"If it's the expectation of a constituent, then add it to your job description," Congressman Steve Womack told the more than two dozen northeast Benton County residents at the Coffee with the Congressman event in Garfield Tuesday morning.
He recalled an incident that happened when he was mayor of Rogers and a lady called him because her freezer wasn't working; he contacted an appliance repairman who took care of her need.
Womack said the mayors are working "where the rubber meets the road."
"We've had too many people sit at home because they didn't have the perfect candidate," Womack said speaking of people who are unhappy with the current political situation.
"The country re-elected one of the most liberal, divisive presidents we've ever elected because we didn't like our candidate, so we stayed home ... which is tantamount to handing the election to Obama," Womack said.
Discussions and questions revolved around political party, term limits, fuel tax and the situation with Iran.
Pete Rathmall of Garfield said: "Right now, there's a 14 to 15 percent current approval rating ... and you've got career politicians ... what are your feelings about term limits? Governors are term limited, the president is term limited. Almost everybody except Congress is."
Womack said it would take a constitutional amendment, which is difficult to get passed. He recommended changing it to four-year terms to provide more time for productive work by congressmen.
Womack said he spends about 120 days in Washington, D.C., and has a 650-square-foot apartment for which he pays $2,000 per month. "Salary is set by law ... I have to be a little more sympathetic ... what about people who live west of me? People who are from Alaska and Hawaii can't go home as often as I do."
"We need to pay our people and we need to pay them well or you will have people doing the job who don't have the skill set to do the job properly or the mega rich."
Mechele Wall of Pea Ridge said: "Thank you for taking care of global issues. I'm more of boots on the ground. I have a really cool idea.... where someone who has a large tract of land ... set up in land grant ... a lot of our farmers' children are going away doing other things. There is a real need to preserve our farm land. ... I would love to be able to have the means to purchase these large tracts of land to school young farmers. I've been authorized to establish a young farmer's coalition in Northwest Arkansas."
Womack said he likes the idea.
"One of the things that have become evident to me ... unless they inherit the land and equipment... (they will) never be able to pursue agriculture because it's so expensive."
She said that Benton County has more farms than any other county in the state.
Womack concurred: "Benton County is the single biggest agricultural producer in the state of Arkansas."
He said it would be good to create a tax incentive, a long-term plan, to dedicate land for that purpose. "It would be a great model for the rest of the county."
Real question is, what is the role of the federal government.
"We're not very good dealing with the bureaucracy we have now."
"Here's the question," Womack said, "for all of us in the free world: Do we want them to join ISIS or do we want them to understand more about the production of agriculture. ... Far better for the world that we have something to do for the billion people aside from joining a terror organization. We have a role to play as a country in the rest of the world. It begins and ends with our ability to take care of ourselves first and be sure we are secure as a nation first.... we still have a lot of serious issues to wrestle to the ground."
In closing, "I respect your opinions. You're always welcome regardless of your political leanings," Womack said.
General News on 08/26/2015