Rep. Emerson listens to concerns

Paul T. Combs, left, welcomes Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, right, and several other folks to Baker Implement Company where Emerson made a stop on behalf of the Bush-Cheney campaign. [Click to enlarge]

Three of the issues area farmers and agri-business people raised with Rep. Jo Ann Emerson Monday on her swing through Kennett were health insurance for small businesses, workers compensation, and tort reform.

Emerson made a stop in Kennett as a part of the Bush-Cheney campaign in hopes of encouraging people to vote, and more particularly to vote for President Bush in the upcoming election.

Emerson raised issues she thought should be of concern to area voters in the upcoming election and highlighted reasons for supporting Bush and Cheney. Among them was Bush's interest in opening new markets and expanding trade for agricultural products.

"President Bush must be reelected if we want to continue with market based agricultural policies in this country," Emerson said. "The Bush administration was very helpful in passing the last farm bill," she continued, "and without them we would not have gotten it passed."

Emerson pointed out that Kerry and Edwards were absent when the Senate voted on an important piece of legislation intended to decrease our nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy.

The legislation had been passed in the House, but failed in the Senate by only two votes--obviously a vote that could have been changed had Kerry and Edwards been present she noted.

Several folks gathered at Baker Implement Company to hear Emerson and raise some questions for her to address. One of those questions regarded health insurance for small businesses.

A person raised the issue that small farmers and businesses should be able to have access to health insurance plans comparable to the ones large factories and companies can get.

"There is a piece of legislation," Emerson said, "that we have passed in the House of Representatives--the Senate hasn't passed it yet--called the Association Health Plan.

"In essence, small businesses can band together from Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas, and all over the country, to form a large pool so that your costs are distributed across a lot larger number of people. That would obviously then reduce your costs, you would spread the risk."

Emerson added that Senator Kerry is opposed to this legislation, and that the fate of the bill in the Senate is uncertain.

Missouri state representative Otto Bean, R-Holcomb, raised the issue of workers compensation. He wanted to know if there was any help the federal government could provide concerning workers comp.

"Workers comp has traditionally been a state issue," Emerson said. "There is some discussion under way on a federal level to try to federalize workers comp.

"I don't think we'll see that for many years. It's something that would be fought tooth and nail by the trial lawyers, as you well know. But it is a worthwhile thing to look at, but I don't expect anything," she said.

Emerson added, "Workers comp, health care costs, and the cost of litigation are three things that are really hurting Missouri right now as opposed to surrounding states.

"The cost of doing business in Missouri is 25 percent higher than it is in surrounding states because of those three things. So we are losing businesses."

Regarding tort reform, Emerson said basically it is an uphill battle. It's a battle, she noted, that is opposed by many lawyers, as well as by Kerry and Edwards.