Schneider Views Future in Long Term

When employees at IPC, an electronics trade association in Bannockburn, had a chance to question Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Deerfield) Wednesday, they wanted to know how he viewed the future of the economy and manufacturing in particular.

What the more than 50 people learned from their representative in the Congress is that he does not view the future of the economy or manufacturing in terms of election cycles but the effect on future generations.

“We have to add more than 1 percent a year (to GDP growth),” Schneider said in answer a question about economic expansion. “Over 10 years we have to double it twice, once every five years.”

While Schneider is fond of letting people know the 10th Congressional District has the third largest concentration of manufacturing of any in the United States, he is quick to let them know local industry is not about smoke stacks.

“People need calculus and physics skills to operate the machines,” Schneider said. “There is a lot riding on their decisions because they (the machines) are expensive. If we are going to expand our economy we need STEM (Science, technology, engineering and math) based people.”

When one person asked whether Schneider saw hope for the future in 2014, he took the opportunity to talk about what he considers wrong with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and what he thinks is right about it.

“I did not hide my feelings about the launch,” Schneider said complaining that there was never proper debugging of the website before it went live. “How can you not test it? Fixing it is tremendous challenge.”

That is another area where Schneider is not looking for a fix over the next few months but over the long haul. “My kids need good health care,” Schneider said. “This (the ACA) has to be good for 70 years.”

Motivating young people to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act is one of the things the exchanges are geared to do. Simplifying the system is one of the things which may help on a long term basis. Schneider has some ideas about making that happen.

“Start first with educating young people about how to make wise long-term financial decisions, and health insurance is a part of that responsible decision-making process,” Schneider said after the town hall. “I also think it essential that people have simple and effective ways to shop for and purchase insurance, which is why it is so important to get the online exchanges working effectively.”

Schneider also let the people at the town hall know the Washington they often see from the Capital’s talking heads is not necessarily the reality. He often watches the news late in the day after leaving his Capitol Hill office.

“I see these people during the day and what they talk about is not what I experienced during the day,” Schneider said.