Concerns dominate conversation

SANDPOINT — Some of the hot topics Congressman Raul Labrador has heard during his "Conversations with the Congressman" tour revolve around health care, Social Security, federal overreach and the debt of the federal government.

Those topics and more were brought up as he spoke with about 50 community members at Farmin Park bandstand in Sandpoint Monday afternoon.

"The people are just so frustrated with their federal government and that's what they are coming out and talking to us about," Labrador said.

Labrador is touring the 19 counties in Idaho's First Congressional District, which encompasses the entire northern panhandle as well as the much of the central and southwestern sections of the state. His goal at these events is to have informal conversation with "everyday Idahoans" at venues such as coffee shops and parks. During these talks, Labrador is listening to community concerns over where the country is headed, ideas for solutions and hopes for the future.

"They are energized and they are engaged and they want to make sure that we listen to them," Labrador said. "And I love it — I enjoy doing these things."

During the event, Labrador answered several questions by the members of the community. The first question he was asked was, if Trump were elected president, would he stand with Ted Cruz to uphold the United States Constitution? Labrador replied that, as a Republican, he will support Trump, but he will stand for the Constitution no matter who is elected.

"I think Trump is independent enough he will fight us on some issues," Labrador said. "I hope that we can be independent enough that we can stand up."

Regarding healthcare, Labrador believes nobody should need to use insurance to pay for a regular doctor visit. Then, he said, there would be more competition and the cost would be lower. He said Republicans in the House have a "pretty good plan" to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with more marked healthcare plan. While he thinks it is a good idea, he said it "keeps too much government" in healthcare.

Before opening up for questions, Labrador had told the group he would answer every question, but warned they might not like all his answers. One topic that caused a disagreement between Labrador and a woman in the group was on the topic of climate change, which the woman did not pose a question, but told Labrador it is "ludicrous" that he does not believe in climate change.

"I believe in climate change, I just don't believe it's man-made," Labrador said.

After several minutes of disagreement about the issue with no resolution, he told her she is entitled to her opinion and said she didn't need to have a "rude" tone about it.

Another topic he disagreed with is the Convention of States movement. The COS project currently underway is an attempt to "return the country to its original vision of a limited federal government that is of, by and for the people." Under Article 5 of the Constitution, two-thirds of the states may call for a convention to propose amendments. The amendments would be valid if ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. Eight states have gotten behind the movement and there is a call for Idaho to be the ninth.

Labrador is a "big proponent" of Article 5, and every article in the Constitution, but said his fear with COS is there is no way to limit the convention. He agreed that members of Congress should have term limits and agreed there should be a balanced budget, which are some of the goals of the COS movement.

"The problem is the moment you call a convention, you open up the entire constitution, not just the things that you and I agree on," Labrador said.

What he does like about the COS movement is the closer it gets to a state convention, it pushes Congress to "do their job."

The final question of the hour was posed by a young man in a Captain America shirt who asked, "What is it that we can be doing, besides vote, to be able to make a difference?"

Labrador said it was probably the most important question of the day. He quoted a speech he heard recently by a man about July 4, 1776. The man pointed out that the signers of the Declaration of Independence were not leading, they were following — following ideas from listening to the people around them.

"You need to fight for your country," Labrador said. "You need to go out there and talk about your ideas. Don't let other people be the only ones who talk about this because there are groups out there organized to make America less than it is."