Walden addresses concerns

The Second District Congressman was the special guest and main speaker at the Malheur County Republicans’ Lincoln Day Dinner Wednesday evening at Killion’s Restaurant, Ontario, and held a town hall meeting for the general public Thursday morning at the Clarion Inn, also Ontario.

Often panned as “Obamacare,” the Affordable Health Care Act is projected to cost more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, Walden told both crowds. Walden said the Health Act includes a number of taxes, including a tax on medical devices, which could cost consumers about $29 billion over 10 years and a tax on health insurers.

The ultimate end result, which Walden said some people want, is a single-payer government-funded health care program which is not sustainable.

“This is a complete takeover of health care by government in its worst form,” Walden said. “Obamacare is raiding Medicare to pay for other programs.”

Responding to comments from Tom Butler, former state representative and retired accountant, Walden said that the Health Care Act will keep accountants busy.

“There are people in Washington that don’t believe we have a spending problem,” Walden said. “I believe we have a spending problem,” he said, noting that current federal spending is about the same size as the economy. He showed projections that future spending levels, on their current trajectory could get up to 900 percent of gross domestic product as far out as 2080.

Other charts showed that the medical trust fund will be broke by 2019 and Social Security will be broke in 2035 unless something is done.

The House has passed budgets that offer more flexibility in where and how the cuts will be made than the looming across-the-board cuts, Walden said, but the Senate has not responded. “He has no plan,” Walden said of President Obama. “Obama has hot met the budget deadline.”

Commenting that Obama wants more taxes, Walden said the U.S. already taxes corporations more than any other country.

House Republicans’ budget proposal sets a course for a balanced budget, Walden said.

Turning to immigration, Walden said, “I believe that a country that doesn’t have control of its borders, doesn’t have control of its security.” He is not worried about people who come to the U.S. want a job, he said. “I’m worried about people who want to do us harm.”

The number of people living in the U.S. without documentation is about the same as the population of Pennsylvania, Walden said, and more people are allowed to immigrate into the U.S. than any other country.

“It is critical to have an adequate labor supply,” Kay Riley said from the audience at the Clarion Inn. Walden said the president has not referenced a guest-worker program in his comments on immigration reform. Walden said he wants to make temporary workers legal.