Columns

By Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem)

This month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act to repeal Obamacare and start a health care reform process to return power to the states, drive down costs, and offer options to American families.

We all want law and order, safe neighborhoods and criminals taken off the streets. It’s one of the main things we expect our local governments to provide.

But what many don’t know is the high cost of safety, especially in terms of incarceration.

This was brought into focus last week at a Carroll Board of Supervisors’ budget meeting, when it was revealed that the county’s cost of keeping prisoners at the New River Valley Regional Jail would increase by $400,000 next fiscal year.

Ever since its closing was announced five years ago, everyone from parents and county leaders to advocacy groups and state legislators have been fighting to prevent the closing of the Southwestern Virginia Training Center in 2018.

This valiant effort continues, even after years of discouraging results and their pleas falling on mostly deaf ears in Richmond.

By Rep. Morgan Griffith

Every day brings new word of the damage Obamacare has inflicted on our healthcare system. As long as this law is on the books, it will diminish the quality, affordability, and choice of healthcare for everyday Americans.

In the seven years since Obamacare became law, the promises made by its creators have been broken.

President Obama told us that we could keep our doctors. You can’t always. President Obama told us we could keep our insurance if we liked it. You can’t.