SARASOTA — U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan used a town hall meeting here Saturday to emphasize the nation’s budget deficit, which he says remains unacceptable even as it has declined sharply over the last several years.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, held a townhall meeting in Sarasota on Saturday to talk about the nation's budget deficit and growing debt.
The federal budget deficit — the gap between revenues and expenses — dropped by more than $200 billion since 2013, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Still, the nation is expected to spend $469 billion more than it is taking in through taxes and other revenues.
Buchanan, a Longboat Key Republican, said budget projections show the deficit will start growing dramatically again over the next 10 years if Congress doesn’t do something about it.
“To me it’s the most important thing that we need to deal with on a bipartisan basis,” said Buchanan, who was elected to a fifth term in November.
Earlier this month he again filed a bill in the House to implement a federal balanced budget amendment. It’s an idea Buchanan has pursued each term since he’s been in Congress. The legislation has never been close to passing.
Buchanan also talked about the need to deal with the nation’s entitlement programs, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which make up almost half of the nation’s budget. He said he supports doing something to deal with those costs. One area he is looking at closely is the Social Security Disability program, which he said is plagued by “a lot of fraud.”
Buchanan also had harsh works for Sarasota city and county officials for not doing more to deal with the area’s homeless population. After being asked a question about the issue, Buchanan said there has been a “lack of leadership” on the issue in the city and the county.
“Let’s do something, because you can’t keep doing nothing,” Buchanan told about 80 people who attended the meeting in downtown Sarasota.
