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Kim Raff/The News & Advance
Paul Coviello, of Appomattox, voices his opposition to health care reform proposals during Rep. Tom Perriello’s 21st and final town hall meeting in August. Coviello told Perriello to ‘get the federal government out of our way.’ Perriello said he doesn’t support the current proposals, but hopes to work toward a ‘yes.
APPOMATTOX — Rep. Tom Perriello’s 21st and final town hall meeting of August brought out a respectful crowd Monday night that nevertheless disagreed with many of the reforms proposed in health care legislation.
Speakers criticized waste in the current Medicare system and controls on future efforts by hospitals and insurance companies. Others criticized government spending on stimulus programs and bailouts.
A woman, speaking early in the meeting about wasted funds, displayed two bras for breast cancer patients that she said Medicare paid $833 to provide. “You can go to Victoria’s Secret and get two bras for $70,” she said as the audience chuckled.
Perriello acknowledged there is waste in the Medicare system, and said the Congressional Budget Office has tracked down $500 million of it.
More waste would have been caught, Perriello said, but both political parties had been afraid the other party would run TV ads accusing them of robbing seniors of health care coverage.
Several speakers demanded to know whether Perriello was going to vote for the health care reform bill.
“I have been and I remain a ‘no’ on the bill,” Perriello said, “but I’m going to be upfront, I really want to get to a ‘yes.’”
Congress will work during September on refining three House bills on health care and two Senate bills into single measures.
Perriello said he thought the current system, in which private health insurance plans are supporting Medicare, uninsured people and other government-funded care, “is bankrupting a lot of middle-class families and a lot of small-business owners.”
“It is driving up the deficit” in the federal budget, he said.
Other speakers criticized the federal stimulus package and said government has too big a role in people’s lives.
Paul Coviello, of Appomattox, said he watched a YouTube video that showed President Obama in Northern Virginia “saying dissent in this country was the result of work of the Republican Party, telling us in effect to shut up and get out of the way.
“Congressman, that is disgusting,” Coviello said.
Coviello also said churches and charitable institutions are able to take care of needy people and that role “is not the legitimate purview of the government.”
“What we need you to do is get the federal government out of our way,” Coviello said as several people in the audience stood and cheered.
“I can tell you, for my part, I don’t want help educating my children, I don’t want food, I don’t want clothing, I don’t want a down payment for my cars,” he said, referring to government social programs and the use of federal stimulus funds to get clunker cars off the road.
Such programs “are patently un-American and ungodly and it has got to stop, and we need you to speak for us,” Coviello said.
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Reader Reactions
“Tommyboy voted YES to healthcare bills in Congress.“ -Nookley
Nookley you are offensive and you are an idiot. Congressman Perriello has not voted on any healthcare bills. That is a talking point listed on some conservative talking-popint memo’s but it is a strait-up lie and anyone with half a brain knows it.
Three house committees have passed three different versions of health care reform bills. TOM PERRIELLO DOES NOT SIT, NOR VOTE, ON ANY OF THESE COMMITTEES. Get your facts strait, you are embarrassing yourself.
What a typical lapdog response from a lib. Don’t like what you hear, ignore the facts and attack. Tommyboy voted YES to healthcare bills in Congress. He says he did not. In the liberal world, that is not a lie, but in the real world, it is a lie. What about the economy has gotten better? Oh yeah, the state is not in debt, the nation is not running the worst debt in history and Obama has not spent the most money than any other president EVER. Obama has not appointed Czars that are socialist and radicals, according to their own words. I know you libs follow blindly and do as your told and believe everything your idols tell you, but before making yourself look as dumb as you may be, check your facts. I may swing from a tree, but I know the truth and do not willingly bend over because another lapdog politician says so.
The first posters comment about Perriello being a liar has some merit as last night at the Appomattox town hall Perriello stated that “he read the whole stimulus bill before he voted for it”, which was over 1300 pages and it didn’t clear committee in time for even the Evelyn Wood Seven Day Speed Reading And Learning Program author to accomplish! That and every major news organization also maintained that NONE of the members of Congress had read this stimulus bill before it was voted on and NONE of those members of Congress disputed these reports? in fact, one laughed when he was asked why he didn’t read it before he voted for it? So how does Perriello do what others could not do and why did he not dispute these reports when they came out? I saw him last night and he doesn’t resemble superman to me!
IMHO that town hall last night was a waste of time for the citizens of Appomattox County! I found out that Perriello has issued ear marks for those areas of the district that he won while Appomattox, which he didn’t carry in the election, has gotten little help and NO earmarks, not even one for help with the water line project, which is desperately needed to build the county’s infrastructure and lure more manufacturering to that depressed area! So I guess his “unequal” treatment for localities that didn’t vote for him could be a form or “quid pro quo” for those areas that did? I guess it’s still, “politics as usual” in Washington, and this from a guy that stated in his campaign that he was going to end that “culture of corruption” in Washington? How’s that working for us?
How like a knuckledragger, to immediately call someone a liar. First, I’ve never know Tom to lie about anything. Second, have you noticed the economy has gotten a bit better…following the stimulist package? Third, why don’t you let your anger go, and actually listen to the man?
TommyBoy is such a liar! He voted yes for the bills in Congress and he is not able to give ANY details about these bills. He votes the way his savior tells him to vote and does not bother to find out what is in these bills. I think healthcare needs to be fixed, but the crooks in DC are too corrupt to do it. They are unable to run any program that is not in debt.
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