Palestine Herald Press - Hensarling hosts town hall meeting

U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling was in Palestine on Thursday for a town hall meeting organized to update – as well as hear from – the citizens of Anderson County regarding actions taken by the House of Representatives over the last few months.

During the meeting, held in the Ben E. Keith Community Room, residents were able to voice concerns on current issues and hear from Hensarling on his efforts to hold Washington accountable to the American people.

“I’ve come here to find out what’s on your mind,” he said.

“We have a government in Washington that has grown too big, too expensive, too powerful, too intrusive, too arrogant, too unaccountable – the rise of what I call agency government – government by the unelected, unaccountable,” he added, “so I’ve got a number of issues that I’m concerned about.”

Concerning a question about the country’s “hopeless” state, Hensarling said he had not “lost hope,” and that if our nation would return to the principles of the founding fathers – principles such as “limited government,” for instance – then freedom and prosperity would result.

“We have tried every single economic policy that the president asked us to try,” Hensarling said, noting programs like the Dodd-Frank Act and Obamacare. “And we have had the single greatest fiscal and monetary stimulus in the history of the entire United States of America, and we now have the single slowest weakest recovery in the entire history of the United States of America.”

Additionally, Hensarling noted issues such as veterans administration making veterans wait too long for needed healthcare.

“So we’ve got increasingly a pessimistic populous, because you’re right, they’re wondering, ‘How do we get control over this thing?’”

Out of failure however, rises that opportunity to “try something new, (since) this isn’t working,” Hensarling said, adding that “Obamacare is even more unpopular today than when it was passed.”

As for the Dodd-Frank Act, “Now all of the sudden, we’re losing free checking, our credit card fees have gone up, the big banks have gotten bigger, the small banks have gotten fewer, and the taxpayer has gotten poorer,” he said.

Hensarling then quoted Thomas Jefferson, who said that the people “are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”

“And I believe the people are demanding that they get their country back,” he added.

Following this statement, a local resident asked if those present could say the pledge of allegiance and pray to which Hensarling obliged.

With passage of the Dodd-Frank Act four years ago, in which democrats had a super majority in the House and Senate, according to Hensarling, he said it woul be challenging to overturn until a more accurate narrative of what caused the financial crisis came to light.

This was true, he said.

“We had a period of deregulation that allowed Wall Street greed to run wild.”

In the two decades leading up to the financial crisis, Hensarling said there was an increase in government regulations in which the government created a monopoly “called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Hensarling described this as institutions privatizing their profits and socializing their losses “which means to put their loss on you,” he said.

“What these affordable housing goals did is erode the usual lending standards that had been in in place in our economy for quite some time,” he said, which enabled folks to buy houses they “couldn’t afford to keep.”

“Since the passage of Dodd-Frank, the taxpayer has gotten poorer,” he added, “And markets are in worse shape because of the regulatory burden caused by Dodd-Frank.”

According to a news release, another issue on many East Texans’ minds is the crisis along Texas’ southern border, which Hensarling has addressed in other town hall meetings.

“The surge of illegal crossings along our southern border has become an immigration and humanitarian crisis that was completely avoidable,” Hensarling said. “This crisis was – in large part – created by President Obama overstepping his authority with policies like the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the administration’s deliberate failure to enforce our nation’s immigration laws as passed by Congress.

“The flood of unaccompanied minor children (UAC) coming across our southern border is because of – not in spite of – President Obama’s actions.”

Hensarling also talked about recent action by the House of Representatives to sue the administration for deliberatively changing the law of the United States without Congressional authorization.

“Throughout his time in office, President Obama has repeatedly failed to execute the laws enacted by Congress. The disregard and indifference shown by the president and his administration to respect the constitutional role of the people’s duly elected representatives a clear and potentially permanent threat to the democracy and separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution.

“The legal standing Congress has to bring suit against the president isn’t something that can be used flippantly anytime it disagrees with his or her actions. However, I believe the breadth and severity of the president’s actions warrant adjudication and resolution through the judicial branch.”

These and other issues were discussed during the meeting, at which Hensarling ended on a positive note. He said the people could take back their country.

“And I’ve got faith in the American people.”

The Ben E. Keith Community Rooom is located at 2019 W. Oak St.