Happy 4th of July!
July 1, 2011
Dear Friends:
Thanks to all who stopped by one of my town hall meetings this week in Concordia, Marysville, Norton, Oberlin, Phillipsburg, and Washington. Only five more counties to go until I have visited every single one of the 69 counties in the Big First. It has been a pleasure meeting with Kansans and hearing from constituents their concerns and ideas. You can view pictures of some of the town halls on my Facebook page. While you’re there, take the time to “like” the page and get instant updates in your news feed about what is going on in Washington and where I’ll be in the District. Encourage your other Facebook friends to follow my activities there, too.
In addition to the town hall meetings, I had the opportunity to tour the Siemens Wind Plant in Hutchinson. What an impressive operation to see up-close and personal their manufacturing operation! This new facility is projected to be the source of about 400 new jobs in Kansas. It is my goal to make sure that other job creators in Kansas have the same confidence Siemens has had to expand their operations; this requires making sure that there is regulatory and economic certainty for them. Excessive regulation increases costs for employers and just discourages them from expanding. More federal debt scares employers, too, because they know that they’ll be asked to pay it off through higher taxes.
Finally, to wrap up this constituent work week, I’ll be in Hays on Saturday for the Wild West Festival’s “Kansas is Nifty at 150” parade and in Hutchinson on Monday for HutchFest’s Patriot Parade. If you plan to attend one of those events, please take the time to come and say hello!
Marking America's Independence
As you prepare to celebrate the country’s Independence Day with your family and friends this weekend, I hope you’ll take the time to reflect on the blessings we have as a nation, including the fact that in no other country on earth are individual freedoms and liberties so supremely valued and protected. You can read my Independence Day column here on my website.
Guests in the Office
While I was in Kansas, your Washington, D.C. staff had the pleasure of meeting with Mike Beam and Frank Harper, with Kansas Livestock Association; Ellyn Willse, a high school student from Buhler in town for a student conference on the environment; Jacque Fiest, Principal at Dodge City High School; John Taylor with the Kansas Association of Music Educators; Forest Chumley with Heartland Plant Innovations; and Polly Witt of Garden City and Katrina Benyshek of Ulysses, both with the National Association of School Nurses.
Sincerely,
Congressman Tim Huelskamp
PS: Did you cast your vote in this week's YouCut competition? If not, click here to cast your vote.