Rep. Gary Palmer addresses citizen questions, comments during town hall

Around 200 individuals gathered in the Chelsea Community Center on April 18 for Rep. Gary Palmer’s second town hall of the legislative session. The group asked questions spanning from health care and tax returns to the EPA and the Miner Protection Act, and expressed opinions both in support and against Palmer or his actions.

Members of Birmingham Indivisible, a group that describes itself as “a local group of progressives working against the Trump agenda by consistently voicing our opposition to our elected members of Congress,” were present and held cards that read “Agree” and “Disagree” to hold up during others’ questions and Palmer’s responses. There were also members of United Mine Workers of America and Chelsea residents in the audience.

Multiple attendees asked about health care, including the American Health Care Act, which faced scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans and was pulled before going to a vote in the house. One audience member asked “how the politics play out” when it comes to different caucuses or sects of the same party.

“Apparently not very well,” said Palmer, who is a member of the Freedom Caucus. “I honestly think we’re close to getting the bill up. My opinion of the bill when it first came out was it was not a good bill.”

Palmer said he did not like AHCA in its first version because it didn’t meet promises he had made to constituents, including bringing premiums down and making sure individuals with pre-existing conditions are covered.

“I felt like this bill didn’t live up to those promises,” Palmer said.

The bill also didn’t give states more ability to manage Medicaid, Palmer said, adding that as a member of the House Budget Committee he is concerned with sending out billions in “improper payments.”

One woman presented Palmer with photos of her daughter “to put a human face on health care,” and asked Palmer why he was supporting amendments to a new health care bill that would remove guaranteed coverage for preexisting conditions. The loss of insurance would be “financially devastating” to her family, she said.

Palmer said her statement about taking away protections for individuals with preexisting conditions was inaccurate and “it would cover your daughter, and she would be able to buy insurance like anyone else.”

A man who identified himself as retired Air Force also asked about health care, saying “What you call Obamacare, I call care.” While his family has insurance through his retirement, his wife, who is going through cancer treatments, sees other individuals at treatments who rely on Obamacare for their treatments.

“I’ve got health care,” he said. “My [concern] is folks that can’t afford it.” He also asked Palmer to “take a good look at it” before repealing the Affordable Care Act.

To this question, Palmer said individuals who rely on ACA would receive tax credits to pay for their health care.

Palmer also discussed steps he thinks could lower premiums on insurance, under a new health care plan. One step would be allowing people to buy insurance across state lines, Palmer said, but that will not be introduced in the House in this bill because it will go through the legislative process of reconciliation. The House plans to work with the Senate, he said, to introduce an amendment.

The topics of environmental protections and natural resources were also brought up multiple times during the town hall.

Individuals from the United Mine Workers of America were present, and the vice president of the group asked Palmer for help in passing and supporting the Miner’s Protection Act, which aims to provide health and pension benefits to retired goal miners, expanding the group whose retiree health benefits are taken into account, according to the bill summary on congress.gov.

Palmer said he has talked with Rep. David McKinley from West Virginia, and Palmer believes health benefits will be taken care of in a continuing resolution funding the government through the end of the year. He also believes pension will be taken care of, but he is letting the representatives from West Virginia take the lead on it.

“I appreciate these guys being here,” Palmer said of UMWA. “There’s no other industry in the country that has suffered more under the previous administration than the miners.”

Palmer later said there are opportunities for the country to take advantage of natural wealth on federal lands, with that wealth including natural gas and coal. After the repeal of a 1975 law that said the U.S. couldn’t export oil, Palmer said the opportunity to sell natural gas and utilize resources to create jobs and generate revenue.

“We need to direct a portion of the royalties to go to fund our highway trust fund,” Palmer said. “… We have not changed the royalty rates since the 1920s.”

Those comments, however, drew a follow-up question about how or if Palmer would make sure mobilizing those natural resources did not have an adverse environmental impact.

He said while the economy has grown and energy consumption has increased, emissions have declined. When audience members said that was due to federal regulations, Palmer said “I don’t disagree,” but technology has also helped to minimize the environmental impact of accessing or mobilizing natural gas or oil.

“We can take advantage of the resources we have and apply the technology and the emerging technology,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we have to be tied to fossil fuels forever. We can utilize what we have in the short term while we continue to develop new technologies.”

Audience members also confronted Palmer about a House bill to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

“I have children. I care about the future, and this planet is our only home, and I believe we are destroying it,” an audience member said. “I believe it is immoral to engage in this reckless endangerment. … I don’t think it’s pro-family, I don’t think it’s pro-American.”

Palmer said he believes the EPA should not be able to pass a law allowing regulation of greenhouse gas emissions because the EPA is not elected and therefore not accountable. Palmer also denied there was a “unanimous opinion” on climate science, and said he believes there is climate change, but that it is due to natural variation.

Other topics covered at the town hall included:

• School vouchers: One audience member asked why tax payers should have to pay their tax money to religious organizations or churches, even if they disagreed with their values, as a part of school choice. Palmer said he sent his kids to a private Christian school and still paid property taxes that went to public schools. His support of vouchers, he said, is a support of helping get kids out of failing school systems.
• Executive overreach: One audience member asked if Palmer would take action to prevent an act of war by the president, if it was done without congressional approval. Palmer said both democrats and republicans believe presidents should not take unilateral action, and it is something that will be discussed in the upcoming session.
• Education: Questions came up about student loan debt and scholarships for students, including the Pell Grants that President Donald Trump has said he’d like to cut, and Palmer said he is in support of providing “an educational environment where you can be anything you want to be.” This includes supporting schools where students can get a technical education and looking at the issue of college tuition and loan debt.
• Infrastructure: Following a question by Shelby County Engineer Randy Cole, Palmer said it is important to look at investments in infrastructure and to reduce redundancy or roadblocks in regulation. Local, county and state projects are often completed more quickly due to fewer strings attached, he said, and that can be a benefit. He also said he believes infrastructure conversations should cover not only roads and bridges, but water systems and broadband networks as well.