Amodei calls for healthcare hearings

Rep. Mark Amodei said Monday he is disappointed with House leadership over the total lack of hearings on the healthcare reform bill.

The Carson City Republican said during his address to the Nevada Legislature that the problem with the process the GOP has followed so far is that there are no witnesses, no testimony about the impact of the proposed healthcare bill, no input outside of members of the committees that have sent it forward.

“My question is how much does Nevada get for Medicaid now and how much would they get from you’re proposal?” he said. “That’s a good place to start. “

He said after the speech there is no record of any discussion of the healthcare plan.

“How can I have a serious conversation about health care when I can’t go back to any record whatsoever,” he asked. “That’s a serious problem for me.”

He said the Congressional Budget Office report indicating the current plan would cut health care to 14 million people in 2018 would not be a surprise if leadership had held hearings and followed the normal process of vetting legislation.

Amodei said it isn’t as though those people won’t get healthcare if the plan passes and they lose Obamacare.

“For those folks who are uninsured when they really positively need health care, they go to the emergency room and they get it there, which is phenomenally inefficient and it’s phenomenally expensive,” he said. “They’re still going to get their health care and we’re going to pay even more.”

Amodei said the nation’s governors were even in Washington, D.C., recently but were never called to testify on the record as to how the GOP plan would work in their states.

“Ultimately, my vote will be what is the impact on Nevada,” he said.

He said if the party loses more than a few supporters among its ranks, the plan might not pass so they need to deal with questions about what’s in it.

“I’m disappointed in leadership,” Amodei said.

He said his public lands bill that has drawn significant protests from hunters and others who say it would lock Nevadans out of their public lands is being rewritten but isn’t out yet. He said it will be modeled very much on the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act of 1998 which he said has worked well and protects public interests, sending some of the proceeds to education, some to environmental and natural resources projects.

He said it will try to take care of some Nevada communities that are now landlocked by federal land and unable to grow and give significant powers to county commissions to say what they need and how to manage the lands.

Amodei wrapped up his speech by making all 63 lawmakers, the governor and other constitutional officers and members of the Supreme Court members of the PICON Club, a group originally formed in Elko. PICON, he said, stands for People In Charge Of Nevada, not the notorious and potent Basque cocktail, the Picon Punch.

Each was presented with a hat with their name embroidered on the back. Amodei explained that the hats were purchased with campaign funds from his account.

“Now you are People In Charge Of Nevada,” he told the joint session of the Legislature.