In my most recent offering I indicated that I had submitted the following query regarding the FY2011 federal budget to all four of the announced candidates for Congress from the 2nd CD. In fact I first submitted this query to Rep. Larsen in writing when he visited the Snohomish County Democrats on February 21st. On Friday, February 26th, I submitted the same query to Larsen's opponents, Democrats, Larry Kalb and Diana McGinness and Republican, John Koster. Today I am pleased to provide the first candidate response from Larry Kalb.
On February 1st President Obama submitted a Defense Department budget request for FY2011 for over $708 Billion. For the first time since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the DoD budget request includes direct funding for the continuing military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq (over $150 Billion). In real dollars, this request represents the largest DoD budget request in the history of the country.
1) Do you believe this request is proportional to the threat to our security and, if not, is it too high or too low? Please describe what you believe to be the real military/security threat to our country to clarify your response.2) Keeping in mind the current debate taking place over healthcare insurance reform and the cost associated with that issue and the fact the FY2011 leaves us with a $1.3 Trillion deficit; do you believe that the proposed DoD budget request is in balance with the social and infrastructure needs of the country?
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Larry Kalb - Photo: Kalb for Congress
1) Do you believe this request is in line with the proportional threat to our security and, if not, is it too high or too low? Please describe what you believe to be the real military/security threat to our country to justify your response.
No, I believe this request is not in line with the proportional threat to our security. I think that it is way out of line and way too high.
In fact, I would cut the bloated Defense budget by 20% for two reasons: 1. Not only do we have a lot of waste in defense weapons programs that do not work, but 2. we haven't finished paying for WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the First Gulf War yet. In addition, we have military personnel in 130 countries across the globe. My dad fought in WW II in Okinawa and Saipan and it never crossed his mind that his grandkids would still be paying for a monetary debt 65 years later for his military service. Here is the salient point that I am making: the wars that we are conducting in Iraq and Afghanistan right now will be paid by Americans who haven't even been born yet. Imagine attaching a price tag to a new baby's big toe for a debt incurred six decades prior! An Unborn American tax is too big of a price to pay.
The real threat to our national security is this: we went to Iraq and Afghanistan for oil, we didn't get it and now we are stuck with the bill with no alternative energy resources when we need them the most.
Taking into account that Congress to date has approved over $1 trillion for military exercises to capture oil reserves in Iraq and Afghanistan, we could have allocated these funds wisely by creating a Green New Deal, thus having secured our nation with reliable and clean alternative energy resources. Instead, the incumbent, by approving every war funding request that George Bush ever asked for, squandered a historic opportunity to tackle public debt, create thousands of new green jobs and kick-start the transformation to a low-carbon economy.
What's more, the Iraqi government in two separate auctions in 2009 awarded European, Russian and Asian oil companies rights to oil reserves that nearly closed US Big Oil out of the picture. So, our real national security threat is availability to sufficient energy resources and the military exercises in Iraq and Afghanistan have really failed on this measure.
However, if I'm elected, for our national security's sake, I would put forth legislation to trim the defense budget and dedicate funding for a program that secures alternative energy resources. This would be in our own best interest. I would also promote the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop funding for open-ended engagement and find funding for our troops safe return home in a timely and organized manner. Lastly, I would dedicate funding to fix the things that we broke in Iraq and Afghanistan as a gesture to human dignity.
2) Keeping in mind the current debate taking place over healthcare insurance reform and the cost associated with that issue (Republican House Leader, John Boehner, just yesterday repeated his claim that, if enacted the current Senate proposal would "bankrupt our country".) Do you believe that
the proposed DoD budget is in balance with the social and infrastructure needs of the country?
No, the Department of Defense budget is way out of balance with the social and infrastructure needs of this country.
Think about this for a second: President Obama and Congress can't find money for an adequate health care system to serve our seniors and the working class, but instead propose to put a tax on decent health care benefit packages, scale back on some Medicare services offered to our seniors and on top of that, want to give the largest taxpayer give-away (in the form of subsidies)in the history of the United States to Wall Street Medicine, the very industry that has caused the health care calamity in the first place. This is utterly wrong. But they found money for defense. These are misplaced priorities on behalf of the President and Congress and during an unprecedented period in our nation's history: two wars, staggering national debt, the economic crisis and an impending climate crisis make these extremely challenging times.
Morally, we need to first invest in the health and well-being of the people who are proudly building our country before borrowing more money from China and Japan to conduct open-ended wars that have with no defined strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis and Afghanis.
I have real-life experience with a good health care system and what the Senate is proposing is far too expensive and is leading us to a privatized, for-profit system controlled by Wall Street Medicine. No one in their right mind would privatize Social Security or Medicare, but our incumbent wants to hand over nearly total control of our medical system to the very industry that by law is bound to put the financial interest of its investors first. Doctors and nurses would become property of the privatized health insurance companies and I am totally against such a scheme.
Nowhere in the Senate proposal is it written that care is guaranteed. Yes, all Americans would be required by law to purchase an insurance policy, but it should never be implied that anyone is guaranteed the care that they need. We expected health "care" reform, not a faulty policy requiring us to buy insurance that we can't afford to buy.
We need a health care system that is regulated like public utilities. This way we would be able to control costs and dedicate funding exclusively to medical care. Hospitals would no longer be allowed to charge $5 for one aspirin or $25 for a box of Kleenex.
Plus, care should never compete against other government priorities like repairing bridges or finding funding for elementary or secondary education or retirement. From an accounting perspective, the President's and the current Senate health care proposal would in all actuality defund public education, transit, housing, retirement and infrastructure repairs for roads, water, waste and electrical distribution systems. City, county, state and federal budgets are eaten alive by health care inflation and with no substantial cost containment provisions built into the President's or the Senate's proposals, we would be facing an ever faster deterioration of social programs. It is a cost that would far exceed any valued benefit.
In addition, we need to ensure equal access / equal care for everyone. The waitress who brought me my scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning should have the same access to care as my Congressman. Or does my Congressman think that he is more deserving than anyone else? And she should receive the same level of care for the same ailment or injury as everyone else. This is what is meant by "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence. In the current proposal submitted by the Senate and the President, the more money you have, the more coverage you can buy. Notice that I didn't say, "the more care you can buy."
But here is the most important point. Good health is the most precious gift in life. We should never leave it to the mercy of the market because as w all know, it has no mercy. Make no mistake about it! There should be a law against an insurance adjuster or a government administrator trumping my
doctor's freedom to diagnose or prescribe treatment. I need to know that my doctor puts my best interests ahead of any marketing decisions. This is a right that is just as important as voting and free speech. There should be no interference with my doctor's freedom to do his job right.
And how do we lower drug costs? Eliminate direct-to-consumer advertising! Americans pay the highest drug prices in the world. The United States is the only country, apart from New Zealand, that allows direct-to-consumer advertising. We could bring down prices of medication tremendously by
eliminating this profit-making scheme and we could then afford the medication that we desperately need.
As far as our infrastructure is concerned, more than a quarter of our bridges are structurally deficient, our water lines leak billions of gallons a day and our aging sewage systems release untreated wastewater into our waterways. Public transportation and roads also need updating. And high-speed rail is desperately needed in our area to relieve the congestion on our roads and airports. Let's shift those hundreds of billions slated to the DoD to making sure that clean drinking water is coming out of the faucet, that sewage is going to the treatment plant, that the bridge is structurally sound and that I can travel safely on high-speed rail.
Our budgets are moral documents and we need to provide for the betterment of our society now and long into the future.
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From Larry's "About" Page:
I live in Bellingham, Whatcom County, and have two adult sons; the oldest, a graduate of Sehome High School and Western Washington University , is starting up his own culinary business in Seattle and the youngest is finishing school and looking to land his first real job. I love them both dearly and am proud of their accomplishments. Though their mother and I have divorced, we are the best of friends and we care about the future of our kids.
From seven in the morning until the middle of the afternoon, I work in the Finance Department of the= Whatcom Transportation Authority, a local public transit agency serving most of the county. My primary function has been to assist in the process of purchasing goods and services from local vendors and suppliers, municipal and state governments and national manufacturers. I have also been a member of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 843 since 2002.
After earning a Master’s Degree in German from Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 1978, I moved to Europe and worked 11 years in educational institutions there in the capacity of an instructor and Director of Administration. As a small business owner, I worked independently as a professional technical translator of German and French to American English, primarily handling corporate and legal contracts, standard operating manuals, and patents.
In civic matters, I have focused most of my efforts toward reforming health care in the US , impacted by my extensive observations and real-life experiences with health care in European countries. As a board member of Health Care for All - Washington for the past six years and serving as its President since 2008, I have traveled extensively throughout Washington State, appearing in 69 events either as a guest panelist along with university professors, medical professionals and political leaders or as a featured speaker. I have also been invited to discuss state and national healthcare reform on numerous radio and TV programs.
Within the Democratic Party, I have also served as Chair of the Washington State Progressive Caucus from 2005 through 2007 and was elected as National Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2000 and 2004 for Bill Bradley and Dennis Kucinich, respectively. Lastly, I was a State Committeeman for the Whatcom County Democrats for one term. In addition to this, I was also a board member of the Whatcom County Chapter of the Washington Conservation Voters for a number of years, where I promoted clean water and clean air.
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Peace,
Chad Shue
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