Rep. Marshall: Health care bill ‘first chapter in a new book’

Clay Center Dispatch (KS)

April 17--US Rep. Roger Marshall didn't have a lot of easy answers for constituents at his stop in Clay Center last week.

Constituents asked Marshall at Thursday's town hall meeting about a variety of concerns -- from health care and the environment to immigration reform and other issues affecting Kansans.

In his opening comments, Marshall called the health care bill proposed by the president, which he voted for, the "most important" thing Congress is working on. He called it a "first chapter in a new book." Marshall said he and his colleagues have been working on a fix for the health care bill for over a year and he believes the tweaks will help keep Kansas hospitals open, as well as defund Planned Parenthood and focus on people who need assistance with their health care the most, including the disabled, elderly, and those needing mental health and substance abuse services.

"We do care about those people," Marshall said, adding that the law should "prioritize" the neediest first.

When asked about health saving accounts, Marshall said he was open to consideration and he would need to see a proposal on what specifically it would entail before he would support that.

When asked about expanding Medicaid and Medicare, Marshall said "you can keep expanding it, but it doesn't mean they'll have access to health care" because only one out of three doctors will accept Medicaid.

When asked by someone receiving insurance through the Affordable Care what he would do to protect parts of the Affordable Care Act that help working Americans, Marshall said tax credits might be the answer.

"I hope at the end of the day what your out-of-pocket expense is real close to what you're paying now, but it's real hard for me to promise that," he said. "But we're setting up tax credits based on your age, for the older you are, the larger your tax credit will be."

Those who are "high risk" because of a pre-existing condition or other issue will put into a special pool that will help keep their health care costs down as well.

"We understand that's a big issue, we're tying to set aside some money just for that particular situation," he said.

On other issues:

DEFICIT AND BUDGET -- Marshall said with a Republican president and a Republican Congress, they have "a chance to reduce" the federal deficit and deregulation of businesses would in part help that by stimulating the economy. He said they also have "to figure out how to stop spending so much" and the president's plan to reduce all department budgets except the military by 15 percent is a step in that direction.

"We're doing everything we can to present opportunity to save money," he said.

He also said he does not sequestering or shutting down the government, as that affects everyone, including funding for critical access hospitals like Clay County Medical Center.

Marshall said Congress will have to work together to pass a budget and a few on "far, far right" are keeping them from doing that.

TAX REFORM -- Marshall said he supports tax reform, particularly for agriculture.

IMMIGRATION REFORM -- Marshall said he understands Kansas agribusiness needs immigrant labor to function and he supports changing immigration law to make it easier for immigrants to be here to work legally with a "simpler work visa process."

He also wants to ensure we don't have "an overload" of immigrants and to "secure the border" to keep out criminal activity including drugs and criminals.

"I'm not a big fan of saying we have to build a wall," Marshall said. "I'm in favor of securing the border -- I think that can be done with fences in some places, UAV's (unmanned aerial vehicles) in places, technology ... It doesn't have to be a wall in my eyes."

TRADE -- As a new Congressman, Marshall said he was surprised by the number of people he's come across who wanted to talk about trade, as it affects many Kansans and farmers especially. He said he supports fair trade negotiations, hopes to play a positive role in those negotiations as a Congressman and he advised constituents "don't take everything President Trumps says quite literally," as he's backed down from the things he said on the campaign trail, including what he said about NATO and trade agreements.

"I'm hoping with the opportunity to get the right people in place, we can start working more on trade," he said.

EPA, ENVIRONMENT -- Marshall said he opposes "EPA overreach" including using "Waters of the USA" law to regulate storm water run-off other than in "navigable streams" and rivers.

He said he's "a big fisher and a hunter" and cares about the environment. He has helped plant trees and develop wetlands and supports making the environment cleaner, particularly the air and streams.

But especially on climate change policies, he said he wants to make sure they use "common sense" and build on "sound science," that he knows the costs versus the benefits, because"a lot of that is politically driven and exaggerated."

NATIONAL SECURITY -- Marshall said he and other Republicans in Congress support the president's decision for missile strikes in Syria and bombing Afghanistan. He said ISIS "is a problem" and he would "declare war on them tomorrow if I could."

"My opinion is that for the last eight years, America has been stepping away and walking away from all these issues and now no one respects us," Marshall said. "And because of that, we're sitting on an even bigger time bomb. We need to have a stronger presence, a stronger military. I believe in peace through strength."

He said he's "very concerned" about developing issues, but he added he doesn't think it's as bad as the press makes it out to be, but rather, Trump and Putin "playing chicken with each other."

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