Articles

TIMES RECORD, Fort Smith, AR
Jeff Arnold
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U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, said Congress cannot possibly balance the budget without cutting nondiscretionary spending.

Nondiscretionary spending is primarily consumed by Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and accounts for roughly two-thirds of annual spending by the federal government.

“When Paul Ryan (a U.S. representative from Wisconsin) said in his 2012 budget presentation that you’ve got to get into the entitlement spending if you’re going to appreciably change the fiscal trajectory of this country, he was right,” Womack said. “Don’t shoot the messenger, it’s a fact.”

Womack made the comments at a town hall at the Fort Smith Public Library, 3201 Rogers Ave., on Tuesday.

Dan Johnson told Womack he’s a Social Security recipient, he and his employer paid into the system for 35 years and he didn’t like it being referred to as an entitlement program.

He added that Congress needs to look at cutting discretionary spending before it does anything else, which drew considerable applause from the crowd.

But Womack said even if Congress eliminated all discretionary spending it still couldn’t balance the budget.

“Folks, you’re living a lie if you truly believe that you can balance the budget of the United States government on the discretionary dollar. It’s just simply not possible,” Womack said.

The budget discussion was part of Womack’s overall theme for the meeting, “Putting America Back to Work.”

Womack said paying down the debt, empowering small business in the private sector, reducing federal regulation, reforming the tax code and maximizing domestic energy production are common sense recommendations for creating jobs.

Sue Cork of Van Buren asked Womack what it would take to eliminate some federal regulations.

“We have the federal government in everything from our kitchens to our bedrooms,” Cork said.

Womack said the GOP-controlled House has sent “bill after bill” to the Senate where they fall into “an abyss known as the Harry Reid in basket.” Reid, D-Nevada, is the Senate majority leader.

“I’m going to tell you that I’m not optimistic that we’re going to have any meaningful change in Washington until we get another election cycle behind us,” Womack said.

Rick Nemeth, president of United Steel Workers Local No. 370, urged Womack to oppose free-trade proposals with Korea, Columbia and Panama pending before Congress to prevent more jobs from going overseas.

But Womack told Nemeth he supports free trade and will likely support those proposals, saying regulations, not free trade, are pushing jobs overseas because U.S. companies don’t get to compete on a level playing field.

Early in the meeting, Womack asked the audience to remain civil, even if they didn’t agree with what their fellow citizens were saying.

The audience largely complied until Dan Ondek of Bella Vista — who said he moved to Arkansas from Maryland — rose to speak.

Ondek told Womack the GOP has been stonewalling in Washington, following the lead of the tea party, to “blackmail” the government apparatus, and defended stimulus spending and at least some government regulation, for example, in the area of banking.

As he continued to speak, the audience became louder, one person shouting, “You need to return to Maryland.”

Womack told Ondek he and U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who represented Ondek when he lived in Maryland, agree on where the country needs to go, but disagree on the way to get there.

Womack has town hall meetings this month in Russellville, Harrison and Springdale.