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McHenry speaks his mind on variety of issues

Robert C. Reed | Hickory Daily Record

U.S. Congressman Patrick McHenry speaks to a crowd of supporters at P.E. Monroe Auditorium at Lenoir-Rhyne University on Tuesday.

By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record

Published: November 10, 2009

HICKORY - Congressman Patrick McHenry spoke to a gathering at the P.E. Monroe auditorium on the Lenoir-Rhyne University campus Tuesday night about the state of the nation and what he's been doing lately in Washington, D.C.

He began his address by reminding those in attendance that he'd voted against the bank bailouts, higher taxes, spending bills and the stimulus, which he called an "abject failure."

When he said, "I voted against cap and tax or cap and trade and I voted against health care," the audience burst into applause.

"Your values are my values. Your direction you want to take this country is my direction," he said. "We have the capability to fight back and we will."

He said he was proud to have voted against the health-care bill Saturday night. But he said there's still work to be done, and he rallied the audience to help him work to defeat the bill in the Senate.

At the conclusion of his remarks, he opened the floor for questions and spent the next hour and a half speaking to members of the audience about what was on his mind.

He agreed with the man who said the health-care bill passed by the House is unconstitutional.

McHenry predicted dozens of lawsuits will be filed if the current bill becomes law. "The idea that they can socialize 1/6th of our economy is offensive," he said. "I'm as frustrated as you are."

"I'm stuck with those nuts running the place with Ms. Pelosi," McHenry said. "It's a heavy burden to have Nancy Pelosi on your back."

Asked if he'd had time to read the entire 2,000-page health-care bill, he admitted he had not.

"I couldn't get through the bill completely — I tried. I read every summary available," he said. "I'm convinced that not even the people that wrote the thing read the entire thing either.

"It's like it was written by eight trained mice," he said.

Asked why he hadn't introduced a bill requiring those who vote for the health-care bill to use the plan they voted for, McHenry said he already has.

"It says, 'If you vote for the public option, you're enrolled in it,'" he said.

McHenry said he went to Washington to shrink the national government, and he's working to do so. He said the changes need to be drastic to work.

"It has to be something huge — it has to be the anti-New Deal. It has to reverse it," he said.

After fielding questions from people who said they like the job he's doing, McHenry faced the only dissenting voice of the night when a European-born St. Stephens High School student asked about health care.

"Health care in America is generally considered to be a flaw in the American system," she said. "Private health-care companies make money by denying people coverage. What's good about that?"

McHenry said what's driving up American health-care costs is a lack of competition among insurance providers, and the plans he supports would address that issue. He also supports tax-free, low-cost catastrophic insurance.

He said the European single-payer style of health care would not work in America.

"I would support our system against any other system in the world — even with its flaws," he said. "We have a very valid system here in the U.S."

McHenry's visit to Hickory was co-sponsored by Lenoir-Rhyne University's chapter of College Republicans and The Hickory 9/12 Project — an outgrowth of the political movement begun by Fox News commentator Glen Beck.