The Colony High School became a microcosm of the nation's hot-button political issues on Saturday morning during a town hall hosted by Rep. Michael Burgess.

Over the course of two hours, the Republican congressman from Texas' 26th District fielded a variety of questions from his constituents on topics ranging from illegal immigration to Washington, D.C.'s excessively partisan environment.

In his opening remarks, Burgess focused on discussing the nation's economic difficulties. "Continued problems with the high unemployment rate make it very difficult for the economy to stage the type of recovery we all think is possible," he said.

Speaking from his experiences in the private sector during the economic downturn of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Burgess sought to assure the audience of about 300 that the North Texas economy "can recover, and when it does recover that recovery is profound and sustained. It really doesn't have anything to do with what we do in D.C. unless we put obstacles in your path that prevent that recovery," he said.

Burgess expressed concerned that over the last 16 months, legislation to reform health care and energy policy, as well as financial services regulation was creating a climate of uncertainty that prevented small business owners and entrepreneurs from expanding.

Texas has done better, he said, and the state is "adding jobs at a rate which is likely one of the highest in the nation." But the overall unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent while the rate for the chronically unemployed has risen to as high as 18 percent, as many who have been seeking work over an extended period of time give up the search.

Coupled with a volume of young people graduating college only to find very few job opportunities, there's a developing climate in which some people quit looking for work, and "that's not what this country is about," Burgess said.

Regarding health care reform legislation, much of the audience applauded as Burgess reaffirmed his opposition to the bill as determined by feedback from constituents.

"No one knows what's over the horizon with what we passed. I voted against it in March, and I still believe it ought to go away," he said. "What you told me was that you didn't want to turn the whole thing upside down and change things for everyone in order to help a percentage of the population that wasn't able to either access the system or get the help they needed. It was possible to do that without spending a trillion dollars and without having the enormity of new regulations."

Looking back, "we all recognized it was more important to stop the bill before it actually passed than try to fix the bill in legislation or rely on the courts to upend the bill sometime later down the line," Burgess said, adding that he supported the Texas Attorney General's efforts to fight the legislation in court.

Burgess also shared his misgivings about financial reform, saying he was unsure if proposed regulations would successfully segregate the institutional problems created when "big investment banks also got into the regular banking business, creating a hybrid business" in which failures of the investment bank took down the commercial sector as well, he said. "Are the capital requirements for these big banks sufficient to keep them from relying on a public bailout again? Will the language in the bill actually allow for future bailouts?"

The congressmen is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and is closely involved with the events taking place in the Gulf of Mexico as British Petroleum works to repair a massive underwater oil leak. Burgess said he was uncertain if the joint BP/Coast Guard command center was capable of dealing with the problem.

"We need to be asking questions. The White House needs to be forthcoming with us about what they've learned from meetings with (oil industry) executives," he said.

As for the cause of the problem, Burgess pointed to failures in the regulatory process.

"To the extent (BP) did not follow all the procedures is a concern, and that the company did not provide nor the government require in the application the ability to deal with a spill of this magnitude is troubling," Burgess said. "There's 100,000 barrels of oil we don't have to fight for to get, that's a great thing. But what are you going to do if the worse thing in the world happens? They didn't plan for that."

Following Burgess' remarks, several audience members stepped up to the microphone to express their views on illegal immigration.

"I stand with Arizona," Roy Fisher said, referring to the state's controversial new law intended to curb cross-border crime. Fisher added that he's not against legal immigration, but that he simply wants the country's borders controlled and federal law enforced.

Burgess responded by displaying his copy of the Arizona law, and said he intended to provide a copy of the bill to Texas Gov. Rick Perry when they met later in the week.

Other attendees expressed their distrust of President Barack Obama's Administration, and said they were concerned about what they perceived as an erosion of traditional American values.

One woman, however, spoke out against the country's increasingly partisan divide, describing Saturday's gathering as more of a political rally than a town hall.

She claimed conservatives "frame things to frighten people" and that she was saddened by the country's lack of public discourse. "I have the right to think differently," she said.

Burgess agreed that it was a point of concern but noted that bipartisanship is a two-way street. He said he reached out to Democrats more than once offering help with crafting health care reform legislation but all he heard back was "the sound of crickets chirping. I was shut out on a party line vote. No effort was made to work with the other side," he said. "As a consequence, sure, I'm dug in."

Burgess also noted that his voting record was in tune with 80 percent of the people he represents yet "I don't always vote for my side." He said he's had to run the gauntlet of his own party on occasion but that it was the right thing to do. "Sometimes lies come from our side, too," he said.

Another speaker said he supported term limits as a possible solution for entrenched power in Washington. "It's not a Democrat problem, it's not a Republican problem, it's a politician problem," he said.

Burgess replied by saying he was "the accidental congressman," and that when he ran for office in 2001 he pledged to serve 10 years because he felt it would take that long to make a difference.

"I gave up 60 percent of my salary and my perks when I ran for congress. I didn't run for congress to make money," he said. "It was the year after 2001 and I thought my country needed me and I thought I could make a difference."

Following the town hall, Burgess encapsulated what he heard from the audience.

"People are worried about the economy. They're worried about federal spending and they're worried about our ability to create jobs for the future. That's pretty consistent with what I've been hearing all year," he said.

From health care to energy to financial services, "people are suspicious. They don't see (this agenda) as providing any of the things they'd like to see us doing right now. Job creation is job one where we should be focused."


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