Benishek preaches spending cuts in first trip back to district

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Only one month on the job and freshman Congressman Dr. Dan Benishek was back for a one-week tour of the sprawling 1st Congressional District to meet with constituents, many who supported him in November, to answer questions and give them an update on how things are going on Capitol Hill. The tour included stops in West Branch, Tawas City, Alpena, Gaylord, Boyne City, Petoskey, St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie, Marquette, Iron Mountain and Crystal Falls, ?then I?m going to camp for a couple of nights.? Benishek spoke Monday before a packed front room at the Rogers City Area Senior and Community Center.

One of his first majors points was Congress needs to spend less money. ?WE VOTED to cut our own office budgets by 5 percent, we voted to cut printing costs by $35 million a year, and we voted to repeal Obama Care, which will save us $9 billion of the deficit,? he said. ?I think we are making real progress. The biggest thing upcoming, I think, is the debt ceiling?We are going to have to get Mr. Obama to sign something that?s going to cut spending. Exactly, how much we are going to get out of him, we?re not sure.? He said he would vote ?no? to raising the debt ceiling; however, ?we may agree to a small debt ceiling raise, for a short period of time, if we get major cuts in spending, so we are not seen as obstructionists.

?If we don?t pass the ceiling, and grandma doesn?t get her Social Security check, then we look bad. I have to see something that does a lot before I?m willing to do that. The question is, what can we get. And that?s the question nobody seems to have an answer for.? He told the crowd, made up mostly of Republican supporters, he is demanding major spending cuts. ?We have to reorganize the government, the way it has been done.? BENISHEK SHARED some examples of what life has been like on the Hill. He said 100 people stopped by and visited him at the Cannon House Office Building, a half a mile from the Capitol. ?We had 40 people stop in during the ?March for Life?, a bus load of Yoopers, which we were prepared for with hot chocolate and cookies,? he said. During the president?s Jan. 25 State of the Union speech, he sat in a white folding chair in the back of the house chamber. He?s also met the president once in a reception for freshmen congressmen. He had only 30 seconds ?of face time with him,? but observed, ? I didn?t think the president looked very well.?

Benishek said he continues to keep his campaign promise of reading a bill before voting on an issue. When ask

ed if he would renew the Patriot Act, he didn?t know, because he still had not read it. ?My job, really, is I?m partisan. Now that I?m in there, it doesn?t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, I think we are all going to have to realize that the federal government doesn?t have all of our answers, and we need to learn to live with less money and less government, and we need to solve our problems here at home.? Benishek has established four district offices in Gaylord, Marquette, Iron Mountain and Petoskey, staffed by a total of 10 people. He also has a couple of more people to hire for his staff in D.C.

?The main thing we need to do is balance the budget, and create an atmosphere where jobs will be created,? he said in his closing remarks. ?I believe the private sector is the source for job creation. Until we have a stable tax rate and stable health care costs, nobody will be hiring.?