Congressman Stivers visits McConnelsville; discusses views

MORGAN COUNTY HERALD

BY LEONA JEWELL

Should the American people get to know members of Congress, who represent them in their respective districts? One should think so, especially the voters. These legislators make decisions for the people – and the people get only one chance every two years to choose the candidate that will best represent them. 

On January 4, with a smile and a secretary in tow, Congressman Steve Stivers (R-15 District) paid a visit to the Morgan County Herald to address the big issues facing the nation today: Jobs, spending, and the national debt. After redistricting, Morgan County will be in the new 15th Congressional District, which Congressman Stivers is seeking to represent.

To start the conversation, James McConkey, a longtime Morgan County landowner, wanted to know if Representative Stivers supported hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. This process extracts natural gas 5,000 to 20,000 feet beneath the ground, and is highly controversial. Some Morgan County residents have recently leased their land to oil companies to carry out this process, so it is an imminent issue facing county residents.

Responding to McConkey, Stivers quoted former Mayor John Wells, “Gas is the future.” Regarding the recent controversies surrounding fracking and its supposed setbacks, Stivers added that research on the subject “needs to be science-based.”
 

Stivers met with Wells and Mayor John Finley on last Wednesday, along with other members of the community, at Deano’s.

Stivers recently visited a town outside of Pittsburgh and spoke to a local car salesperson. When Stivers inquired, “Tell me how the economy is doing here,” the man replied, “Let me tell you this way, I can’t keep Cadillacs in my lot.” Meaning the residents in his county had received money from oil companies for leasing their land, and they were spending it locally.

Addressing the national debt, Stivers has a bill called the Cents and Sensibility Act and the STEEL Nickel Act. These acts would lower the cost of producing pennies and nickels and ensure they are minted with steel instead of minerals imported from outside the United States. Representatives Tim Ryan (D – OH) and Pat Tiberi (R – OH) signed on as original cosponsors of the bipartisan legislation, according to a press release on Stivers’ website.

The article continues to say, “Since 2006, due to the rising cost of materials and labor, the manufacturing of some denominations has become unprofitable. Of the coins currently in circulation today, the cost of producing pennies and nickels is greater than the face value of the coins themselves.”

For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2010, the cost to create a penny was 1.79 cents and the cost to create a nickel was 9.22 cents. According to the House Financial Services Committee, by simply changing the composition of both coins to steel, the United States would save up to $274 million in penny production and $159 million in the production of nickels, for a total savings of up to $433 million over 10 years for American taxpayers, the article states.

Stivers also proposes the DEBT Elimination Contribution Act. This allows taxpayers to pay down the national debt by donating a portion of their earnings to the national debt. The amount of money that is donated counts as a tax write-off.

“I donate $700 a month. It is a tax deductible contribution,” Stivers stated.

With this act, Stivers is trying to make it easier “for those who choose to do so to make a contribution to pay down the national debt.” The act would make this easier by providing a check-off box on the individual’s tax return, for a more user-friendly way of claiming the tax deduction.

“The U.S. National Debt is over $14.294 trillion, and the federal government will not be running a surplus any time soon,” Stivers said. “One way to begin to pay down the national debt is to facilitate patriotic Americans in making contributions to pay down our debt. The Debt Elimination By Tax-Deductible (DEBT) Contribution Act does just that.”

Addressing healthcare, Stivers believes there needs to be reform when it comes to lawsuit abuse within the health care industry, along with FDA reform. Stivers noted that it costs a billion dollars to approve and get one drug on the market. American taxpayers pay for this, Stivers said. Amylin Pharmaceuticals is working to make a drug for diabetes a weekly instead of a monthly pill. The pill was already on the market, but the company has now spent 1.5 billion dollars to make it a once a week dose. This is unacceptable, according to Stivers.

He also suggests that people get a Health Savings Account, which he says will help people “understand what things cost.” He stated that the money people put into their HSA is tax-deductible.

Stivers stated that the savings accounts are not perfect, and they’re not for everyone, but they will help make people realize what their health care is really costing them. The account is like a flexible spending account, in which funds roll over and accumulate year to year if not spent. HSA’s are owned by the individual, which differentiates them from company-owned Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA). HSA Funds may currently be used to pay for qualified medical expenses at any time without federal tax liability or penalty, according to the IRS.

“Forty percent of health costs are driven by behavior,” said Stivers.

Smoking, drinking and not eating right are among those he named. Stivers indicated he thinks it’s ironic that, “I’m going to pay more for life insurance if I’m a smoker, but if I go pay for health insurance, it’s no higher.” Health insurance should not bear the cost first, he said.

Stivers was elected to Congress in the 15th District of Ohio in 2010. The counties in his district now are Union, Madison, and part of Franklin County. If Stivers is re-elected in the fall of 2012, instead of representing only three counties, he will then be representing 12 counties: western part of Franklin, Madison, Morgan, Perry, Athens, Fairfield, Hocking, Vinton, part of Ross, Pickaway, Clinton, and half of Fayette. Ohio lost two Congressional districts, due to a decrease in population. The Reapportionment Board eliminated Districts 18 and 17, during the redistricting process.

Besides Stivers, there are others running for the 15th District, including Republicans Charles Chope and Ralph Applegate, both of Columbus, and Democrats Pat Lang of Athens and Scott Wharton of Amanda.

The Republican and Democratic winners of the March 6 primary will face each other in the fall general election.