2. SOCIAL SECURITY: How do you propose to keep Social Security solvent?
.
Answer (its a complex problem):
.
(1) Social Security ran a $55 billion deficit in 2012, closing out three
years of consecutive cash-flow deficits as the program’s unfunded
obligations continue to grow.
U.S. Social Security Administration,
The 2013 Annual Report of the
Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and
Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds, May 31, 2013,
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2013/index.html (accessed May 31, 2013).
.
(2) With that said , the combined Social Security and Disability programs are projected to
remain solvent—that is, they are expected to have enough revenue from
payroll taxes, interest on the trust fund balance, and repayment of
borrowed trust fund dollars to pay out scheduled benefits—through 2033.
.
(3)
With the above said we need [on a long terms basis], we need more
people paying into the system with good paying jobs. People &
businesses in the underground economy (e.g. tax breaks to corporations
taking American production and manufacturing jobs offshore) might be
other areas of revenue leakage to look at);
.
(4) Another long term strategy involves
special-issue government securities (basically IOU's)
swapped out for $2.7 trillion in surplus funds grabbed by Congress to
pay for the wars and programs Congress thought was more important.
Social Security use to run cash-flow surpluses & the federal
government spent those surpluses on other federal spending, and in
return, the Treasury credited Social Security’s trust fund with
special-issue government securities. Although this $2.7 trillion in
securities is not counted in the total amount of debt held by the
public, it represents real debt that will have to be repaid. There needs
to be legislation to prevent Congress & the Treasury borrow against
social security trust fund & accelerate the payback [the $2.7
trillion security debt is reportedly not counted in the total amount of
the debt held by the public].
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/09/misleading-the-public-how-the-social-security-trust-fund-really-works. [yeah I know the Heritage folks, but I mention it to focus on the factual data in the report]
3. AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT: What are the strengths, and what are weaknesses?
.
Strengths:
.
(a)Obamacare halts insurance companies from discriminating against
citizens of the US based on disability, or because they were domestic
violence victims. (Section 2705)
(b)Obamacare eliminated lifetime
limits on coverage. For example if a baby has a serious illness and has 1
million dollars of healthcare, some insurance carriers have lifetime
caps that would preclude that child from getting any healthcare services
after the cap. (sec. 2711)
(c)-The ACA will require a limit on what
type of insurance accounts can be used to pay for OTC meds without a
prescription. (sec. 9003)
(d)Obamacare allows children to be covered
by their parent’s health insurance until the ripe old age of 26 yrs.
This is important as the daunting task of paying back student loans or
having a low paying job really puts a strain on the ability to pay
insurance premiums. (sec. 2714)
(e)The ACA creates a tax on tanning salons. This is good because we know exposure to tanning beds causes cancer. (sec. 5000B)
(f)Obamacare does away totally with “pre-existing condition for children
less than 19 years of age No more "pre-existing conditions" for kids
under the age of 19. (Citation: sec. 2704, sec. 1255)
(g)People in the
"Medicare Part D Coverage Gap" (also referred to as the "Donut Hole")
get a rebate to make up for the extra money they would otherwise have to
spend. (Citation: sec. 3301)
(h)Employers will now need to list the benefits they provided to employees on their tax forms. (Citation: sec. 9002)
(i)Insurers need to have an appeals process for when they turn down a
claim, so customers have some manner of recourse other than a lawsuit
when they're turned down. (Citation: sec. 2719)
(j)People that make a
good living according to US standards (Over 200k yearly) will have an
increase in personal taxes which equate to roughly less than one percent
of the population(Citation: sec. 9015)
(k)It allows the Food and Drug
Administration to approve more generic drugs (making for more
competition in the market to drive down prices and it also increases the
rebates on drugs people get through Medicare. (Citation: sec. 2501)
(l)Medicare patients with chronic illnesses must be monitored more thoroughly.
(m)Reduces the costs for some companies that handle benefits for the elderly (Citation: sec. 4202)
(n)Insurance carriers will now be required to disclose the details of the
benefits that they provided to their customer as opposed to being
intentionally vague about the hidden fees.
(o)Insurers have less ability to change the dollar amount customers have to pay for their plans. (Citation: sec. 2794)
(p)A new website is made to give people insurance and health information. (
http://www.healthcare.gov/). (Citation: sec. 1103)
(q)The ACA makes provisions so an insurance carrier can't just cancel a
customer’s insurance once they get sick. (Citation: sec. 2712)
(r)A
limit is placed on just how much of a percentage of the money an insurer
makes can be profit, to make sure they're not price-gouging customers.
(Citation: sec. 1101)
(s)The ACA attempts to stop waste and fraud
which are rampant in the health care system, by increasing anti-fraud
funding. (Citation: sec. 6402)
(t)The ACA requires all national chain
restaurants to disclose, as well as display, the caloric content of
their food. This should really make it better for consumers that are
trying to lead healthier lifestyles. (sec. 4205)
(u)It creates the
PCORI, which is a nonprofit entity to study best practices to see which
treatment plans are meritorious and the most cost effective.(Citation:
sec. 1181)
(v)Any new health plans must provide preventive care
(mammograms, colonoscopies, etc.) without requiring any sort of co-pay
or charge. (Citation: sec. 2713)
January 2014 is when many changes that you hear most about go into effect. See below:
(w) No more "pre-existing conditions". Period. People will be charged the
same regardless of their medical history. (Citation: sec. 2704, Page 65,
sec. 2701 sec. 1255)
(x) If you can afford insurance but do not get it,
you will be charged a fee. This is the "mandate" that people are
talking about. Basically, it's a trade-off for the "pre-existing
conditions" bit, saying that since insurers now have to cover you
regardless of what you have, you can't just wait to buy insurance until
you get sick. Otherwise no one would buy insurance until they needed it.
You can opt not to get insurance, but you'll have to pay the fee
instead, unless of course you're not buying insurance because you just
can't afford it.
(y)Medicaid can now be used by everyone up to 133% of
the poverty line (basically, many more poor people can get insurance)
(Citation: sec. 2001) (Note: The recent court ruling says that states
can opt out of this and that the Federal government cannot penalize them
by withholding Medicaid funding. At this time, nothing stops the
Federal government from simply just offering incentives to those who do
opt to do it)
(z)Small businesses can get tax credits for two years. (Citation: sec. 1421)
(aa)It makes a "high-risk pool" for people with pre-existing conditions.
Basically, this is a way to slowly ease into getting rid of
"pre-existing conditions" altogether. For now, people who already have
health issues that would be considered "pre-existing conditions" can
still get insurance, but at different rates than people without them.
(sec. 1101, sec. 2704, sec. 2702)
(bb)Businesses with over 50 employees must offer health insurance to full-time employees, or pay a penalty. (Citation: sec. 4980H)
(cc) Question: Can't businesses just fire employees or make them work
part-time to get around this requirement? Also, what about businesses
with multiple locations?
Answer: Yes and no. Switching to part-time
only won't help to get out of the requirement, as the Affordable Care
Act counts the hours worked, not the number of full-time employees you
have. If your employees worked an equivalent of 50 full-time employees'
hours, the requirement kicks in. Really, the only plausible way a
business could reasonably utilize this strategy is if they currently
operate with just over the 50-employee number, and could still operate
with fewer than 50 employees, and have no intention to expand. Also,
regarding the questions about multiple locations, this legal website
analyzed the law and claims that multiple locations in one chain all
count as a part of the same business (meaning employers like Wal-Mart
can't get around this by being under 50 employees in one store - they'd
have to be under that for the entire chain, which just won’t happen).
Independently-owned franchises are different, however, as they have a
separate owner and as such aren't included under the same net as the
parent company. However, any individual franchise with over 50 employees
will have to meet the requirement.
Having said that, the ACA only
requires employers to offer insurance to full-time employees, so
theoretically they could get out of this by reducing all employees to 29
hours or fewer a week. However, if any employees' hours go above that,
their employer will have to provide insurance or pay the penalty. And
also, this is putting aside how an employer only offering part-time work
with no insurance will affect how competitive they are on the job
market, especially when small businesses with 25 or fewer employees
actually get that aforementioned tax credit to help pay for insurance if
they choose to get it (though they are not required to provide
insurance).
(dd)Insurers now can't do annual spending caps. Their
customers can get as much health care in a given year as they need.
(Citation: sec. 2711)
(ee)Limits how expensive an annual deductible can be to customers. (Citation: sec. 1302)
(ff)Health insurance cannot discriminate against women on pricing or plan availability (Citation: sec. 1557)
(gg) Reduce costs for some Medicare spending, which in turn are put right
back into Medicare to increase its solvency. Most notably, this bill
reduces the amount that Medicare Advantage pays to be more in line with
other areas of Medicare ( Citation: Sec. 3201 and Sec. 3202 ), and
reduces the growth of Medicare payments in the future ( Citation: Sec.
3402 ). The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that
between 2012 and 2022, this will amount to $716 Billion in reduced
spending (Citation: CBO Estimate). Also $22 Billion is being cut from
the Medicare Improvement Fund, most likely because the PPACA has many of
the same duties/responsibilities, so that spending would be redundant (
Citation: Sec. 3112 ).
(hh) Place a $2500 limit on tax-free spending on
FSAs (accounts for medical spending). Basically, people using these
accounts now have to pay taxes on any money over $2500 they put into
them. (Citation: sec. 9005)
(ii) Establishes health insurance exchanges
and rebates for the lower and middle-class, basically making it so they
have an easier time getting affordable medical coverage. (Citation: sec.
1311)
(jj) Congress and Congressional staff will only be offered the
same insurance offered to people in the insurance exchanges, rather than
Federal Insurance. Basically, we won't be footing their health care
bills any more than any other American citizen. (Citation: Page sec.
1312)
(kk) A new tax on pharmaceutical companies.
(ll) A new tax on the purchase of medical devices.
(mm)A new tax on insurance companies based on their market share.
Basically, the more of the market they control, the more they'll get
taxed.
(nn) Raises the bar for how much personal medical expenses must cost before you can start deducting them from your taxes.
(oo) The following mandates will be implemented in 2015-2018
-Doctors' pay will be determined by the quality of their care, not how
many people they treat. This is a very controversial issue as there are
ways for doctors and patients to get around this one.
-If any state
can come up with their own plan, one which gives citizens the same level
of care at the same price as the PPACA, they can ask the Secretary of
Health and Human Resources for permission to do their plan instead of
the PPACA. So if they can get the same results without the mandate, they
can be allowed to do so. Vermont, for example, has expressed a desire
to just go straight to single-payer (in simple terms, everyone is
covered, and medical expenses are paid by taxpayers). (Citation: sec.
1332)
-All health care plans must now cover preventive care (not just the new ones).
-A new tax on "Cadillac" health care plans (more expensive plans for rich people who want fancier coverage).
-The elimination of the "Medicare gap"
(pp)See more at:
http://blackhealthtv.com/content/obamacare-made-simpler#sthash.sspGX91Z.oOT8l22B.dpuf
.
Weaknesses:
.
(a) It is not single payer [which I would push for transitioning to - HR 676]
(b) The ACA
was not a direct promise that people would get the medical care they
need; it has become more of a complex "drive-people-to-buy-coverage"
program, that may or may not be affordable depending on how much of the
claims are denied, paid in part or shaved down with co-pays and heavy
deductibles.
(c) Driving people to insurance companies, who still will have claims
people involved in the authorization and payment decision-making
processes and does not put any caps on how fast premiums can go up, may
not solve access to care problems; single payer would solve the problem.
.
4. ENERGY: What changes would you support in energy law?
.
Answers:
.
(a) in areas with high energy renewability, allow (and maybe encourage) development of Tessla
type DC systems for homes and businesses, so energy generated by wind
and solar in peak production times, can be stored vs being lost by
turning off the energy producing motors because of line capacity (grid)
problems [why? we can't afford the expansion of the electrical
transmission lines and related infrastructure];
(b) promote low energy lights and appliances to reduce energy demands (and related pollution) without losing quality of life;
(c)
develop a comprehensive policy which recognized we are predominately a
mix of coal, natural gas and nuclear fuel generated power today and if
we are going to create a reliable renewable energy industry, we need to
decide (i) if and how we deal with natural gas production &
tertiary oil related fracking, (ii) coal mining and burning
industries' impact on our air and water quality, (iii) if the
opposition to solar and wind farms on public lands is in the nation's
best interest & (iv) what do we do with the so-called nuclear
alternative;
(d) oppose the Keystone project as a job and new domestic oil production killer & promote domestic fields (like the Bakken Reserve);
(e) give the renewables the same research and development tax breaks as oil and coal get;
5. LABOR: Should the Minimum Wage be raised to $10.10? Why, or why not?
.
Answer: Yes.
No matter how you
calculate it, minimum wage
has flat-lined over the past
50 years. That's the finding
in a 2012 study from the
Center for Economic Policy
Research. The study reads,
"By all of the most commonly
used benchmarks - inflation,
average wages, and
productivity - the minimum
wage is now far below its
historical level." If wages
had kept up with
productivity gains since
1968, it would be nearly $22
dollars an hour.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
cited the study in a Senate
Committee Hearing last week,
calling for the national
minimum wage to be tripled.
While questioning University
of Massachusetts Amerherst
Professor, Dr. Arindrajit
Dube, who has studied the
economic impact of minimum
wage, Warren said, "with a
minimum wage of $7.25 an
hour, what happened to the
other $14.75? It sure didn't
go to the worker."
Dube said if wages had
kept pace with income going
to the top 1%, today it
would stand at $33 an hour.
Productivity gains show
Americans are working harder
than ever, and profits have
skyrocketed over the last
half century. It's time
businesses in our nation
start rewarding that hard
work, and start paying
workers a living wage.
In an LA Times online article dated January 13, 2014, "[a] study by Arindrajit Dube
of the University of Massachusetts concluded that the 39% increase in the federal
minimum wage
proposed by Harkin and Miller would immediately reduce the poverty rate among
America's nonelderly population by
1.7 percentage points. Over time, the reduction would be 2.5
points. That's 4.6 million people lifted out of poverty immediately, and 6.8
million over time. That means that the minimum wage increase would play "a modest but important
role in reducing poverty and raising family incomes at the bottom," Dube writes.
Since the poverty rate among the non-elderly rose by about 3.8 percentage points
during the great recession, he adds, the proposed increase would reverse at
least half that loss. Other recent research underscores the value of raising the minimum wage now
and deflates many conservative talking points. David Cooper of the Economic
Policy Institute shows that, contrary to the conservative notion that the
typical minimum wage-earner is a kid supplementing his middle-class family's
income, 52% are in households with
income of less than $40,000 a year. One third are ages 30 to
55 -- in fact, more are older than 55 than are teenagers. The average share of
family income that would be provided by a minimum wage earner at $10.10 is
50%".
The weak wage growth is contributing to investor jitter. In an online LA Times article on 2/3/2014, it was stated:
"A
stream of negative economic reports has revived fear about the
health of the U.S. economy, causing stocks to suffer their worst day in
seven months and adding to a 7% decline since mid-January.Stocks were
pounded by discouraging data released Monday on manufacturing, auto
sales and construction spending".
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-us-stocks-20140204,0,5409439.story#ixzz2sQ7UnNn8.
In Obama's
State of the Union earlier this year,
President Obama called for bringing the minimum wage back up to the
same value it had at the beginning of the Reagan Administration and for
permanently indexing it to inflation, so it does not experience the same
erosion in purchasing power that has happened over the past three
decades. And he called for increasing the minimum wage received by
workers who rely mostly on tips – which hasn’t been raised for over two
decades.
After all, the economic case for a minimum wage increase is clear.
For workers and their families, it provides a boost to their income that
both helps them make ends meet and
increases spending
in the broader economy. (And the impact is particularly significant for
women, who make up over 60 percent of those who would benefit from a
minimum wage increase – and two-thirds of workers making the tipped
minimum wage.) For businesses, it can help
reduce “churn,”
increasing retention in ways that avoid the cost of hiring and training
new workers. Combined with other policies – from job training
initiatives to tax credits for working families to investing in early
childhood education.
.
6. IMMIGRATION: What changes would you support in Immigration policy?
Answer:
(1)
provide a pathway for citizenship. I support the President's 4 point
plan [strengthening border security, streamlining legal immigration,
earned citizenship & cracking down on employers violating the law];
the republicans want to stonewall it to try and make it an election
issue--let's make it one [in our district 35.9% are Hispanic]
.
(2) While the Dream Act makes sense [e.g. giving a
people to study, achieve and pursue lawful businesses], funding is a
problem for the benefit stream under the varying scenarios
Maybe
if we enforced the sanction laws passed in 1981 again corporate
employers that systematically bring illegals over to get cheap labor
under substandard conditions, we'd have a fund to support the Dream Act
better
7. EDUCATION: What changes would you support in Federal Education policy?
.
Answer:
.
(1) in the State of the Union Obama only talked about expanding pre-K
and job training programs--while necessary to get young parent(s)
started in the job market and to improve the chances of success in
elementary schools, we need to talk about teacher training and holding
the teacher prep programs accountable and assuring an equitable
distribution of high quality teachers [
http://www.dfer.org/2014/01/the_state_of_th.php]
.
(2) Not be afraid to look at and fund pilot programs modelled after successful educational models such as Finlands
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/from-finland-an-intriguing-school-reform-model.htm]
where teachers pend 4 hours a day in the classroom and 2 hours in
professional development every day [as opposed to our two to four times a
year half day "in service trainings"]. Finland does not start formal
education until age 7 and scorns homework
and testing until well into the teenage years, yet scored at the top of a
well-respected
international test in 2001 in math, science and reading, it has been an object of fascination among American educators and policy makers. Finlandophilia only picked up when the nation placed close to the top
again in 2009, while the United States ranked 15th in reading, 19th in
math and 27th in science.
.
(3) Leave "No Child Left Behind" behind--we don't need it.
8. MILITARY & VETERANS: What changes would you support in Military and Veterans’ Policies?
.
Answer:
.
(1) I disagree with the
pension cut law for working vets [The plan to trim pension increases
for working-age military retirees is by far the most controversial
provision in a
bipartisan budget deal approved by Congress and
signed last week by
President Obama, taking $6 billion taken from military pensions over
the next decade]. All we had to do is order a few less F-35 fighters
which had a 2011 $133 million unit price over than ten year period
[roughly 45 fewer than the 2,443 the Pentagon is ordering].
.
(2) Overall, military compensation — including health benefits and salaries
paid to active-duty personnel — eats up roughly half the defense budget,
a proportion that is steadily rising. In a speech in November,
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
warned that “without serious attempts to achieve significant savings”
in military compensation, “we risk becoming an unbalanced force.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/younger-veterans-outraged-by-budget-cuts-to-their-pension-benefits/2013.
Various ways might include:
.
(i) Reduce reliance on private contractors who get paid many times more
than trained military personnel for work & use that money to cover
some of the compensation cost increases;
.
(ii) Use diplomatic initiatives and bilateral pacts to help shoulder some of the overseas expense;
.
(3) With Lockheed Martin having plants or major
subcontractors in 37 of the 50 states, they have far too much power over
the defense budget dialogue (and elections) even before Citizen United.
Analysts in the Pentagon and government procurement should have a
lifetime ban from being able to be hired by any defense contractor whose
projects they oversaw.
.
(4) Look at bases' need utilizing updated and realistic threat assessments.
.
9. THE ECONOMY: What Federal Role in the Economy do you support? Oppose?
.
Answer:
.
(1)
Need federal laws, policies and appropriate budgets to try and stop
corporate fraud in the banking and investments sector; we need
regulations to prevent the theft of Americans' home investments,
retirement plans, 401k's & IRA's;
.
(2) Need to aggressively protect American industry
against foreign dumping of cheap industrial products (steel, tires, auto
parts, etc) where the intent is to put out of business American heavy
industries, not to just save American jobs, but protect industrial
infrastructure for current and future strategic purposes;
.
(3) The Federal Reserve Bank needs to be better &
more often scrutinized [at minimum]. The Federal Reserve Bank should
also not be allowed to purchase paper with money they print without
regard to the ability of the nation to back the currency and create
trillions in debt for the nation without the advise and consent of the
US Senate.
.
(4) The federal government needs to set and or update
realistic water and air quality standards and related protocols for
clean-up;
.
(5) The federal government should continue
to set safety standards for workers, workplaces and interstate
transportation systems;
.
(6) Salt grants should be available (not predatory SBA loans) for small start-up businesses;
.
10. HOUSE COMMITTEES: Which committees would you like to serve on, and why?
.
Answer: House
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure [deals with
transportation, infrastructure, water resources, environment, railroads,
pipelines and hazardous materials, emergency management & economic
development]. This Committee and its related subcommittees deals
with issues directly impacting our district and in a greater sense
California because of its growth, the strain on and or threats to our
natural resources. I could help the District being on the Committee. One of the subcommittee to the Homeland Security Committee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies would also be something I could have a positive impact on
