McCaul: if economy gets better, it's ‘in spite', of D.C.

Considering the drought affecting his entire district, healthcare affecting the entire country and the economy affecting the entire world, U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas 10) addressed several concerns he has while on a one-month break from a Congressional session.

He is hopeful that some issues will be resolved while he is at home in is district, and that others can be discussed by both political parties when Congress reconvenes in September.

Drought assistance: ‘Time is of the essence’

The congressman, whose district includes Tomball, Katy and Cypress and extends west into Austin, said the severe drought impacts most of his district, and he is putting pressure on the department of agriculture to speed up an assistance package that is not set to reach local farmers and ranchers until the fall.

"My farmers and ranchers aren’t going to make it through the summer without this assistance," he said.

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s secretary, Tom Vilsack, McCaul asks the USDA to "find ways to immediately make more of my constituents eligible for disaster relief under the current FSA disaster loan programs such as altering the way land values are determined, as well as accelerating the release of money farmers paid into the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program."

He said in the letter that the October or November timeline set out for farmers to receive assistance is not acceptable.

"Time is of the essence for the USDA to accurately determine agriculture production losses so producers can begin receiving immediate relief from the federal government for drought assistance before we have a devastating catastrophe involving constituents in my district, as well as the rest of the State of Texas," he wrote.

Health care reform: ‘There’s a right way and a wrong way’

McCaul conducted a telephone town hall-style meeting with 6,000 of his constituents from across his district, and through technological monitoring, his team determined that 80 percent of them oppose the Congressional Democrats’ plan for health care reform.

He said the sense he gets is there’s not enough support for President Barack Obama’s plan from the public, from health care providers, or members of Congress. He said he hopes Democrats and Republicans can work together to come up with a bill that works for everyone.

"I’m opposed to this plan in its current form," he said. "Hopefully when we get back they’ll include us and not stiff-arm us."

He has a few major concerns with the Democrats’ bill: employer mandates that he believes will kill jobs for employers that can’t afford the insurance; the public option that he feels the private sector won’t be able to compete with; the tax increase he believes small businesses will face; and, he believes the biggest concern most people have is the control of health care by a federal board in Washington, D.C.

He has co-sponsored a reform bill, H.R. 3218, that he said addresses the major concerns people have with the one the president proposes. The bill states its purpose is to: provide a refundable tax credit for medical costs, to expand access to health insurance coverage through individual membership associations (IMAs), and to assist in the establishment of high risk pools.