Rep. David Rouzer on health care, tax reform, and future town halls

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Congressman David Rouzer stopped by the studio today to discuss a wide range of topics from healthcare, to infrastructure to his thought on large town hall events.

Rouzer has been busy in Washington working on national issues like health care.

“Earlier this year obviously, the House passed a repeal and replace bill,” Rouzer said. “The Senate fell a couple votes short obviously. That’s been a great source of frustration.”

“What do you think it’s going to take to get something passed?”

“We’ve got a couple of Republican Senators that need to understand that they need to get with the team,” Rouzer said.

Meanwhile, he said they are working hard on a tax reform plan aimed at growth.

“For most folks out there,” Rouzer said. “It’s going to mean better paying jobs, more opportunity, more economic opportunity.”

He has also working on an issue that affects the cape fear specifically.

“I’ve been working with the White House to make sure that they remember that we need to take care of the small towns and rural communities across America,” Rouzer said.

Rouzer said many of those small towns are beginning to grow, but do not have what they need.

“The water they need, the sewer systems they need and many of them, as you know, don’t have access to broadband,” Rouzer said.

The plan is to set aside money specifically for those small towns.

“So that they’re not having to compete with Raleigh or Charlotte or any other more urban area,” Rouzer said.

We also asked Rouzer about a comment his opponent Dr. Kyle Horton has been making on social media.

“Since my opponent doesn’t feel the need to host #TownHall & do his job, I’m happy to as your future Congresswoman,” Horton said on Twitter.

“You know I have traditionally done smaller group meetings and speeches etc. and we continue to do that,” Rouzer said.

Rouzer held a large town hall in Brunswick County in March.

“It was very apparent you know maybe 5 minutes into that you know there was not a real opportunity to have any kind of meaningful exchange,” Rouzer said. “It was more of a political bashing session.”

For now, Rouzer said he will stick to the smaller, more constructive gatherings.

“When the political environment tones down a bit and you know folks want to have a real dialogue about it, then that’s when we’ll do the bigger events like I have in the past,” Rouzer said.