The Brownfield Chamber of Commerce’s quarterly breakfast had a special guest this morning. US House of Representatives Congressman Jodie Arrington stopped by Kranks Koffie to hand out the Brownfield Chamber’s Business of the Quarter Award, which was to Anna Reid, owner of Wind Song Mechantile located at 503 W. Main in Brownfield. Congressman Arrington had much to say.
Congressman Arrington began with talking about free enterprise being the way to go when it comes to U.S. prospering. Using Wind Song Mechantile and Krank Koffie as an example of what Capitalism does for small businesses and rural communities. Congressman Arrington said, “I think the path to big government and socialism is the path to ruin.”
Congressman Arrington alluded to the fact that the nation of Venezuela was once the wealthiest and free country in South America and is now a Socialist Nation because of former leader Yugo Chavez spoke about and instituted Democratic Socialism before his death with the help of Cuba. Now Venezuela has millions of hungry people starving to death, fleeing the nation and dying getting to a safer place. Congressman Arrington went on to say,
“Government control over the economy, their citizens and it’s never worked, it’s never once worked. So again, with all due respect, I choose freedom.”
Something that has become a challenge in rural communities is the health care sector. Rural health care has been a topic of discussion with Congressman Arrington. He told TownTalk that rural health care is in a “crisis.” There are around five thousand hospitals in the US and half of those are rural and half of the rural hospitals operate at a loss (fiscally), 600 are vulnerable to close and 90 have closed in the past few years. Rural hospitals depend on small p[opulation of people who mostly have either Medicare or Medicaid and there is not much private insurance.
Congressman Arrington’s big focus is that in order for the ag industry and energy industry to stay healthy, then the rural communities must be sustainable. To be sustainable, the citizens of small cities and rural areas must be able to obtain and have access to basic health needs. Congressman Arrington told TownTalk, “we are working on some legislation that would help support these hospitals, give them more flexibility instead of the one size fits all requirements that
Moving on to talk about the Mueller Report and how Congressman Arrington felt about that. When mentioning the Meuller Report and investigation, most US House Reps from Texas have continued to push more investigations into the Trump Administration. Congressman Arrington spoke about the $30 million used for this investigation and how there was nothing there from the Trump Administration. “We spent $30 million of taxpayer money and two years of precious time away from doing the peoples work.”
In a recent article published by the Texas Tribune, Congressman Arrington was quoted saying about the Mueller Investigation, “Many questions remain as to the genesis and legitimacy of these allegations, the depth and breadth of political bias and corruption at the DOJ and the potential involvement of the Obama Administration,” When asked what does he think the next step would be with regards of the Obama Administration and the Department of Justice under Obama. The Senate is controlled by the Republicans and the House is controlled by the Democrats, would they need to try to win the House back in order to investigate.
Congress Arrington believes that they will not have to wait for the House to be held by the Republicans and he feels that Attorney General Barr will be able to do the investigation into those who took on the Trump Campaign. Congressman Arrington said, ” I want to get this behind us and move on, but if you don’t hold people accountable who acted in an unethical and illegal way by being politically bias and motivated in
Congressman Arrington will most likely be seeking a third term come this Fall and primaries for the state of
