Western Virginia’s three congressman — Bob Goodlatte, Morgan Griffith, Robert Hurt, all Republicans — today all voted in favor of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”

Here’s what each had to say about it:

Rep. Bob Goodlatte

From Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County:

Ever since President Obama was first elected and chose to push through a federal takeover of America’s health care system, House conservatives have led the charge to repeal the law commonly known as Obamacare and replace it with true reforms that will increase access and lower costs for consumers. With a string of broken promises from its authors and prominent backers, this law has already forced people off of the insurance they previously had, has increased premiums by thousands of dollars, and has reduced work hours for millions.

The fundamental question facing uninsured Americans was never, “how do we give the federal government more power over our lives?” Yet government control over health care was what the Democrat majority provided. House Republicans offered alternatives that gave our constituents the peace of mind to know that a safety net would be in place for the least fortunate amongst us, and provided commonsense reforms to allow those uninsured or underinsured to get the insurance they needed at an affordable price. Unfortunately, what we got was a law that, as former Speaker Pelosi famously stated, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Well, we’ve read the bill, and the tens of thousands of pages of regulations to enforce it, and I can tell you the backlash and opposition to the law continues to mount.

One small example of the absurdity of this law is provided by a constituent of mine who lives in Virginia. This small business owner has chosen to insure his employees for the last forty years, helping his employees afford the insurance they need to keep their families healthy. Because of Obamacare, this company is required to spend more than $30,000 to reenroll their current employees. Let me repeat that. Even though these employees already have health insurance, the company is required to pay a fee for each and every one of them, to enroll the employee back into the exact same plan. That $30,000, which could have been used to hire new workers or grow the local economy, will now be sent to bureaucrats in Washington. Instead of health insurance for Main Street, this appears to be health insurance for K Street.

Today the House has a chance to stop growing the size of government, and to give power and freedom back to the American people. Instead of propping up health care exchanges, bureaucratic IPAB rationing panels, and mandates which cost Americans thousands of dollars each year, let’s start over and focus on the real needs of access to care and reduced costs of insurance. We can all admit that our health insurance system can use strengthening, but this is not the way to do it. If you are serious about reforming the health insurance system in this country, then join me in voting to repeal Obamacare and send a message to the American people that we have heard their anger and outrage over this law and we will do what it takes to see it repealed.

Rep. Morgan Griffith

From Morgan Griffith, R-Salem:

“However you feel about the philosophy of Obamacare, what has become increasingly clear is that it was not built carefully enough to work. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is infamous for having said that Congress had ‘to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it.’

“Well, they passed it. We now know what’s in it, and the American people don’t like it. So far, what the President promised hasn’t come true.

“President Obama promised in a speech before Congress that his health care proposal would not add to the national deficit, but the Government Accountability Office estimated that it will add to the long-term deficit by $6.2 trillion.

“The Administration promised that premium rates would go down, but the Energy and Commerce Committee released a report just this week revealing that consumers’ premiums could spike as high as 400 percent. In Virginia, the small group market is projected to increase by 31 percent.

“CLASS, the law’s long-term care program, was determined to be financially unsustainable and has been suspended.

“Furthermore, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is now soliciting funds for the law’s implementation from the very same companies and groups that her agency is responsible for overseeing, because they underestimated the cost of implementation.

“Even with a stack of regulations taller than I am, the Administration cannot tell the American people what will happen with their health insurance in January when Obamacare is fully implemented. Why? Because the Administration still has more decisions to make, and more regulations to promulgate.

“Senator Max Baucus, one of the law’s main architects, recently described Obamacare as ‘a huge train wreck coming down.’

“We have a chance to save Americans from being casualties of the train wreck. We can yank them off the tracks. Today, my vote shows that I am doing what I can to do just that.

“I call on the United States Senate to join us in rescuing the American people from the tracks of health care destruction.”

Rep. Robert Hurt

From Robert Hurt, R-Chatham:

“At a time when the American peoples’ trust in the federal government is at all-time lows, the last thing we need is another federal program that expands its size and scope and further threatens individual freedoms. Not only does the President’s health care law overtly extend the federal government into the lives of all Americans by increasing premiums, raising taxes, and requiring all Americans to purchase health care – but it does so inadvertently as well by harming our small business owners and families by forcing employers to choose between providing coverage for their workers or – in many cases – closing their doors. A federal government takeover is the wrong way to go about true health care reform and I stand by House initiatives to repeal this misguided law and replace it with patient-centered solutions that will improve access to care without putting our small business owners out of business and causing 5th District Virginians to lose their employer-based coverage or their jobs.”

Rep. Bob Goodlatte

We’re a bit late — OK, two days — in discovering this little gem practically next door. Over on music writer Tad Dickens’ music blog, he reports that some Roanoke Valley songwriters have penned a song in honor of Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County.

He explains why, and has video of the song, here.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte at a news conference about the sugar bill.

When you serve on the House Agriculture Committee, as Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, does, you wind up dealing with some food-related bills.

Here’s a release from his office today about the “Sugar Reform Act.” Not something we’re intimately familiar with, though we do love sugar in our tea.

Here’s what the congressman has to say:

Congressman Bob Goodlatte released the following statement regarding the introduction of the bipartisan, bicameral Sugar Reform Act yesterday:

“Artificially inflated sugar prices created by the government’s failed sugar program result in increased operating costs for businesses and higher grocery bills for families,” said Congressman Goodlatte. “The American sugar program constitutes an almost unbelievable government intrusion into private business decisions and demands real reform. This command and control government mandate threatens the competitiveness of American food manufacturers, like McKee Foods in Stuarts Draft or Flowers Bakery in Lynchburg, and costs consumers and businesses an estimated $3.5 billion and 20,000 jobs each year. The Sugar Reform Act provides real relief for businesses and consumers from burdensome government mandates. I’ve long been a supporter of this type of agricultural reform and urge my colleagues on both sides of the Capitol to act on this much-needed legislation to reform a costly program for consumers and support American small businesses and families.”

Roanoke College has a new poll out with lots of questions about guns. Here’s a release from the college:

Virginians favor many regulations while they think that better enforcement of existing laws is more likely to prevent gun violence. And, they do not blame lax gun laws for mass shootings, according to The Roanoke College Poll. The Roanoke College Poll interviewed 583 Virginia residents between Jan. 14 and Jan. 22 and has a margin of error of +4.1 percent. Residents were asked a series of questions about guns, gun violence and a variety of issues before the Virginia General Assembly.

Gun violence—causes and prevention

Residents of the Commonwealth were asked their thoughts regarding the causes of mass shootings such as those in Newtown, Conn. and at Virginia Tech. The most common response was poor polices to deal with mental illness (56%), followed by an inability to stop those who want to kill others (38%), violence in the media, such as video games and TV and movies (28%), poor enforcement of gun laws (26%) and weak gun laws (21%).[1]

Not surprisingly, respondents were more likely to think that better enforcement of existing gun laws (53%) was more likely to reduce gun violence than tougher gun laws (38%).

A majority of those surveyed (62%) favor having armed police or security guards at schools to make them safer. At the same time, a majority (58%) opposes allowing teachers and administrators to carry firearms in schools. Most Virginians (59%) think that gun in the possession of a law-abiding citizen is more likely to be used in self-defense than in an accidental shooting (26%). Fully half (50%) of those interviewed said that stricter gun control laws would make no difference to their personal safety, while one-third (34%) said stricter laws would make them more safe, and 12 percent said they would make them less safe.

Regulating firearms

Strong majorities support requiring background checks for all firearms purchases at gun shows (86%) and universal background checks for firearms purchase, including private transactions (75%). Smaller majorities favor government registration of all firearms (61%) and requiring all gun owners to be licensed by the government (59%).

Respondents were asked if they favored banning a variety of different types of firearms. A majority (58%) favored banning “assault rifles.” Virginians are evenly split regarding banning all semi-automatic rifles (48% favor, 46% oppose), and marginally oppose banning semi-automatic handguns (42% favor, 50% oppose) and semi-automatic shotguns (41% favor, 50% oppose). Only 16 percent of those interviewed favor banning all guns. A ban on all magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds was favored by 53 percent.

By a very small margin (49%-44%), Virginians disagreed with the statement made by NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Read more »

Roanoke College is out with a new poll with questions on the governor’s transportation plan and who should be the next governor.

Note that its match-up in the governor’s race shows a different result from the one released last week by a polling outfit at Christopher Newport University. That poll shows a statistical dead heat between Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe. The Roanoke College Poll gives Cuccinelli a 7-point advantage, although it says a whopping 41% of Virginians are undecided.

Here’s a release from the college:

Virginians are not favorably inclined toward Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation funding/tax plan, but they don’t like other revenue enhancers either, according to The Roanoke College Poll. Virginia residents are more likely to agree with McDonnell’s education proposals, and they are split on allowing uranium mining.

In the likely matchup in November’s gubernatorial election, more Virginians are undecided (41%) in their choice for Governor, than those who support Republican Ken Cuccinelli (33%) and Democrat Terry McAuliffe (26%). Including a possible run by Bill Bolling as an Independent increases the percentage of respondents who are undecided (44%), followed by those who support Cuccinelli (25%), McAuliffe (19%), and Bolling (12%).

The Roanoke College Poll interviewed 583 Virginia residents between Jan. 14 and Jan. 22 and has a margin of error of +4.1 percent.

Part two of the January Roanoke College Poll, focusing on gun issues, will be released early next week. Read more »

Nearly half of the Virginia voters surveyed  favor stricter state gun laws and two-thirds support putting armed police officers in public schools, according to a new statewide poll released this morning.

In the Quinnipiac University survey released this morning, a  majority of registered voters voiced support for national bans on assault weapons and sales of high-capacity magazines. But 50 percent of voters believe gun ownership helps protect people from crime.

The survey of 1,134 registered voters was conducted between Jan. 4 and Monday, about three weeks after the mass shootings at a Newtown, Conn. Elementary school that left 26 people dead, 20 of them children. The poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

The new poll comes as the Obama administration considers new federal firearms restrictions in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings. State lawmakers also expect renewed debates over gun laws during the Virginia General Assembly session that began Wednesday, but gun control measures have failed to get far in recent legislative sessions.

“Virginians, by a slight margin, are in favor of more gun control, but they don’t seem to fit nicely into either camp in the gun debate following the Newtown school massacre,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.  “There has been a small increase in the number favoring tougher gun control, but it is not large. Moreover, the idea of stationing armed police in public schools, which many nationally have ridiculed, is favored by two out of three Virginians.”

In the poll, 49 percent said gun laws should be stricter and 42 percent said they should remain the same. In an August poll, 44 percent supported stricter gun laws.

But Virginians’ attitudes about gun laws break sharply along geographic lines, according to the Quinnipiac survey. Only 40 percent of rural voters think the laws should be stricter, while 61 percent of urban residents and 49 percent of suburban residents support more controls.

In the survey, 58 percent supported a national ban on assault weapons and 59 percent favor a prohibition on the sale of high-capacity magazines. Two-thirds oppose allowing teachers to carry concealed firearms in classrooms.

The poll also indicates that gun control is not a decisive issue for most voters in evaluation candidates. Nearly two-thirds said they could support a candidate with whom they agree on other issues, but disagree on guns.  And 59 percent said the politically muscular National Rifle Association is more interested in protecting the rights of gun owners than the profits of gun-makers.

An overwhelming majority of 92 percent said they supported background checks for firearms purchases at gun shows. But the survey’s question did not make a distinction between sales by licensed firearms dealers, which already require background checks, and private transactions that don’t require such checks.

Despite the fact that the General Assembly repealed Virginia’s one-per-month limit on handgun purchases last year, 60 percent said they still favor the law, according to the poll.

The complete poll results, including responses about President Barack Obama’s job performance, can be found here.

- Michael Sluss

Updated at 2:55 p.m. with comments from the governor’s office.

Two Democratic state senators are requesting Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell to call a special session of the General Assembly to establish a state-based health insurance exchange.

As part of the federal health care overhaul – which seems to have been secured by a United States Supreme Court ruling last summer and the re-election of President Barack Obama earlier this month – Virginia must decide whether to a establish a state exchange or default to a federally run exchange. The exchange would serve as a database where individuals and small businesses could shop for insurance coverage.

McDonnell said in the days following the election that the state still lacks sufficient information about a federal insurance exchange to determine which option is better for Virginia. Without that information, he said, Virginia initially will default to a federal exchange and leave open the possibility of setting up its own system.

Initially, the Obama administration has set a Nov.16 deadline to make that decision. Late last week, however, it extended the deadline to Dec. 14.

Today, Virginia Sens. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, and Donald McEachin, D-Henrico County, said the governor needs to call the special session to establish a state-based exchange.

“Virginians deserve an exchange that suits their specific needs, not a one-size-fits-all solution from the federal government,” Saslaw said in a news release. “I can’t understand how the self-proclaimed party of limited government would allow the federal government to impose a generic exchange on Virginians.”

McEachin said, “Gov. McDonnell should follow the recommendation of his own expert panel and call the legislature back into session. Virginians have different needs than Texans or Minnesotans, and they deserve an exchange that suits those specific needs.”

McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said Saslaw and McEachin’s news release amounts to “unfortunate theatrics” and said a hastily called special session would amount to “nothing more than a very expensive public relations exercise.”

“There is absolutely no need for a special session,” Martin said. “We are just weeks away from the start of the regular General Assembly session, during which the issue of health care exchanges will be addressed. More importantly, the states are still awaiting critical additional guidance and regulations from the federal government about the financing and implementation of health exchanges, and we are hopeful that we will have that in the next month.”

Virginia received a $1 million federal grant to plan for its own exchange, and a McDonnell-appointed advisory council concluded that an exchange should not be left to the federal government.

But McDonnell said earlier this month there were too many unknowns.

Virginia Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Roanoke County, expressed similar concerns in a phone call today.

“I don’t think the governor or anyone else on my side of the aisle is saying we’re not going to do it,” Smith said. “I think we’re saying give us more information. His responsibility and our responsibility is to get the best bill we can.”

Smith dismissed the call from Saslaw and McEachin as “grandstanding.”

“The regulations are still unfolding,” Smith said. “Sometimes it’s safer to do nothing when you don’t know what the outcome’s going to be. It doesn’t matter how fast you run if you don’t know where you’re going.”

You can read the full release from Saslaw and McEachin after the jump, as well as the full statement from McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin:

– Mason Adams

Read more »

Bob Goodlatte

Amid the ongoing debate over the direction of the Republican Party after this month’s elections, Virginia’s 6th District Republican Committee is adding its voice with letters to Congressman Bob Goodlatte and leadership in the House of Representatives.

In a letter that was sent out as a news release on Thursday afternoon, the committee takes issue with current House Speaker John Boehner and instructs Goodlatte to oppose his re-election for the next Congress.

The letter criticizes Boehner for “his unwillingness to lead the effort to de-fund Obama’s healthcare,” and “his capitulation on the issue of amnesty and his agreement to raise taxes,” calling those stances “nothing short of treasonous to our interests and our security.”

The letter to Goodlatte concludes:

“Therefore, we are writing to notify you of our unwillingness to accept such representation; to demand that you oppose the selection of Mr. Boehner as speaker for the next session; that you only select a representative who is willing to engage fully in battle against Obamacare and the many other imprudent and unconstitutional efforts of the Obama administration, and that our future support for you is contingent upon your efforts to lead the fight to deny President Obama every unconstitutional measure, and that this
must be done without excuse.”

The letter was passed unanimously by members of the committee during a meeting on Nov. 10, the weekend that followed the election.

We’ve requested an interview or statement from Goodlatte’s congressional office but haven’t yet heard anything back. We’ll be sure to update this post when we do.

Sixth District GOP Committee Chairman Wendell Walker said, “We’re concerned about standing up for conservative principles, including fiscal issues. We understand President Obama has no fiscal discipline, especially when it comes to the debt.

“Speaker Boehner, certainly while he talks a tough game, I think the Republicans in Congress are not staying strong enough to fight against the president. The president is running pretty much the whole show. Even though we have the house, I think there are concerns.”

Walker acknowledged the GOP is going through some soul-searching and called for conservatives to pull together with Tea Party and Libertarian-leaning wings to stand up against President Obama.

“The party is going through a lot of evaluation of this last election,” Walker said. “We have to take a hard look at it and how to regain the confidence and support of all Republicans. The conservatives out here as well as the Ron Paul and Tea Party folks, we’ve got to get together to build a strong team to fight against the president.”

Bath County Republican Committee Chairman Dan Moxley echoed those remarks.

“There’s a great divide in the Republican Party between what we refer to as the establishment people and the true conservatives,” Moxley said. “If you read what’s out there now, there are many on the establishment side who suggest we need to change the way of viewing things on issues like immigration and amnesty. The conservative side doesn’t feel that.”

“In terms of discussions about immigration, we don’t have a problem with people coming in properly, but opening the door to 12 million illegals with a wave of a wand is a problem,” Moxley said. “We’d like to see Bob oppose that.”

You can read the full letter to Goodlatte after the jump. And as always, we invite you to weigh in with your thoughts.

– Mason Adams

Read more »

President Barack Obama

We call your attention to this very brief news item that was posted this morning on roanoke.com:

Celanese Corp. will convert the boilers that power its Giles County factory from coal to natural gas, a press release said this morning.

The project is expected to cost $150 million and create 22 permanent jobs at the plant and 200 temporary construction jobs, according to a statement by Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Hmmm.

So is this evidence of how Obama’s  “war on coal” is forcing the company to spend $150 million to convert to natural gas?

Or is this evidence of how Obama’s policies have just created 22 permanent jobs and 200 temporary jobs in Giles County?

Or is it simply evidence of the free market working its will, with natural gas beating out coal? After all, the Secretary of Commerce for Virginia’s Republican governor hailed the announcement with this comment (among others): “Natural gas is a cleaner energy source, thus reducing the company’s carbon footprint.”

Anyone care to discuss?

Here’s the full release from Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office: Read more »

SunCoke Energy’s Jewell Operations, a.k.a. Jewell Smokeless, just outside Grundy. Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Two years ago I put more than 600 miles on my car during a day-long trip down to Southwest Virginia for a story on the role of coal in the 2010 midterm congressional battle for the 9th District between 28-year Democratic incumbent Rick Boucher and Republican challenger Morgan Griffith.

This year, it seems that coal has achieved an even greater role in the race for between Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. So I spent several hours on the phone talking to experts and people who work in the coal industry and the related “domino” industries that spin off of it. And then last week, photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis and I traveled to Buchanan County to talk to more people about the industry and the election.

The resulting story (which was cut substantially from what I initially wrote) ran today on the front page of the Roanoke Times. I tried to untangle international market forces, federal regulations, policy proposals and rhetoric to understand what’s actually happening in and around the coal industry. There’s only so much you can achieve in a daily newspaper story, though, so I’d argue I didn’t succeed in that goal.

I did want to pass along the links for the energy policies of the candidates in the presidential and senate races for readers who want to dig a little deeper. If a candidate posted a PDF with more detailed policy points, I tried to use that instead of the general points they include on these pages.

Presidential race:
- Barack Obama
- Mitt Romney

Senate race:
- George Allen
- Tim Kaine

As always, we invite your thoughts and comments, both on the story and the issue.

– Mason Adams