Rep. Conaway talks healthcare, taxes and more at legislative update
Citizens packed the Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce meeting room Wednesday to be a part of 11th District Congressman Mike Conaway’s town hall style legislative update.
After bringing the audience up to speed regarding the recent moves in Washington D.C. by house conservatives, Conway spent the remainder of his time fielding questions from Breckenridge citizens and said he now knows exactly where they stand on various issues when he casts a vote on the house floor.
“These town hall meetings are exciting. I get such a rush when I come to one of these because you never have a clue who is going to be there,” Conaway said. “They could all like you. They could all hate you. If someone is really mad about something, then they will show up to these kind of things. I love the exchange. I love the variety of questions that come up … Something could come completely out of left field, but it is important to that person and I have to engage with them.”
During the legislative update portion of Wednesday’s event, Conaway discussed taxation, term limits and a variety of political topics, but the recently failed bid to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act seemed to be the most pressing.
“We passed the bill in the house. John McCain (sen., Ariz.) voted no last Thursday night,” Conaway said. “I went to bed Thursday night thinking I’ll be here Friday morning, the senate will have passed it with 50 votes, the vice president will be the tie-breaker … What I didn’t think I would do is wake up Friday morning and see that it failed in the senate. The ball is in the senate’s court and I don’t really have good insight right now into what they may or may not do.”
After 10 minutes, Conaway wrapped up his update and spent the remainder of the meeting fielding questions from the audience. Conaway said he strives to organize at least two speaking appearances each year, in each county in his district, and believes meetings like this are vital in order to understand the position of his constituents.
“There is no better public event than a town hall,” Conaway said. “Anybody can come. It’s non-structured. We don’t we don’t take names, we don’t check voter I.D. Whoever shows up, I get to talk to ... We had some really good, penetrating questions from folks that demonstrated real heart for the things going right and going wrong in this country. This is valuable to me.”
Click the link below to see Wednesday's town hall meeting in its entirety.
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