By Daniel Nash | The Courier-Herald

Republican Congressman Dave Reichert, of Washington’s 8th District, met with the Bonney Lake City Council Saturday to discuss policy and answer questions.

The special meeting, which was open to the public, allowed Reichert to comment on topics like the proposed health care bill, federal funding for local projects and the federal stimulus package.

“I voted no on the stimulus package,” Reichert said. “There were some things in the bill I supported and there were some things I didn’t. There were a lot of items in the stimulus bill that I didn’t support, because there were not enough items creating jobs for Americans.

“I did agree with the parts that improved and developed infrastructure. I think those are worthwhile projects that create jobs and help everyone through the construction of roads, bridges and the electric grid. There were other parts I didn’t see any benefit at all… it was just wasteful spending.”

Reichert, who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, frequently handles issues of appropriating money for programs, attempting to determine whether those appropriations will be worthwhile investments and making sure his constituents know what federal funds they can access.

Police and sheriffs’ departments in particular frequently don’t realize what funds are available to them, he said. But $1 billion in federal stimulus grants are available for local police departments nationwide.

“Sometimes it’s hard to navigate the federal bureaucratic grant process,” said Reichert, a former King County sheriff. Bonney Lake police officers in attendance were told their department would be given contact information for a member of Reichert’s office who would direct them to the grant money.

It is the responsibility of elected representatives to obtain earmarks for their constituents, Reichert said, but he criticized earmarks that were not written into a bill in a way that he viewed as legitimate.

Specifically, the congressman came out against so-called “airdropped earmarks,” which do not appear in the bill the House or the Senate approved, but are added during the process of merging the two versions.

Reichert was frank about his intention to bring federal funds to the 8th District.

In light of flooding from the Puyallup River in January, he promised funding to bring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the area to investigate flooding effects.

In addition, he also acknowledged the need to examine seepage at the Howard Hanson Dam on the Green River.

Democratic Congress-man Adam Smith of the neighboring 9th District appropriated $600,000 in funding for that very purpose, according to his July newsletter.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable for valley business owners and residents to suddenly have 4 to 5 feet of water in their homes and workplaces,” Reichert said.

Reichert saved discussion of the health care bill for the end of his presentation, and the thorough extent of his explanations caused the meeting to continue more than a half-hour longer than its scheduled time.

He spared no detail in describing the difficulty in creating a bill that every legislator could agree on.

“We all agree that there needs to be a change in how things are done and we all agree that Americans should have the freedom to choose their plan, then that’s where it starts to break down,” he said.

Reichert introduced two amendments to the bill to try and make it more fair, he said. The first amendment was an option for small businesses to exempt themselves from an 8 percent health care tax by proving hardship. The second amendment was a requirement for public option health care applicants to prove unemployment. Both were voted down on the floor.

Guessing when the health care bill will make it to a vote in the House, Reichert said it could be expected around mid-October. He did not know whether there would be a public option included in the language of the bill.

One incident that bothered Reichert was a discussion with an American Association of Retired Persons representative who supported the health care bill, he said. Reichert asked the representative why the AARP would support a bill that cut $500 billion from Medicare and Medicaid.

The representative responded that he believed the cuts would help streamline the Medicare and Medicaid system and, anyway, the money would go to other aspects of health care.

“That’s like if, as sheriff, I went to Bonney Lake and said ‘We have a gang problem here, so I’ll tell you what: everybody move and the gang problem will go away,’” Reichert said. “The gang problem doesn’t go away, it goes to wherever the people have moved. It’s the same with Medicare money. It will just take all the waste with it.”