EC from DC - December 6, 2013

It is an early morning that I, like so many others, will never forget. I could physically feel the ground move. I heard the cracking of an explosion. I feared what might have just happened. It was in 1988, a time when terrorist attacks on our own soil were not yet on our radar. But, as Mayor Pro Tem at the time, I would soon be on board a helicopter surveying the damage in the wake of the worst carnage I have ever seen.

Responding to a fire in a trailer in south Kansas City, in those early morning hours so many years ago, the six brave Kansas City firefighters had no idea there were thousands of tons of explosives near the burning flames. They gave their lives doing what they did each day, doing what they believed was their mission in life - serving, saving, and protecting those in our city.

As hundreds of family members, friends, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and others gathered recently to mark the 25th anniversary of that terrible morning, it is clear that so much has changed, yet so much is the same.

Over the years there have been new developments, including advancements, led by the fire department in Kansas City, to make sure those first on a scene know what they are walking into. But what remains, and always will, is the absence of the men who were loved by so many.

As promised, I wanted to continue to keep you updated on the very latest concerning the Affordable Care Act. The website problems have been frustrating, but are continuing to be fixed. In fact, the site successfully handled more than 725,000 visitors recently in just one day.

The overall goal of ACA continues to be what it has always been: assisting millions of Americans gain access to health care, while controlling costs and maintaining quality for all.

Already, under the Affordable Care Act:

• More than 47 million women have gained access to free and recommended preventive services.

• 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage or charged more because of those conditions.

• The growth in health care costs is slowing. Recent data shows the ACA, along with other factors, is contributing to the lowest growth in spending on record.

The cost of healthcare has been prohibitive and crippling for millions of Americans for a very long time. For decades healthcare premiums skyrocketed, especially for middle class families.

Already under the Affordable Care Act:

• Insurance companies will still set premium rates but now face tough new rules that crack down on unjustified rate hikes.

• Insurance companies are required to spend your money on health care instead of administrative overhead or CEO bonuses.

• Consumers have saved more than $5 billion in the past two years alone due to this requirement that insurance companies spend at least 80% of your premium dollars on care for patients. If they don't, consumers get a rebate.

• In 2013, 8.5 million enrollees will get a total of $500 million in rebates, which is an average of $100 a family.

Cutting the cost of health care is critical for economic stability within families and economic growth throughout the country.

Already under the Affordable Care Act:

• Families spending less on health care are getting more security in their budgets.

• Businesses spending less on health care can hire more employees.

• Over the past 44 months businesses in our country have created nearly 8 million new jobs.

As in all things related to the government, I believe it is important to be transparent, to continue to reduce waste, eliminate fraud and abuse, and work to find ways to improve service and efficiency. I will continue to monitor the ACA and work in a bipartisan way to make sure this plan is the best and most beneficial it can be for those of Missouri's Fifth District.

Recently, it was fun to visit with some great kids at TMC Lakewood, which offers primary health care services for families. It was a part of the Reach Out and Read program, a program TMC has been involved with for a decade. The program is all about encouraging reading, and assisting children with access to books. They are given to kids, even infants, during check-ups.

The goal is to encourage all members of the family to read. Using books as toys, as well as educational tools, is a positive way to do this. It can help with coordination, colors, reasoning, and of course, just the beauty of getting time to spend together.

There is more good news in the fight against homelessness among Veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs, along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has announced a new national report showing a 24% reduction since 2010.

The goal is to end Veteran homelessness by 2015.

This fight is taking place in many areas, with numerous community partners, and at all levels of the government. And while progress, very significant progress, is being made, there is still much work to do.

Protecting those who have sacrificed so much for our country and our freedom is not just doing what is right – it is an honor.

For more information about the VA's homeless programs and support services for families, please visit my website: /.

I was honored to join Agri-Pulse and a distinguished group of stakeholders in Washington recently, to talk about the future of our food. The discussion also revolved around biotechnology and its impact on our nation's food quality, quantity, and distribution. I shared with the group my personal experience with hunger. As a child, growing up in a house with no running water or electricity, hunger was a frequent and familiar companion.

In another 4 decades, the population of our planet is expected to reach 9 billion people. Making sure we can feed this growing number is a critical challenge. And, getting that food to those who need it, in all corners of the world, is an additional challenge.

Human ingenuity is going to play a key role. Biotechnology, in many forms, is already helping to feed many millions here in the United States, and also in many developing nations. It has also provided benefits by reducing the amount of pesticides used on crops, and the amount of water needed to allow those crops to flourish.

I believe our country should continue to support agricultural research, and share agricultural methods and technologies with other nations. They, in turn, with that knowledge and those tools, will need to determine the models that work best for them.

America has always been the heart and soul of ingenuity, enterprise, and determination. And we are going to need that, as we move forward together, to make sure every tenant on this rock called Earth – has access to food.

A few years ago, I heard an interesting but tragic story about two Soviet ships: one was a passenger vessel with more than a thousand people aboard and the other was a cargo carrier. The two collided in icy waters off the Black Sea coast of Russia. The thing that made the tragedy even more mournful was that 423 of the 1,234 Russians on board the ship, the SS Admiral Nakhimov, froze to death or drowned from a collision that was 100% avoidable.

After this shipwreck in 1986 (a time when former Soviet Leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev was changing the look of Communism) the Politburo member who headed the investigation of the collision issued a report saying that, "The guilt of both captains is undoubted." I agree. The captains knew that a deadly crash was imminent unless one or both of them changed course. Perhaps it was stubbornness or a dumb declaration, such as those we often hear in the political arena, "I'm right and the other captain is wrong, therefore I'm not going to change." All the world really knows is that 423 human beings are dead because two obstinate captains, one as crazy as the other, said, "Damn the forewarning, full speed ahead!"

It has occurred to me that two ideologically stubborn and hard-headed caucuses in the U.S. House will not move the nation forward, even though, in reality, they seek the same or similar legislative goal. That is, if both groups prefer a shipwreck to a partnership.

As we approach a new year, it would benefit the nation if we, the Members of the House of Representatives, accept the not so radical notion that the direction we are sailing the two political ships could lead eventually to an unnecessary wreck which may drown the dreams of millions.