U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) talked with about 70 Lebanon area residents at an April 16 meeting.

Earlier, he visited the Lebanon Express and toured the ConnectOregon 2 project at Albany & Eastern Railroad.

Among the top concerns at the town hall were the economy (story, A1), health care, alternative energy, social security and illegal immigration.

Health care

DeFazio said he'd like to see a standard benefit, with wellness prevention included, for everyone in the country. He envisions both a public version sold by the government and a private version.

Savings could arise from fewer emergency room visits and if the U.S. government, like some others, would negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for better deals.

Social Security

"If we can honor our debt, social security is capable of paying 100 percent of benefits to 2041," DeFazio said. "And after that, 70 to 75 percent. Problems start in 30 years."

He said the simplest way to fix social security is to remove the $100,000 income cap on social security. Currently, everyone earning more than that pays social security only on that amount.

Energy

DeFazio said solar energy still needs work, and pointed out three reasons nuclear energy is not the answer: prohibitive cost, safety problems and what to do with the waste.

Free trade

Free trade is not serving U.S. citizens well, DeFazio said. He has opposed every free trade agreement, a comment that caused the crowd to burst into applause.

"We were told NAFTA would create great jobs," he said. "And it did, on the other side of the border."

DeFazio said he has never understood how free trade agreements are expected to work.

"Basically we've been told over the last 20 years, you don't have to make anything anymore, we'll just sell services to the rest of the world and they'll make everything," he said. "How can you be a great power and not make things? Are people going to lend us money forever to buy the stuff they make that we used to make?"

Illegal immigrants

DeFazio said he is a sponsor of the triple-E verification program, which is a voluntary program to check the validity of a social security number.

He said over the course of five to seven years he hopes to improve the program to make it more easily accessible and usable.

Internet myths

DeFazio said a rumor has been circulating that Congress intended to regulate backyard gardens and farmers' markets.

He said the bill, HR 875, is simply an attempt to have a better food safety system, and has nothing to do with backyard gardens.

DeFazio said right now the Food and Drug Administration has no authority to recall contaminated products and cannot discriminate between products made in the U.S. vs. products made elsewhere.