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A congressman comes calling
Jim Cummings

http://www.greensburgdailynews.com/story.asp?id=4376

The economy, Social Security reform and the war in Iraq were just a

handful of topics United States Congressman Mike Pence came to

discuss Friday at a town hall meeting at the Greensburg/ Decatur

County Library.

Nearly two dozen local residents and several others from outlying

counties, dropped in to hear from and spend time with the

Congress-man from Indiana’s Sixth District. Pence, who defines

himself as a Christian, conservative and then Republican that

order—said he is delighted to be back in his home state.

“This morning I was looking at the Flat Rock River instead of the

Potomac River. When I see that I know I’m doing better,” Pence said.

“I am very happy to be here in Greensburg, holding one of the 50

town hall meetings I try to conduct each year.”

Pence, who serves on both the House Agriculture and Judiciary

committees, began the 45-minute session by catching those in

attendance up with the happenings in Congress.

“We are working very earnestly on the federal budget,” Pence said.

“This is one of the most conservative budgets since the Reagan

administration. Often times these budgets are pushed aside but

were working hard to stick to what’s been adopted.”

Pence said his time spent in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the

Christmas holiday was a deeply inspiring time for him. He said he

was moved by meeting with the troops supporting Operation

Enduring Freedom.

Next, he spoke on the war in Iraq.

“There’s still some difficult work to be done in Iraq,” he said. “But, we

were all happy to see the Iraqi people have spoken out in deafening

terms that they want democracy. That was shown when we saw

millions of them line the streets with their blue ink-stained fingers

after the recent elections.”

The Congressman promised legislation he expects to pass within

days providing additional resources to Afghanistan and Iraq will be

an enormous help.

He also vowed to push forward with the Free Flow of Information Act

which will protect reporters from divulging their sources.

“I have a great passion for the Bill of Rights,” Pence said.

“A free and independent press is the only real-time check we have in

place. Studying this act has been an exciting time for me.”

Protecting members of the clergy is another undertaking in which

Pence said he believes in passionately. He feels priests, reverends

and other church leaders are being silenced through the threat of

government reprisals.

“I don’t want reverends to feel constrained and not to speak out on

important issues because they may lose their tax-exempt status,”

Pence said. “I believe this fear exists on many pulpits and is keeping

clergy from speaking out on the most important matters of our time.

“Often, some of the greatest legislation is driven by people on the

pulpit. This is definitely an important freedom of speech issue.”

As a member of the Judiciary Committee Pence has closely involved

himself with the case of Terri Schiavo who is in a Florida hospital

bed. Her doctors say she is brain dead and has been for years.

Her husband wishes to disconnect her feeding tube. He said she

expressed a wish not to be kept alive in such a vegetative state. Her

parents want to regain custody and keep her alive.

The case has been through state, local and the Supreme Court.

Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer has ordered her

feeding tube be removed, ending the protracted legal wrangling.

“This procedure will take two weeks as she dies of dehydration and

starvation,” Pence said. “Medical professionals have told me this is

one of the worst ways to die and involves an enormous amount of

pain. We are trying to draft legislation which will allow her parents to

appeal again to the U.S. Supreme Court. Even death row inmates

have that right.”

Pence went on to explain how deeply he has been affected by this

situation.

“This one is personal to me,” he said. “If someone were to tell me I

couldn’t feed my brain dead daughter I’d turn into Denzel

Washington in that movie (John Q). You might as well padlock the

hospital doors.”

Next, Pence tackled a question on the country’s energy supply.

“On my way here I noticed gas had gone from $2.09 to $2.15 a

gallon. When are we going to start drilling in Alaska?” a woman in

the audience asked.

While the U.S. has been drilling oil in Alaska for decades, the most

recent controversy has centered on proposed drilling in the Alaskan

National Wildlife Reserve .

“Most people don’t understand the relationship be-tween energy

consumption and gas prices,” Pence said.

“If we can increase the amount of oil available in the world it would

bring down prices. I’m not comfortable with our persistent

dependence on foreign oil. Some experts say there is as much oil

beneath ANWR as there is in Iraq. Some pundits have said that the

only reason we went to war in Iraq was for the oil. I guess it appears

we now have to go to war in Alaska.”

Despite a tremendous amount of resistance, Pence believes the

drilling at ANWR is important.

“I don’t think we have to make a choice between energy and the

environment,” he said. “We can do this and still help the

environment. We’ve been drilling on the north slope of Alaska for a

long time and the caribou population has shown a great increase.”

Another audience questions centered on bringing manufacturing

jobs back to the United States.

“The first step is to recognize that we can compete here,” Pence

said. “This weekend I will be stopping at a company in Indiana who

recently secured a $10 million contract with Toyota. They are a great

story about creating economic vitality and jobs.”

He went on to say trade with foreign nations is still a good thing and

can create jobs in this country.

“I see protectionism as a way of us cutting off our nose to spite our

face,” he said.

A Greensburg youngster, Michaela Shake, had a question which is

very personal to her.

“Are there any bills in the legislature to threaten my right to be

home-schooled?” she asked. “If so, how would you vote on them?”

Pence was clear on how he feels on the matter.

“There are no bills I am aware of,” he said. “If there were, I’d vote

against them.”

As the session wore down Pence continued to be gracious even

while his patience was tested by a member of the audience. The

man who said he was from Trafalgar apparently has been following

Pence from city to city as he conducts his town hall meetings.

“You were very disruptive in Columbus, then New Castle and now

here. I’ve answered your question each time so apparently you don’t

have good hearing. I hope you are not going to continue to be

disruptive here.”

The man was not happy with his treatment and sporadically blurted

out questions or comments towards Pence. Greensburg Police

Chief Bill Meyerrose and Lt. Bruce Copple were in the audience and

dispatched an on duty officer to come to the library for security

reasons.

The meeting concluded without incident.