Jo Bonner(R-AL) Will Ask The CBO to Score Single Payer

At least he said he would.

I was at Representative Jo Bonner's town hall meeting in Tillman's Corner, Alabama. My question to Rep. Bonner was:

I would like to start my own business, but I am over 40 & under 65. I can't get affordable health insurance unless I work for a large corporation. Why can't I buy into Medicare?

A single payer, Medicare for All, health plan was taken off the table before the discussion was started, even though a majority of Americans, and a majority of doctors are in favor of it. [shouts from hecklers in the back of the room, so I had to raise my voice here.] My question is, Will you ask the CBO to rate it in comparison to the other proposals so that all of the various proposals can be evaluated objectively?

Jo first told the hecklers to behave themselves, and that I had a valid question.

He then said a lot of words about how great Medicare is, but gave no indication of how it might be expanded to people under 65.

Next, Jo talked about how the Republicans have no power in Washington, because they are in the minority. I told him that he could shame the Democrats into joining his request to score Single Payer.

Then he rambled on about various plans that the CBO has scored, implying that Single Payer was one of them. I repeated that HR676 had not been scored.

Then he mumbled something about trying to request it. So I thanked him, and told him that I looked forward to seeing the report.

Jo Bonner: One week in votes

April 25, 2007
H.R.1591 – Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007
Bonner – no
Final vote - 218 – 208, 2 Present (Roll no.265)
This was the emergency supplemental for Iraq war bill that Bush vetoed. Either Jo didn't want to fund the troops or he believes that accountability is only for school teachers.

H.R.1332 - To improve the access to capital programs of the Small Business Administration
Bonner – yes
Final vote - 380 – 45 (Roll no.263)
Jo supports the Small Business Administration.

H.R. 493 – Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
Bonner – yes
Final vote - 420 - 3 (Roll no. 261)
It's about time this bill got passed.

H.R.1678 – Reauthorize the Torture Victims Relief Act of 2007
Bonner - yes
Final vote - 418 - 7 (Roll no. 260)
Note that this bill is intended for people tortured by OTHER governments.

H.Con.Res.7 - Calling on the League of Arab States to acknowledge the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and to step up their efforts to stop the genocide in Darfur
Bonner – yes
Final vote - 425 – 1 (Roll no. 259)
Always easy to tell someone else to do the right thing. The nay was Rep. Ronald Paul [R, TX-14] (a libertarian)

Apr 26, 2007

H.Res.320 - Congratulating the University of Tennessee women's basketball team for winning the 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship.
Bonner - yes
Final vote - 415 - 0 (Roll no. 266)
Who wouldn't congratulate winners?

Apr 27, 2007

H.R.249 – To restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros
Bonner – no
Final vote - 277 - 137 (Roll no. 269)
Why does Jo hate wild horses?

May 01, 2007

H.Res.298: To commend the University of Florida Gators for their historic win in the 2007 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.
Bonner - yes
Final vote – 415 - 0, 4 Present (Roll no. 272)
John Barrow [D, GA-12], Jack Kingston [R, GA-1], John Linder [R, GA-7], and Zachary T. Space [D, OH-18] are sore losers.

H.Con.Res.112: Supporting the goals and ideas of a National Child Care Worthy Wage Day.
Bonner – no
Final vote - 345 - 73, 1 Present (Roll no. 271)
What is so hard about saying that child care workers OUGHT to have a decent wage?

H.Res.334 – Supporting the goals and ideals of National Community College Month
Bonner - yes
Final vote - 420 - 0 (Roll no. 270)
Jo supports education.

To sum it up; Jo likes to tell other people to behave. He supports small business, winning sports teams and community colleges. He doesn't support wild horses or child care workers. He would rather not fund the troops than set goals. Or maybe not funding the troops is his way of bringing them home now.

Where do your reps stand on Iran?

I sent the following letter to my reps.

Does President Bush have the authority to attack Iran?

If he does it anyway, what can Congress do? What will Congress do?

Maybe ya'll should try listening to some of the people that have turned out to be right about Iraq. When someone consistently turns out to be wrong, you need to stop taking his advice.

It's been over a month, and this is how they replied.

Senator Richard Shelby - He sent me a very nice letter by snail mail. It's full of talking points about how dangerous Iran is, but no answers to my questions.

Representative Jo Bonner - Nothing but an auto response.

Senator Jeff Sessions - I might as well ask a rock. He's still not talking.

Hello Congressional Lurkers

Senator Richard Shelby, Senator Jeff Sessions, Representative Jo Bonner. This seems to have caught the attention of your notification service on my last post, so I'll try it again.

Just what do you people spend your day doing? As nice as it is to be heard for a change, how much time do ya'll spend reading obscure little blogs like this one? What made this especially amusing is the topic of my last post. I was commenting on how unresponsive some representatives are. So what happens? Congressional staffers spend time lurking, and don't even respond.

You don't spend much time reading the bills that you are voting on. All that pork gets slipped in somehow. Did you notice the military access to school records requirement in the No Child Left Behind bill? How about those back door US attorney appointments in the latest Patriot Act? And now you're thinking that maybe we should have kept Habeas Corpus when we made torture legal.

You don't spend much time writing bills either. Why bother when someone from the group being regulated is willing to write them for you? No charge.

You have been known to spend time on petty activities such as trashing Wikipedia entries for your fellow congress people.

Sounds like a great job. It even includes health care. Where do I apply?

Shelby, Sessions, and Bonner are in favor of torture

Actually only Senator Shelby is willing to admit to it. Senator Sessions and Representative Bonner can’t even trouble themselves to respond to my letters. It seems like a pretty safe assumption though.

It’s frustrating when all of your reps are hard-core Bush puppets, but I thought I found something that might get through to them about why torture is such a bad idea. I sent a copy of an article written by a reserve soldier who fought in the first Iraq War, entitled What We’ve Lost. He writes about all the American soldiers that didn’t die because we had a reputation for treating prisoners fairly.

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/09/what_weve_lost.html

This is Senator Shelby’s response.

Thank you for contacting me about methods for interrogating and trying enemy combatants. I appreciate you views on this matter.

I do not support the use of cruel, inhumane or degrading punishment against those in United States custody. However, these are not ordinary times. It is important to keep in mind that we must be able to obtain critical information from terrorists. Such information is vital to the security of our nation. Tough interrogation of ruthless terrorists is a necessity. We must never forget that terrorists do not follow the rules of engagement or the rules of the Geneva Convention.

On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that President Bush had overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees. As a result, Congress has moved forward on legislation to define the treatment of detainees during interrogations and create military commissions to prosecute terrorist suspects.

In September 2006, Congress passed S. 3930, the “Military Commissions Act,” which authorizes trial by military commission for violations of the law of war. Pursuant to S. 3930, the War Crimes Act of 1996 criminalizes only those Common Article 3 violations labeled as “grave breaches.” Previously, any violation of Common Article 3 constituted a criminal offense under the War Crimes Act.

This agreement is an important step forward. It maintains our ability to obtain important intelligence from captured terrorists while being mindful that we are not engaged in a conventional war.

Thank you again for sharing your views. If I may be of future assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I especially noticed the paragraph that starts with him not supporting torture, and ends with him in favor of torture. The only way to fight the terrorists is to become them. How can anyone be so dense?