U.S. Rep. Roger Williams was greeted with a warm welcome at a town hall meeting in Dublin, getting to know some of his new constituents.
Rep. Williams is representing Texas District-25, which now encompasses the entirety of Erath County. Prior to redistricting, the county was split between U.S. Reps. August Pfluger and Williams. Rep. Williams has represented a portion of Erath County for the past 12 years.
The town hall meeting was held in conjunction with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, Feb. 15 at The Station. The meeting was open to the public who greeted Rep. Williams and his staff, hearing about concerns and participating in a question and answer segment with the representative. About 40 people attended the event.
Williams opened the event after an introduction from Chamber Executive Director John Staud.
“Williams is one of the few business owners in Congress and understands the effects of increased taxes, government regulations the bureaucracy that hurts small business economic growth,” Staud said.
While talking about his background, Staud said Williams attended Texas Christian University, where he was an All-Southwest Conference baseball player and named to TCU’s All-Decade Team for the 1960s.
Upon graduating, Williams was drafted by the Atlanta Braves and played in their farm system for many years before deciding to begin a new career as a small business owner and the head baseball coach at TCU.
Williams is currently the chairman of the House Small Business Committee and on the committee on financial services with the subcommittee on financial institutions and monetary policy and the subcommittee on national security, illicit finance and international financial institutions.
“You can’t grow up in Fort Worth, Texas and own a business in Weatherford, Texas without knowing about Dublin, Texas,” Williams said, expressing how excited he was to be in Dublin. “My favorite golfer is Ben Hogan and my favorite color in green, so I should fit right in.”
Williams, who owns a car dealership in Weatherford, explained that he never wanted to be a congressman.
“All my friends who I had been supporting, weren’t doing anything they said they would,” he said which prompted him to run for congress with a simple platform – lower taxes, less government, cutting spending, defending borders, listening to the generals, understanding the 10th amendment and always standing with Israel.
“I’m one of the few congressmen that if we pass something, I have to live with it,” he said, as a business owner.
Williams named the border as the number one issue that concerns him the most.
“The border is worse off today than it was yesterday and it’s going to be worse off tomorrow then it was today,” he said. “The biggest problem we have today is we have given up our sovereignty.”
Williams said that many people do not see America as the greatest nation in the world and do not see the country as many in the U.S. see it.
“This is the land of opportunities, not guarantees,” he said. “I could take you to the border and you wouldn’t believe what you are seeing. If we were down there you would just see these illegals coming across.”
Williams encouraged citizens to pray for border control officers every night.
“We have no border anymore,” he said. “The federal government is not doing anything. We have been invaded.”
Williams discussed the drug cartels and how they are impacting the youth of America by bringing across drugs.
“It’s a real problem,” he said. “We need to utilize the U.S. military to secure the border and put up the wall. The wall works.”
Williams said he wants everyone to come to America, but wants them to do it legally.
The representative also addressed the debt problem with the U.S. being $33 trillion in debt.
“We are spending more than we’ve ever spent,” he said. “We are printing money like a mad man and it has no value. That increases inflation, so what you’ve got is the federal reserve raising the interest rates all the time trying to catch this and you’re never going to get there until you fix the supply chain.”
Williams said the U.S. should be one of the biggest builders in the world instead of importing goods.
“If America is not the strongest country in the world ... militarily, socially and economically, this world is going to crater, it’s going to implode and we see it doing it right now,” he said in closing remarks. “Even our enemies in their hearts want to see us strong.”
Questions from the audience ranged from ADA requirements for businesses to border control issues about the wall and if the government could stop Chinese citizens from purchasing land in Texas.