On the Issues
Create Jobs:
Fortunately, the economy is now showing signs of early recovery as housing sales improve and the stock market rallies. However, this remains a delicate and critical time. The national unemployment rate is hovering near 10%, making job creation the top priority of our next Congresswoman. It is crucial that we ensure that jobseekers can find employment and that those who are employed do not live in constant fear of having their hours cut or being laid off.
New jobs will be created in small businesses, in the service industry, and in companies fueled by new technologies and scientific innovation. Having incentives for, and removing the barriers to, job creation by small and large businesses is incredibly important. Having well trained or re-trained workers who can readily move into those new jobs is necessary as well. We can also encourage job growth by funding long overdue infrastructure projects like fixing our roads and repairing bridges across the district.
Luckily, to foster job growth and meet the challenges of a competitive global economy, we only need to capitalize on America's world renowned creativity, resourcefulness and ingenuity.
Balance the Budget:
Failed economic policies and lack of regulatory practices brought us into a deep recession. Now, America faces a monstrous deficit, and reducing this deficit will be the challenge of the next decade.
Raising taxes could well erase our early economic recovery and end up breaking the backs of average Americans. To reduce this deficit we must hold government to higher standards. Cutting waste, closing unfair loopholes, and getting the most out of every dollar our government spends must be the cornerstones of our federal policy.
Congress should exercise fiscal responsibility by balancing its budget every year. Year in and year out, pay-as-you-go budgeting is a prudent approach for both government and the private sector.
Strengthen our Economy:
To ensure a strong recovery and continued economic growth, we must commit to the following priorities:
- Provide support to Minnesota's great technical schools, colleges, and universities to guarantee an educated work force.
- Support research that yields economic benefits. Minnesota companies like Medtronic and 3M show our state's long history, as well as the tremendous potential, of technological advancement fostering economic growth.
- Plan and invest in infrastructure.
- Provide sensible oversight of our financial system. Assure that financial institutions that are "too big to fail" bear the risks of their business decisions and are not bailed out by taxpayers.
- Assure that the corporate tax code does not disadvantage small businesses.
- Alleviate the burden of rising health care premiums on individuals and businesses by enacting meaningful health care reform.
Only when we address these issues, will we be able maintain our position as the world's strongest economy. The private sector continues to be the engine of our economic strength. Our economic power is crucial not only to our American way of life, but our national security and diplomatic power as well.
With the historic action taken on health care this session, our country has made an important step toward improving health care access in the United States. That being said, we must be cognizant that there is a long road ahead until we complete comprehensive health care reform.
Among the accomplishments in the Health Care Reform law were: banning insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions; allowing young adults to stay on their family insurance plans until age 26; granting 32 million more Americans access to health insurance; and eliminating the "donut hole" in the Medicare drug program.
Our new Health Care Law is an essential start to providing a basic benefits package to every American and protecting our citizens with insurance reform. What it does not accomplish, however, is lowering the cost of health care. The new law does not adequately address two things that are essential to lowering cost: payment reform and putting an emphasis on preventive care. Without these components we have not fixed the problem and will not be able to lower costs for everyone.
Health Care is not a technical problem, we know what needs to be done- it is a political problem. Leaders in Washington must build on these accomplishments and move forward with a focus on prevention and payment reform, with aggressive legislation that actually lowers costs across the health care system.
How we cut costs:
- We must change the way we pay for health care. There are promising pilot programs in the new law, but these must be implemented on a much wider scale. Our current system pays for all the individual services a patient receives (fee-for-service), rather than how much a patient is helped by the services delivered. A more holistic payment approach is necessary. We must abandon piecemeal fee-for-service payment and instead pay for preventive care and best-care.
- Minnesota is highly disadvantaged by the current Medicare payment system. The federal government must change the unfair Medicare payment formula, and it must grant a broad waiver to the State of Minnesota to allow us to put in place comprehensive health care reform. We are one of the very few states capable of doing this quickly and effectively.
- Private health insurers must set and achieve the goal of reducing their administrative expenses by half. America cannot afford, and should not tolerate, paying twice as much for administrative services as any other country. In Minnesota, over 90% of our health care dollars are spent on treatment, but we must further lower our administrative costs, and ensure insurance providers across the country reduce waste.
- The federal government must have the ability to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.
Through the yearlong health care debate Maureen supported a public option when placed on an equal footing with private options and when adequate cost control measures were enacted. Moving forward, we must reduce costs, in order to provide Americans with quality and affordable health care.
Despite the recent accomplishments, it will take years to achieve comprehensive health care reform. As a medical doctor and health care policy leader, Maureen will bring her expertise and perspective to Washington to craft policies that work for families, businesses, and taxpayers.
Energy independence must be a top priority. Continuing to invest in new technologies for clean energy means good paying jobs and a healthier environment for our children. Wind turbines already dot our 6th District landscape, which we will need to combine with solar power, ethanol, and fuel from biomass to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
American research and business innovation can lead the way to a cleaner, brighter future. With economic incentives in place, and a strong education system, we should, and can be the innovators in green technology, leading the world in alternative energy production.
Energy conservation must become a mainstay of our energy policy as well. We need to work with our utility companies and consumers to create practical solutions focusing on efficiency, conservation and preservation of our air and water quality.
We Minnesotans treasure our natural resources. Clean water and clean air are essential to our quality of life. We all enjoy the unique activities our state offers us, whether it is hunting, fishing, hiking, swimming or boating- we cannot take them for granted.
Protecting and improving the quality of the water we drink and the air we breathe is essential, while supporting hunting and fishing habitats will guarantee that future generations can experience these wonderful Minnesota traditions.
We need policies that protect our resources while encouraging job and business growth. As commercial and residential expansion continues, we need to support this development, while simultaneously preserving our natural resources. Congress must work effectively to strike the delicate balance between these two important interests.
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