Barrow Addresses Concerns of District 12 Voters in Town Hall-Style Forum

DUBLIN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Georgia congressman is making his rounds throughout his district giving a listening ear to voters’ concerns.

Congressman John Barrow, a Democrat who was just re-elected to represent Georgia’s 12th Congressional District, visited Treutlan, Wheeler and Laurens counties.

Laurens ounty had the best turnout, with more than a hundred concerned citizens asking questions about the bitter division in Washington, gun control, and conomic issues.

Barrow told the crowd he is all for bipartisanship, but he believes the division in Washington comes from electing leaders who represent the extreme on both sides. He admitted Congress is not working right now, and last week’s fiscal cliff drama is just an example of how their inability to get anything done is hurting americans.

He voted against the bill to avert the fiscal cliff and says so far there is no plan to keep paychecks from shrinking.

“What the fiscal cliff deal did was–it raised a lot of money but it spent more than it raised,” Barrow told 41NBC after the meeting. “A lot of the things it spent money on made some sense and were justified, but they spent far more than they raised…and I couldn’t be a party to that. Also as far as the spending issue, we’ve got to cut spending, and we’ve got to do it in a way that reflects our priorities. What that fiscal cliff vote did, was it just kicked the can down the road for two months and it set the stage for more confrontation.”

That confrontation is what has voters in Middle Georgia so disenchanted politically. Barrow also addressed concerns about the governments recent efforts to impose stricter laws on guns, and said he believes it will be difficult to change the 2nd Amendment in any way.