Coffee and Conversation with the Congresswoman, Part 1

Having not heard our Congresswoman speak in person since she became our Congresswoman, I thought I might benefit from hearing myself how she thinks things are going.

When I arrived at last night’s event I found a parking spot directly in front of Loveland’s City Hall. I saw a James Constable sign on a truck across the street. On the way in I said hello to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s veteran politics reporter Howard Wilkinson who was talking to a gentleman with a “Lose Jean” poster. I took a seat in the back row. The crowd grew to something over 100, consisting of, I believe, equal parts constituents, bloggers (see here and here) and the Loveland High School American Government class (at least the 30-some kids who needed the extra credit).

Rep. Schmidt began with a brief bio. She then offered highlights from her brief term in Congress. She recounted how her first acts of lawmaking was participating in marking up the eminent domain bill. She talked about how she was appalled by the use of ED in Norwood.

Next she talked about her support for the Sexual Predator bill. Although I can’t find it on the list of 35 bills she has co-sponsored.

Then she talked about “reducing the size of government” by voting for the Budget Reconciliation Act. She “believed we could cut more” forcing government to get by with less.

Next she touted the Border Protection Act, which will “keep those people out”. She indicated she had wanted a provision to punish employers, but that the bill was “watered down”.

Finally she shared her pride in the new Medicare Prescription Drug plan. She addressed the difficulty in picking and understanding a plan by saying that it truly gives seniors a choice and they did not want to give an advantage to any particular health care provider.

Moving on she talked about the two bills that she has introduced. H.CON.RES.285 : Expressing the sense of the Congress that the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama should adopt comprehensive, modern, and uniform statewide building codes. And H.R.4180 : To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require communications which consist of prerecorded telephone calls to meet the disclosure and disclaimer requirements applicable to general public campaign communications transmitted through radio, and for other purposes.

Next came Q and A, which I will include in the next post.