Congressman Denny Rehberg will be back on the road next week ready to hear more ideas from Montanans on the contentious health care issue.
Rehberg has already held 16 listening sessions across the state during the August recess, looking for input on health care problems, and the proposed solution in legislation introduced in the House.
Thursday afternoon, Rehberg's staff announced an additional seven town hall meetings, most of them in smaller communities.
The tour starts on Tuesday, September 1st with a morning stop in Townsend and an afternoon meeting in Deer Lodge. On Wednesday, Rehberg will be in Thompson Falls at 11:00 a.m. and then host a meeting in Mineral County. Residents in Superior will see this at 2:30 that afternoon.
On Thursday, the Congressman is off to Granite County for a meeting at 10:00 a.m. in Phillipsburg, wrapping up the day with a second meeting in Anaconda. The final town hall meeting will be Friday morning in Ennis.
On a visit to Missoula Wednesday, Rehberg re-affirmed his support for the town hall meetings as a means of getting input directly from the people before Congressional hearings take place this fall.
Tuesday, September 1
Broadwater County, Townsend, 10:30 a.m. Broadwater County High School Community Room, 201 N.Spruce Rd.
Powell County, Deer Lodge, 3:00 p.m, Deer Lodge Community Center, 416 Cottonwood Dr.
Wednesday, September 2
Sanders County, Thompson Falls, 11:00 a.m. Sanders County Courthouse, 111 Main St.
Mineral County, Superior, 2:30 p.m. Mineral County Courthouse, 300 River St.
Thursday, September 3
Granite County, Phillipsburg, 10:00 a.m. Taylor Knapp Building, 212 E. Broadway
Deer Lodge County, Anaconda, 2:00 p.m. Community Service Building, 118 E. 7th St.
Friday, September 4
Madison County, Ennis, 9:00 a.m. Madison Valley Rural Fire Station #1, 537 U.S. Highway 287
(from August 25, 2009)
Congressman Denny Rehberg believes lawmakers need time to carefully consider all the elements of health care reform, while still giving the public a chance to debate the details.
Rehberg made the assessment while touring Missoula hospitals Wednesday.
The five-term Republican tells me he's worried about the 'unintended consequences' of rushing any legislation. Rehberg points to quick approval of the economic stimulus bill only to discover later it included billions in bonuses for insurance executives.
He feels the U.S can not afford to be polarized by health care changes, forcing the various sides to 'fighting and suing to get our way back out of those corners'.
Realistically, the American public gets it. I'm not sure the majority in the Congress clearly understand.
We've got to slow down on this spending. We can not continue to spend the way we are, building the debt, the deficit, and ultimately saddling our future budgets with that kind of expenditure.
So, I'm glad we slowed it down. I'm glad we had August to talk about it and once again, I hope we have the same amount of time to discuss the Senate bill before it moves so quickly through Congress that something is passed that we will regret. Because if we make a mistake it can not be undone.
While Rehberg will continue to meet with Montana hospital leaders and hold more listening sessions, he hopes consumers will press for everyone in the House and Senate to do the same.
Well probably the first thing I would suggest is they ask that all their Congressmen and Senators do public hearings and hear from the public rather than a rush to get back to Washington D.C. in a very protected environment where they can dictate who speaks at the meetings, or how much time they are given for formal testimony.
Take that bill and let's have a cooling off period. Let's adjorn Congress for a period of days and come back and let the public see what's in the bill rather than hiding from the public and hiding from the public comment.
Rehberg feels meaningful reform needs to bring down health costs, addressing not only insurance but defensive medicine and prevention.
