web1_football-TA.jpg

WVC football: Lake-Lehman eats up clock, and Lakeland, in impressive victory

web1_holy4.jpg

Holy Trinity Orthodox Churchcelebrates 50th anniversary

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Affordable health care, stronger gun laws and strategy for the 2020 presidential campaign were issues discussed Friday with U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.</p><p>Casey, D-Scranton, met with the Times Leader Editorial Board to talk abut issues he feels strongly about and to answer questions from the board.</p><p>Casey is serving his third, six-year term in the U.S. Senate.</p><p>&#8220;Families are facing tough decisions,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;They are facing the high cost of health care and prescription drugs. There&#8217;s just not enough talk in Washington about resolving this. There are too many distractions.&#8221;</p><p>Casey recently met with Gov. Tom Wolf at a rally against the Trump-Republican lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act and to reiterate Pennsylvania&#8217;s commitment to sustaining quality health care for residents at reasonable costs.</p><p>&#8220;President Trump and the Republicans tried to rip away health care from millions of Americans,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;They tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and decimate the Medicaid program, and now they are trying to do it through the courts. We need to be tenacious and vigilant and must keep fighting against these obscene attempts because it is literally a life or death issue.&#8221;</p><p>One of Wolf&#8217;s first acts as governor was authorizing the expansion of Medicaid under a provision of the Affordable Care Act that gave an additional 720,000 Pennsylvanians access to health care.</p><p>&#8220;Right now, that coverage is in danger by people who have no plan to replace it, much less improve it,&#8221; Wolf said at the rally.</p><p>Casey said the lawsuit to overturn the health care law would take coverage away from 21 million Americans, strip protections from 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, and raise costs across the board.</p><p>Casey said Republicans want to decrease Medicaid funding by $1.5 trillion and Medicare by $800 million.</p><p>&#8220;Not one Republican in Congress has stood up against this,&#8221; Casey said.</p><p>Casey said there are 31,195 people in Luzerne County with Medicaid coverage.</p><p>&#8220;If I live to be 1,000, I will never understand the opposition to giving more people affordable health care,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;Still, we have to get the cost of health care down. Neither political party has done enough on that.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Economy:</strong> Casey said productivity is up, but wages have flat-lined. He said the cost for child care, higher education, prescription drugs, utilities have increased, while wages have not kept up.</p><p>&#8220;This will worsen if the Affordable Health Care Act is wiped out,&#8221; he said.</p><p><strong>Trade war:</strong> &#8220;China has to be confronted,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And China has to stop cheating and respect international trade agreements. We need to form an alliance against China. We need a strategy.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Gun laws:</strong> &#8220;I think we have a chance to step forward,&#8221; Casey said, citing some bipartisan support for strengthening gun laws. He said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised two votes: one on limiting the size of magazines and the other on banning military-style assault weapons</p><p>&#8220;Politicians who refuse to take action to reduce gun violence are complicit in this carnage,&#8221; Casey said in the wake of recent mass shootings. &#8220;If we&#8217;re going to truly confront this uniquely American problem, we have to speak uncomfortable truths. Over and over again, domestic terrorists use high powered, military-style assault weapons to kill our children and our families.&#8221;</p><p>Casey said he favors universal background checks as well.</p><p>Casey said neither would have any adverse effects on Second Amendment rights, while at the same time help to reduce the number of mass shootings and fatalities related to them.</p><p>Casey said he has co-sponsored about 10 pieces of gun control legislation.</p><p>All of them &#8212; including a federal ban on military-style assault weapons and a more rigorous version of the universal background check bill &#8212; should be put to a vote, he said.</p><p>&#8220;If you pass one bill that prevents a single mass shooting, the work that went into passing that one bill is worth all the effort in the world,&#8221; Casey said.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL090119CASEY4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">U.S. Sen. Bob Casey met with the Times Leader editorial board on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL090119CASEY4.jpg</photo0><caption0>U.S. Sen. Bob Casey met with the Times Leader editorial board on Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL090119CASEY1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">U.S. Sen. Bob Casey discusses issues with the Times Leader editorial board on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL090119CASEY1.jpg</photo1><caption1>U.S. Sen. Bob Casey discusses issues with the Times Leader editorial board on Friday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL090119CASEY2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">An editor takes video during U.S. Sen. Bob Casey&#8217;s meeting with the Times Leader Editorial Board Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL090119CASEY2.jpg</photo2><caption2>An editor takes video during U.S. Sen. Bob Casey&#8217;s meeting with the Times Leader Editorial Board Friday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL090119CASEY3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">U.S. Sen. Bob Casey </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_TTL090119CASEY3.jpg</photo3><caption3>U.S. Sen. Bob Casey </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Casey: Fight to protect affordable health care