Congress could be ready to vote by mid-February on the bill calling for health care reform, 1st District Rep. Tim Walz said on Wednesday. Walz, a Democrat from Mankato who was first elected in 2006, visited Advanced Placement students at Century High School on Wednesday afternoon. He answered a few questions from the Post-Bulletin after speaking with the students during a class period. The health care reform bill, which has passed both houses of Congress, won't travel to committee. Walz is currently talking with other representatives from the Midwest, finding out what it will take for other officials to support the bill. For his own part, Walz said four particular items need to be in the plan: a move toward value-based medical care, the elimination of insurance restrictions on pre-existing conditions, a deficit-neutral plan, and addition of care for as many currently uninsured as possible. He expects to see a draft of the bill by next week. Talking with students Students in classes taught by Shane Baker and Catarina Alme peppered Walz with questions about health care, wondering about how the bill will be funded and about efforts to include more preventive health measures. Walz said more efforts to include preventive measures should be reviewed -- mentioning incentive programs that insurance companies offer for attendance to exercise clubs. World affairs The Post-Bulletin also asked Walz about the plan to increase troops in Afghanistan. Walz responded that he still has questions about the troop increase and about long-range plans for the country. Specifically, he said that the eventual goal is for the Afghani government to establish stability in the area, but that he doesn't currently have much faith in the centralized Afghani government to do so. Nation-building in the region is a complex issue, Walz said. Answering other questions, Walz: • Called for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, saying that inmates should be brought to trial, prosecuted and held in U.S. jails, if found guilty. • Labeled Iran as a dangerous situation, particularly as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes a case to establish nuclear weaponry. Walz said many Iranian people are moderate and aren't as extreme as their outspoken leader. He called for the U.S. to "keep the pressure on Iran" by trying to isolate the country through sanctions and diplomacy. Walz discussed a meeting he had with Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, saying that the U.S. would benefit from positive international relations with that country in order to isolate Iran. "I think it's a dangerous time. I say that about Iran," Walz said. |
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