Rep. Waxman Talks National, Local Issues at Forum

WEST HILLS--Fresh from a vote in the nation's capital in favor of a $26-billion bill to save teaching jobs nationwide, Rep. Henry Waxman spoke to more than 200 constituents at a community forum Wednesday at Shomrei Torah Synagogue.

The congressman explained that the bill, signed by President Obama on Tuesday, would prevent schools from having to shorten their days because of lack of funding as well as providing more money for the states to provide medical benefits under the Medicaid program.

"This bill passed and it was important for us in California that it did pass because otherwise the state, which is really in a very deep economic hole, would have to cut back on the jobs of teachers, not pay the health care services that were being provided for those under Medicaid," Waxman said at the event organized by the West Hills Neighborhood Council. "If they cut back on those programs, not only would people go without services, but people who were being paid to provide the services would be affected as well."

Waxman, who represents Calabasas and Agoura Hills among other communities, also gave a brief address on national issues and his observations from the front line of the debates on topics including health care reform, military spending and the stimulus package.

Regarding the financial crisis and the recovery plan, the Democratic lawmaker shared his perspective of rebuilding from the bottom up, rather than approaching the issue from the top down.

"The first thing we've got to do is get people working," Waxman said. "When people are working they're using their money to buy things. More money is going into the local and state government to support their efforts. But if they're not working, everything goes downhill pretty quickly."

Waxman also shared his reasoning for his December vote against escalating the United States' involvement in the war in Afghanistan, saying that too much money had gone into helping support a country that will not support itself.

"We cannot build Afghanistan and Iraq when we have America here that we have to rebuild," he said.

Waxman later took questions from the audience, including ones on the new Arizona immigration law and on such local issues as ZIP code boundaries.

The crowd was very vocal, even booing the congressman for his stance against Arizona's law.

When he stated that the measure makes people afraid of leaving their houses, one man yelled, "Stay at home."

Despite the brief tension, community members said they were pleased to participate in the forum.  

"I wanted an opportunity to talk to a congressman and ask questions," said Richard Lechner of Chatsworth. "I don't usually have that type of access."

Lechner asked Waxman what he thought about the public funding of campaigns.

The lawmaker responded by expressing his discontent with the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision that deemed constitutional a campaign finance law that allows special interest groups to spend without limitations.

"I want the government for the people again," he said.

Wanda Hargrove, the district representative for the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, came to the event to hear Waxman update the community on both federal and local issues.

"Mr. Waxman supports the people of his district and he is well-informed on a variety of issues as we saw here today," she said.

Stephen Lenske, president of the West Hills Neighborhood Council, said he was impressed by the turnout at the event given that the community had less than a week of notice.

"The variety of the questions we had was an excellent representation of how the community feels about federal issues."