BLOG: Rep. Andy Harris Holds Town Hall Meeting

, a Cockeysville resident who is the Republican U.S. Representative for Maryland's 1st district, held a town hall meeting with Baltimore County residents at the on Monday.

The meeting ran from 5 to 6:10 p.m.

5:20 p.m.

Harris started off with a review of what's going on with the country's finances.

"The spending policy in the United States is out of control," he said.

Harris said that the tax policy center estimates that the U.S. would have to raise taxes by 40 percent to reduce our debt to 3 percent of gross domestic product.

5:30 p.m.

Harris told the assembled crowd that it is social security, Medicaid and Medicare are what's driving the debt. He said that 10,000 people are coming into Medicare every day.

Harris also said that more than 50 percent of U.S. debt is owned by foreign countries.

5:40 p.m.

Harris presented statistics on what he termed the "stalled economy." He said home values are declining and jobless rates are increasing in Maryland.

He then offered three ideas to turn the economy around.

• Create jobs, specifically manufacturing jobs. He said goods should be made in America. 
• Recognize how jobs are created. "If we don't create the right environment, companies will go overseas." He said the U.S. needs to stop talking about tax increases. Harris also added that the regulatory environment for businesses is terrible and that this makes it difficult to create jobs. He proposes a freeze on creating new regulations for a year.
• Harris said U.S. should be an energy exporter, not an importer. He said that the country has so much natural gas, and that is what should be used not oil. He said oil prices are high because there is no substitute and the U.S. needs to convert to natural gas.

6:00 p.m.

Harris opened up the floor to questions from the audience.

One man asked how Harris plans to bring jobs back to the U.S. while giving American workers good wages.

Harris answered that lowering the corporate income tax rate would promote job creation in the United States. He said the wages may not be as high, but it is better than the current state of unemployment in the country.

A young girl asked what's going to happen when the U.S. can no longer borrow money from other countries. Harris said the country would "financially collapse."

Another man asked how much more gas prices are expected to rise. Harris said he didn't know, but if Americans were to convert to natural gas then, in 15 to 20 years, energy would only cost half as much as it does now.

6:10 p.m.

The town hall meeting ended and Harris thanked Baltimore County residents for attending.