Himes calls for end to violent rhetoric following attempt on Trump’s life

MONROE, CT — News of the recent attempt on former president and current Republican nominee, Donald Trump’s life still weighed heavily on the minds of those at the Monroe Senior Center Tuesday morning, when 84 residents gathered for a visit from U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, so the legislator addressed the issue right away.

Himes noted how the country is preparing for an election, which he said is great.

“What is not great is violence that was intended against the former president last week,” he said, while standing in front of the room. “The beauty of this country is that we’ve got lots of different views. It is a strength … but it can never, never cross the line to violence.”

Himes said everyone can play a positive role in solving the problem by being careful over the language they use.

“I don’t exclude myself from this,” he said. “Whether Republican or Democrat, we’ve got to remember the other side is not an enemy. That’s the opposition and we’re lucky to have them.”

Himes said it is constructive for citizens to have good conversations with those, who do not hold the same political beliefs they do.

“Respect the other point of view,” he said, “because it’s a strength in this country, until it gets overheated, until friendships are broken or, Heaven forbid, violence happens.”

Asking Biden to step aside

“Just to be super clear here, I’m not here to campaign,” Himes said. “I’m not here to be partisan. I’m not here to be political. I’m here in my official capacity to talk about Medicare, Social Security, the Middle East — whatever you all want to talk about.”

Himes said the Inflation Reduction Act will reduce the cap of minimum out-of-pocket expenses to receive Medicare coverage from $3,250 to $2,000 next year and Medicare negotiated a $35 monthly price for insulin.

Despite fear mongering by some politicians, he said Social Security is projected to pay out 100 percent of benefits through the year 2035, when adjustments will have to be made to preserve the program.

Himes also warned of Medicare scams, which cost senior citizens about $100 billion a year. He said the program never tries to sell anything, and told his audience to always seeking verification before giving out sensitive information, such as your Social Security number, to anyone.

During the question-and-answer period, another pressing national issue was raised, the growing number of Democrats asking President Joe Biden to step aside amid signs of aging adversely affecting his public appearances, especially in the first debate.

“I absolutely think you made the right call with regards to Biden stepping aside,” one man told Himes. “I was personally astonished in 2022 when he said he was gonna be up for a second term. I said, ‘doesn’t he know anything about actuarial science and statistics?'”

The questioner asked if Himes sees a path to the Democratic Party replacing Biden as the nominee to run against Trump.

“On Thursday night, I asked the president to step aside from being the Democrat candidate,” Himes said. “That grows out of a lot of scrutiny at the polls. That grows out of some personal experience I’ve had. I’ve spent some time with the president.”

“He’s a stubborn Irish guy who defines himself as a guy who always defies the odds, so if I had to bet with my own money right now, I’d bet that he was gonna stay in,” Himes said.

Regardless, the senator said the Democratic Party needs to figure this out one way or another over the next couple of weeks, because this cannot continue with the approaching election.

“Thank you, I appreciate the comment,” he told the resident. “It was a difficult thing to do.”

Border security

Several seniors in attendance asked pointed questions about the nation’s border security.

“Can you tell me how many illegals have come across the border, have come to Connecticut, and how much of our taxes are taken away to house them and feed them?” one woman asked.

Himes said he prefers to use the term undocumented immigrants, adding the current estimate is 13 million or 14 million of them are in the U.S. “Over the years it’s been sort of between 10 to 14 million people in this country, which is a problem,” he added.

Himes said he does not know the number of undocumented immigrants in Connecticut, but since the state accounts for one percent of the national population at about 3 million people, he said it is probably in the neighborhood of 100,000 to 120,000.

“By law, non-U.S. citizens are not entitled to participate in our big government programs,” he said. “They are not entitled to receive Social Security. They are not entitled to be Medicare recipients. They don’t qualify for food stamps, for WIC.”

However, he said the health care system is more complicated. He said a law requires hospitals to treat people who show up in emergency rooms, regardless of immigration status, which “probably goes for community health centers” as well.

He said he does not know how much this costs Connecticut.

“It’s important to remember, and I’ll be the first to say, we cannot have uncontrolled immigration across our borders,” Himes said. “That doesn’t work. But I think if you really looked at what the millions of undocumented immigrants in this country are doing … they’re working in gardens right now, they’re working on houses right now, they’re getting restaurants …”

“Yeah but doesn’t that take away jobs from the people who are here, the people of low income who are here?” a woman asked, “so that’s a problem.”

“They’re taking the jobs that nobody wants,” another woman called out.

Himes said it was “heartbreaking” to see a border bill negotiated by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, who is liberal, and Sen. Jim Langford, R-Oklahoma, who is conservative, not be approved in Congress.

“I was thinking, ‘man, here’s a step forward,’ and it didn’t happen, so I was very disappointed that that didn’t happen,” he said.

Himes said the undocumented population pushes wages down at the very bottom end of the wage scale because they are typically willing to do “really hard and ugly work, picking fruits and vegetables, working out on highways in 90 degree heat for a wage that many Americans would not.”

One woman said she understands that some countries are paying their citizens to live here. Himes said he does not think that is true and she claimed to know someone who is paid to be here.

A housing shortage

Leslie Gosselin, who is vice chair for the Commission for the Aging in town, told Himes one of the problems facing seniors is housing.

Many who lived in Monroe for decades are now having a hard time remaining in their homes while living on Social Security, because of rising taxes and inflation, she said, adding as they get older and more feeble they have to pay people to do their yard work and maintain their home.

If they sell their house and have $350,000 to $400,000 to put down on a new home, Gosselin said seniors often have to take on a mortgage of about $300,000 because senior housing options cost around $600,000, and then there are common fees between $600 and $800.

“What can we do as a nation to make it more affordable for us to stay in our homes that we’ve lived in?” she asked.

Gosselin noted how government programs only help those in certain income brackets, making many ineligible for assistance. “Most of us don’t want to go back to a city that we worked hard to get out of,” she said.

Himes said the federal government does not have as much control over housing in general and urged seniors to talk to their municipal officials and state delegation about tax breaks and programs available to keep them in their homes.

He said the main problem is one of supply and demand, with a lack of housing driving up home prices.

“We have a huge demand and we don’t have nearly enough supply,” Himes said, “and there’s no amount of government subsidy that is going to fix that problem if you don’t build more housing.”

“We have to get serious about building a lot more housing in this country,” he said. “It’s going to happen in smart places. Again, you’re not going to ask Monroe to build 3,000 units of housing. It doesn’t make sense. But every community can do a little bit more, which should raise the supply. It’s going to take a little of that pressure off the housing market and maybe drop prices in the long run.”

Proof of citizenship

A woman asked Himes why he voted against a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Himes said proof was defined as having a passport, a birth certificate or a real ID, which is the verified driver’s license that not everyone has yet. He said 40 percent of Americans have a passport and 65 percent have a birth certificate.

“If that law passed, we would have had millions of people, who don’t have a passport and don’t have a birth certificate, who would have been taken off the rolls,” Himes said.

“You can always get your birth certificate,” a woman said.

“You can always get your birth certificate,” Himes agreed, “but here’s the thing, on one side we have a bill that would have taken millions of Americans off the voting rolls and you ask yourself, ‘assuming the chaos we’ve created, is it solving a big problem?’ Do you know how many illegal aliens vote? Almost zero.”

Some in the audience expressed skepticism over that, while Himes maintained no one has ever proved the existence of a systemic problem.

“If it were a big problem, we’d take it seriously,” he said.

Bipartisanship needed

One resident spoke of problem with Medicare not reimbursing doctors in Connecticut enough, as the state losses doctors in droves. Himes said the problem is specialists are making good money and primary doctors are not.

“I’m all for doctors being paid more, but covering the underlying costs comes out of your premiums,” he said.

One man asked about the difficulty of negotiating bills with those in the MAGA movement on the “fringe Right”.

“There’s a big chunk of pragmatic Democrats and a big chunk of pragmatic Republicans, who know you have to compromise to get anything done,” Himes said. “On the fringe on Left, they call it The Squad. On the Right, they call it MAGA.”

Whenever he proposes something, Himes said he is attacked by both sides.

“We don’t do anything in Congress without it being bipartisan,” he said. “We get very little done on a partisan basis.”

He said major bills that have passed, such as the PACT Act expanding health care for veterans and the infrastructure law were all done with bipartisan support.

“You got a big mass of Democrats and Republicans who want to work together, but you’ve got very loud extremes who don’t want to do that,” Himes said.

A culture of violence

A man asked Himes what can be done to change a culture of violence, where someone grabs a gun and shoots people to solve problems.

“Here’s what I think we can do,” Himes said. “We can be super careful about our language. President Biden in his interview yesterday used really ill advised language, and said we need to put Donald Trump in a bullseye. He apologized for that.”

“When Nancy Pelosi’s husband was beaten almost to death, the then-president’s son put up a picture of underwear and a hammer and said, ‘this is my Halloween costume,’ so both sides do it in a really ugly way,” he said.

“My own view is that MAGA has normalized the possibility of violence,” Himes said, “and I know [U.S. Rep.] Maxine Waters [D-California] does some crazy things, and I’m not saying it isn’t both sides, but we have to stop it.”

The senator said citizens also have to stop using violent imagery.

“If you’re calling the other side treasonous, by the way, what do you do with traitors? Traitors get executed,” Himes said. “If you’re using that language as a politician, I’m not voting for you, I don’t care what party you are, because people are going to get killed.”

“You haven’t heard me today make a single attack on the other party or on the previous president,” he said. “I’m trying to do my part. But we just have to tone it down and recognize that the other side is the loyal opposition and not the enemy.”

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