th Congress. As you know, the Supreme Court concluded their examination of the constitutional validity of President Obamas health care law in March 2012. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court handed down their much anticipated decision. In the narrow 5-4 decision the Court ruled the individual mandate, the centerpiece of the Presidents health care law, unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause. However, the Court upheld the individual mandate as a tax, striking a blow to the principle of limited government that is laid out in our Constitution and delivering a very bad result for the American people. In light of the Supreme Courts decision, the House of Representatives moved swiftly to pass bipartisan legislation, once again, to fully repeal Obamacare on July 11, 2012. This legislation passed the House by a vote of 244 – 185, and was subsequently sent to the Senate. However, the 112th Congress completed its legislative business on January 3, 2013, without Senate action on this piece of legislation. In the 113th Congress, I am a co-sponsor of H.R. 45, legislation to fully repeal Obamacare. H.R. 45 passed the House on May 16, 2013, by a vote of 229-195. This legislation now awaits action by the United States Senate. You may rest assured that I will fight for the repeal of this sweeping new health care law which will dramatically impact every family, taxpayer and business in America and I will work to see it replaced with commonsense reforms that lower health care costs and empower patients. You also contacted me regarding welfare reform. In 1996, Congress and the Clinton Administration succeeded in overhauling the nations failed welfare system, imposing real work requirements to help break the welfare cycle of dependency. Under the law, all able-bodied participants must work or look for work in order to receive benefits. This program has been tremendously successful in helping families achieve self-sufficiency and efficiently moving welfare recipients into the workplace. However, it would seem that the Obama Administration is now prepared to unravel this progress. Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) quietly issued guidance to states regarding the TANF program that could effectively gut the critical work requirements at the center of welfare reform. The HHS guidance expresses the Secretarys willingness to allow states to seek waivers of work requirements for welfare recipients for the first time since the TANF program was created. The Obama Administrations step toward exempting states from work requirements is of great concern and is not the laws intent. This is just another example of this Administrations overreach and unending attempts to act contrary to the intent of the laws passed by Congress. You may be pleased to know I have cosponsored H.R. 890, The Preserving Work Requirements for Welfare Programs Act of 2013. This legislation outlines the success of welfare reform, including increasing the employment of single mothers and significantly reducing welfare dependency, while noting that child poverty rates in female-headed households are still below pre-reform levels. The legislation also states that the authors of the 1996 bill did not intend for the work provisions to be waived, and that last years HHS Information Memorandum suggesting states may waive work requirements should be withdrawn. H.R. 890 was introduced by Congressman Dave Camp of Michigan and was passed by the House on March 13, 2013. It has been referred to the Senate where it awaits further action. Rest assured as a cosponsor of this legislation I will work to have it signed into law. Additionally, for nearly three years, the Congress has been engaged in an intense debate about the best path forward to reauthorize the Farm Bill. Given the current financial difficulties facing our nation we must make reforms to all our federal priorities. If the fiscal challenges that confront our nation go unaddressed, every sector of our economy, including the agriculture sector, will be hurt. Over the last 10 years the SNAP program has grown by 270%, and nutrition programs account for 79% of the funding in the FARRM Act. The bill provided reforms that would close loopholes, reduce waste and abuse, and increase the integrity of the program to ensure SNAP serves only those households who qualify for the program. It is important to note that families that qualify for SNAP benefits under the SNAP program will continue to receive benefits. These reforms are meant to help target SNAP benefits to those in need. These are necessary reforms to ensure the integrity of the SNAP program. I believe that any program that has grown so rapidly needs fundamental reform, to ensure that the program is still meeting its intended goals. We need reforms to ensure the integrity of the program and ensure that it is accomplishing its purpose to help meet the nutritional necessities of those most in need. Further, we need to focus on how to get benefits to those truly in need as effectively and efficiently as possible. As you may know on January 29, 2014, the House of Representative passed, with my support, the conference report for H.R. 2642, the Ag Act or Farm Bill by a vote of 251-166. On February 4, 2014, the Senate passed the conference report by a vote of 72-22. President Obama signed the five-year farm bill into law on February 7, 2014. As President Ronald Reagan said, We should measure welfares success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added. Our nation has a choice – a future where those in need have the opportunity to succeed or a future dependent upon welfare. Instead of making more Americans dependent on the federal government and moving the welfare system backward, Congress and the Obama Administration should focus on job creation and spurring economic growth. I understand that increasing food prices are hitting hard-working people all across America. I am proud to work with organizations like Americas Second Harvest that provide hunger assistance to more than 20 million Americans. In my capacity as the Vice Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, I am dedicated to ensuring that the United States maintains the worlds safest and most abundant food supply. Additionally, you contacted me regarding the atrocious acts of terror against Americans in Benghazi, Libya. Like most Americans, I am deeply disturbed by the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. This terrorist attack was carried by a group of hostile Islamic radicals and resulted in the deaths of United States Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. I am also very troubled by the response to the attack by the Obama Administration. Initially, the Obama Administration declared that the attacks were a response to a low-budget film produced in the United States available on YouTube that derides the Islamic religion. This was inaccurate and a testament to the Presidents terrible mishandling of the situation. Additionally, it appears that the Obama Administration was informed of security concerns by U.S. officials on the ground in Libya, but failed to respond to repeated requests for additional security and continued to systematically withdraw security personnel. Since the Benghazi attack, the President and his Administration have not been forthright with Congress and the American people about the Administrations prior knowledge of security concerns in Libya or its decision to initially communicate to the American people that the attacks stemmed from a demonstration inspired by a YouTube video rather than revealing the likely al-Qaeda connections of the parties responsible. The House Committees on the Judiciary, Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight and Government Reform took action to perform the necessary oversight, reviewing hundreds of pages of documents, conducting interviews, and holding congressional hearings. The Obama Administration has continued to present conflicting information and defy repeated requests for documents, demonstrating its complete disregard for congressional oversight. The Administrations continued outright stonewalling, coupled with new revelations of withheld documents, has made it clear that the next appropriate step in this investigation is a Select Committee to focus solely on this issue. On May 8, 2014, the House of Representatives passed, with my support, H. Res. 567, which establishes a House Select Committee on Benghazi to investigate the events surrounding the terrorist attack on September 11, 2012. My colleague and Judiciary Committee member, Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, is an excellent choice to lead this panel, examine all the evidence, and follow the facts to find the truth regarding Benghazi. Acts of terrorism against the United States will not be tolerated. Those who made these poor and costly decisions must be held accountable. The American people and the families of the victims have waited for answers for far too long and deserve to know the whole truth. I appreciate you taking the time to contact me. I feel it is important to keep an open line of communication so I can best serve the interests of Virginias 6th District. I hope you will continue to be in touch as the 113th Congress debates issues of importance to the United States. Again, thank you for the benefit of your comments. Please feel free to contact me whenever I may be of assistance. With kind regards. Sincerely, Bob Goodlatte Member of Congress
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 21:28:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015