LIMA — U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, met with the Allen County Patriots, a conservative political group, Wednesday at the Allen County Sanitary Engineer’s Office to give updates on recent happenings in Washington, D.C., while also fielding questions and listening to frustrations from the group on the current American political climate.
For Jordan, these meetings are an essential part of his mandate as a member of the House of Representatives.
“It’s mainly about taking questions,” he said. “One of the great things about our country and the way the Founders set it up is that the House is supposed to be the body closest to the people. You’re supposed to represent people, so you come out and talk to folks, hear their concerns and answer their questions.”
Jordan also outlined what he maintained were some of the bad and some of the good things that have taken place in the federal government in recent months.
“There are bad things like some of the important decisions that came down this summer that I think were harmful, as well as the decision from the Justice Department not to prosecute anyone in the IRS targeting scandal, when they went after conservative groups for exercising their First Amendment right to free speech,” he said. “There is also good news. I think the field on the Republican side for president is good, and I think we have a great nominee.”
Jordan heard a number of questions from the nearly 100 people in attendance, ranging from such topics as the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, to ensuring fairness in federal elections, to the Syrian refugee crisis. One question that arose dealt with conservative gains in both the state and federal level, with the election of a Republican governor in Kentucky given as an example. When asked why that momentum seemingly stops in Washington, Jordan maintained that conservative lawmakers need to offer a clear alternative to American voters.
“We need to reform the tax code,” he said. “We need to come up with something that’s flatter and fairer. We need to address health care. The third area is how we can reform the social safety net, our welfare system. It starts with putting these ideas out there over this next year.”
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