Buyer Covers Lots Of Ground In 18 Town Meetings

Congressman Steve Buyer visited Warsaw this afternoon on his annual week-long tour of special town meetings.

Buyer, from the fifth congressional district, addressed citizens at 12:15 p.m. in the old courtroom in the Kosciusko County courthouse.

Buyer had already traveled 200 miles to Knox and Plymouth before coming to Warsaw. His final stop Friday was Rochester.

The meetings will include 18 stops in the 20 counties of Buyer's congressional district.

Buyer described the town meeting as a listening session.

"I can't make decisions in Washington without knowing what people in Indiana are thinking," Buyer explained. He said the town meetings allow him to see how people feel and test the judgements he must make in Washington as a representative.

Buyer discussed several improvements he has helped to make in Congress, including the balanced budget and tax cuts.

"Congress has been very active," Buyer said. "You have every reason to be proud of it, and I couldn't have said that six years ago. Congress is different than even four years ago."

Buyer compared the Democrat controlled Congress to the accomplishments of the active, current Republican Congresses of the past two years. He said that the Republicans have tackled the budget, line-item veto, tax cuts, and reforms in adoptions, immigration, welfare, health care and even Congress itself. Still on Buyer's to-do list in Congress is deal with controversial topics like partial birth abortions and IRS reforms.

County residents voiced concerns and gratitude to Buyer during the meeting. He willingly answered questions as best he could while taking names and numbers to pass on to his staff for further research.

The twenty residents who attended the meeting talked about their opinions on various issues affecting the county or their individual concerns.

Buyer expressed concern about President Clinton's recent line-item veto of military construction, some of which may affect Indiana.

Topics ranged from different ideas for tax reform to worries about the Superfund reform and from Gulf War Syndrome patients to the proposed Grand Kankakee Marsh National Wildlife Refuge.