Nebraska's 1st District Congressman was in Seward this evening for a Town Hall Meeting. After leading the 60-70 in attendance with the Pledge of Allegiance, Congressman Jeff Fortenberry spoke briefly on the Budget, Iran, and his recent trip to Normandy for the dedication of the Higgins Memorial before opening the meeting to questions. On Iran he mentioned that this was not just a U.S.-Iran agreement but involved other countries as well. As he sees it, there are four options to consider before it is voted on by Congress. These are: 1. Continue our present course of actions, threats, and impotent discourse; 2. Limited agreement, if verifiable, constrains Iran’s steady movement toward nuclear weapons capacity; 3. Press for stronger concessions; 4. Military strikes. The majority of the questions from the audience dealt with the Iran topic. I was impressed with the amount of study he has put into the issue and feel that his vote will be a very intelligent one, whichever it may be. The Budget figures are very concerning with expenditures of some 3.6 trillion dollars and only 30% of it discretionary. The national debt has now grown to $56,000/individual compared to $20,000 in 2000 and $13,000 in 1990. His response to a final question recognized the “social fracturing” which has occurred in this country. Congress is now being called upon to assist with problems that were once taken care of within families, churches, local communities, etc. Congress can never solve many of these problems, and it limits their ability to do the job our Founders envisioned.
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