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By JAMES JORDAN and DAVID ALLEN SEATON
Traveler Staff Writers
news@arkcity.net

A crowd of about 40 people asked U.S. Congressman Todd Tiahrt questions ranging from military hospitals to immigration to trade issue Thursday inside the city hall building in Arkansas City.

Tiahrt was in town for a community meeting to give constituents a chance to ask questions, and perhaps to make an early campaign stop for the next election. He planned to file for reelection Thursday. State Senator Donald Betts, D-Wichita, is challenging Tiahrt.

In the town hall meeting, the congressman said our own federal government is creating many of its own problems by creating laws that limit what American companies can do to compete in the world market.

"I know it is hard to believe, but they do play a lot of politics in Washington," he joked with the crowd.

He said it is very hard for anyone in Congress to get exactly what they want, so most bills are watered down from the start.

Sometimes there are unintended consequences that end up causing more problems than the bill itself was intended to fix in the first place.

"The system is set up for conflict," he said

But he said he likes the system because it does force people to work together.

"In order to get anything passed, 217 people have to agree with me," he said.

He is also fighting a recent decision by the Air Force to give a major contract to a foreign company instead of keeping it with Boeing and creating jobs in Wichita.

He said European governments subsidize companies there, which will make it impossible for American companies to compete.

"If we don't change this, there will never be another tanker made in America," he said.

He said the main reason he is opposed to the decision is that it outsources the nation's security. Tiahrt explained how over the long term, the Boeing tanker is a better deal because of fuel efficiency.

On immigration, he said Congress authorized the building of a fence along our southern border with Mexico. He said environmentalists and other groups have fought the fence and only 85 miles of the original 850 miles have actually been built.

He gave an example of Wichita officials taking an illegal immigrant back to Mexico, and the person actually made it back to Wichita before the officers did.

"We have to establish our borders," he said.

He added that we are a nation of immigrants and he is for people coming to the United States legally, but said it is still important to have control over who gets into the country.

"We need to get our border secured and then we can fix immigration," he said.

On the home mortgage crisis, he said some people were over extended and had made bad choices. He would like to raise the amount that can be borrowed on a house to help people who are in trouble as a result.

One audience member suggested a way to avoid overcrowding in jails, and to save money, would be to legalize marijuana.

Tiahrt said he doubted the idea would get much support around the nation since the drug is seen as one drug that leads people into deeper drug use.

"But there is room to say that a person caught with a small amount should not be treated the same as a person caught with a large amount," he said.

Tiaht criticized the recent decision in Kansas to not allow the two power plants to be built in the western part of the state.

"That was a political decision, not an energy decision," he said.

He is not totally convinced that carbon man releases into the air is responsible for global warming.

Another member of the audience asked about jobs going overseas.

Tiahrt said he believes government policies are causing jobs to leave more than any other reason.

"Kansas ranks 49th in business friendly states," he said.

Before the town hall on Thursday, he answered questions in an interview at the Traveler. Several issues getting the most attention among constituents are:

Economic stimulus

The congressman said he didn't think the tax rebates coming in May would boost the economy much. People will probably spend the extra cash on bills or credit cards debt, he said.

But other portions of the stimulus package -- depreciation on new construction for small businesses, and allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give larger home loans -- are policy changes that spur should growth, he said.

Gas prices

Democrats and the environmental lobby are blocking things the country could do right away to curb gas cost: tap crude oil reserves in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, and in the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Conservation and alternative power such as wind and ethanol are part of the solution, he said, but regulations prevent new refineries from being built; nuclear power should also be allowed to develop.

"Our own policies are keeping us from expanding our system," he said

The science is still unclear on whether human activity causes global warming, so energy policy should not be based on that conclusion, he said.

Tiahrt dismissed the idea of carbon tax credits purchased by polluters as a way to fund research and development of alternative fuels. He called that "a false economy."

Tanker deal

Fighting to overturn the Air Force's decision to award a $35 billion contract to EADS, a French-based group, instead of Boeing, has consumed much of his time lately, Tiahrt said.

About 70,000 people have signed a Web site protesting the decision to have EADS build the tanker airplane, he said.

Three of four major military contracts have gone to foreign companies because the military has set ground rules that favor them, Tiahrt said.

In awarding the deal to EADS, the Air Force waved regulations that American companies had to follow, he said.

And the government did not take into account the long-term fuel prices and savings in federal tax revenues, had the job stayed in the U.S.

The deal could have created about 3,800 jobs in the Wichita area, he said.

Tiahrt said he's for free trade, but the tanker, which refuels other aircraft and transports equipment and troops, is not something a foreign company should make, he said.

"The outsourcing of our national security -- a lot of people understand that," he said.

Tiahrt said he didn't think the uproar over the tanker deal would hurt him politically, as some have speculated.

"In fact, I think it's going to help," he said. "It lets people know that I'm a fighter."

Above: U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt speaks to Ken Linker and Ark City Mayor Dotty Smith at a Town Hall meeting Thursday. Tiahrt is holding public meetings with citizens throughout his district to discuss issues of concern. Some of the top issues are the troubled economy, gas prices and the Air Force tanker decision, he said. About 40 people attended the meeting, held at City Hall.