|
McNerney answers questions from constituents about issues from veterans affairs to education.
 Rep. Jerry McNerney / Tracy Press file
The forum was an hour-long question-and-answer session with 2,300
people from the 11th congressional district on the line for an
average of 11 minutes. A handful were from Tracy.
A Tracy
caller who identified herself only as Sheila, asked about veterans benefits and
why they’re so hard to get.
McNerney's answer was that the Veterans Administration is
overwhelmed with what’s been happening with soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I’ve talked to veterans, and I know how difficult it is,”
he said. “Bottom line is, call our office for help, and we will make sure we
shorten that process. We are aware that there’s a huge backlog, and we’ve put a
significant amount of resources into the Veteran’s Administration so that we
can clear up that backlog, and veterans can get what they need.”
Another Tracy caller, named Gina, mentioned the federal “No
Child Left Behind Act” and asked, “Since you have such a high dropout rate in
your district, what are your future plans to help our children actually
graduate and bring back up our district, state and our nation’s productivity in
education?”
McNerney said he thinks the act needs to be overhauled — or
done away with.
“It’s based only on test results and achievements, it
reduces the flexibility, and it de-motivates students, because they can’t enjoy
the learning process, which is so important for people to be motivated. If we
have a drop-out rate of 20, 25, 30 percent, I don’t care what the test scores
are, the system’s failing.”
Another question by a Tracy
resident, named Steve, had to do with illegal immigrants taking jobs from
Californians.
“What I’d like to see is a balanced approach that allows for
more security, both in Canada
and in Mexico,
with our borders,” McNerney said. “We can’t allow people to flow across our
border that are undocumented. We can’t allow drugs and guns and money to flow
across either, and last of all, we certainly can’t allow terrorists to cross
those borders.
"We also need to encourage people here without proper
documentation to come forward so we can give them legal status, so they can pay
taxes and enjoy the protection of our laws, which would put an end to this
black market economy that we’re experiencing. It is destructive to our country.
Lastly, we need to find a humane way to deal with the 12 million people or so
that are here in this country, and that means many of them will have to go home,
and we’ll have to find a way to decide if and when they get to stay here.”
McNerney also touched on the issue of gas prices, social
security benefits, water rights, nuclear energy, loan refinancing,
transportation needs, outsourcing employment and rising gas and grocery costs.
Another of McNerney’s Telephone Town Hall
meetings is planned for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. For information on
participating: 476-8552.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Jerry can't have all the answers, but he will do just fine. My friend Dean Andal is in trouble, as is Greg Aghazarian.
t. b