Once again, we examine the actions of our newly elected 6th District Congressman to determine if he is, in fact, doing the people’s business, as was his mandate when elected by the people of this District. For purposes of this writing, I define the phrase, “Doing the people's business” as his providing leadership and legislative support to those issues that will most aid the majority of his constituency to a better life.  Apply this definition to the actions of Congressman Price and it is plain to see that he is a willing participant in the continuing Republican “War on the Middle Class.”  Our millionaire congressman has voted, time-after-time, with the Administration on issues from Social Security to healthcare. Most recently in the 40 billion dollar budget-cutting bill, which the Republicans contend, must be passed in order to lessen the deficit their programs have created. Needless to say, to achieve this goal, Tom Price and his fellow Republicans have attacked those programs that are designed to help most of the middle class in this society. 

They are cutting Medicare Benefits and forcing more medical costs upon those least able to bear them. One provision of the act will strip Medicaid coverage from elderly nursing home residents if they had donated any money in the previous five years. This particular provision would cover money given to a charity or to a family member for tuition or the like. The Medicaid recipients would lose coverage in an amount equal to what they had given. When the effect of this provision was brought out in the open, only four Republicans supporters backed off, but Tom Price was not one of them. Needless to say, none of the subsidies provided the pharmaceutical industry in the Medicare Bill have been touched; they are still in place. 

Funds for education, including scholarship programs, have been cut. Moreover, funds required for the many unfunded mandates in the Republican No Child Left Behind Act is in fact leaving a nation of students behind the rest of the world. Schools are teaching for the tests required by this Act. Consequently, true education, that is, developing and providing a curriculum that will meet the individual needs of the school population is being neglected in many schools in order to meet the dictates of this Act. 

Moreover, the pressure on schools to "measure up" provides the impetus for all sorts of book juggling to show improvement at a particular school or district. A blatant example of this can be found in the so-called "Houston Miracle”. The Houston Miracle was presented as a great step forward in education since the overall system's grade average increased, allegedly by following the program. However, further investigation revealed that the statistical increase in grades turned out to be simply a dropping of poorer students from the count. 

Moreover, nothing, I repeat nothing, is being done about the disastrous tax cuts this Administration, and its Republican controlled Congress, have given to the rich at the expense of the rest of society.  Consequently, unless the 6th Congressional District in Georgia is very unique, in that the majority of its residents are millionaires, then Tom Price is exactly the right type of representative this District requires and deserves. However, if, as the demographics show, the 6th Congressional District is heavily skewed with middle class families, then Tom Price is an anathema to the needs and concerns of the people of the 6th Congressional District.

His most recent fiasco was to add wording to an immigration bill that gave the Homeland Security Department eighteen months to close the borders. Remember these are our borders that, since 1846, have had a distinctly Mexican influence since the territories involved were once part of Mexico and called “Alta California.” Moreover in the century that followed, all types of legislation were tried and still the border remained as porous as ever.  

In addition, those of you who read have learned that the present Republican initiative to address the Immigration problem is heavily weighted in unrealistic enforcement mode. Studies have shown, through the years, that such legislation creates the opposite condition it attempts to regulate. Specifically, the number of illegal aliens has actually climbed higher. In this case, the adage that, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" seems to apply to the House's present effort to deal with the problem of illegal immigration in this country - a problem that does deserve to be dealt with forthrightly and humanely, since we are dealing with the lives of thousands of men, women and children, whose only crimes are attempting to find a better life for themselves and their families, by seeking work in this Country. Thus, building a wall of stupidity based upon stringent punitive laws will not get the job done and will, in the long run, prove to be counterproductive.

Contact Richard J. Tuneski M.A., J.D.

 

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