Why Are My Tax Dollars Being Used for Peter Roskam’s Campaign Mail?

On October 11, 2009, in Healthcare, Peter Roskam, by RSR
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I received this expensive-looking over sized mailer from Peter Roskam a couple of days ago. Says it contains “important facts and information”. “Dated information”, it tells me, “read today”. This must be it. This must be Peter Roskam’s plan to make sure that all Americans receive adequate quality healthcare. Maybe he’s finally doing the job we pay him for. Maybe he’s studied the situation and decided a public option makes sense after all. Lets see.

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Nope. No plan here.  Just a picture of Peter with an ugly tie. Says he wants “real bipartisan reforms”. Doesn’t want a public option – that would put bureaucrats in charge of my family’s healthcare.  Hmm. That sounds a lot like the same old crap we’ve been hearing from the Republicans who’ve been trying to block healthcare reform in Congress. “Bipartisan” means do whatever we want and what our campaign donors from the healthcare industry want or else. Says the status quo is unacceptable. Things must change by remaining exactly the same, withour healthcare in the hands of giant corporations. Not a government plan like in those commie countries – like England and Switzerland.

There’s another picture of Peter smiling next to a nurse taking a small child’s blood pressure while mom looks on. Everybody is smiling. Blood pressure taking is fun.  (We hear from usually reliable sources at the hospital that Peter devoured this child for lunch moments after the picture was taken – solving the healthcare crisis one child at a time).

There’s a note under the photo that brags about Peter’s $1.1 million in earmarks for local healthcare facilities since 2007. Yes, that’ll solve the problem. Well maybe Peter’s plan is on page 3. Let’s take a look.

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Well this looks familiar. We’ve seen this before. Over and over. Pretty nebulous. Doesn’t say anything concrete about what he’s going to do this year to ensure that those people without health insurance can get coverage and those who have it can get covered for pre-existing conditions or deal with increasingly unaffordable co-payments and deductibles and how they can keep insurance when they lose or leave their job. Maybe that’s on the next page. Lets see.

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No its not here.  Just some stuff telling me that this was paid for with my money. And instructions on how to get hold of Peter if I need help.

I guess that must be the plan. If you don’t have insurance, if your coverage is being denied because of a pre-existing condition, if your deductibles are too high, if you want to move to a new job but can’t afford to lose your insurance – just call Peter Roskam’s office and he will help you. (630) 893-9670. I guess its not really the plan I hoped for.

So, I have to say, this pretty much looks like a campaign piece. There’s really no information here. This is Peter Roskam using his constituents hard-earned money to lobby them in order to defeat the Democratic healthcare reform plan that would otherwise benefit them. That’s pretty twisted. But then so is Roskam.

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Peter Roskam Casts Anti-Family Vote to Oppose Paid Parental Leave

On June 10, 2009, in Executive Compensation, Healthcare, Middle Class, Peter Roskam, Peter Roskam's Corporate Agenda, by RSR
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If I don’t have much good to say about Peter Roskam these days, I can at least credit him for being consistent. Roskam is quite consistently opposed to anything that might possibly benefit an ordinary working man or woman at the expense of the giant corporations and wealthy individuals whose interests he uses his seat in Congress to represent.

It was no surprise when Peter Roskam voted against the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2009 on June 4, 2009. Congressman Roskam has been a fierce advocate of unlimited pay for corporate executives, but God forbid any working mother or father should be given the time and the financial wherewithal to care for a new child. Why that would make us no different than those Commie countries like… like Canada!

H.R. 626 provides for 4 weeks of paid parental leave to federal employees surrounding the birth or adoption of a child. Federal employees currently receive 12 weeks of unpaid leave (as do all employees subject to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993). The bill further provides that the employees can use accumulated sick time and vacation time to convert some or all of the balance of that 12 weeks into paid time. Finally, the Office of Personnel Management would be enabled to extend the paid period to 8 weeks. The measure applies only to federal employees and would be at best a weak immitation of pro-family policies in place in many Western countries. Hell, even Zimbabwe gives mothers 90 days at 100%.

Roskam, of course, in addition to not wanting to spend a dime of our federal tax dollars on a working family, fears that the bill will be a foot in the door for future further enhancements to FMLA, something that Roskam’s corporate overlords at the U.S. Chamber and at the National Association of Manufacturers virulently oppose.

Despite Roskam’s vote, along with those of most of his Republican colleagues, H.R. 626 passed by a vote of  258-154. It will now have to be taken up by the Senate.

Peter Roskam deserves to be shamed for his anti-family vote. Please contact him today.  You can reach him at (202) 225-4561 in Washington or at (630) 893-9670 in Bloomingdale.

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