Blaine Luetkemeyer Archives

Sen. Blunt pushes for more information on federal health care application processing centers

June 26, 2014 By Mike Lear

Missouri’s junior senator says he’s still waiting for answers, even after getting a reply to his inquiry about the workload at centers processing federal healthcare plan applications. Whistleblowers say there are too many employees and not enough work at centers managed by Serco in Wentzville and elsewhere in the country that are supposed to process paper applications to the federal health care system.

Senator Roy Blunt (R) and other lawmakers including Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R) sent letters to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asking about the claims. Blunt says after a long delay he finally got a letter in response, that he says was “vague,” and he wants something better.

“I got a non-answer answer,” says Blunt of the letter he received from Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“Did you really tell them to refresh their computer every ten minutes so it would look like they’re doing something,” Blunt asks of the working conditions at the Serco facilities. “Did you really bring library books and board games to work so that the people that taxpayers were paying would have something to do? Those are pretty simple ‘yes or no’ questions and I’d like some ‘yeses’ or ‘nos’ to those questions.”

The 1.25-billion dollar federal contract includes more than 3,000 employees. A reported 600 of those are at Wentzville.

Luetkemeyer: Syrian agreement evidence of weakened U.S. position

September 17, 2013 By Mike Lear

East-central Missouri’s Congressman thinks recent developments with Syria illustrate a weakening in the United States’ position at the word negotiating table.

Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer addresses the Jefferson City Rotary Club on September 16, 2013.

Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-St. Elizabeth) says the Obama Administration has weakened the U.S. on the world stage, and says Syria would never have used chemical weapons on its own people if not for that.

“If the Syrians felt that they were going to be retaliated against by the administration, they would have never done it to begin with … credibility is like trust. It’s something that’s earned, and once you’ve lost it, you’re in really big trouble. The only way we’re going to get it back is if we have a different president.”

Syria has a week to declare its chemical weapons and must allow international inspections under a plan agreed to by Syria, the U.S. and Russia. Luetkemeyer says without the backing of Congress, the threat of U.S. involvement wasn’t a factor in Syria agreeing to that plan, however.

“Both the House and the Senate were not going to support action. The president was up there rattling his saber by himself. I don’t think that’s what brought the people to the table.”

Luetkemeyer says Russia has used the opportunity to assert themselves as the world leader the U.S. used to be.

“What we have done is to allow the Russians … to now become the world power and be able to make the rules and be able to make the rules and put everybody in their place and restructure the world the way they like to see it done, and I think this is very dangerous. We have abdicated our role as world leader and I think the Syrians and Russians have played this just right.”

President Barack Obama has said the U.S. is “prepared to act” if Syria fails to comply with the peace agreement. Luetkemeyer urges caution.

“Syria’s not Afghanistan. It’s not a third world country. These people have got very modern weapons. This is a Russian-backed country. You go in there without a plan to react to their reaction, you’re asking for trouble.”

Luetkemeyer says he is frustrated Israel was not more involved in the handling of the Syrian situation, saying they have the most to gain or lose and again criticizing the President as having a weak relationship with that nation.

Luetkemeyer: ATF denies wanting MO concealed carry holder list

April 17, 2013 By Mike Lear

An official with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has told Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer it was not part of a request from the Social Security Administration, for a list of concealed carry permit holders in Missouri.

Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-St. Elizabeth) fields questions from the media about the sharing of concealed carry information with the Social Security Administration.

An e-mail obtained from the Highway Patrol indicated the Bureau would be taking part in a joint investigation with the Administration that would use that list.

Congressman Luetkemeyer’s office says the Bureau believes it was mentioned in that e-mail by an intelligence analyst with the Missouri Information Analysis Center to “add weight to the request” for the list.

Luetkemeyer meets in-person tomorrow with the Social Security Administration’s Inspector General in his continuing investigation of the release of that list.