Thompson offers update on activities in Congress at Middletown Area Town Hall
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Area Town Hall hosted a visit with Congressman Mike Thompson at its Thursday night meeting.
With Congress in recess for the summer, Thompson is back in his Fifth Congressional District – which includes the southern half of Lake County, as well as all or part of Contra Costa, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties – for a district work period.
As part of his time back home, Thompson is holding public meetings, and he said that in recent months he’s held more public meetings than ever before.
In the past, he held town halls but quit doing them because very few people would show up. Then he switched to telephonic town halls, which at first attracted tens of thousands of people before attendance for those also started to taper off.
However, since the November presidential election, Thompson said people are more engaged than ever, and he’s once again started holding town halls that attract hundreds of people at each event.
He’s also started holding coffee klatsch-style events, such as one he held in Lakeport earlier that same day that he told Lake County News drew about 50 people.
During his Thursday night update, Thompson touched on some of the big news from Washington, DC, including the failure of the recent effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which Thompson doubts is over.
That’s because President Trump continues to want the bill repealed, despite the fact that poll numbers show that people across the country don’t agree with him, Thompson said.
Thompson said Congress needs to figure out how both sides can come together to expand the ACA to better serve everyone.
Beyond the ACA, the focus is now shifting to tax reform, Thompson said.
He said there is bipartisan agreement on the need to reform the tax code, but he cautioned that there is a “stark difference” between a tax reform and a tax cut. Thompson said he won’t vote for a tax cut that’s not paid for or that hurts the middle class.
For this session of Congress, Thompson noted, “There's very little runway left to do any major policy.” That, he said, raises concern that there may be an effort to push through a combination of infrastructure and tax reform legislation that actually is a tax cut that could be disastrous.
Thompson then switched to the dilemma of escalating tensions with North Korea.
“I think it's serious. I'm concerned about it,” he said, noting there are many allies and US citizens in that region.
He said the country’s leaders need to be working overtime to talk people back from the brink, rather than taking part in the kind of rhetoric coming from the White House, which he said bothers him.
Thompson said of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, “He's a lot of things but I'm pretty sure he's not suicidal,” noting his affinity for good Cabernet and bourbon, the fact that he owns his own his private circus and enjoys hanging out with former basketball player Dennis Rodman.
If North Korea were to launch a first strike, the country and its leader would be annihilated, said Thompson, who is concerned that Kim will become fearful than the US will launch a first strike and decide to act first, taking people with him.
Thompson also pointed out that the US currently has no ambassadors for South Korea or Japan, and that’s important because the diplomats do the day-to-day work.
On Thursday night Thompson also touched upon his effort to reduce gun violence as part of his work as chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force for the last four and a half years.
He said he believes expanded background checks nationwide will help keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerously mentally ill people who shouldn’t have them in the first place.
Background checks, he said, won’t solve all the problems but he thinks they should be the federal government’s first line of defense.
He said he’s particularly concerned about a strong push for two bills in Congress that he thinks are harmful to law enforcement and public safety.
One would allow anyone with a concealed weapon permit to carry in all states. Thompson favors systems like California’s, which allows local sheriffs or chiefs of police to issue them, whereas in some places all that’s required is a call-in system.
The second bill of concern would allow for over-the-counter sales of silencers, which don’t silence the shot, only disperse it. That makes it harder for law enforcement to pinpoint the location of shots, he said.
Overall, “The district's looking good,” said Thompson, who has been from one end of the five-county area to the other over the last few weeks.
“What I’ve seen in the district is heartening,” with people working hard, plugged in, and involved in their communities and future, he said.
During a question-and-answer period with community members, Thompson answered a variety of queries about involvement, health care, redistricting and immigration reform, with Thompson noting on the latter topic that he has received indications that a bill he’s introduced isn’t going to be granted a hearing this session.
He was also asked if he supports universal health care. Thompson received applause when he said he would like to see some form of single payer, and added that he hears from more and more doctors who would like to not have to argue with insurance companies.
“It’s not something that is pie in the sky,” he said of single payer.
Thompson also said he’s not afraid of “socialized medicine,” explaining that it treated him well when he was a wounded soldier during Vietnam. He said he also has friends in Canada, and he’s never heard stories about long lines for medical care from a Canadian.
However, such major changes in health care won’t happen overnight, he said.
He said the country needs to keep the ACA and fix it to make it better and more affordable for everyone. He’s also in favor of putting the public option back into the ACA and is the coauthor of legislation to expand access to Medicare to people over age 50
During the discussion, Thompson emphasized that he’ll fight to the mat anyone who wants to hurt his district.
Thompson emphasized that on key issues it’s important to reach out to fellow community members, write letters to the editor, and to call or write him, even if community members agree with his standpoint. Thompson said it’s good to know what people are thinking and that he has their support.
Visit Thompson’s Web site at https://mikethompson.house.gov/ to find out how to contact him about issues and access constituent services.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.