Minutes from January, 2010 WRC of SLC Meeting

We were privileged to hear from Senator Bob Bennett at our January WRC of SLC meeting.  He discussed a variety of topics and answered many questions.  Of top concern was the current healthcare bill. Senator Bennett said the bill is a “disaster”, and that the only issue should be whether you are covered or not. Currently healthcare is about 17% of the GNP. He feels the bill pushes the Democratic agenda. Presently, all Republican senators remain united. We have not lost a single Republican senator to the Democrat vote.

When asked if there were a way to stop this bill, he mentioned the importance of a win in Massachusetts. He also said it was important for Republicans to be victorious in both the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. Senator Bennett also discussed the Constitution. He told us how the “Power of the Purse” has gradually been moving from Congress to the President. Now the President makes the budget. War contributes to the President’s power of the purse. He mentioned that Washington is the only place where, when a law is broken, they discuss and/or want to change the law.

While discussing the budget, we addressed the devastating earthquake in Haiti. According to Senator Bennett, once something is designated an emergency, it doesn’t have to be budgeted. We held a long discussion on entitlements which appear to threaten American’s future. Currently entitlements are 2/3 of our annual budget. The remaining 1/3 is what's left to run the rest of the government. Defense is about 1/6 of the budget. The FBI, CIA, FAA, embassies, court, etc... also fall within that 1/6.

Democrats want to raise taxes but, obviously, if income is $0.00, not a lot of money will get back to Washington. In 2010, the estimated income from taxes, etc... will be a trillion dollars, however, mandatory entitlement spending for 2010 is 2.2 trillion dollars. Healthcare is on its way to becoming an entitlement. We (the U.S.) don’t have the money to fund it.

According to Senator Bennett, if we were to take all the money that is spent annually on healthcare in the U.S., and divide it equally among all doctors practicing in the U.S., each doctor would receive $200,000.00 per year for taking care of seven families.

WRC of SLC Club Business

* Remember to attend your neighborhood caucus in March.
* Salt Lake County’s Lincoln Day Dinner: The club will donate a gift basket (up to $120) for the silent auction.
* Camp Patriot/Annual Honor Event: Diane Jacob will contact the National Guard to see if they are interested in having our club host this event again and, if so, when. Hopefully this year we will have more time to prepare.
* New members since our last meeting are Kimmy Wolf, Julie Dole and Angie Randle.
* In an effort to increase club awareness, we would like a club booth at both the county and state conventions.
* Also, as a way to increase membership, we have agreed to sponsor (i.e. waive dues) for all new members who join the WRC of SLC before June 2010.

Our next meeting will be held on February 11th at 12:00 PM at the Salt Lake Country Club. If there are any questions or comments, please let me know. A very big thank you to Val Ziegler for taking these minutes at the January meeting.