Deal lauds local activists

Local News

Related Photos

Misty Watson

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

February 22, 2010

Charles Oliver

The atmosphere has changed in Washington, D.C., and U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal says Tea Party groups deserve much of the credit.

Deal, a Republican from Gainesville who is running for governor this year, spoke on Monday to a group of Whitfield County Tea Party members.

“You’ve got folks steamed up, and they are beginning to shout,” he said.

Deal noted that the two central parts of the Obama administration’s domestic agenda, cap and trade legislation and health care reform, passed the House of Representatives last year by just two votes and three votes respectively.

“I don’t think that if you brought either of those bills back to the House in the exact same form that either of them would pass now because of what your movement has done and the message that the public all across this country is sending to their elected representatives,” he said.

Deal said Americans are worried about the costs and the intrusiveness of both health care reform and attempts to limit carbon emissions.

“I don’t know that — if he (Obama) doesn’t change his approach and narrow his scope — on those two pieces of legislation he’ll be able to pass anything,” Deal said.

He said he did not vote for policies that started in the latter part of the Bush administration and continued under President Obama, such as the bailouts of financial firms and big corporations.

Phil Neff asked Deal if Democrats will use reconciliation, a process intended to allow budget items to pass without filibuster, to get health care reform through the Senate. Deal said they might. But he said if a health care bill goes through any sort of change and has to go back into the House of Representatives, he does not believe it will pass.

Lawrence Headrick asked if Congress might be able to pass tort reform without passing a larger health care bill.

Deal said that when Republicans controlled Congress in 2005 and 2006, the House passed a major tort reform bill that did not make it through the Senate.

“There has been no willingness on the part of Democrats to entertain tort reform as an agenda item,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Deal toured RossWoods Adult Day Care Services in Dalton, meeting with staff and clients.

“This is an excellent example of what can be done in a community that is concerned about senior citizens. This is a beautiful facility, and everybody has a right to be proud of it,” Deal said.

He said “nursing homes are a nice thing to have when you absolutely need them.”

“There are many elderly people who don’t necessarily need to go to a nursing home,” Deal said. “Their family members can take care of them after hours. But during the day, when those family members have to go to work, they want to be sure they have a safe place for their family members to come, a place that will stimulate their interests.”

RossWoods provides day care for adults who require supervision or assistance. It provides them with nursing care, bathing, nutrition and other services.

“This should be a model for our entire state, and as someone who is running for governor, I’m going to tout this facility as I travel around Georgia,” Deal said.

He said he can appreciate how beneficial such a facility is to seniors and their family members since he and his wife took his mother and her parents into their home and cared for them for several years.

But he said that such facilities can also help save the state and federal governments money since they can help keep people out of more expensive nursing homes.

Deal said he has worked in Congress to help fund such alternatives to nursing homes.

“And funding has become more available. It’s just a matter of continuing to show that programs like this do work, that they are a safe environment, that families can feel comfortable with their loved ones being in this environment, and that it saves money,” he said.

RossWoods typically serves about 30 adults a day, but officials say it can serve up to 75.

“We provide a safe environment during the day for people who can no longer be left home alone,” said community outreach coordinator Laurie Parker. “They might have a disability. They might have some type of dementia or some kind of physical problem. The important thing is that we are a medical model. Not only do we have activities, but everybody here that has a medical issue is being treated.”

Deal also toured J&J; Industries and was scheduled to attend a fundraiser Monday night.