Thread: Congressman touches on variety of topics at town hall meetin

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Congressman touches on variety of topics at town hall meeting

BY GARY D. PARSONS, HIGHLANDER MANAGING EDITOR
Highlander Courtesy Photo
A large crowd turned out for the opening of U.S. Congressman Mike Conaway's new district office in Llano, located on the square in the courthouse annex. Two staff members are working there and it will be open daily.

MARBLE FALLS - Fielding questions ranging from Social Security reform to the state of the local post office, Congressman Mike Conaway (R-Midland) gave an audience of about 40 area residents an overview of national and local issues.

For over two hours, Conaway spoke on the challenges facing the Social Security system and the war in Iraq while also answering questions from the audience dealing with taxes, immigration, stem cell research and building a new Marble Falls post office.

On the Social Security front, he explained the it was never supposed to be a "robust" form of retirement income. It was meant to be a safety net and a supplement to other savings for retirement.

Conaway stated when Social Security began, there were 41 workers to every retiree and the average life span at the time was 60 years. Today, life spans are exceeding 70 years and there are only three workers contributing to the system for every retired person. The current system will sustain itself until 2017. After that, the surpluses kick in but will only last until 2041.

"Each year we delay adds another $600 billion to the liability," Conaway said.

When asked about immigration issues, Conaway said that "inside the beltway" there was a lack of appreciation on how hot an issue immigration is and the congressional leadership wants to wait until 2006 to address the issues. (We are not going to wait that long Congressman)
Gary D. Parsons/The Highlander
Congressman Mike Conaway listens to comments from Jo Bess Casey of Highland Haven following his first town hall meeting in Marble Falls since taking office in January. Conaway serves the 11th Congressional District which covers 35 West Texas and Hill Country counties.

"I think we're living on borrowed time ... a terrorist event will create a backlash (on the immigration issue)," Conaway said. (So is Mr Conway when he comes up for election)

Conaway disagreed with one attendee who thought illegal immigrants should be rounded up and deported. He did agree that there was a perceived economic strain on schools, hospitals and other services, but also recognized the economic benefit provided by the immigrants. (Why Not?)

Conaway said he favors a guest worker program which would help secure the borders. He'd like to see legal checkpoints for the immigrants entering the country for economic reasons.

Earlier this year, Conaway was introduced to the issues relating to safety and service of the Marble Falls post office. He was also informed of proposed street improvements that will reduce the area of the current post office.

He told the audience that he had been in contact with postal service representatives and someone from the regional office in Dallas would visit Marble Falls soon to view the situation first hand.

When the topic turned to jobs and immigrations and U.S. companies relocating to Mexico and Central America, Conaway reminded people that consumers drive business decisions. He supports ratifying the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) as a means of keeping the companies there from relocating to another part of the world. He sees CAFTA as vital to the Texas cotton industry and other U.S. raw materials. Open your eyes senator

"The textile companies are not coming back to the U.S.," Conaway said. "We need to try to keep them in Central America."

Several questions came up about the Iraq war, with one man accusing President Bush of lying to the American people about the need to use military force.

Conaway defended the president's decision and said he didn't lie to the people, but based his decision on what he thought was factual accurate information from the intelligence community. Conaway said there is no turning back and the situation must be seen to its conclusion. He did stress he didn't want our troops over there one more day than was necessary, but the U.S. cannot abandon the effort too soon. He will travel to Iraq next month to see the situation himself and to visit with Texas National Guard and reserve soldiers stationed there.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!