Rep. Smith Discusses Issues With Neligh Residents

Congress reconvenes for regular session next week, but before he heads back to Washington, Representative Adrian Smith made a stop in Neligh to hear concerns and thoughts from local residents.

Representative Smith stopped at The Willows in Neligh to talk with both the residents as well as community members in attendance. Among the topics discussed were taxes, health care and trade policy. As he prepares to return to Washington, he stressed that, even though their seems to be much disagreement in the capital and across the country right now, it is not the first time and the United States has pulled through it before.

"Our country has overcome tough times before," Smith said. "This is not the first time there has been bickering in Washington, D.C. or that there has been division across America. We need to keep in mind that the founders of our country, many of them didn't even like each other and yet they still came together with different ideas that ultimately delivered us a constitution and Bill of Rights that got us off to a pretty good start."

With healthcare reform and high insurance premiums in the forefront of topics important to many Americans, it was only natural that Smith addressed the issue at The Willows.

"We passed that house bill that I think is a step in the right direction," Smith said. "One thing is, we won't be able to fix everything with one vote. That's part of what got us into this problem is they wanted to do everything with one vote because it was politically timed and they wanted to rush things through. Actually, they advanced a bill knowing that it was flawed. I don't want to repeat that, even in a different form."

He also spoke on the need to have equal tax treatment for employees and self-employed individuals.

"One thing that we need to do is have equal tax treatment between someone that is employed by someone else and someone who is employing themselves. The fact that we would differentiate at all is causing part of the problem," he said.