U.S. Rep. Conaway visits Breckenridge for town hall meeting
U.S. Representative Mike Conaway, who represents Texas’ District 11, stopped in Breckenridge Thursday morning as part of a town hall tour he’s been making across the district. He started out the week in Lamesa and Odessa before traveling on to Sterling City and Robert Lee, and then to Breckenridge.
A small group of local residents attended Thursday’s meeting, with a few asking questions.
Conaway started out the meeting with a brief overview of what’s been going on in Washington, D.C., admitting up front that this is his first town hall in Breckenridge since the Republicans have been the minority party in the House of Representatives and that he didn’t have much information about what the Democratic party is doing.
In his opening remarks, Conaway discussed immigration and border issues, declaring that there is a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and that the solutions need to come from those most familiar with the situation. “It’s operation control, and it should be guided by the border patrol sector chiefs who are charged with knowing what to do,” Conaway said. “If I’ve got a law enforcement issue, I want to talk to the chief, I’m going to talk to a former law enforcement guy who knows a little bit about something; I’m not going to talk to a CPA about it. I’m going to talk to the sector chief. What do you need? How many people? What tools? What infrastructure? What technologies can we begin to employ here to make it happen?”
He went on to say that an actual border wall isn’t needed everywhere on the border but that in the areas where it is deemed necessary, eminent domain may be used to secure the property if the property owners don’t want the wall on their land. Conaway explained that much of the border area from El Paso to San Diego is federal land and the biggest issue there is access to the border because it is in wilderness areas that don’t have many roads. Most of the Texas border land, except for the Big Bend area, is privately owned or city-owned, he said.
Conaway spoke for about an hour, part of which was a question-and-answer session with the audience, when he addressed other topics, including freedom of religion, abortion, Medicaid and Medicare, the upcoming legislative session and the 2020 election.
Conaway’s district includes parts of Stephens County. The rest of the county is in District 19 and is represented by Jodey Arrington.
Story by Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Cutline, top photo: U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway talks with a small group of local residents at a town hall meeting Thursday morning in the Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce building. He addressed a variety of issues and answered questions from the attendees. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)