Martinez News-Gazette -- Thompson talks water tunnel, health care at local town hall

Representative Mike Thompson conferred with around 50 community members at a town hall meeting Tuesday night in Martinez. The meeting, held at Creekside Church, was an open forum for members of California's 5th Congressional District to discuss with their representative what was most important to them about their federal government.

The event was hosted by the Martinez Chamber of Commerce, and Chamber CEO John Stevens provided a brief introduction for the congressman. Thompson is a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counterintelligence.

Thompson began by explaining the issues for which he's "on the front line." He said that these issues, while perhaps not as well publicized, are nevertheless important to members of the district.

"They're not the headline grabbers. They're not the ‘shut down government for two weeks,'" Thompson said. "But then at the same time they're not the issues that cost the American taxpayers $28 billion like that government shutdown cost us."

He said such issues include legislation to increase the ability to do dredging, which might be of importance to places with strong ties to the water like Martinez.

Veterans' issues also lie close to the heart for Thompson, himself a Vietnam combat veteran. He said he's worked across party lines and with representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs to look into the backlog of processing claims for veterans to get the care they need.

But as the country has seen in the past months, when it comes to the headline-grabbing issues, partisanship still divides the legislature.

"The big fights are still the big fights, and they're going to be the big fights, sadly," Thompson said. "I would like to see more folks come together and work on these things, but right now it is what it is, and we have to continue to work to get to that point where we can have more camaraderie in solving the country's problems. Until then, I'll keep working on it."

Residents asked Thompson for an insider's view on what's really going on in Washington, and if elected officials are actually discussing the things that matter. Thompson said it's a question he often receives.

"I can see signs of people making an effort to try to establish relationships across party lines, to see if we can't build friendships and relationships where we can actually work on issues together," Thompson said. "And I don't know that any one thing is the silver bullet."

Thompson said that in a way, relations on and off the Congressional floor had both improved and deteriorated over the years.

"It's been decades since anyone's been shot on the floor," Thompson said with a laugh. "Whenever anybody says, ‘It's never been this bad,' that's not accurate." But Thompson also spoke of the "good old days" when members of Congress would move to Washington with their families and engage in social activities together.

"Members would do battle on the floor, and then they'd go to one another's homes for dinner. You don't see that anymore."

But Thompson said the partisan nature of government extends far beyond the congressional floor.

"It's a highly divided country, and that plays into it as well. I think not only does Congress need to work together, the American people need to work together."

Thompson also addressed specific questions more directly affecting the district. His opposition to the governor's plan to tunnel water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta received a round of applause from the audience.

"That would devastate Contra Costa County," Thompson said. "And the good news is, I'm not late to the party. I opposed it before redistricting put me in Contra Costa County. Water is more valuable than anything else that we have. If you increase south of delta water shipments, it devastates everybody north of the delta."

Another citizen brought up concerns about the state's aging levee systems and whether federal funding might be used to fix it. Thompson recognized the importance of the levees, but noted that it's been even harder for representatives to fund such projects.

"There's not enough money to fix all the levees, as everybody well knows," said Thompson. "It's an ongoing process, and we all work really hard trying to draw attention to the needs of those projects in our district. [The levee system] is the economic lifeblood of our state, and it's important to make these investments to get this done."

Several community members also expressed their concerns over projects being proposed by area refineries that they say impose undue health risks to communities. Thompson said there are a number of local, state and federal agencies that regulate such projects, but that he would look into the issue further.

When the topic turned to taxes, Thompson voiced his disapproval of a flat tax, which he said would devastate the middle class. But he said he does support reforming the current tax system.

"I think it needs to be easier. It needs to be better understood. There needs to be less loopholes, less tax expenditures in the code, and that's something that we're working on now."

In view of ongoing financial woes, Thompson stressed the importance of the middle class.

"We live in a great country, and it's been good to every one of us in this room. And it hasn't been good to us because we gave a handful of the greediest people in the country all the spoils," Thompson said. "It's been a great country and it continues to be a great country because of the incredibly important middle class. And if that middle class goes away, our great country goes away."

To that end, Thompson said the country needs to deal with issues like the debt in ways that give the middle class opportunities to succeed.

Inevitably, the conversation turned to the Affordable Care Act, with some community members voicing their concern over what they saw as the government making decisions on their health needs. Thompson called the plan imperfect but ultimately an improvement on the nation's current healthcare situation.

"I have always felt that Americans should have access to quality, affordable healthcare," Thomp­son said. "The healthcare syst­em that we have in the country today doesn't work, and it's bankrupting the country. It's not sustainable."

Thompson recognized that the new system is not without flaw.

"I don't think there's anybody, myself included, who hasn't said it's not perfect from day one," Thompson said. "It's not the perfect bill, but it's a good start, and we need to pass it, and we need to start working it and refining it as we go."

Thompson spoke also on the website problems experienced in the 36 states that have federal government exchanges because they have not set up their own.

"It's been an unmitigated disaster, as we all know," Thompson said. "It has not worked. It has to get fixed, and it has to get fixed quickly. I think it will get fixed. I don't know if ‘quickly' is the right qualifier, but it will eventually get fixed."

Thompson suggested that such states look to others that have already embraced it, such as Washington, Kentucky and California itself, where he said about 400,000 people to date have made applications.

"I think we need to get healthcare right. We need to change the way we deliver healthcare."

Thompson invited up Dr. William Walker, director of Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) and the Health Officer for Contra Costa County, who spoke of his approval for the system, which he said is already working.

"I think what's not been noted in all the controversy of the website not working is the fact that millions more are going to be insured that never had it before," said Walker, who compared the current controversy to the objections to Medicare in the 1960s. "I think let's just take a big breath, let's let it happen, and let people like Rep. Thompson know that we support them and want to make this happen."

"There should be policies that cover the health needs of the individuals," Thompson said. "The whole reason for an insurance pool is that we all throw in a little bit of dough, and hopefully none of us get sick. If we do, we don't lose our house, we don't lose our business, we don't go into bankruptcy."

Following the meeting, the congressman was positive about the response garnered from local residents.

"I don't think there's a person here, at least of those who spoke, who weren't passionate about their community and their country," Thompson said. "I think it's important to hear what the community's concerned about, what they're thinking about, and for them to put a face to a name. I knew a lot of people here, but there were a lot of people who were new to me, and that's important. So I'll try to get out as much as I can."