WASHINGTON   –  “Even though it’s hot outside, young men throughout the Eighth Congressional District are preparing for the start of the high school football season.  It’s an exciting annual occurrence that signals the beginning of the school year and the earliest onset of the shorter days and cooler temperatures which lead us into autumn.

Football may not be the slice of Americana baseball is, but the sport does a great job of embodying the traits and traditions of our state and nation.  Hard work is fundamental to the game.  Tremendous effort goes into moving a ball just a few inches.  Football is for the unyielding spirit.  It is also for the hopeful – as a kick sails through the air or a lone remaining defender faces off against a ball-carrier about to score.  Football is a team sport that tests the individual.

It is also a strong metaphor for politics.  In the halls of our government, sharp divisions are drawn.  Legislative efforts move, inch by inch, toward completion against an opposition that will not yield, even at the very last.  Every play is important, and no one can afford to lose track of the ultimate objective even for a moment. 

There is one great tradition in football that, disappointingly, does not seem to carry over to politics.  At the end of a game, players shake hands and congratulate each other on their solid efforts.  After a fierce debate in Congress, on the other hand, there are few civil conversations between opponents.

On issues important to our country, it is a very good attribute of our federal system that deliberative dialog gives the American people and their elected representatives time to fully learn the ins and outs of legislative proposals. Our Founders wisely envisioned this aspect of Congress and worked to incorporate it into the structure of our government.  They would be stunned, I think, to see their system at work today: amendments shoe-horned into bills, legislation crafted in the dark of night, and a closed process which is anything but collaborative.

On health care, the American people have seen groups on opposing sides dig in their heels for the ten yard fight.  Good ideas from both sides – and from the middle – have been ignored by the powers-that-be who are drafting the bills.  Public frustration with the process has boiled over, and there is as much misinformation at play as there is good, solid, factual analysis of the health care bill.

When Congress returns in September, the American people will soon see whether there is a new commitment to addressing some of the biggest challenges of health care reform: lowering costs, protecting beneficiaries of Medicare, reforming prescription drug practices, and boosting the number of health care professionals who can meet the demand of the American public.  Especially in rural areas, we have a vested interest in proposals which will help us bring medical innovations to the towns and cities nearest to us.  We must cultivate those good ideas without corrupting the doctor-patient relationship and without letting partisanship unravel our progress with extreme agendas.

When we clamber into the stands for a local football game in Southern Missouri, we’re guaranteed to see some talented individuals put on a solid display of their athletic abilities.  Politics, too, is a spectator sport, and I am very glad for all of the concerned individuals in our congressional district who have taken the time and made the considerable effort required to follow this important debate for our nation.”