1. What do members of Congress/Senate pay for their health insurance? Mike answered honestly and said he didn't know because he opted out of government-provided health insurance. Mike offered to find out for him.
2. American Cancer Society (lobbyist) - A lady representing AMS asked Mike to consider budgeting more federal funds for her organization. I really liked one of Mike's replies to her request. He said "When you're broke, you're broke." This really resonated with the audience and the crowd applauded this statement. Now, personally, I resented this request from the AMS rep. We just watched a slideshow showing the out of control tidal wave of debt coming our way, and the lady just stood up afterwards and asked Mike Kelly to give her organization more money? Did she step out of the room for the first half hour and not hear about how we have got to make cuts or there won't be any money for anyone? I am sick of lobbyists! It doesn't help I'm not a big fan of AMS to begin with, but that's for another day.
3. Foreign Aid - Another gentlemen had this to say: "Country is broke…..Why are we giving so much money to other countries when we don't have it? I was raised to take care of my own family first and then if there is any money left over, to help others. Why don't we do that with our own country?" Generally, Mike stated he understood his concerns but he believes that there should be some international funding. How much and for what issue was not specified. Personally, I was hoping to hear him say that he was going to fight to cut our international spending. Other audience members also voiced concerns about the amount of foreign aid going out to other countries when we don’t have the money. I hope Mike picked up on it.
4. American Society of Engineers – another plea from a lobbyist.
5. Patriot Act - One audience member voiced concerns about Mike Kelly voting to extend the Patriot Act. He doesn’t like that it loosely defines terrorists and he doesn’t like the term “Domestic Terrorist”. He believes that it gives too much undefined power to the government and it could be used to spy on anyone who doesn’t agree with the current administration. Mike defended his reasons for voting for the Patriot Act. He believes that it will help track down terrorists and protect the American people. After the audience questioned if he read the bill, Mike replied that he did.
The Patriot Act was brought up several more times by audience members. It is obvious there are concerns by many and I think Mike would be wise to explain the Patriot Act renewal and his vote for the Patriot Act in more detail in a future newsletter.
6. John – a businessman from Crawford County
**Will you vote to extend the debt ceiling? Mike said he will not vote to extend the debt ceiling unless there is some unforeseeable extreme circumstance that demands it. John responded that it sounded like Mike gave himself a back door with that statement. I agree with John.
**What is your stance on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? Mike is against it. He believes it was unnecessary. It was passed during the Lame Duck session.
The audience members went on to talk or ask more questions about a variety of subjects such as the Post Office, high-speed rail, social security, retiree health insurance...Mike handled himself well. He wasn't afraid to face the questions. My only critique is he wasn't always very specific with his answers, and when he didn't know the answer (which is understandable), he should have promised to get back to that person. He did offer to follow through on some, but not all.
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