Reply from Congressman Hill

Just thought that if you didn't send any email to representative Hill during the run up to the health care vote, here's his official response, particularly if you used American Family Association's mail system to send a mail to him referencing funding for abortion.

I honestly don't know how this guy sleeps at night.

But the nice thing is that Mr. Travis Hankins (who I happen to be campaigning for) is making Mr. Hill nervous and we haven't even gotten to the primaries yet.

He (meaning Mr. Hill) verbally accosted 2 of my fellow campaigners in Rising Sun last week when he went to speak to the veterans there about health care. Yes, they were wearing Travis Hankins for congress shirts, but that just seemed to fire up Mr. Hill. (Too bad we didn't have a video camera on site.)

He ran up to one of them standing outside on the sidewalk, got nose to nose, and started yelling at her and eventually telling her she wasn't welcome there. Her response was that she thought that since she was HIS constituent, he'd be interested in trying to get her to switch her support and vote. Mr. Hill's award winning response was to tell her he didn't want her vote.

But remember, I told you there were 2 of my friends there. The other happens to be a veteran. So, she went inside to Mr. Hill's meeting, wearing a Travis Tshirt. Mr. Hill also told her she wasn't welcome there as she wasn't invited. After informing him of being a vet, he backed off.

I send you this because you know me and I'm not making this up. I want you to forward the info to other voters in our district as they need to be made aware of what a jerk this guy is. I've personally seen Mr. Hill yell at and degrade his own staff on a public street. This is not the kind of man I want representing me in Washington DC and I suspect you don't either, regardless of your political party.

Please know, all the experts agree the recent health care bill that was signed into law last week does allow for federal funds to be used to support abortion clinics. Mr. Hill is blatantly lying about that in his response letter below. The leading abortion providers have already stated that even the executive order that Obama signed a day or 2 later has no bearing on the abortion industry receiving federal funding and they were very happy about the results.

I know Mr. Hankins has promised me personally as well as countless others he will not support any kind of legislation such as this and will fight to end this and other legislation like it, once he's elected. So, I ask you to consider voting for Travis come primary day (May 4). He is running on the republican ticket. Thanks for your time and consideration.
Rick

--- On Tue, 4/6/10, Congressman Baron Hill wrote:


From: Congressman Baron Hill
Subject: Reply from Congressman Baron Hill
To: xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 9:31 AM



April 6, 2010



Dear Mr. Constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about abortion funding and health care reform. I appreciate hearing from you on this very important matter.

Throughout my congressional tenure I have been an ardent opponent of using federal funds to cover abortion services. As you may know, when the U.S. House of Representatives considered health insurance reform last November, I supported an amendment offered by Congressman Bart Stupak, which prohibited federal funds from covering abortions.

As the House moved to consider the Senate reform measure, I thoroughly reviewed language in this particular bill pertaining to federal funding of abortion. After careful analysis and input from nonpartisan legal experts, I determined that the Senate bill strictly prohibits federal funds from covering abortions services as well.

Bolstering the reform bill, the President issued an executive order further ensuring that no federal subsidies can be used for abortion-related services and that federal funds received by community health centers are subject to the Hyde Amendment. In addition, the revised legislation provides $250 million over ten years to pay for counseling, education, job training and housing for vulnerable women who are pregnant or parenting. Another provision provides a substantial increase in the adoption tax credit and funding for adoption assistance programs. Such measures have led noted religious organizations like the Catholic Health Association, the Catholic Sisters and the United Methodist Church to support H.R. 3590.

With my concerns regarding this issue addressed, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) rendering its fiscal report on H.R. 3590, I cast my vote in support of the reform legislation. This revised bill covers more uninsured Americans than the respective House and Senate bills, while also reducing the deficit more effectively. In fact, the CBO reported that the bill will reduce the deficit by $143 billion dollars during the first ten years of the program, and $1.2 trillion in the second ten years, effectively making it the biggest deficit reduction legislation since 1993.

This has been a long, deliberative and passionate process that has rendered a fiscally-responsible, inclusive and effective final product. I would like to thank the thousands of Southern Indiana residents who contacted me to voice their opinions and actively participated in this process. If you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. And, if you would like to receive periodic email updates on my congressional activities, please visit http://baronhill.house.gov.


Sincerely,


Baron P. Hill

Member of Congress