skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Post-presidential debate poll shows a shift in WI; Teamsters won't endorse in presidential race after releasing internal polling showing most members support Trump; IL energy jobs growth is strong but lacks female workers; Pregnant, Black Coloradans twice as likely to die than the overall population.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Teamsters choose not to endorse a presidential candidate, county officials in Texas fight back against state moves to limit voter registration efforts, and the FBI investigate suspicious packages sent to elections offices in at least 17 states.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

Texas Town Hall Meetings Get Rowdy

play audio
Play

Monday, August 29, 2011   

HOUSTON - With approval of Congress by the American public at a dismal 13 percent, representatives are buffering themselves from angry constituents. The August recess is normally town-hall-meeting season, but a recent survey found only 44 percent of U.S. House members are hosting public events, though they are taking place in Texas at a slightly higher rate.

To try to keep control of their meetings, some Congress members around the country are charging attendance fees, banning cameras, or asking police to remove demonstrators.

Republican Rep. Pete Olson of Sugar Land faced hundreds of Houston-area residents at two town-hall meetings this weekend. While the congressman intended to respond only to pre-screened questions, a vocally-rowdy audience was determined to push him beyond his main talking points: cutting the debt and deficit spending.

Pasadena resident Steven Halvorson, who is a volunteer with the Texas Organizing Project, attended both forums.

"His whole thing was just 'cut, cut cut' - that was all it was. And he said that we were just angry. I think people should be angry if they're going to lose their funding, if they're going to lose Medicare, if they're going to lose their Social Security."

Halvorson, who calls himself a progressive activist, says liberal proposals for more government investment in jobs and infrastructure have taken a back seat to the notion that balancing the budget is the best way to address the jobs crisis.

Halvorson however thinks that, as voters digest the consequences of cuts-only recipes, they are beginning to demand that alternative approaches be debated.

"This is the first time in a long time that I've actually seen us make an impact and get somebody to actually get frustrated and I think have to come back and answer hard questions. Because I don't know that he'll be able to keep going to these meetings and not answer some of the questions that the progressives are trying to ask."

Halvorson, who is a medical research lab scientist, disagrees with Olson's town-hall statements that federal stimulus spending did not save Texas jobs.

"I actually kept my job two more years because my boss was funded from stimulus money that kept me and a handful of our staff employed for another two years. Now we don't know what we're going to do."

Unless Congress passes another major jobs program, he predicts, many Texas jobs saved by government spending will be lost within the next year or two.

Rep. Olson plans two additional town-hall meetings in Sugar Land and Richmond this evening and Wednesday, August 31.

Town-hall survey results are at nolabels.org



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Recipients of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grant can now access funding to drive financing for thousands of climate-focused and clean energy initiatives. (bilanol/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Michigan's most vulnerable communities are receiving federal funding to fight the devastating effects of climate change. It's part of the $27 billion …


Health and Wellness

play sound

September is Health Literacy Month, and a Denver-based group is working to help health professionals break a persistent pattern of discrimination …

Environment

play sound

A new report contends fossil fuel funding has biased Columbia University's climate research. The report, by two Columbia students, shows the …


Alabama releases roughly 220,279 men and 78,247 women from its prisons and jails each year. (Chad Robertson/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An Alabama woman is on a mission to help people who've been incarcerated for decades successfully transition back into society. The mission to …

Health and Wellness

play sound

In North Carolina, the gap between Medicaid reimbursement rates and the actual cost of dental care has reached a crisis point, impacting both …

So far in 2024, community health centers in North Dakota have screened 11,580 patients for food insecurity. Through those screenings, more than three thousand box meals have been distributed. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

September is Hunger Action Month. In North Dakota, it isn't just food banks trying to help underserved populations get nutritious items. Health …

Environment

play sound

Marine biologists conducting deep dives near five California islands are collecting data they hope will strengthen the case for ending gillnet fishing…

Environment

play sound

Researchers at Iowa State University are taking aim at the huge amount of energy used by data centers, now and in the future. They have developed a …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021