_ —  

“Don’t think you will have better health care,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama. “There are gaps in this bill that will turn the health care system upside down.”

Shelby, who wound up the final round of annual town hall meetings throughout the state with a stop in Athens Monday morning, said most citizens would not notice changes in health care immediately.

Reforms that will take effect immediately, or as soon as the measure is signed into law — parents will be able to carry their children up to the age of 26 on insurance policies, children with pre-existing conditions will no longer be denied care, and there will be no limit on lifetime benefits.

And enrollees in Medicare Part D will begin receiving subsidies to cover unexpected drug price increases.

Most of the other reforms will not take effect until 2014 when insurance companies must stop denying coverage to anyone with a pre-existing condition.

Shelby said Beltway politics came into play to influence Sunday’s 219-212 vote. He said it appeared some of the House members were “for sale.”

“They were promised a lot, knowing some won’t be coming back,” said Shelby. “Pelosi said they would have to sacrifice some. Somebody should tell her to go back home.”

Reuters news service reported Monday that 10 attorneys general plan to band together in a collective lawsuit on behalf of Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington, trying to stop the federal government from “overstepping its constitutional powers and usurping states’ sovereignty.”

John McCain said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” he was “repulsed by all this euphoria going on” and said that, “outside the Beltway, the American people are very angry. They don’t like it and we’re going to repeal this.”

Shelby said the outcome of this year’s midterm elections would show just how angry the electorate is.

“Every member of the House is running and one-third of the Senate,” he said.

Shelby said he would continue to fight for a balanced budget, although costs of the health care bill would add to the country’s indebtedness.

“Those people yesterday (Sunday) got away with it once and they will become more emboldened,” said Shelby. “A lot of people up there are kicking the can down the road. We’re going to destroy this country and we’re on the road to destruction.”

Shelby said results of independent polls and the feedback he has gotten has led him to believe that, “Overwhelmingly, Americans are against this bill that was just passed. Health care reform is being stuffed down their throats.”

Other issues

This is what Shelby had to say about other issues:

• Immigration. “The big thrust in immigration reform is amnesty,” he said. “Along with their families, this could add 12-to-30 million people, and it won’t stop. The system is broken and we are not protecting our borders. If you don’t enforce the laws, you will have a total breakdown.” He said presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, and GOP presidential candidate McCain were all “soft on immigration.” He said enforcement should remain with the federal government when asked by audience member Rex Davis why municipal and county law enforcement officers cannot enforce immigration laws.

• Balanced budget. “I believe like cities and counties that the federal government should be mandated to have a balanced budget.” The 2011 budget is $3.834 trillion. He said the government would borrow $2.98 trillion this year. “One-third of that will be for operating stuff; 21 percent will be for Social Security; 21 percent for defense; 20 percent for Medicare and Medicaid; 8 percent interest; 11 percent non-defense; 19 percent other.  We owe $14 trillion now. We’ve been living on a national credit card. We borrow, borrow, borrow. Where will we be 10 or 20 years from now? We don’t want to leave this debt to our children and grandchildren. We can’t continue down this road to destruction. We’re the richest nation in the world but we also owe the most.”

Shelby said two-thirds of the budget is automatically spent on entitlements and that Congress “plays with” the remaining one-third. “Every cent should be appropriated so we can be accountable.”

• National defense. “We can’t afford to police the world. I recently met a soldier who is going to Iraq for the fourth time and he has a brand new baby girl. We shouldn’t go into a war without overwhelming force. Part of our game plan has been no exit strategy.”