“Not only do we want to see the Affordable Care Act changed, but we want to show the American people what our plan for an alternative is. For the first time, we’ll have a hard copy to show the American people,” she said. “We’ve talked about alternatives, and we know theoretically that there are better ways of funding health care and paying for insurance, and now we’ll actually be able give them a product they can read and see ...” – Rep. Renee Ellmers
The new year typically brings with it goals and resolutions for the future, and U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers of Dunn has set some goals for 2016 that go beyond getting into the gym more often.
Goals For The Coming Year
Repealing Obamacare
Rep. Ellmers said one of her goals in the coming year is to continue to fight to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Barrack Obama’s signature piece of health care legislation.
“One of my main goals and one of the reasons I ran for office was the president taking on health care at the national level. The Affordable Care Act, Obamacare … as Republicans we are very committed to a different system, and we’ve voted to repeal it many times,” Rep. Ellmers said. “Now, we actually have finally gotten that process through reconciliation, a budget effort that moves forward through the House, it passed in the House, moved through the Senate process a bill that repeals Obamacare and defunds Planned Parenthood… and this will be the first time, with all those repeal efforts, that the president will get this on his desk.”
Rep. Ellmers said that despite President Obama’s almost certain veto of the bill, she will continue to work on not only repealing the ACA, but replacing it with a different system.
“Not only do we want to see the Affordable Care Act changed, but we want to show the American people what our plan for an alternative is. For the first time we’ll have a hard copy to show the American people,” she said. “We’ve talked about alternatives, and we know theoretically that there are better ways of funding health care and paying for insurance, and now we’ll actually be able give them a product they can read and see that there are better alternatives.”
Protecting Second Amendment Rights
Rep. Ellmers also expressed concern about President Obama’s recent move to tighten certain gun laws by executive action, including requiring background checks on purchases made at gun shows and online.
“The president is moving forward very aggressively with limiting gun rights,” she said. “In Harnett County, we have our folks and they embrace their Second Amendment rights to own firearms. I see this is a real issue, the president is moving forward with a commitment to use executive action and orders, and that’s concerning when you’re dealing with constitutional rights.”
Rep. Ellmers said she and her staff were looking at what the president’s executive action would entail, but that the content of the action wasn’t necessarily the biggest concern.
Fighting Against the President’s Unilateral Executive Actions
“We are hearing differing opinions and information about the purchase of guns at gun shows and online, and what background checks are done, this is something we’re looking into as well,” she said. “The issue here is if that’s something that needs to be dealt with …. I think the glaring issue is that the president wants to move forward unilaterally without congressional intervention. The president has his role, but it’s our branch, it’s our job to create the laws. He can’t be out there on his own on this, we’re supposed to work together.”
Rep. Ellmers also hopes to continue work to prevent the 440th Airlift Wing at Fort Bragg from being closed, something she said would negatively affect mission readiness, as well as work to improve veterans’ access to health care and other veterans’ services.
Improving Veterans Access to Healthcare
“Health care for our veterans is so critical, we have a growing veteran population in North Carolina. We have a steadily increasing population and health care for our veterans is a very important issue, but one that is very much in need of reform or improvement,” Rep. Ellmers said. “One of the things we’re committed to are efforts at short term and long term. One is the outpatient veteran’s facility in Raeford serving our veterans in that area. It’s wonderful facility, now serving more and more veterans and their health care needs in a much more specific manner. It’s part of a collaborative effort that we all have to serve our veterans and to give them the good health care they deserve.”
Rep. Ellmers said she has and will continue to work on increasing the funding for health care for veterans and to reduce backlogged systems in the Veterans Administration.
“For North Carolina it’s a little more specific. (Long wait times for care) isn’t necessarily what we’re seeing here. I think we have very dedicated health care providers that are providing good health care, the issue I’ve been able to zero in on is that the system is very bureaucratic, and we need better ways to make the process work,” she said. “We need to be a good voice for our veterans and communicate to them that one of our main jobs is to be helping them when they are finding a closed door, when they are in need of receiving their benefits. We want to get the message out that if they are reaching out for help through the VA system, that if someone isn’t helping, the next call they need to make is to our office.”
Rep. Ellmers has an office in Dunn at 406 W. Broad St. The phone number is (910) 230-1920.
Renee Ellmers, a Dunn Republican, represents North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District - which includes Fort Bragg.
