US Rep. Ronny Jackson hears constituents' priorities in town hall in Amarillo
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U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, held a town hall with constituents Tuesday at the Arena of Life Church in Amarillo discussing his legislative priorities and various topics, including veterans, the upcoming farm bill and the border.
Concerned over the upcoming government funding deadline, Jackson opined about the ability of Congress to get its house in order with only one of 12 appropriation bills passed.
“I think we should do things the way they are supposed to do and pass these appropriation bills when they are supposed to be passed through regular order in the House,” Jackson said. “Congress is dysfunctional. We will not get those appropriation bills passed in the next 12 days of sessions in September."
He also addressed questions and concerns raised by members of the audience during the event.
Referencing the incident at the White Deer rodeo where he was briefly detained and handcuffed by police, Jackson said that the only thing he wishes he had done differently was the language he used in the situation.
“I am a big supporter of law enforcement; nobody is going to be a bigger supporter than I am,” Jackson said. “This was not handled well. The sheriff’s actions could have been much better; this could have taken care of behind the scenes."
Jackson said he has a long-standing political issue with this sheriff and his family. He felt that Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry handled the incident this way for some political advantage and to hurt Jackson politically. He did not go into the specifics of how this would help Terry in a county that overwhelmingly voted for Jackson.
“I think there was a thought that there could be some political benefit from them that they could spin politically to injure me politically," Jackson said. "We should have kept politics out of this; this should not have happened and could have been handled differently. I think some politics were injected from the Carson County Sheriff’s Department that should not have been part of the process."
Jackson said his top priority for the upcoming farm bill is to do everything that can be done to strengthen production agriculture, which makes up 17% of the farm bill.
“We have the number one ag district in the state of Texas here; a lot of people’s livelihoods rely on the government’s ability to do their job and ensure that their farm safety net is in place,” he said. “I want to make that safety net incredibly strong so that our farmers and ranchers can thrive here and continue to grow and feed the world.”
Encompassing many aspects within it, Jackson said agriculture is only a small part of what the farm bill covers. He expressed concern over fraud in the system.
“Out of the $1.5 trillion that this farm bill represents over the next 10 years, 83% of that goes to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) for the food stamps, and that is the focus from a lot of the Democrats,” Jackson said. “I want to feed hungry people, too; I do not want to take any from them. Some people in this country need that assistance; I want to ensure they get it. There is a lot of fraud in that system that is being wasted with people getting that money that don’t need that money.”
When asked what can be done to lower gas prices with production outpacing any previous year with 12.6 million barrels of oil per day according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Jackson said that domestic production has to be increased.
“One thing we can do is we have a lot of capability to increase domestic production; if we increase domestic production, it’s simply a supply and demand issue,” Jackson said. “If we put more supply in and demand doesn’t change, then the price will go down.”
Jackson said this could be done now but put the blame on the Biden Administration and his perceived assault on domestic oil and gas.
“We are forced because we do not have that infrastructure in place to provide that oil. We have to go to Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia and get them to increase production so that they can ease some of the pressure off our domestic prices,” Jackson said. "That is not a good situation to be in. That is a bad problem for us from a national security standpoint, especially since some of them are potential adversaries to control our price of gas here in the U.S."
Jackson said prices are high simply because not enough oil is being produced, even though we have never produced more oil as a country than we are now.
“We are producing a lot right now, but we are not producing what we could be but the refineries also matter,” Jackson said. “You have to refine that stuff somewhere, and right now we need new refineries in this country so we can refine some of that. But we cannot do that, because it takes decades to get that money back. You have to have trust and confidence that your government will not undercut your ability to get your money back. The companies that could build these refineries do not trust the federal government to support them over the next 10-15 years."
While many oil companies have expressed concern about the current administration and its impact, many oil companies, including Irving-based Exxon, have made record profits. In 2022, Exxon earned $56 billion in profit, and Chevron made $35 billion. Exxon's profit exceeded its previous best year of $45 billion in 2008.
Jackson said politics should not have a part in military promotions but defended U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s blocking of these promotions due to the Department of Defense covering travel expenses for service members in states that do not allow abortion services. He said that Tuberville has zero issues with the merits of those to be promoted but was right to hold it up due to his opposition to the government paying for travel expenses.
“He is not holding them up because he questions the qualifications of the people that are being promoted; he is holding them up because federal dollars are being provided for abortion,” Jackson said. “Whether pro-life or pro-choice, there is a long-standing agreement that federal money does not pay for abortion. Once that issue is resolved, he will step out of the way and those promotions will go through."
Asked if it is fair to soldiers who are assigned to areas based on the needs of the army to have less access and rights to abortion than other service members, Jackson said that is the way that it should be and other organizations could help them to get to where they need to be. He said as it is an elective procedure, the military should not be involved.
Jackson said paying for travel to those soldiers is the same thing as paying for an abortion.
“If you are paying to facilitate the abortion, you are paying for the abortion; there is no distinction," Jackson added.
With a divided government, Jackson felt that both parties would work together for defense spending and agriculture.
“I think when it comes to defense, we can find a lot that Democrats and Republicans agree on,” Jackson said. “Also, when it comes to ag, there are a lot of Democrats that also understand the importance of production agriculture. They certainly have a vested interest in the farm bill due to SNAP. We both want to come together and make this farm bill strong."
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: US Rep. Ronny Jackson listens to concerns at Amarillo Town Hall
