Part of AMEPA's Home Medical Equipment Congressional Initiative (HME-CI) is to help Members of Congress who have supported the healthcare industry. The first Congressman who needs our immediate support is David Davis from Tennessee's District 1. The Republican primary is being held on Thursday, August 7th, 2 weeks from today and he is in a very close race.

Congressman Davis is the only trained Respiratory Therapist in the US Congress. He has owned a Medical Equipment Company for over 25 years and he has served on many HME Industry Boards. He pelted CMS with questions about their analysis of our industry and he was instrumental in getting the two Republican Tennessee Senators to vote for HR 6331 and later against President Bush's Veto.

This gave the bill to delay Competitive Bidding the veto proof margin needed to become law. This is what Congressman Davis has done for us. We encourage everyone to help Congressman Davis by taking a few minutes to view his Campaign Website.

CLICK for Congressman Davis at the CMS-Small Business Hearing

CLICK for Congressman Dave Davis' Campaign Website

Other Congressmen who need our assistance in the near future include:

Lincoln Diaz Balart (FL-R) He made his staff available to us and was open to interaction with us every step of the way. He crossed party lines and he introduced our issue to other Republican Congressman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz Balart who supported us.

Jason Altmire (PA-D) He aggressively worked with his State Association to educate Congress about HME issues. He helped draft the initial legislation that included the delay.

Ron Klein (FL -D) He was the first in Florida to sign onto the Congressional Delay letter, and worked with Party leaders to make sure that HME was attached to the Doc Fix bill.

The importance of successful Congressional advocacy cannot be overstated. We encourage each member to be active in this effort. We can control our own destiny with Medicare, and this is the way. Be ready and get involved.

Congressman Robert Wexler(FL-D) under fire
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler reacts to accusation that he doesn't live in Florida
By Mark Hollis - South Florida Sun-Sentinel, July 24, 2008

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler is defending himself against new accusations that he is playing a residency shell game by using his in-laws' address in Delray Beach while living in a Maryland suburb.

A national TV news program reported, and records show, that the popular six-term Democrat owns a home in upscale Rockville, Md., where he and his wife spend most of the year, pay property taxes, and where his children attend private school.

But Wexler officially identifies his residence as the south Palm Beach County home of Lawrence and Roslyn Cohen, his wife's parents. It's where the Wexlers register two vehicles and maintain voting and driver's license addresses, and where Wexler says he stays overnight during visits to the district on congressional breaks and other occasions.

Election laws require members of Congress to reside in the state they represent. Wexler says he meets that requirement by officially designating his in-laws' house as his residence.

The Cohen home is in the gated, seniors-only Huntington Walk subdivision of Delray Beach in Wexler's 19th Congressional District, a Democrat-rich district that encompasses most of south Palm Beach County and parts of north Broward County.

The topic of Wexler's residency is one he says he has "openly discussed for years" but is causing him grief again.The fiery congressman, who is Barack Obama's Florida campaign chairman, was the subject of a report Tuesday on Fox News Channel.

Following the news report, which featured a surprise interview of Wexler in the driveway of the Maryland home, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly said Wexler is involved in a "ruse" and "it doesn't look like he has any tie to Florida at all."

Wexler's challengers in the November general election say it's improper for Wexler and his wife to claim residency at the Cohens' three-bedroom home, particularly because seniors-only deed restrictions would prevent Wexler's three children from living there.

During an interview Wednesday with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Wexler defended his decision to raise his family in the Washington area. He said it's a decision he reached in his first year in Congress in 1997, and not something he's kept hidden. He even wrote about it in his new political autobiography.

Wexler said news coverage of his residency now amounts to a political witch hunt, and he blames it on a feud he's having with O'Reilly.

O'Reilly is "angry with me for sending an e-mail to my supporters" that accused Fox News and O'Reilly of offensive and racially disparaging coverage of Obama, Wexler said.

During his first year in Congress, Wexler attempted to commute between South Florida and Washington. "It quickly became apparent that I would miss out on the bulk of my children's lives," he said, explaining the decision to sell a property they owned in South Florida and move to Maryland.

There's nothing unique, Wexler and his aides said, about a member of Congress owning property in the Washington, D.C., area, where they typically spend more than two-thirds of the year, and to not necessarily maintain homes in their states of residence.

"For all purposes, he's not really living in Florida. And if you're not actually living here, you're not adequately representing the district," said Ed Lynch of Royal Palm Beach. Lynch, a Republican challenger to Wexler, has been researching the residency issue and brought it to Fox News.

Ben Graber, a former Broward County commissioner who is challenging Wexler as an independent candidate, said questions about where Wexler lives suggest he is out of touch with his constituents. "He hasn't really lived in Florida for eight years," Graber said.

Staff Writers Brittany Wallman and Scott Wyman contributed to this report.

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