National issues discussed locally Friday

Congressman Mike Sodrel visited Bloomington Friday to share his vision of America's future during an open town-hall style meeting Friday.\nCity residents, students and guests packed the Bloomington Township fire station to hear Sodrel, R-Ind., discuss national preservation, the Iraq war, tax cuts and the environment. Most of the questions, however, concerned Social Security reform.\n"No matter what type of reform gets passed it must have the full faith and credit of the United States government behind it," Sodrel said, referring to President Bush's plan to privatize parts of Social Security.\nHe added that Social Security money may be safer in people's hands as opposed to government coffers. \n"The government has proven to not be the best repository of your money," he said.\nSodrel also emphasized that the president's plan is currently only a concept and did not offer the audience his preferred method of Social Security reform. \n"I cannot tell you what the best plan is right now," he said. \nWhen asked about the intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq, Sodrel said people must make a decision on the best information they have at the moment.\n"The mistake America made was not made on this watch, but back in the late '70s when we decided we could do everything with satellites, flyovers, by taking pictures and (monitoring) electronic assets," he said. "We didn't need human assets on the ground." \nIn regards to the Iraq war, he said the United States has an exit strategy, referring to the recent election and training of Iraqi security forces to protect the country.\n"We would like to get our soldiers out of there as soon as possible, but not a day too late and not a day too early," Sodrel said.\nHe stressed he didn't want any of the lives already lost or the money spent in Iraq to be wasted.\nSodrel also emphasized the importance of Bush's tax cuts despite the large budget deficits.\n"Without the tax cuts, we might have lost another 1.5 million jobs and the economy might never have recovered," he said.\nHis support of Bush's tax cuts drew opposition from the crowd. \n"I am not taxed enough," a questioner retorted about the cuts.\nSodrel also addressed environmental issues in the town hall meeting, calling himself a "practical environmentalist." \nOne point he emphasized was America's need to become independent of foreign oil.\n"We need ethanol. It's good for America's farmers. It's good for America," he said, "We need biodiesel ... solar, wind. We need all of it."\nOn the other hand, he called for drilling to begin at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to further stop dependence on foreign oil.\n"If the state of Alaska was a football field, ANWR would be a briefcase on the 50-yard line," Sodrel said. "And we will only drill on a part of that"