Benishek Office Hours
While Congress is taking its annual spring break, Congressman Dan Benishek is traveling the U.P.
He held an office hour in Marquette today where residents could speak with him.
Benishek says constituent input sometimes changes his mind about issues that come to a vote.
The debt ceiling debate last summer was one of those — he says that going in, he thought he was going to vote against raising the debt ceiling no matter what.
However, he says district residents changed his mind — he says they consistently told him they did not want the government to shut down because it would have meant people not receiving Social Security benefits and soldiers not getting paid.
Benishek ended up voting in favor of raising the debt ceiling.
Some residents visited last week to protest the House Republican budget plan.
Benishek says he wants the Senate to come up with a proposal, which he says it hasn’t done in three years, so that the two chambers of Congress can negotiate aspects that residents may or may not like.
However, he says opponents have been behaving in a manner that suggests they don’t have an alternate budget proposal to pay down the national debt and the year-to-year budget deficit.
Benishek says because of the Michigan First District’s especially large population of military veterans, he wants to keep working hard on easing red tape for veterans’ benefits.
Posted by: Mike Hoey