Congressman faces angry crowd

An angry, but not unruly crowd, greeted Congressman Adam Smith, when he held a community meeting in Des Moines last night.

Some 125 people, upset about the budget, the deficit and the health care bill, were on hand to make their feelings known, but for the most part they behaved themselves and took turns listening to the complaints of others.

Smith handled the group well, listening himself to the complaints and the few questions, and then responding to what he wanted to address and not always to the question being asked.

Smith said the deficit and debt was a big problem for this country.  He attributed the financial situation to the Bush tax cuts, the prescription drug bill and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’ve got to get our spending under control,” he said.  The six-term congressman said that our debt is being underwritten by other countries who continue to invest in American treasury bills.  “We can still borrow at cheap rates and other countries continue to see it as a good investment,” he said.

Smith told the group that we need to cut spending, but made no specific recommendations.

Other issues brought up and addressed by the congressman were immigration reform, the war in Afghanistan and the current Israeli/Gaza situation.

Smith is representative from the Ninth Congressional District which takes in part of  Thurston County, including part of Lacey.