Post a Comment On: Bakersfield Observed

 
 Once again we turn over the microphone to Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, for his weekly update. Feel free to post some comments.

 "Our nation had a sad week with the events at Fort Hood and my thoughts and prayers are with those that were affected.
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 "No trip home to Bakersfield for me this weekend.  Instead of addressing the highest unemployment rate in 26 years (10.2%), the House will stay in session as Speaker Pelosi and Democratic leaders have decided to debate and vote on the future of health care reform in America.  I am glad there will be time given to consider the alternative my Republican colleagues and I have offered.  I believe that Congress should be a marketplace for new ideas to solve our nation’s issues; we should be able to consider many ideas before deciding on which one is the best for the American people based on its merits.

 "One way to consider the merit of different ideas is to do a side-by-side comparison.  My Republican colleagues and I offered a common sense alternative to Speaker Pelosi’s bill, which I oppose, and
I want to lay out a comparison of the different ideas for your own analysis.  The Pelosi bill is 2,032 pages long; the Republican proposal is 219 pages.  The cost of the Pelosi bill is $1.3 trillion; the cost of the Republican plan is $61 billion.  Premiums under the Pelosi bill will go up with new mandates and taxes on small businesses.  Under the Republican solution, small businesses with 2-50 employees, premiums are expected to decline by as much as 10%.  Under Pelosi’s bill, Medicare will be cut $505 billion over 10 years; under the Republican plan, there will be no cuts to Medicare.  A full side-by-side comparison of the two approaches is available on my website (kevinmccarthy.house.gov), along with links to both Speaker
Pelosi’s bill and the Republican common-sense alternative.  Also on my website, you can tell me if you approve or disapprove of Speaker Pelosi’s bill (H.R. 3962) by taking a short yes/no survey.

 "While I know it is the weekend, stay tuned in to what is going on in the House, it will be very interesting as President Obama is supposed to visit the Hill Saturday morning to lobby Democratic members that
are still opposed to the Pelosi bill, I hope the Blue Dog Democrat stay strong in their conviction of not increasing the size of government.  As for a final vote on Pelosi’s bill, I am predicting that the only bipartisan vote will be one in opposition.  To get the latest on what the House decides to do this weekend and if you have a blackberry, download the WhipCast,
(http://republicanwhip.house.gov/WhipCast) that will provide real time updates.

 Always good to see people from home, and this week the Masten Space Systems team from Mojave was in Washington collecting a check for their win in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge sponsored by
NASA.  I posted some pictures of their visit on facebook.com/CongressmanKevinMcCarthy and if you would like to read more about their project please visit: http://www.masten-space.com/. Their achievements are an inspiration to us all!