Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat who represents a portion of east Lawrence and east Douglas County, as well as Wyandotte County and Johnson County, chats about his activities in Washington, D.C., since being re-elected in 2006. He is running for re-election. He is joined by Rebecca Black, communications director of Moore for Congress.

merrill

How much is the sick U.S. health care system costing you?
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2008/0508harrison.html

What is your position on HR 676? John Conyers was recently at the Truman Library discussing this issue. I suggested to him that HR 676 could attract new industries thus jobs
to the USA. He agreed. What are your thoughts? After all industry is what creates wealth for the USA.

Incidentally he holds you in high esteem. And he can be quite delightful.

michael_darling27

Obama says he wants to keep jobs in America. My question is this. How will he convince CEO’s to take less profits and how will he convince folks to take less dividends especially those on fixed incomes/

Glo

J-World had a question about what lower speed would be acceptable to save gas…why should the public be asked to drive slower (especially in western Kansas) when the auto makers have the ability to make more fuel efficent cars? If they don’t have that ability (and they always are against regulations mandating that) what have they been doing since the oil (gas) crisis of the 1970’s? Thanks. SE Buffalo alumnus!

JerryHarper

Given the fact that you have taken $100,000 in contributions from those in the financial industry during your legislative career, serve on a committee with broad power to legislate in the financial institution area, and have supported with virtually no exceptions the deregulation of that industry, are you not largely to blame for the current crisis in that industry that has jeopardized the lives of so many people in your district and throughout the country?

kansanjayhawk

when polls show Americans overwhelmingly oppose late-term and partial birth abortion on demand why did you oppose placing reasonable restrictions on these practices without leaving gaping loopholes in the name of “health”?– When does a unborn child become a human person in your view?–deserving the full protection of the law?

kansanjayhawk

When does a unborn child deserve the full protection of the law–that is when do you believe that a fetus should be protected from late-term abortions? You voted against the ban on partial-abortion in Congress do you support what Dr. Tiller is doing in Wichita when he injects digoxcin into the heart of late-term children prior to dismembering their bodies? Where do you draw the line in protecting the civil rights of pre-born children?

rrussell

Mr.Moore,
In the 2006 election cycle, great deal of of loyal Democrats came out in record numbers to get a voice in stopping the war in Iraq. Not to metion a surprising number of Republicans. All this at Democratic leaderships’ fervent prompting. After 2+ yrs. of control a complete lack of results, what makes Democrats any different from Republicans ?

RonBurgandy

Why does the Democratic Congress back down to the Bush Administration at every turn?

jmadison

How do you reconcile Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s actions in relationship to the search for new energy alternatives with her May 2007 investment of between $100,001 and $250,000 in public common stock{according to federal financial disclosure records) in Boone Pickens’ Clean Energy Fuels Corporation (CLNE)? Isn’t this a conflict of interest and why should we trust politicians to do the right thing rather than serving their own self interests.

logrithmic

Congressman Moore,

It’s my understanding that you rose to your position as a former district attorney, which is a position that is supposed to prosecute lawbreaking by business or individuals.

If this is so, how could you vote for the recent FISA Amendments Act of 2008 that granted immunity to telecoms, including Sprint, which has contributed to your campaign, immunity that took the power from the courts to decide whether laws had been broken and penalties proscribed for violating the original FISA, including imprisonment for up to five years? Is it your understanding that the original FISA prohibited the warrantless wiretapping initiated by the Bush administration and the telecomms prior to September 11, 2001, wiretapping of American citizens that continues up through the present day? And, given the precedence of this legislation you voted for, what is to prevent future presidents from breaking this amended FISA, when through your vote, you have set a precedent that the laws of the people can be broken and retroactively forgiven by the Congress? And finally, aren’t you worried that other laws of Congress might be also broken in the name of national security, laws which may be even more egregious than the violation of the 4th amendment of the constitution?

kuhawk08

I heard that some of the reason for the high cost of oil is related to excessive oil speculation. Is Congress addressing this issue and what do you say to Republican’s who seem to only want more drilling and claim that more drilling will lower gas prices?

stuckinthemiddle

By far the most important issue for me is ending the Iraq war. I opposed this war from the beginning and it has been every bit the disaster that many of us said it would be. Because of your stance in favor of the war I have not voted for you in the past two elections. What is your current stance on the war in Iraq and is there any reason why I should change my mind about voting for you?

tscherer1

How is our nation going to recoup the costs of the war in Iraq?

Are we already recouping some of these war costs because the amounts reported keep changing? If so, how much and how are we recouping these costs of the war?
For example, are we offsetting costs by taking their oil?

tscherer1

I am currently paying ONEOK (KS Gas Svc.) over 11 dollars per mcf for natural gas. Yet, on the spot market, the rate is about half of this cost. The KS Corp. Commission refuses to process a price gouging complaint. So, what can you do about price gouging by this company as a congressman?

tscherer1

Do you support Obama’s ideas regarding giving the taxpayers a 1000 check out of windfall profits? And if so, won’t the oil co. merely pass this threw as an increase in the price of gas at the pump?

How do rebates not increase this national deficit that disturbs you so much?

Moderator

Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us for this online chat today. I’m online editor Jonathan Kealing and I’ll be your moderator today. We have Dennis Moore with us today. We have a ton of questions already and just 30 minutes so we’ll try to move as quickly as we can. Rep. Moore, thanks for joining us.

Dennis Moore

Good afternoon! I’m glad to be with you today and look forward to answering your questions.

merrill

Democrats were elected to stop the Iraq war and bring the troops home. Shifting the troops to Afghanistan is not what voters had in mind. Wouldn’t a more low profile international covert action be more effective against terrorists instead of illegally occupying countries?

No one knows who is a terrorist so it seems going after known cells throughout the world
would be more acceptable.

Dennis Moore

I believe that we would all like to see an end to our involvement in Iraq and to see our troops withdrawn safely. We have lost our focus, which was originally Osama bin Laden. We need to do all that we can to ensure that any action we take in the future should be part of an effort by the international community.

kuhawk08

The President’s veto of the SCHIP legislation signified a low-point in my feelings toward the Administration in the last Congress. How can we be ask other countries to follow our example, yet we cannot even guarantee health care for poor kids? Do you see SCHIP and other social programs as an ethical issue as well as a policy issue and can you explain how you voted on SCHIP?

Dennis Moore

The President’s veto of the SCHIP legislation disappointed me greatly. I believe that adults have a responsibility to provide for themselves unless they have a disability or some other compelling reason. But we cannot impose that same standard on two, three or four year old children who live in impoverished families. If we cannot provide assistance to children in that situation, what are we about as a nation? There is an ethical issue here and that’s why I am a strong supporter of SCHIP.

roguesword

What part will you play in solving the energy issues, and what steps will you take to safeguard our environment with regards to that pursuit?

Dennis Moore

30 years ago, President Carter talked to the American people on television about the need for a comprehensive energy policy for our country. He was addressing the long lines at the gas pumps. Had we done what President Carter said 30 years ago, our nation would be in a whole different position now. I talked to President Bush shortly after the last election and asked that he appoint a bipartisan group of House members, Senators and experts on energy production to a commission to present to him in 4-6 months a comprehensive energy policy. He said it was a good idea and that he would think about it. Nothing has happened. I intend to present the same proposal to the next President. If the next President will provide leadership, if Congress can put aside partisanship and if the American people will support this proposal, we can do what should have happened 30 years ago. We cannot change the past, but we can make it right in the future. In the meantime, Congress has worked to address our energy needs by increasing fuel efficiency standards, temporarily suspending the filling of the Strategic Petrolium Reserve and extending tax incentives for renewable energy. But we also need to encourage conservation, use of public transportation and understand that while drilling is certainly part of the answer, we cannot drill our way out of this crisis.

senegal66025

Congressman Moore. Do you support an up or down vote on off shore drilling? By that I mean a clean bill without attachments promoting solar, wind, ect. Simply an up and down vote on off shore drilling>

Dennis Moore

I support a comprehensive approach to our nation’s energy needs. If it is demonstrated that drilling off shore can be part of an environmentally sound way to find new oil reserves, that can be part of the solution. But nobody should believe this is going to be an answer to our long-term energy needs. Any new drilling, according to Administration sources, will take 8-10 years to show results at the gas pumps.

sallysue

why are we paying for nearly all of Iraq’s reconstruction when they have $79 billion budget surplus?

Moderator

Read the New York Times’ story on this here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/world/middleeast/06surplus.html

Dennis Moore

I was disturbed to learn that while our nation faces a $480 million deficit next year (which will put us over $10 trillion in national debt), it is projected that Iraq will have a $79 billion surplus. We have lost more than 4,000 American lives and spent nearly $700 billion (which was simply added to our national debt) in the war in Iraq. Iraq has the 3rd largest reserve of oil in the world. The Iraqi government has even asked that we set a timeline for withdrawal of our troops. We need to change our national policy accordingly.

Freckles

Congressman — I recently read that the US is only rated 19th in the world in education. How can we compete globally without an amazing public education system? Why aren’t our education standards higher?

Dennis Moore

Providing an opportunity for a quality public education is, I believe, one of the most important responsibilities states have to their children. While the federal government should be a strong junior partner to the states in education, I do not want the federal government setting education policy. Providing this opportunity for a quality public education is not only the right thing to do for our children, but the right thing to do for us and for future generations of Americans. No Child Left Behind has the best intentions, but it has not been fully funded by Congress. And to require that special education children and non-English speaking children compete on written exams with other children in their schools is not reality. This law should not be reauthorized unless and until these and other concerns are addressed.

Moderator

That looks like all the time we’ll have for this online chat. Thanks to everyone who posted questions – especially those we couldn’t get to. We’re going to try to have Rep. Moore back closer to the November election and we’ll tackle some of the more election-related questions then. Nick Jordan, Rep. Moore’s challenger in the November election, will also be invited to chat here at that time as well.

Dennis Moore

Thanks to everyone for participating in this chat – I really appreciate hearing from you!