This Week's Time Magazine article about Congressman Jason Altmire

The Plight of the Antiwar Democrat

By Jay Newton-Small / New Castle

Friday, Jul. 20, 2007
Can't we please stop the war?" Eugene Gabriel implored Congressman Jason Altmire, shouting over a singer belting out Beyoncé's Listen at the annual New Castle fireworks festival in western Pennsylvania. "That's what I wrote on my donation envelopes to you, both times, $200 a pop."
The freshman Democrat leaned into Gabriel's ear to make sure his response was heard: "We tried, but [President George W.] Bush vetoed it." The Democratic strategy, Altmire explained, was to keep the pressure up by continuing to schedule votes on Iraq and hope "that more Republicans will go to the White House and say, 'We can't do this anymore.'" The reply didn't quite mollify Gabriel, 49, a financial adviser who calls himself pro-life, pro-gun but antiwar. His son Michael, 22, is in the National Guard in neighboring Ohio; half of his division is expected to be deployed to Iraq in 2008.
Two hundred feet and 20 minutes later, having weaved his way farther into the crowd, Altmire faced another question about "the mess in Iraq," this time from William Proch, 71, a retired steelworker. But when Altmire again mentioned Bush's veto, Proch grew angry, accusing Altmire of being "in lockstep with [Speaker of the House Nancy] Pelosi, putting our troops in danger." The lifelong Republican voted for Altmire in 2006 after GOP ethics scandals left him wanting a fresh face. But because he also wants more troops in Iraq, not fewer, Proch is feeling buyer's remorse.
This is the Democratic Iraq Dilemma. Altmire, like many of the other 30 newly elected Democratic freshmen, must serve two masters if he hopes to win re-election in his narrowly divided district--the Democrats who elected him in the hopes of ending the war and voters like Proch who still largely support the military effort in Iraq and are turned off by Democratic attempts to force Bush's hand.

[Read the Article]

Congressman Altmire calls for best possibly care for U.S. Veterans

Altmire Calls for Renewed and Meaningful Committment to Veterans upon the Resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary
In his press release, U.S. Representative Jason Altmire (PA-4) called for a renewed and meaningful commitment to our nation's veterans following the announcement that Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson submitted his resignation today to President George W. Bush, effective no later thanOctober 1, 2007.
"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been plagued by one failure after another: questionable accounting practices, lapses in data security,delays in processing claims, and substandard conditions at VA health care facilities," said Congressman Altmire. "Our veterans, including the 60,000 veterans in my district, have sacrificed so much in their service to our country. They have every right to expect that they will receive the finest quality care at VA health care facilities.
"Our next VA Secretary must keep America's promises to our veterans and make it a priority to reduce the claims backlog, shorten the wait time for doctors' visits, ensure proper care for our soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and invest in VA facilities and personnel," added Congressman Altmire. "In recent years, the VA has struggled to treat not only our aging veterans, but also our newest veterans returning from combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can no longer tolerate excuses for what has been the administration's failure to plan."
Since taking office in January, Congressman Altmire has worked to honor veterans by voting for historic increases in veterans' health care and benefits programs, totaling more than $17 billion. In addition, he has worked tirelessly to meet the needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, including authoring the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act (H.R. 1944), legislation that was incorporated into a bill passed by the House in May to ensure the proper treatment of traumatic brain injuries, the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Altmire continues to promote improvements in Health Care

Altmire: Mental Health Parity Is Long Overdue
Education and Labor Committee Approves Wellstone Act
(Washington, D.C.)-U.S. Representative Jason Altmire (PA-4), a member of theHouse Education and Labor Committee, commended the Committee's approval of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act (H.R. 1424). H.R.1424 would require health insurers to cover mental illness at the same levelas physical illness. The legislation passed on a bipartisan 33 to 9 voteand now moves to the House floor for consideration.
"Unfortunately, there is still a strong stigma associated with mental healthand addiction disorders," said Congressman Altmire, a cosponsor of the PaulWellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act. "Americans with mentalillness can be productive members of our community and workforce if they areprovided with equal and adequate access to health care services."
"The high cost of treatment and insurance barriers keep millions ofAmericans who suffer from clearly diagnosable mental or substance abusedisorders from getting help," added Congressman Altmire. "This bill breaksdown some of those barriers by addressing two of the top reasons why peopledo not seek mental health services by giving mental health coverage paritywith other benefits."
H.R. 1424 would require that the treatment and financial requirements ofmental health coverage offered by group plans be comparable to their medicaland surgical benefits, including frequency of visits, days of coverage, orother similar limits on the scope or duration of treatment. The legislationwould benefit 187 million Americans who are currently insured undernon-self-insured plans, which is approximately 84% of the population.Approximately 54 million Americans are diagnosed each year with mental orsubstance abuse disorders. Mental disorders are the leading cause ofdisability in the United States for people ages 15-44.

Freshman Dem makes His Mark and His Votes Count for PA Citizens
And A Freshman Shall Lead Them
By: J.D. Prose
Times Staff
07/07/2007
U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-4, McCandless Township, has received an award for his "extraordinary leadership" from Americans United for Change. Not a bad accolade after only six months in office.The group said Altmire was worthy of the award for backing funding for children's health-care coverage, boosting the minimum wage and funding for veterans health care, and supporting ethics reform and "overdue assistance" to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Wow!

Altmire to Push for Federal Aid for Flood-Stricken Aliquippa
(Aliquippa, PA)-At a press conference with local and county officials in Beaver County today, U.S. Representative Jason Altmire (PA-4), Chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, announced that he will push for federal Small Business Administration (SBA)loan assistance for victims of Thursday's floods in Aliquippa and surrounding areas of Beaver County.Congressman Altmire made the announcement after his tour yesterday of Aliquippa’s damaged business district and residential areas and following consultations with Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency officials, and local emergency responders. During a severe thunderstorm on July 5, as much as 4.5 inches of rain was dumped throughout Beaver County. Several municipalities suffered severe flooding which affected a great number of businesses and residences. The City of Aliquippa was hardest hit by the storm, with nearly four feet of floodwaters in its downtown business district."Aliquippa and other areas of Beaver County have already struggled with poor economic conditions, and these communities may have an extremely hard time recovering from the damages without some form of assistance," said Congressman Altmire. "It is with the utmost urgency that we provide much-needed funds to our community's businesses and families in order to give them the chance to rebuild, to get back on their feet, and to get back to business in places like downtown Aliquippa. I will do everything in my power as chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight to leverage much-needed aid through the SBA to these communities."The SBA provides low-interest disaster assistance loans to eligible homeowners, renters, and business owners. Homeowners can apply for loans up to $200,000 for the repair or replacement of real estate and up to $40,000for the repair or replacement of personal property. Businesses and on-profits can apply for loans up to $1.5 million to repair or replace destroyed property, machinery, inventory, or other business assets. Congressman Altmire's subcommittee has oversight of the SBA, including its grant and loan programs."I will continue to work with our state and local officials with the recovery effort," Congressman Altmire added. "Any resident needing assistance should not hesitate to call my district office. My staff and I are here and ready to help."
Congressman Altmire and his staff can be reached at (724) 378-0928
or by visiting his district office at 2110 McLean Street in Aliquippa.
Office hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
No appointment is necessary.

U.S. loans available to help Aliquippa flood victims
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
By Michael Birnbaum
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Four days after a major flood swept through Aliquippa, residents and business owners continued the arduous work of cleaning up, a task made more difficult yesterday by heat and winds whipping up dust clouds that made the town seem like a set from a western movie.The only respite was the expectation that the damage was extensive enough to qualify Aliquippa for federal disaster assistance loans, an announcement made yesterday at a news conference by Tim Baughman, western area director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.Mr. Baughman said that at least 40 businesses or residences in the Beaver County town have more than 40 percent uninsured losses from the flood that followed thunderstorms Thursday. Water rushed down the town's main street, Franklin Avenue, pushing parked cars onto sidewalks and rising inside storefronts.The federal Small Business Administration, which offers the loans, requires at least 25 businesses or residences to have 40 percent uninsured losses before an area can qualify for the program.The program issues low-interest loans of up to $200,000 to homeowners for the repair or replacement of their real estate and additional amounts for the replacement of their personal property. Businesses and nonprofit groups are eligible for loans of up to $1.5 million.Federal grants such as were extended in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina are usually given after much more severe disasters, Mr. Baughman said, and aren't expected in Aliquippa."In some cases, we're not going to be able to make everybody whole," he said. "We're not going to be able to bring everybody back to full restoration. But we'll give it the best shot that we can." U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, pledged his support for the effort, and expressed his desire "to make sure we don't lose everything down there in the downtown area."Some businesses were less pessimistic than they had been last week."Things are looking quite a bit better," said Erin Stevenson, a volunteer at Uncommon Grounds Cafe. "Now we're just in the restoration process."On Thursday, proprietor John Stanley was worried that he might have to close the popular cafe and performance space; now, he hopes to reopen it in a week or two.And Wayne Bink, a captain with the Salvation Army, said that aid efforts were going well, despite the large number of residents who didn't have flood insurance."This isn't really a flood area, after all," said Mr. Bink.The town should know by Thursday whether it qualifies for the loan assistance, which would be granted by the Small Business Administration.Mr. Baughman also assured Aliquippa residents that the state budget standoff that has resulted in furloughs of some state workers will not affect any of the disaster response efforts.

Congressman Jason Altmire News

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the four House Democrats who last year picked off seats previously held by Republicans in Pennsylvania appear to be in relatively good shape heading into the 2008 campaign. Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak appear especially strong, the paper said; Jason Altmire “is a maybe,” and “Chris Carney’s seat in the northeast is probably most endangered.” But Democrats still see possibilities for taking away seats held by Republicans Tim Murphy, Jim Gerlach and Charlie Dent, the paper reported.