SALINA, N.Y. – Newly elected Republican Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, like dozens of other freshman members, was sent to Congress on a promise to slash government spending. And slash it she did, voting last weekend to cut $61 billion from the current federal budget and to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care reform plan.
Now, Buerkle and some of her colleagues who visited constituents this week in their home districts are facing reactions ranging from support to mild worry over just the cuts they promised they’d make. Even Buerkle acknowledges some of the cuts she supported were “gut-wrenching.”
“It seems as though recent votes taken would unduly give pain to the poor,” said Janet Muir, a self-described fiscal conservative and one of 300 people who attended a town hall meeting Buerkle hosted here Tuesday. Muir said lawmakers should look to the military and other areas to trim spending.
“You’ve cut domestic spending in ways that are going to hurt taxpayers,” Muir said. “I would like to see this burden shared with the wealthy.”
Buerkle, who defeated first-term Democratic Rep. Dan Maffei by less than 600 votes in a district that favored Obama in 2008, is one of 87 House GOP freshmen — six from
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