U.S. Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) continued his three-month streak of participating in coffee hours when he met with locals at Jilly Beans Coffee House for an hour Tuesday morning, speaking about issues he’s working on in Congress and answering questions.
According to his communications director Dan Kotman, Rep. Walberg has done 20 coffee hours over the past three months. He said Walberg has done coffee hours since his election in 2010, because it creates an informal atmosphere during which he can listen to people’s’ priorities.
“It’s a good way to stay in touch with the folks he represents, that’s a big priority for him, so we’re always meeting people,” Kotman said.
Rep. Walberg shared the successes he’s had since last year’s meeting in the U.S. House of Representatives, including the passage of the Skills Act and the reauthorization of the Highway Trust fund.
“You don’t hear much good news, and even in the presidential race, it’s pretty ugly out there,” he said. “But if you know that the U.S. House of Representatives passed 300 pieces of legislature, and the Senate passed 20 of those back, you get the idea that there is a lot going on, there is a lot of bipartisanship.”
Rep. Walberg discussed his success increasing skill-based education in Michigan to fill manufacturing, engineering, and agricultural jobs. Last year, he passed a Skills Act, or WIOA, which he said transferred a great amount of authority and money back to states and local communities to train people in the skills for real jobs, instead of using federal workforce training programs.
He also discussed his success in reauthorizing the Highway Trust Fund bill, which was passed a month and a half ago, which he said puts money for fixing roads, bridges, and potholes back into the hands of the people.
“For many years in Michigan, we’ve complained about being a donor state,” he said. “Sending a buck in, getting less than a buck back. As of now, with the Highway Trust fund bill in place and acting, it’s now a buck seven on a dollar we get back to Michigan.”
Now, people need to wonder whether road commissions will spend the money dollars appropriately, Rep. Walberg said those dollars and the authority to use them can be used in a greater way at the state and local level.
“Again, devolving some of those mandates out of existence and putting them back into the power of the states,” he said.
Other questions involved educating students with special needs, the increase in health care expenses after the Affordable Care Act and Hillsdale’s drug and rehab problems.
Local residents voiced concerns about illegal immigration’s effects on voting patterns, the job market, and whether U.S. citizens would have to pay for it. Gerald, a coffee hour attendee who requested leaving out his last name, referenced the decision Detroit’s mayor Mike Duggan made to request 5,000 refugees be relocated to the Blet area of Detroit.
“Now that’s worse than where they came from,” he said. “Now, how long do you think they’re going to stay there? About a week, and then they’re going to be in Dearborn. Now, who gave him permission? They got a lot of problems in Detroit. And they can’t solve them, and there they go getting 5,000 more problems, and we have to pay for them. Now that’s not right.”
Gerald also predicted the immigrants would vote to secede the Southwest — including regions of Southern California and Texas — back to Mexico in the next 50 years.
John McCleur, a Vietnam veteran from 1964-68, is a deeply religious man who prays every day for the United States, and for Michigan.
“I’ve been praying for three things here: awakening, revival, and unity with the body of Christ,” he said. “And I’ve been beginning to see it happening in the states.”
Prior to the event, locals filed into Jilly Beans saying “Hi, how are ya” and ordering plain coffee. They filled the general seating area of couches, chairs and tables, leaving standing room only. The crowdedness and warmth of the coffee shop lent itself toward banter, laughter, and personable attentiveness to questions.
The locals who attended did not meet Gerald’s expectations, which he shared before the meeting.
“I thought it’d be a bunch of local bureaucrats,” he said. “This is a political thing you know. I’m hoping for Donald Trump, but I don’t think he’ll be there. He’s busy over there in Wisconsin.”
Walberg geared his speech toward showing that there are positives in government, not just negatives, and related it toward Michigan issues.
Referring to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh’s silence in their talk shows on positive gains in government, Walberg said: “If they can keep you angry, it builds their ratings up. Bad news sells better than good news.”
Walberg finished the hour addressing attendees’ questions about local issues, answering each question in-depth.
“This is his district, and he wants to get to know his people,” Jilly Beans barista and Hillsdale College senior Magdalena Olson said.