Hey, Karen Umberger – perhaps you should have read THIS before putting in the below amendment that made Democrats smile widely (for violating this NH Constitutional Article (emphasis mine):
[Art.] 2-b. [Right of Privacy.] An individual’s right to live free from governmental intrusion in private or personal information is natural, essential, and inherent.
You’ve abrogated that Constitutional value and are now having both State and Federal governments run roughshod over it. Indeed – doubling down on this.
Steve’s post has the Press release from the NH House Freedom Caucus that talks about the amendment that Umberger introduced for no sense at all IF you are a Parent that wants as little to do with the Federal Government snooping into your business as possible. She blithely took a major decision about your family and your children away from you and gave it to the faceless bureaucrats in both Concord and Washington DC (emphasis mine):
Rep. Umberger, Carr. 2
February 28, 2022
2022-0875h
10/04
Amendment to HB 1627-FN-A
Amend the title of the bill by replacing it with the following:
AN ACT establishing an education freedom account program administrator in the department of education and making an appropriation therefor, and relative to the school meals direct certification with Medicaid program.
Amend the bill by replacing all after section 2 with the following:
3 New Section; Application for Medicaid Direct Certification Program. The department of education shall seek participation in the Demonstration Projects to Evaluate Direct Certification with Medicaid administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The department of health and human services shall assist the department of education as needed in pursuing and implementing this new direct certification methodology.
4 Effective Date.
I. Sections 1 and 2 of this act shall take effect June 30, 2022.
II. The remainder of this act shall take effect upon its passage.
2022-0875h
AMENDED ANALYSIS
This bill establishes the position of education freedom account administrator in the department of education, division of learner support, and makes an appropriation to the department for the position. The bill also requires the department of education to seek participation in the Medicaid direct certification methodology for school meals program.
And she got real upset by those upset at her who put in lots of amendments in order to derail her amendment. I think Landrigan got it correctly:
House Finance Committee Chairman Karen Umberger, R-Conway, stole the show with her show of pique at back-benchers who created this circus atmosphere.
“If I know that I did not add these amendments, they were added by you, not me, and if I know the reason we may have to stay here is not because of me, but it’s because of you,” Umberger said to laughter from her colleagues.
No, Karen, it IS all about you!
Not everyone wants to take a handout from the Feds OR from the State. Especially if that handout is FORCED upon you and you no longer have any say in the matter.
TMEW and I are retired on a fixed income and I acknowledge that things get tight from time to time but WE are legally responsible for our Grandson – not her. Certainly, not the State and not the Feds. It should ALWAYS be OUR decision to make to see if we want the help or not. WE know what he’ll eat – and not. There are a lot of meals that are served that we’ve looked at in the menu, looked at each other, and gone “nope, not that today” (even as we make sure that his “school food account” is always full up). Why add to food waste (like what was seen during the “Thanks, Michelle” lunches that were supposed to be good for all students but ended up in the trash) but having him eat something we know he won’t? Wasteful of food, wasteful of effort, and wasteful of taxpayer monies. That’s just for one student.
Now multiply that over all of the 187,000 students in NH.
Basically, Karen Umberger has decided that we Parents are too stupid to make such an important decision. That we don’t have the wherewithal to make the ‘trade off” of priorities that put our child. That Government knows better than we do in what is “good for us”. That a enlarged Government is for “the common good”.
One more decision wrested away from us only creates a Bigger Government and smaller citizens.
That outlook is DISQUSTING and you can see the dripping condescension flow from her keyboard (or pencil, whatever the case may be) towards others.
Hey Karen, you’re supposed to be a Republican, right? How about your own platform:
We, the people of the New Hampshire Republican Party, do stand united in our dedication to preserving freedom, limited government and unlimited opportunity for all.
We believe that the New Hampshire and United States Constitutions were written by our forefathers to limit our government, not our freedom.
We believe that individual liberty is guaranteed under the Constitutions of the United States and New Hampshire, that the liberty of the people must be protected above the power of the government, and that it is only through an adherence to our founding documents that we will continue to grow as a free, Constitutional Republic.
We believe that low taxes are the result of low spending; that government has a moral obligation to the people to be as cost effective as possible, to always limit spending and growth of government, and to cut spending and cost of government at every possible turn.
So, Constitutional values don’t apply and your own self-identifying political philosophy (above).
Sorry, you just became the face of the NH GOP with that amendment. Good going! Guess you missed this what I wrote some years ago (but still have to keep repeating it):
The Tennessee Star picked up something that I had written at the very end of this post:
If the NH Republican Party wants to win, and win Consistently, act like you believe in the Platform. Speak like you do and at each and every turn. Vote like you do at each and every opportunity. And Legislate like there’s no tomorrow because two days ago was that “no more tomorrow” – and you blew it
So much for legislating, eh Karen Umberger?
