Baird hosts town hall meeting

Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA) heard concerns from about 50 people from as far away as Astoria, Oregon at a town meeting was held Monday.

He told the crowd the unemployment rate in Washington state is 5.3 percent, which places the state in the middle when compared to the rest of the country. Last week, the House and Senate passed legislation to extend unemployment benefits by an additional 13 weeks.

“That will help a lot of people in our state get, hopefully, through the times until the economy can pick up where they can get fully trained in a skill,” Congressman Baird said.

He said it was thought the president was going to veto the plan, but it was passed after pressure from the house and senate. The bill will also include funding for additional educational benefits for returning veterans.

Unfortunately, this legislation isn’t paid for and will increase the debt. Congressman Baird expressed concern saying he would rather have seen the extension paid for. “I’m not that fond of our deficit spending, I’m very, very worried about that.”

The Congressman said he is aware gas prices are a great concern to the nation and said we all need to band together to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. “Much of what is driving oil and gas prices right now are the tremendous growth in China and India,” he said.

In India, a car called the Nano sells for only $2000. It couldn’t be driven in the United States because of the safety features required on US automobiles. In a country of a billion people, the consumption of gas has gone up immensely. In China, bicycles are becoming rare because of the jump in automobile use.

Reducing demand by using alternative energy and mass transit use still over the long hall will not counter balance the tremendous demand seen in India and China and other countries.

Concerns of the war in Iraq was a hot topic of the evening. Questions ranged from ‘what are you doing to prevent the president from going into Iran’ to the possibility of impeachment.

The Congressman said he understood the concern, however, because there are six weeks in this session, there is no time for impeachment hearings. He said he believed the majority of Americans would say the focus should be on health care, gas prices and unemployment issues.

A gentleman identifying himself as Lee asked what was being done for people who are on social security/disability that are suffering with cost of living increases. He said even a minor raise in income will decrease food stamps.

“I understand there is a difference between state and federal level, but how are the two state and federal levels going to deal with this issue?”

The Congressmen said that energy costs and fixed incomes should be taken into account as part of the social security/cost of living increase. He said it is determined by economists more than congress. “We enact these things, we don’t necessarily do the math ourselves. But surely they should be taken into effect.”