WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) offered the following
comments on President Bush’s Tuesday message to Congress and the nation:

 

“I agree with the president that our nation needs an agenda for the future that meets the challenges of today.  There are two clear domestic objectives reaching crisis proportions: health care and energy.  The American people and people in my district want progress on these issues, and so do I.

 

“Alternative sources of energy have to be part of the solution to our dependence on foreign oil.  It’s not realistic to think that Americans are going to drive less, that we will ship fewer goods, that we are all going to move from rural America to the city so we can ride the subway.  Even as gas prices topped $3 per gallon last year, oil companies admitted to record profits.  The market for fuel is out of whack – and the people it hurts most live in places like Southern Missouri, where goods are shipped in from far away and our agriculture and manufacturing products are shipped out even greater distances to far-off markets.  We drive farther in a day than most urban Americans drive in a week.  We use tractors, semi’s, and heavy-duty trucks on our farms and at our factories.  Energy is the lifeblood of our rural economy, and high energy costs are a crushing burden on families, farms and businesses.

 

“Those same farmers are growing crops that could power all their vehicles.  When I am out on the highway in Southern Missouri, I literally see fields of fuel – corn and soybeans that can be converted into Ethanol and bio-diesel.  In Southern Missouri, we are starting to build Ethanol and bio-diesel refineries.  It is in the very best interests of our country to support these efforts in every possible way.  Oil is the most politicized natural resource in the world, it is limited, and its use will eventually become archaic.  We must plan for that future now.

 

“Health care is another issue that disproportionately affects rural Americans, and it is an even more urgent situation.  Twenty percent of Americans, 46 million, have no health insurance.  Another 43 million rely on a Medicare system that is unprepared for a flood of baby-boom retirees.  The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit simply passes the high cost of medicines on to the taxpayer.  We are slowly nationalizing out health care system by default, but we are not getting the best deal for the extraordinary prices we pay.

 

“Market-based solutions must provide a strong incentive for Americans to acquire affordable health insurance.  Association Health Plans, like those being championed in the U.S. Senate by Senator Jim Talent, are the kind of forward-thinking solution we need.  We should run Medicare like we run the Veterans Administration, by negotiating fees and prescription prices.  We should find new, creative ways to implement preventative care.  If we continue on the present course, rife with unnecessary procedures, a refusal to negotiate drug prices, nursing shortages, frivolous lawsuits and overpayments, we’ll have a disaster on our hands.”