Congressman Davis Answers Giles Countians' Questions
By Jacque Steubbel
The Pulaski Citizen
December 19, 2003

J. B. Potts, president of the local Farm Bureau, and Ed Rollins, owner of Rollins Farms, asked Congressman Lincoln Davis about what was being done to help the American farmer, while James Holt had prescription drug bills on his agenda.

Davis, a Democrat representing the 4th District, was in Pulaski Wednesday for a town hall meeting with constituents from Giles County. It was held in the atrium of Colonial Hall at Martin Methodist College.

By his own admission, Davis manages a "unique district" comprised of 24 counties that stretch across the Cumberland Plateau, down through Middle and southern Middle Tennessee.

"There are 435 congressional house seats in America, and we have the fourth largest rural constituency," he said, adding, "There are only 13 other congressional districts that have a higher poverty level than the 4th District."

During a question and answer session, Holt referenced the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Medicare prescription drug bill and asked about Davis' support for the Senate bill.

Davis replied that the people who live in the 4th District are probably more in need of a prescription drug plan than those in any other district in the country.

"But a plan is useless," he added, "If you can't afford it."

Davis said his concern was that seniors would be abandoned "to the mercy of private insurance and pharmaceutical companies." He said the Senate-passed provisions of the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill require a federal "fallback" drug benefit while the House-passed provision would turn Medicare into a voucher program by 2010.

The so-called "fallback" provision is a guarantee, Davis said, that seniors will have a prescription drug benefit, regardless of whether private insurance companies make an adequate profit.

"Today in this economy," Davis said, "you are at the mercy of the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies. To me, the prescription drug plan was at least a start in dealing with this situation."

Davis said his decision to go with the Senate version of the bill was due to its substantial assistance with drug costs for all Tennesseans on Medicare who have incomes below 160 percent of poverty.

"That's 295,000 people or 241,000 low-income seniors and approximately 54,000 people with disabilities," he said.
In addition, Davis said, the Senate's eligibility test for low-income assistance was more generous than the House version.

"I had to ask myself how would the least among us benefit from this package?" he said.
Compared to the House version of $6,000 for an individual and $9,000 for a couple, he said, the asset limit in the Senate bill is $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a couple.

To a question on TennCare, Davis, a life-long farmer, described Tennessee as a cow that has just about been milked dry by TennCare. At some point, he said, a good dairy farmer knows when to take the plugs off the cow but "TennCare is still milking us."

The initial idea for managed health care through MCO's began as a good concept, he said, so good that many people began moving to Tennessee just to get the health benefits being offered.

The result, Davis said, is that Tennessee has just about been "milked dry and nobody has taken the plugs off. It is time to do that."

Davis has been involved in local and state government in Tennessee for a quarter of a century. In 1978 he was elected mayor of Byrdstown and served two terms. He later served as both a state representative and state senator before running for the U.S. Congress.

Raised in rural Fentress County, Davis and his family, when not in Washington, D.C., live in Pall Mall on property purchased from World War I hero and Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Alvin C. York.

He said he knew from his own experience "what a farmer goes through" and added, "Farmers are in dire need of help."
Unlike other special interest groups, he said, farmers don't have a lobbyist.

"They may not have a lobbyist," Davis said, "but they have a congressman who will lobby for them as their voice in Washington."

In October, through Davis' strong urging, the House gave unanimous approval to the inclusion of Giles County into the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The ARC, as it is called, was established by Congress in 1965. It represents a partnership composed of the governors of 13 Appalachian states and a presidential appointee representing the federal government.

"The commission has long been a driving force in the Appalachian region," Davis said. "It has helped many rural counties undertake projects they otherwise might not have been able to do."

Davis said he thought that representation on the commission would help strengthen Giles County by creating a higher standard of living through economic development funding opportunities.