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Politics & Government

Sensenbrenner Hosts Town Hall Meeting to Talk Budget, ObamaCare

Nearly 25 people attended a town hall meeting hosted by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner Tuesday. Sen. Glenn Grothman and Rep. Dewey Stroebel also commented on ObamaCare and the budget.

Tuesday evening, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, State Sen. Glenn Grothman, and State Rep. Duey Stroebel hosted a town hall-style meeting at the Port Washington Police Department to listen to the concerns of their constituents.

Roughly 25 individuals attended the meeting to ask questions of their representatives.  All present were welcome to speak their part during the open discussion, and those attendees with specific concerns were welcome to speak one-on-one with the legislators after the question and answer session.

Questions posed to the three legislators primarily concerned the passage of Obamacare and the state budget.  

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Thoughts on the new budget 

Several individuals at the meeting expressed their approval of the passage of the state’s biennial budget.  The $66 billion budget, passed this Sunday, will close previous budget shortfalls and will also provide tax cuts for manufacturing companies. 

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The tax cuts for manufacturers is “one of the most positive things in this budget,” Grothman said.  

However, when William Wolf of Port Washington said that he would like to see even more improvements, like tax cuts and savings, Stroebel said that he would like to see the same, but told Wolf that these measures would take time.

“We had to turn the Titanic as best we could,” Stroebel said of the state’s finances.

Speaking on the federal side, Sensenbrenner told Port Washington resident Terry Anewenter that he hopes to negotiate a bill that will cut the country’s spending in the near future.

Modifying unemployment

Another concern raised by Port Washington resident and small business owner Carol Bailey was that of unemployment.  Bailey told the panel that she has seen her unemployment insurance rates increase in the recent past and that to cope, she and her husband took significant financial cuts.  

Grothman told Bailey that the situation “does appear to be unfair,” however since unemployment benefits are part of the law, little can be done to change the system. He said he and his fellow legislators could work to remove some of the abuses. He reminded the audience that he recently voted to see a decrease in benefits for those left jobless for a short time in order to save the state money.

"Reigning in" the EPA

Also mentioned during the meeting was energy and fuel.  Sensenbrenner explained to his audience that the Environmental Protection Agency would like to see the percentage of ethanol in gasoline be increased from ten percent to 15, a change that he staunchly opposes.   

“Ethanol’s a bad fuel,” he said.   

He continued, saying that many cars made before 2001 would not be able to run on this type of fuel.

A supporter of nuclear and coal energy as well as off-shore drilling, Sensenbrenner told those at the Port Washington meeting that the EPA “will be reigned in pretty good” in regards to the agency’s mandates and spending.

 Thoughts on ObamaCare

However, most of the town hall meeting was spent discussing the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare, and the future of health care in this country.  

Sensenbrenner addressed the crowd, saying that he believes ObamaCare is unconstitutional, however since it is law and will go into effect in January 2014, he can only hope to defund portions of the program.  

He explained that one of his primary issues with the new health care policy is that money will be taken from the Medicare program.  

“The first people that are going to be bit are senior citizens,” Sensenbrenner said.

He stated that $550 billion will be taken from the Medicare program to finance ObamaCare, and this change in funding will hurt the people that need medical aid the most.  

Sensenbrenner also mentioned that SeniorCare, a prescription drug assistance program unique to Wisconsin, would also be put in jeopardy when ObamaCare goes into effect in 2014.  He remarked what a shame that would be as he believes the state’s SeniorCare “works better than Medicare D,” the program’s federal equivalent.

Since the new healthcare program will be part of the federal government’s mandatory spending, according to Sensenbrenner, he “can’t expect it all to be defunded,” however he looks forward to the possibility of the law being declared unconstitutional.  

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