Times Herald: Gerlach Talks Health Care, Budget Issues

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Gerlach talks health care, budget issues

By DENNIS J. WRIGHT

For The Times Herald

PHOENIXVILLE — Congressman Jim Gerlach, R-6th District, spoke on the topics of health care and the state budget at the Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting at Robert Ryan’s Columbia Station Tuesday morning.

"It’s a pleasure to be here in Phoenixville,” Gerlach began. "There is a lot of excitement going on in Phoenixville. We are here to try to help you the best way we can. Keep up the hard work.”

Gerlach, who announced earlier this year his plans to run for governor in 2010, delved into the issue of health care, especially H.R. 3200.

"Health care has sucked all of the air out of legislature,” he said. "All of the town hall meetings shook things up quite a bit. It is now October and we have not seen H.R. 3200. It was supposed to be there before the August recess and it doesn’t have the votes. Health care is the No. 1 issue and it is one of the president’s priorities.”

Gerlach said that health care bills are exempt from the filibuster, which is a form of obstruction in a legislature or other decision-making body whereby one attempts to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a proposal by extending the debate on it.

"If a health care bill is on the floor, the filibuster rule doesn’t apply,” he said. "You need 51 votes to pass it. We just have to wait and see how things play out.”

With Congress being inundated with a variety of bills lately, Gerlach said that he and fellow members of Congress are working hard to look at every bill that they come across.

"A lot of us are pretty adamant to see what are in these bills before they are passed,” he said. "Some bills have been passed that we didn’t really look at, and we were embarrassed later that we voted for that.”

During a question and answer session, Gerlach was asked how he would handle the state budget fiasco if he were to win his current bid for governor.

"It is a broken process,” Gerlach said of the state budget. "This is the seventh straight year that this has happened, and we are the only state to go over 100 days (without a budget in place).

"I would push for legislators to get it done. They are to have it done by July. If they don’t have it completed, for every day over, they would lose a day’s pay,” he said.

Gerlach said that Pennsylvania should consider a two-year budgeting plan like some southern states.

"There is a much better way to monitor programs over two years,” he said. "It would be a more effective way to spend money. If you can’t get a budget done by July, you are failing.”

Event sponsors were Clairmont Paciello & Co., P.C. and Holy Family School.

The next Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting will be on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Robert Ryan’s Columbia Station, featuring "Evoke The Light,” a presentation by John Luttmann and the Phoenixville Cultural Alliance.


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