With retirement looming, many people choose to coast. Not U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, who acknowledges facing an assortment of uphill battles during his final term as a member of the Senate.
Health care was among the key issues cited by the Republican during a visit to the Hannibal Courier-Post Monday morning.
“We want to reform health care; everybody knows we need health care reform. No. 1, people need access, they need more affordability. We don’t need government to take over health care,” he said.
Bond is concerned about residents in out-state Missouri, where in some places doctors and hospitals are refusing to see Medicare patients because the program pays from 20 to 30 percent below their costs.
“We need to fix Medicare. We need to fix Medicaid,” said Bond, who has proposed a system that would see vouchers given to Medicare eligible individuals and allow them to choose among health care providers.
Bond is alarmed at the rate that Washington Democrats are passing out money, noting that at the current rate the nation’s debt will have doubled in five years and tripled in a decade.
“I just hope we can stop the system from being completely destroyed before the people have a chance to express their views,” he said.
Asked about his biggest domestic concern as he enters his final year in office, Bond didn’t hesitate.
“The cap and trade tax is a disaster for the Midwest, absolutely a disaster,” he said, pointing out that it will hit Midwesterners particularly hard since 80 percent of their electrical power comes from coal.
Bond stressed that he is a proponent of lessening greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need more nuclear power, a lot more nuclear power. We need transportation efficiencies, among other things that includes shipping more commodities by river, the Mississippi and Missouri. It means using new batteries we’re developing in Missouri that will allow us to have plug-in vehicles,” he said, adding he backs the development of clean-coal technology and biomass.
North America could be energy independent by 2020, according to Bond, if it was allowed to develop its resources.
The war in Afghanistan should be of importance to Americans, says Missouri’s senior senator.
“If you mess up Afghanistan there will be hell to pay in America. While we’re talking about health care, while we’re talking about cap and tax. If we are hit again, and even again, nobody is going to worry about health care, they’ll worry about staying alive,” said Bond.
Despite calls for more troops in Afghanistan, Bond has noted a lack of urgency on the part of the Obama Administration.
“A high ranking national security official who has drunk the Obama Kool-Aid said they (Taliban) won’t take it over in a year. They won’t take it over in a year, but they will have gained so much momentum and taken over so much control that they will have gone past the point where we can save Afghanistan,” he said.
Bond contends that winning in Afghanistan will not only involve military power, but strengthening the country’s economy so that the needs of people at the local level are met.
Like many members of Congress, Bond has heard from numerous constituents in recent months. The senator encourages Missourians to continue letting their voices be heard.
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With retirement looming, many people choose to coast. Not U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, who acknowledges facing an assortment of uphill battles during his final term as a member of the Senate.
Health care was among the key issues cited by the Republican during a visit to the Hannibal Courier-Post Monday morning.
“We want to reform health care; everybody knows we need health care reform. No. 1, people need access, they need more affordability. We don’t need government to take over health care,” he said.
Bond is concerned about residents in out-state Missouri, where in some places doctors and hospitals are refusing to see Medicare patients because the program pays from 20 to 30 percent below their costs.
“We need to fix Medicare. We need to fix Medicaid,” said Bond, who has proposed a system that would see vouchers given to Medicare eligible individuals and allow them to choose among health care providers.
Bond is alarmed at the rate that Washington Democrats are passing out money, noting that at the current rate the nation’s debt will have doubled in five years and tripled in a decade.
“I just hope we can stop the system from being completely destroyed before the people have a chance to express their views,” he said.
Asked about his biggest domestic concern as he enters his final year in office, Bond didn’t hesitate.
“The cap and trade tax is a disaster for the Midwest, absolutely a disaster,” he said, pointing out that it will hit Midwesterners particularly hard since 80 percent of their electrical power comes from coal.
Bond stressed that he is a proponent of lessening greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need more nuclear power, a lot more nuclear power. We need transportation efficiencies, among other things that includes shipping more commodities by river, the Mississippi and Missouri. It means using new batteries we’re developing in Missouri that will allow us to have plug-in vehicles,” he said, adding he backs the development of clean-coal technology and biomass.
North America could be energy independent by 2020, according to Bond, if it was allowed to develop its resources.
The war in Afghanistan should be of importance to Americans, says Missouri’s senior senator.
“If you mess up Afghanistan there will be hell to pay in America. While we’re talking about health care, while we’re talking about cap and tax. If we are hit again, and even again, nobody is going to worry about health care, they’ll worry about staying alive,” said Bond.
Despite calls for more troops in Afghanistan, Bond has noted a lack of urgency on the part of the Obama Administration.
“A high ranking national security official who has drunk the Obama Kool-Aid said they (Taliban) won’t take it over in a year. They won’t take it over in a year, but they will have gained so much momentum and taken over so much control that they will have gone past the point where we can save Afghanistan,” he said.
Bond contends that winning in Afghanistan will not only involve military power, but strengthening the country’s economy so that the needs of people at the local level are met.
Like many members of Congress, Bond has heard from numerous constituents in recent months. The senator encourages Missourians to continue letting their voices be heard.
“Keep speaking out because this is a representative government of, by and for the people,” he said. “We need to reform our system because our system is not perfect. Certainly we could make some reforms in health care. We need to continue to limit emissions, but we need to do that without government regulation and taxation. We need to do it without destroying our economy with a tripling of the debt that would be a crushing burden on our children and grandchildren. And we need strong military action to keep our country safe from further attacks and the time for that decision has almost passed us.”
