Although the variety of concerns on the Greenspring Village residents ranged from international to Washington, D.C., politics, U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11th) didn't hesitate to focus on the positives while treading the bipartisan line. Davis focused especially on the question about taxing retired government employees, which Davis has dealt with in recent weeks while on the Full Committee of Government Reform.
One resident asked about the pension offset. A current government employee can deduct the cost of health insurance, but a retired employee can't, Davis said.
"That's not fair. We're going to look into that this week," he said, summarizing his plan, which has yet to be passed. "Whatever the federal employees get, you get. It's a good plan."
Other items on the agenda for the residents of Greenspring included Iraq, prescription drug plans, the D.C. commuter tax, a federal tax cut and terrorism. Davis supported President Bush's tax cut and defense spending, but he also discussed health, education and medical concerns. One concern was the balance between drug company research and price. He mentioned stem cell research, which Republicans have been against.
"I'm not sure what the right balance is, there is a balance though," he said.
Everything relies on funding, however, an area that Virginia as well as a majority of states has trouble with this year.
"We have to be mindful that we do the right thing. If you call my office for help, we don't care what party you're from," Davis said.
This surprised Fran Huenemann, a Democrat, who just moved to the area from Florida.
"I was pleased to hear that from Congressman Davis about helping people from either party, I wanted to be informed," she said.
IN LATE AUGUST, Davis is heading to Iraq on a fact-finding mission. Areas of concentration for that trip will include military reserve issues, tribal fighting in Iraq and intelligence-gathering methods. Recent findings about wrongful claims and who knew what and when, were acknowledged by Davis.
"There have been a lot of embarrassments concerning intelligence," he said.
Davis did recommend going back to covert methods used by the FBI on the streets, as well as methods currently being used by Israel.
"We need to adopt some of the same things," Davis said.
Homeland Security was another area of concern for residents and Davis. The question was, are we ready for another terrorist attack?
"No, we're not ready," Davis answered, using the recent episode in D.C. as an example.
"One guy with a tractor held this city in a gridlock for two days. That in a nutshell tells you we're not ready," he said.
Last spring, Greenspring Village took another step in becoming it's own voting district, which thrust it into an area of concentration for local politicians. According to Greenspring executive director Lonnie Blessing, Davis' visit was a first for Greenspring.
"He's the first congressman to visit Greenspring in an official capacity," he said.
Davis' invitation to speak came from the newly formed Republican Club of residents. Charles Fletcher is in the club.
"We have attempted to invite all their elected officials. People everywhere should know their elected officials," Fletcher said.
Supervisors Dana Kauffman (D-Lee) and Penny Gross (D-Mason) have been invited in the past, and Fletcher mentioned inviting Gov. Mark Warner (D) as well.