Tim understands that being your Congressman isn't about parties or politics; it's about people. It's not about red or blue; it's about red, white, and blue. It's about all of us, working together. And so he believes that in your Congress, as in your community, you should expect those you elect to get to work, not to get caught up in partisan gridlock.
In an election year when many candidates are talking about working together but are continuing partisan attacks and dirty campaign tactics, Tim's record of reaching, walking, and tirelessly working across party lines to get things done speaks loudly and clearly. For the last five years, Tim has worked to find shared causes and common interests that could produce results for the good of the region and for the good of the country.
Tim co-chairs, along with Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), the House of Representatives' bipartisan 21st Century Health Care Caucus. He's also worked with Rep. Kennedy to promote mental health parity forums and to introduce the 21st Century Health Information Act to Transform Health Care, the first bipartisan legislation designed to dramatically increase the use of information technology to improve the safety, quality, and efficiency of health care.
Tim has also worked with Democratic Congressmen Mike Doyle and John Murtha to push for education and training for military veterans, and to secure funding for a new commissary that will serve more than 150,000 veterans, military personnel, and military families in our region.
Tim and Rep. John Dingell, the Democratic Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, together built bipartisan support to pass the Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008, which prevented significant cuts to the program over the next five years and cut waste, fraud, and abuse from Medicaid.
In these and in many other efforts, Tim refuses to get caught up in the kind petty, partisan politics that frustrate and fail to serve us. Instead, he always tries to seeking common ground, finding the issues on which different people agree, and then working together with those people to make a difference for everyone.
