WASHINGTON – In order to give constituents a chance to voice their views and concerns, Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) has recently done several different types of outreach.
His office recently conducted a phone survey asking constituents which issues they believe Congress should be focusing on right now.
Constituents were able to choose between, “Growing jobs and the economy, strengthening education, reducing the debt, reforming/improving health care, helping our veterans, securing our borders, implementing tax reform, investing in American infrastructure or other,” according to a press release from Bost's office.
“We do these in an effort to get feedback, both positive and negative,” Bost told The Record.
Emails went out to 70,000 constituents and they received 4,119 responses. The majority of respondents chose growing jobs and the economy and reforming or improving health care as their main issues.
Bost also recently completed a home tour of his districts where he was able to speak to voters face-to-face. He said he visited three different locations where he was able to speak with health care providers talking about the different issues.
He said he also met with several constituents who were protesting the new Republican health care bill at his office. He said they spoke together in a calm manner and found that they had some of the same concerns.
“It was interesting knowing that there are people out there the Affordable Care Act helped,” Bost said.
Some of the things constituents were concerned about were parents being able to cover their children until they are 26 years old, coverage for preexisting conditions and not having lifetime caps.
Bost also talked about progress made on jobs and the economy. He mentioned the use of the Congressional Review Act. The act was enacted in 1996 as a way for Congress to quickly pass new resolutions. It was only used once before 2017.
With the new administration, it has been used at least 12 times to overturn several rules issued by the Obama administration such as the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL Pipeline. Bost said he is pleased that the pipeline projects will be American made and will reinvigorate the American steel industry.
The administration is now looking to rollback the Waters of the U.S. rule which Bost said is “detrimental to American farmers.”
While Bost was home, he said he hosted a tele-town hall in which 85,000 constituents were able to call in and ask questions and get answers to some of their concerns.
“We had 3,000 to 5,000 people on the line at any given time,” Bost said.
Not all the constituents got an opportunity to call in, so Bost has a link on his website for people to request to be called at the next tele-town hall.
“We want to be in touch with everyone,” Bost said.
The article was updated to correct information about the survey.