Answer from: U.S. Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL)

“One manifestation of the insurance companies not being subject to those laws is that they have a lot of leeway to deny coverage to people. Now there’s nothing state law can do about that. And in effect as an industry they can make certain kinds of decisions like there are certain kinds of illnesses that we won’t cover. That in effect is an industry wide decision that’s made that wouldn’t be permissible if you had, if they’d been covered by anti-trust laws. Or maybe more relevantly today if we struck down the ban on preexisting illness exclusions.

Answered on Dec 11th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

I’m pro-life. I think that women deserve better than abortion. I actually have come up with a new bill that’s called Care for life, because even people who might disagree with me on the issue, I think what we can do is to mitigate the circumstances in which someone who may feel abandoned without financial or emotional support seeks abortion. So to provide a community-based response that helps people make what is, in my view, a prudential choice. It is a new initiative that we’ve undertaken to address the issue a little bit differently. But again, I’m pro-life.

Answered on Dec 10th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)

Poe: “Myself and Congressman Delahunt from Massachusetts are the two congressional representatives to the UN. And the times we’ve been up there we have met with numerous people about Darfur. Trying to motivate people to do anything other than talk about it. Its been a tough struggle. But we keep the heat on as much as we can. And I just met with numerous ambassadors from other countries and UN officials. The UN mission statement would be first and foremost that we help the Darfurians.

Answered on Dec 10th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)

When the Consitution's changed. It's hard to change the constitution. You got to get Congress to pass it by 75 percent, by two-thirds in the Senate and the House. And 75 percent of the states have to go along with it.

Answered on Dec 10th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL)

Well that’s something that’s going to be, I’m saying as it relates to price controls, but we’re going to be dealing with energy in the upcoming session. We’ve been going step by step on bills with energy. We did a lot of renewable energy in the last session, the 110th Congress. We worked a lot on raising CAFÉ standards.

Answered on Nov 21st, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)

We’ve got to address the problem with debt in this country. The government has to stop running itself on a credit card and Americans need to get out of debt. And the exorbitant interest rates that are charged on these credit cards, I’d love to address because there comes a point where you got to say, at what point does it become loan sharking and the other part a fair and equitable reasonable amount of money to expect a return on the borrowed money, so anything we can do to help people get out of debt in this country should be a priority.

Answered on Nov 21st, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

There’s actually been a misconception throughout the country that members of Congress do not get social security.  The fact of the matter is members of Congress do get Social Security and we’ve had a debate in this country as people know over the future direction of that program.  My view is that it has been one of the most successful programs coming out of the post depression era, trying to make sure that the senior citizens in this country have dignity in retirement, have a source of income during their retirement, at least

Answered on Oct 15th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Answered on Oct 15th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Well people are being squeezed economically all over this country.

You see rising gas prices.

Rising food costs, the cost of going to college are higher and higher, which is why it is essential that we provide a student loan program and extend Pell Grant program, but some of these basic costs we need to work hard to try to drive them down over time, which is one of the reasons its so important in the area of energy for example.

Answered on Oct 15th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-OR)

Well first of all we don’t have a health care system in this country. Hopefully that’s one of the things that will happen with the new president. When you talk to small businesses, large businesses, people that have their own business, they all agree, most of the people I talk to agree, that we really do need a healthcare system in this country. Hopefully that will be started on this next year, and we can get it accomplished, but its gonna take a little while to make it happen. Reporter: What about the whole question of cost, which your Republican colleagues will definitely bring up?

Answered on Sep 25th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)

Well I would think that as long as you are on a public sidewalk that you can do that, just as if someone was striking and they march around with a sign and keep moving. There are certain rules that you can’t just sit in front and block the doorway. But if you are moving and not obstructing anything in that regards. And you have a sign in front of you, as long as you are moving that is freedom of speech and I would think he has a right to do that.” Reporter: You think there might be a better way to get his money back? Meeks: Yeah, if the employer owes him money take him to court.

Answered on Sep 19th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)

I guess I need to really look at that. That’s an interesting idea. I’m not gonna respond to that until I see whether there is any efficacy to what the person is saying, but that’s an interesting idea. I am convinced that one of the things that is necessary with social security is to make sure we stop raiding the fund first of all. And secondarily we need to allow people some flexibility, because there are only three ways to affect the ultimate pay out. That is either pay more in, or take less out, or do something different with the investment mechanism of what’s put in.

Answered on Sep 19th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-FL)

Well as someone who had a family situation where my dad did not have health insurance, I had to drop out of college and go to work; I have a strong personal opinion that we should mandate some sort of health coverage, but I’d like it private with choice. I think right now we really have some of that, but I think some folks without health insurance end up using the system, maybe not paying for the system. But everybody should have access to health care in this country.

Reporter: Do you think the government has dropped the ball on it?

Answered on Sep 15th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Actually 1.5 million is too much to be receiving farm subsidies.  The difference is it was 2.5 million and now it’s down to 1.5 million.  And that’s for a couple but $750,000 per individual.  I would liked to have seen a huge drop below that but what you find out around here is if you can get big incremental moves like a third lower than that’s heading the right direction and you better grab a one third incremental move in the right direction and keep pushing to get better.

Answered on Aug 7th, 2008

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)

Mr. Meyer, I voted against the farm bill because I could not see any rationale for the farm bill. I was very upset that we are continuing to pay subsidies to people who make $1.5 million. There’s a lot that’s wrong with the current farm bill. I voted against it. I was one of only three members of the agriculture committee to vote against it. So I don’t think it was a good bill for the United States or for the average citizen. It’s a good bill for a lot of special interests groups but not good for this country.

Answered on Aug 7th, 2008