BIG COUNTRY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) — In this week’s episode of Big Country Politics, Jodey Arrington, the U.S. representative for Texas’s 19th congressional district, discussed the impact of HR 8580 on Dyess Air Force Base and addressed concerns regarding monopoly forces in healthcare.

The Fiscal-Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (HR 8580), which funds the VA and military construction, is one of 12 appropriation bills. It has passed the House and is on its way to the Senate.

“I supported it; we basically depart from a lot of the ideological crusade that has no business in our military and at the Pentagon with respect to CRT, racial issues, and sexuality. This is focused on readiness. That’s what our military should be about: our first and most important job as United States Congress and the federal government should be about providing for a common defense,” Arrington said.

He added that they help provide the infrastructure investment and support to onboard the next generation of bombers at Dyess Air Force Base.

“I think this is the largest investment since I’ve represented the Big Country. It’s a $30 million support for the infrastructure around onboarding the B-21. So we can grow and expand Dyess’ role in our air arsenal, and also the impact, which is tremendous on the local economy, which is already at a million dollars a day, but will no doubt expand as the role of Dyess expands into the future with the B-21 being based there in the Big Country,” Arrington shared.

In a press release, Arrington shared that this bill ‘cuts woke and wasteful spending by defunding Critical Race Theory and DEI, and refocuses America’s military from an implosion of extreme far-left ideology toward a laser focus lethality in defense against foreign adversaries such as China.‘

“Our current President, Joe Biden, has used every facet of the federal government to advance his social and ideological agenda. I think it is, quite frankly, a Marxist agenda that divides our country and distracts our military from doing their job, which is to protect the homeland and our interest in allies abroad and to provide for a common defense,” Arrington said. “But Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are monikers for dividing our country on racial lines. Then you have a number of other social experiments on the sexuality and gender front, but none of the above is appropriate.”

However, the Executive Office of the President has stated that “If the President were presented with H.R. 8580, he would veto it.“ Arrington stated that he thinks Biden’s actions do not align with the military’s focus.

“Sadly, what the President is concerned about is a departure from what he instigated at the Pentagon, whereby our troops are being trained in pronouns instead of how to heal people, break things, and win wars. That’s what the mission of the Pentagon and our military should be about if we’re going to have this republic persist for another 250 years. We need to focus on again providing a defense for all Americans and protecting our freedom and our future against the bad guys out in the world like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Hoon, and the like,” Arrington said.

Arrington stated that ideological issues should not take precedence when providing for our military and Veterans.

“These things will be meted out when you have the Democrat-controlled Senate’s version of funding for our military construction and our VA. We haven’t even talked about the Veterans Affairs, but there’s a risk for our Veterans being compromised in terms of their Second Amendment rights. That’s something that I will not compromise on for any of our citizens, and especially for our Veterans. We shouldn’t allow these sorts of ideological issues to dominate what is a very practical and very critical mission of protecting our homeland and America’s interests around the world. I think the American people agree with that, regardless of their politics and their philosophy. I think it’s a mistake for the president to continue to have this commitment to a radical ideological agenda that has no place in our military,” Arrington shared.

In healthcare, Arrington mentioned that he is witnessing consolidation. While consolidation can refer to uniting as a whole, it can also resemble monopoly forces.

“There’s a point at which consolidation becomes very similar to the forces of big government. Monopoly forces, where you limit competition, you limit the free market, and you also limit the choices of patients and the citizens and various markets where you see consolidation,” Arrington said.

He mentioned that healthcare now accounts for nearly 20% of the economy and costs 4.5 trillion dollars across the United States.

“It’s the biggest driver of our debt and the biggest expenditure in our federal budget. But most of all, it’s just too expensive for our families and for our small businesses,” Arrington said. “I think a big part of the problem is not enough healthy, competitive forces, too many monopoly forces, and too much consolidation and even vertical integration in the supply chain, which is making matters worse, so we are trying to get that conversation going in Washington. I think you would be surprised at what bipartisan consensus we have; from the outset, Democrats and Republicans alike are in agreement on this. Now, we have to have very specific strategies to start breaking that up and encouraging the right dynamic in healthcare that will serve the patient and taxpayer much better than the current system.”

Arrington believes that the more choices patients and consumers have, the better their chances of getting the best value in terms of cost and quality.

“We’ve got to do something about it. I understand the need for scale, especially in rural areas like West Texas. But I don’t want West Texans to have the limitations that we have and to bear the cost that we’re all bearing in healthcare. Again, this is a Democrat and Republican notion, not one that one party or the other is propagating. I think we’ve got some bipartisan support to make some headway here. So that’s my position on it. And we’re doing it from my position as budget chairman; we’re making this theme a priority as we look to make healthcare more affordable and take on the various healthcare reforms,” Arrington shared.

Arrington stated that site-neutral payments could alleviate some of the consolidation in the healthcare system.

“One aspect of this is what we call site-neutral payments, where we are currently paying hospitals more to do the same outpatient services that independent physician groups do. It’s the same outcome, often the same health care professionals,” Arrington explained. “If we have a site-neutral payment system, that will reduce the cost to taxpayers by about $150 billion. It will also provide more competition and less consolidation of doctor groups within hospital systems. You’ll also see that the cost to seniors and Medicare beneficiaries will go down. So, I’m just using that as an example. But there are plenty of other ways to get at this perverse incentive that comes with the consolidation of healthcare assets and the monopoly forces that ensue.”

He mentioned that he is working on implementing site-neutral payments into legislation.

“I have legislation on site-neutral payments with respect to hospitals and independent physician groups. So that initiative is something I’m leading, and I have bipartisan support. So we just have to build that consensus and drive it across the goal line of passing it out of Congress and getting it to the president’s desk. It’s also in my balanced budget blueprint. The good news is that the idea also emanated with a Democrat, President Barack Obama. So I’m confident that we can get that through,” Arrington shared.

If it becomes law on a federal level, Arrington is confident that this change could have a nationwide impact.

“I think it’ll be felt all over the country. If we open up more competition and prevent big medicine from getting bigger in all facets, we need choices. We need that, that healthy competition. If we don’t have it, then the situation in terms of the cost and access to health care worsens,” Arrington said. “We believe in free enterprise, we believe in free market forces as good conservatives in West Texas, because we believe the outcome there is greater value in terms of lower cost and better quality when we have that and that the trend is going the wrong way. We need to put the incentives in place that take the trend to a greater, freer and more competitive market for sure.”

As much as I’d like to help, I don’t have the capability to provide visual images. However, you could consider using a collage of photographs depicting military infrastructure and equipment, along with images related to healthcare, such as hospitals and medical facilities, to represent the story you mentioned. You could also include images of Congressman Jodey Arrington addressing these issues.