U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan promised Tuesday to oppose gutting Medicaid, support extending expiring tax cuts and advocate for an agriculture bill that aids family-owned farms.
In his first telephone town hall, Bresnahan, a Luzerne County Republican, twice tackled Medicaid questions including one from a caller who mentioned a television commercial that claims he wants to cut the program.
“To be bluntly honest, the ads that you’re seeing are lies,” Bresnahan said.
Last month, Bresnahan voted for a House budget resolution that Democrats say threatens Medicaid and Medicare. The resolution calls for $880 billion in cuts to a part of the budget that includes both. Democrats say it’s impossible to cut that much without cutting Medicaid.
Bresnahan said the budget resolution never mentions cutting Medicaid and said it’s only a first step in fashioning a budget.
“I want you to know that I will protect working class families in northeastern Pennsylvania, and I also will stand with President Trump in opposing gutting Medicaid,” he said. “My position on this has not and it will not change.”
That goes for Social Security and Medicare, too, he said.
“I will fight to ensure that those whom the program was designed for will have access to them,” he said. “Now listen, I'm against the waste, the fraud, where you have multiple people receiving different benefits, illegal aliens receiving these benefits. I support cutting it from people that are stealing from the rest of us, sure, but when it comes to the people that worked and deserve it and need it, our most vulnerable people that need it, I will not be laying a finger on it.”
By Bresnahan’s own statistics, the 8th Congressional District he represents has 208,000 Medicaid recipients, 66,000 Medicare recipients and 190,000 Social Security recipients.
In a poll of callers conducted during the town hall, 54% said they worried most about the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
To a question on slowing inflation, Bresnahan said extending the tax cuts passed during President Donald Trump’s first term will help a lot. If the tax cuts expire, the district’s average taxpayer — a family of four with a median income of $61,140 — would see taxes rise by $1,156, or almost 25%, he said.
“This is worth about six weeks of groceries to a typical family of four in the region,” he said. “Almost 80,000 families would see their child tax credit cut in half. Over 90% of our district's families would see their guaranteed tax deduction slashed in half. (About) 37,000 small businesses in our district would be hit with a 43-½% tax rate.”
One caller asked about saving small farms, viewing large farms as taking over agriculture.
Bresnahan, a House Agriculture Committee member, said passing a five-year farm bill must happen.
“Food security is national security,” he said. “We've been talking about it (a farm bill), and every Congress it seems to die on the vine ... Our district is home to over 1,100 farmers, and of those farmers, you have 94% of them being family farms ... I'm committed to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to craft a bipartisan farm bill that can finally get across the finish line.”
Bresnahan said he also favors reversing a federal rule to allow schools to serve whole milk.
The congressman also said he would:
Continue advocating for construction of the Scranton-to-New York City passenger train because of the economic development and jobs it will produce.
“It’s a big project,” said Bresnahan, who serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “There’s going to be two bridge crossings over the Delaware River. But we're going to keep the pedal to the metal and get, hopefully, the train out of the station here.”
Fight to keep the Tobyhanna Army Depot because of its 3,000 jobs and usefulness to the military. He said rumors the depot might close are untrue.
“I promise to support our troops who protect our freedoms,” he said. “Our district plays an integral role in our national defense, and this includes Tobyhanna ana Army Depot.”
- Fight for a bill that would allow reciprocity on carry concealed weapons. Under the bill, if someone who lives in a state that allows concealed weapons drives through a state that doesn’t, that person wouldn’t be subject to arrest if stopped.
- Keep track of congressional investigations aimed at determining how the editor of The Atlantic magazine was included on a top-secret text chain discussing attacking rebels in Yemen.
“Like you, we were certainly discouraged to learn about it,” he told the female caller who asked about it. “Obviously, it's a relatively new situation. But like many Americans, I'm concerned with the reports of sensitive national security intelligence being shared over non-secure channels.”
He expressed confidence congressional committee would get to the bottom of what happened.
More than 9,000 people listened in via telephone and another 1,000 on Facebook, according to a Bresnahan news release Wednesday.
