Kline’s Telephone Town Hall: Real Questions, Anticipated Answers

Congressman John Kline recently held another telephone town hall. As has become his practice, his office tweets out an edited snippet of the questions coming from the hand-picked audience, with no published responses from the Congressman. What follows are the verbatim tweets, together with anticipated responses both from Mr. Kline as well as his Democratic challenger, Mike Obermueller.

Health care

·       Lakeville man says #ObamaCare "needs to be refined a lot."

·       Lakeville man says "we the people are picking up the tab one way or the other" for emergency room health care costs

·       Farmington woman frustrated government "forced" #ObamaCare on Americans or they get fined. "This is a free country, isn't it

Kline: repeal the Affordable Care Act

Obermueller: ACA has eliminated the pre-existing condition exclusion and lifetime cap. It has closed the prescription drug donut hole for seniors. It has enabled young adults up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ health care policies while they work to obtain coverage on their own. It has, for many, reduced health insurance premiums. We need to continue working with this program to refine it and eliminate remaining issues, both foreseen and unforeseen. Scrapping Obamacare would be bad policy

IRS:

·       Burnsville resident "disgusted" #IRS workers who are breaking the law are receiving bonuses.

·       Resident asks if there is a "smidgen" of evidence of wrongdoing at #IRS. Feels Americans' rights being trampled on.

Kline: supports the investigation into whether the IRS has targeted American taxpayers based on their political views

Obermueller: the investigation into the so-called IRS targeting GOP PACs has gone on too long and wasted too much taxxpayer money. The findings show that there was no targeting of any organization based on politics, and that both Democratic and GOP PACs were denied 501(c)(4) status.

National Security

·       Cottage Grove resident worried about our national security due to cuts to Defense

Kline: Sequestration resulted in a $184 billion reduction in defense spending. But we need to retain 10,000 boots on the ground in Afghanistan.

Obermueller: we need to be smarter about defense spending. When the Navy says it does not need $2 billion to refurbish ships it won’t use, Congress should decline to appropriate funding for those ships. Nevertheless, Congress approved that funding. This evidence is typical of the refusal of John Kline to listen to the needs to the country.

Keystone Pipeline

·       66% of #KlineTTH survey participants disagree with @WhiteHouse decision to delay #KeystoneXL. 19% agree with delay. 15% unsure.

Kline: wants the pipeline approved because it will create thousands of jobs and help control energy prices

Obermueller: Jurisdictions other than Congress have the ultimate responsibility for apprpoving or disapproving the Keystone pipeline. The State Department is responsible for international approval of the pipeline. Indiividual states must grant permits for the building of the pipeline. Oil going through, but not staying in the United States, will not help reduce energy prices here at home. Congress needs to focus its environmental attention on alternative and green energy sources, and to find ways to reduce the amount of oil coming from the tar sands oil fields in Canada. That is the place where Congress should spend its time.

Cliven Bundy

·       Cottage Grove resident concerned with the federal government's power of holding land in the west.

Kline: voted against the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (which passed the Senate 73-21 and failed the House 282-144)(House required a 2/3 affirmative vote for passage; 2 no votes changed to yes votes would have passsed the bill)

Obermueller: The mission of the Bureau of Land Management is “to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.” The BLM owns over 10% of the land in this country, and regulates many activities that occur on these lands. BLM’s mandate goes back to colonial days, when the 13 colonies granted unsettled lands to the federal government. We need to ensure that public lands are used wisely, and when they are rented out for private purposes, the business relationship is managed within the bounds of the law.

There were several other categories of questions raised in Kline’s TTH. They are described below. Since these categories do not raise Congressional issues, there is no need to address them here.

State law issues

·       Rosemount resident tired of "excessive taxes in Minnesota." Said he knows of small business owners moving out of state

·       Hastings woman concerned State Legislature is spending money on a Senate office building "that they don't need."

·       Cottage Grove resident says Minnesotans overtaxed last year.

Miscellaneous

·       Burnsville resident concerned about the state of the Electoral College in 2016.

·       Hastings Vietnam veteran concerned about "the direction this country is going."

·       Hastings resident asks about a "global reset in financial situation around the world.

Bottom line: Kline’s carefully self-manicured image of the Second Congressional District is like the Queen in Snow White who always wanted to know the “fairest of them all.” Reality is different from what appears in the mirror. And the Second Congressional District is different from Mr. Kline hears on his telephone town halls.