Smucker gathers budget advice from constituents at forum
Congressman Lloyd Smucker hosted a community budget forum at Penn Manor High School in Millersville Tuesday night.
The Republican who represents the Eleventh Congressional District invited about 200 constituents from Lancaster County to tackle the budget crisis.
Republicans, Democrats, and independents came to the school cafeteria to take part in an exercise where they took on the roles of Congress members and put their heads together to make cuts in an attempt to reduce the $39 trillion debt and a projected $2 trillion deficit this year.
“Ive been pushing for a fiscal or budget commission to help Americans understand the budget,” said Smucker, the vice chair of the House Budget Committee. “If we continue down the path we are on, it certainly won’t end well. We’re saddling future generations with this debt. The last time we had a debt like this was after World War II. It took about 30 years to work our way out of that.”
Smucker was joined by Phillip Smith of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate Americans about responsible federal budget policy.
Residents of all parties seated at tables were given handouts with lists of government spending items. Their task was to decide which programs should get spending reductions and which should be funded at current or increased levels. The programs ranged from the defense budget to NASA, education, Medicaid costs, farm subsidies, and estate and capital gains taxes.
Frank Stoltzfus, a retired farmer in Lancaster County said he was glad Smucker was holding this in-person event on the budget.
“I want Congress to make sure the money is going where it’s supposed to go,” he said. “I want them to figure out how to pay for Medicare and Social Security.”
“If nothing is done with the deficit and spending, we will run out of money to fund social security in six or seven years,” Smiucker told the group. “We have to fix this.”
“I’m concerned about so much, from affordable housing to food prices,” Susan Hoffman, a registered independent, said. “We need to learn more about where the money is going.”
Mark Frank, a retired dentist from Lancaster said, “I’m glad Congressman Smucker is willing to come out and speak on this, no matter what side you come down on. I’m concerned for my daughter and what kind of world she will live in.”
Smucker addressed the political divide in America.
“It’s difficult for Americans to talk to one another when we disagree politically,” he said. “But we need to have this type of discussion.”
The congressman addressed the dire consequences that would come about if action isn’t taken to reduce the debt.
“There are a handful of reasons nations fail,” he warned. “At the top is fiscal policy, taking on too much debt. We think in America, because it hasn’t happened in our lifetime, we can carry on. We can’t.”
At the end of the exercise, residents had found ways to cut trillions of dollars from the budget. Those who spoke to The Independence said the budget forum was a positive experience.
“It helped to see where money is being spent in the federal budget and frustrating to think we can reduce things, but it doesn’t happen,” Stoltzfus, who led his group’s discussion said, adding that the group voted to “eliminate some subsidies they felt were misused, but [whose cancellation] wouldn’t hurt the little guy.”
Frank called it “a fun interaction,” adding that “it was good to hear opinions but it was tough because we don’t know all the details.”
After the event, Smucker told reporters he’s pushing to reduce the debt by three percent over the next decade.
“Economically, we are on an unsustainable path forward,” he said. “We are spending a trillion dollars in interest.”
The congressman also addressed other issues including the deadlock in Congress over funding the Department of Homeland Security.
“I voted to fund DHS,” he said. “Democrats wanted to reduce funding for [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] basically to zero and I couldn’t vote for that.”
As to the recent incidents involving ICE agents he said, “What happened in Minnesota was a tragedy. It needs to be investigated so it never happens again. But I and many Americans support ICE removing violent criminals. It must be done the right way and agents need to be trained. There’s been a change and it was recognized that changes should be made.”
The congressman also addressed the war in Iran.
“I’m hoping operations in Iran are over quickly,” he said. “I believe they will be. We can’t allow them to proceed with their nuclear weapons program or build more long range missiles and pose a military threat to America.”
Smucker also answered criticism he and other members of Congress have faced for failing to hold traditional town halls recently.
“You can’t do this job effectively unless you hear from constituents,” he said. “Tonight was great. I’d do it again.”
Barbara Barr is a former reporter for WGAL in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna Valley where she led political coverage that earned a Walter Cronkite Award.
