Press Release
By We the People
2/13/25
| With Congressman Aaron Bean |
| To We the People – For those of you unable to attend yesterday’s informative telephone town hall event with our Congressman for FL District 4, below are my notes of his introductory remarks along with a high level summary of his Q&A session with constituents from the District. If you’d like to be included in future downhill calls like this, you can sign up at the Congressman’s website at Bean.House.Gov. |
| Introductory Comments: Congress has been super busy this session. The congressman has only slept in his own bed at home 7 nights since the beginning of session. Rep. Bean helped launch the DOGE Caucus. Rep. Bean is now on the Ways & Means Committee…a very big deal, as they cover Tax Policy, which touches virtually everyone in America. He’s hoping they can make the tax cuts permanent. So far this year, he is proud that Congress passed legislation he was involved with: the Protection of Women and Girls Act and the Laken Riley Act. Constituents’ Q&A Session with the Congressman: Q: The last Tax Plan cut out professional deductions for individuals (like conferences, moving expenses. When will this be re-instated? A: 199 Section for small business owners is being considered for non-business taxpayers. Q: Need help with getting timely VA appointments. A: Call Aaron Bean’s office. Q: With the government addressing waste, fraud and abuse, why are they paying $8M/day to one person (Elon Musk)? A: Every contract is being reviewed, especially USAID. Criminals are being referred to DOJ. No one was ever held accountable before. Q: Inspectors General were fired by Musk because they were reviewing Musk. No one knows who gave Musk security clearance. A: Biden did. Musk is an authorized special employee and he will be addressing waste, fraud and abuse. DOGE is codifying recommendations, which is what Trump has asked for. Q: When I have interactions with your staff, they are great! But I have concerns about the government releasing my private data to Musk. What protections do I have? A: Aaron asked the IRS if there is any breach of private data and they said NO. Previous administrations gave access to private data that was released (such as Trump’s personal information). Musk has Read-only access. He can’t change anything. The IRS uses 60-year-old technology. All files are literally stored in a cave! Your private data is secure and there is no breach of private data. Q: Voting on the SAVE Act is coming up. How is Bean going to vote on it? Half the people in the country don’t have passports that match their married names. The government needs to make it easier to provide ID without last names matching just because you got married and changed your name. A: SAVE is about American voter eligibility. It ensures integrity in our elections. We must ensure every voter is an American citizen. There is no other way than to ask for multiple forms of ID. You need valid ID to drive, to fly on a plane, do almost anything. Some things are required for you to do as an American citizen. YOU must take some responsibility. BTW, I’m voting YES. Q: I’m a retired US Navy Chief Petty Officer. I was paying $50/mo for Tri-Care, now I have to pay 800% of that on Medicare. Retired Vets are getting nothing for medical care. What can you do about that? A: You need to call my Fleming Island office and ask Ashley for help. She’s my Military Benefits expert. Q: Is there a bill in Congress for Vets who’s claims are denied? My son was diagnosed with PTSD, but they denied him care, claiming his PTSD wasn’t service related, but personality related. A: Talk to Ashley in my office. She can help you get the VA everything they need to make an informed judgment. FL Congressional District 4 is in the top 5 districts in the country for its populations of military vets. Q: Regarding Immigration and voting, can you sponsor a bill that says No voting is allowed for non-US citizens, across the board, Federal, state and local? A: That’s what the SAVE Act does. It requires an ID. Chip Roy will be the lead on this effort. It passed the House last year but Schumer didn’t take it up so we have to run it through Congress again this year. Q: Without spending less than 1% on foreign aid, How will we help other countries? A: We’ve always helped other countries but its gotten out of hand with USAID. All the money spent seems to be dark stuff (like LGBTQ) for promoting aid. We have to get our own fiscal house in order first. We need a rest, under Marco Rubio as Sec’y of State. And everyone needs to understand how oppressive China is. We have enlightened Panama about that. Meanwhile WE need a reset. Q: We’ve seen activist judges try to shoot down our President. Is Congress going to impeach activist judges or put Presidential EOs into law? A: We are finally getting accountability but we do have activist judges. There is no movement to impeach activist judges. I believe Trump 2.0 is better about ensuring Exec orders are obeyed. The DOGE caucus (which I’m part of) will bring permanency to to EOs, so they cant be undone. We must strike while the iron is hot. Q: Re: Term limits…will voters ever see term limits for all Fed, state and local elected representatives? A: The Constitution would need to be changed to enact term limits for Congress…we would need a Convention of States to do that. There certainly are abuses in Congress, but what really bothers me is the stock trading by Congressmen. That’s an even bigger issue to be dealt with. Congressmen shouldn’t be able to be like Nancy Pelosi and end up with a $200M net worth for stock trades. A balanced budget amendment would be more import to have than a term limits amendment. Q: I like what DOGE is doing, but what about consequences and prosecution for the actions being outed? A: Amen to that! I believe accountability is coming. Q: I’ve been a Navy wife for 40 years. What is Trump doing to help women raise their children if he dismantles Social Security? A: Social Security was never designed to become your sole means of retirement. Trump is doing a 2.5% Cost of Living increase this year for Social Security and has proposed to make SS benefits tax free. There will be no reduction in SS benefits, even with all the other cuts being made. But in 9 years, there will have to be automatic reductions because we are running out of Social Security $$ unless we do something. You need to get professional financial advice before you start taking any social security benefits. Q: My Social Security started at age 62 due to a disability, but now there was a 25 month wait for medical coverage. What can you do about that? A: Call my office for help. Constituents’ Poll Question and Responses: Do you support DOGE efforts to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Federal government? YES: 89% No: 7% Don’t Know: 4% Â |
Deb Boelkes
Business World Rising, LLC
1417 Sadler Road, Suite 207
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
