U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Hudson, took the opportunity to talk war, energy policy and healthcare with about 100 seniors at the Wesley Healthcare Center in Saratoga Springs on Monday, Jan. 7.
The congresswoman received applause when she promoted the idea of a timely military withdrawal from Iraq.
Obviously, the war in Iraq has been something that people want to change, she said. `Iraq is our biggest issue.`
Gillibrand said she and Congress are pushing for more oversight into the war, but that the president hasn’t been receptive.
`When we look at Iraq, I don’t think that the current administration has been pursuing the right strategy,` she said. She proposes a military withdrawal as a means to spur independence in the Iraqi leaders, and cited the Anbar Province, where local warlords have joined together to fight insurgents.
`The question is: How do I make the leadership in Iraq make that same kind of deal?` she said. `I think if you say we’re leaving in three months, six months, a year ` the exact timetable isn’t as important as telling them that we’re leaving ` my perception is that a timetable will motivate the local leaders to kick terrorists out.`
Gillibrand added that if she could get a two-thirds majority in Congress (to override any presidential veto), that the war `would be over tomorrow,` but conceded that `that’s the area that [Democrats] haven’t had the success that we’ve wanted to have.`
But the freshman Congresswoman said there has been success in energy independence. She said she is working on a bill that would relieve automakers of revenue taxes for two years on any vehicle they produce that can get more than 60 miles per gallon.
`If that goes through, do you know how fast they would produce that car?` Gillibrand asked the assemblage at Wesley. `That fast.`
She said the next step in energy policy is for the president to announce that we will be energy independent within 10 years.
`Just like John F. Kennedy said when he was in office that we would put a man on the moon in 10 years, and then we did it,` Gillibrand said. `Energy independence within the next 10 years has to be a goal and a source of pride.`
The crowd at Wesley was particularly receptive to Gillibrand’s views on health care. She said she is pushing for Internet-based technology to be used for medical records keeping, citing most medical costs are generated due to record-keeping-related mistakes such as mistaken prescriptions and repeated procedures.
`All of these mistakes would be eradicated if you had online records,` she said.
When a resident of the facility asked why there was a shortage of nurses aides, Gillibrand said medical costs are very tight and Medicare reimbursement rates are very low.
Gilibrand also said that Americans need to strongly encourage public service professions for our youngsters.
`We don’t have a consciousness of service in our young folks,` she said. `The more we can encourage that service, the better we’ll be as a nation.`
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