First District Congressman Tim Huelskamp found plenty of frustration at a Town Hall meeting in Salina Monday afternoon. Most of the about 50-people in attendance were frustrated with what is and what is not going on in Washington. The second term congressman felt the same way.

Huelskamp said that both republican and democrats share the blame in allowing the executive branch gain more power. Huelskamp would like to have the budgets of each agency debated on the floor of the house. He said in his 3-1/2 years in congress he would have liked to have had a chance to debate the budgets of the Health and Human Services Department, and the Internal Revenue Service. Even with the G.O.P in control of the house, leadership has never brought the budgets to the floor. The congressman said only about 20-percent of the total budget is debated during the year.

When asked what he has accomplished while in Washington, Huelskamp said he has been an Ambassador for Kansas Agriculture, citing the chance to talk with officials from Japan and Vietnam about buying Kansas agricultural products.

The congressman also fielded questions concerning veterans care, Postal Service pension payments, voting rights, and the Affordable Care Act. Huelskamp said since “Obamacare” began enrollment last October, there are now more uninsured people in Kansas than before the A.C.A.

Huelskamp began his day Monday with a Town Hall Meeting in Hillsboro, then Council Grove, and Cottonwood Falls before winding up the day in Salina. The Salina Town Hall was held at the Visit Salina Annex of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.