Daytona Beach, FL - On Wednesday, the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce's Government Relations Division hosted a roundtable discussion with United States Senator Bill Nelson (D) to discuss health insurance and tax reform, among other relevant issues.
The Senator from Florida said that he's optimistic that the Senate will be able to approve health care legislation now that gridlock has been broken - a reference to recent votes on the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Nelson said he thinks insurance premiums in FL could drop by as much as 13% in the future.
When the Senate heads back to Washington in September, Nelson thinks they will hold hearings to discuss making insurance more affordable in 2018. "We'll start small and also seek to replenish the insurance fund," he said. "Once a bill has been approved in the Senate, it will then put pressure on the House to act. Doing this will set the stage for us to address tax reform, which will generate more revenue to upgrade our outdated infrastructure needs..."
When he was asked if the president would accept or veto any new health care legislation coming out of Congress, Nelson said, "I have more confidence in Chief of Staff General Kelly's ability to get the president to sign this legislation."
Speaking of tax reform, Nelson said he doesn't think the House or the Senate will approve anything that would increase the deficit. "The trick is to delete enough deductions to lower rates," he said. "We need to bring home corporate revenue from overseas and tax it at a lower rate." Much of this depends on Congress raising the debt limit. "Not doing so would mean the US would default on its financial obligations," said Nelson.
Photos courtesy the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2017.
