Telephone Town Hall Sheds Light On Concerns of Arkansans

Telephone Town Hall Sheds Light On Concerns of Arkansans

As your U.S. Senator, I make it a priority to travel around the state and listen to the concerns of Arkansans. Thankfully, technology allows me to stay in touch even when I can’t be home. One way is through telephone town halls. I find these calls are a great way to engage with you and others about the most important issues facing our state and our nation while we are working in Washington.

We had an excellent discussion on a variety of issues during my most recent telephone town hall.

Washington’s failure to combat illegal immigration was the most commonly shared concern amongst the callers. The recent Supreme Court ruling blocking President Obama’s executive amnesty was the underlying reason. The decision affirms that his executive actions on immigration were a gross overreach of power. I told callers that the true path to immigration reform is to work with Congress, not around us. The first step is to secure our borders, as no immigration reform policies will be effective until we accomplish that goal. We must stop allowing individuals to enter the country illegally without recourse, and we must hold those who break the law accountable.

New gun control restrictions being pushed by the Obama Administration was also on the minds of a number of callers who felt that the rush to place additional restrictions on firearms purchases in the wake of the Orlando terror attack put the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens in jeopardy. I share these concerns. We must prevent terrorists from purchasing guns while protecting the freedoms of law-abiding citizens who are mistakenly placed on the various watch lists maintained by the federal government.

Constitutionally-protected rights of law-abiding Americans cannot be stripped without due process, but some proposals the Senate recently debated threaten these rights. We must keep working to find a common ground that balances these two demands.

We also had several callers who were having individual issues with government agencies including the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

No matter what major legislative crisis we are facing, our goal is to make each constituent who is having trouble with a federal agency a priority. In some cases, we are the last resort to overcoming a major obstacle and we work to give each and every case that comes before us our attention. If you need assistance with a federal agency, please visit boozman.senate.gov so we can try to help resolve your problem.

I thank everyone who participated for helping to make our most recent telephone town hall a success. If you would like to participate in my next telephone town hall, please visit my website at boozman.senate.gov and sign-up by clicking the contact tab. It only takes a moment to provide me with your contact information so we can assure you will called the next time I host a telephone town hall.

From U.S. Senator John Boozman