On March 19, Rep. Derek Kilmer held his first telephone town hall with over 10,000 participants from across the region.

On the hour-long call, Kilmer answered 10 questions on topics ranging from the budget, to education, to the Affordable Care Act, to taking care of our Veterans.

Representative Kilmer also polled the participants in the town hall on what they believe is the most important thing our nation needs to do to solve our deficit problem.

Given the choices of only cutting spending, only increasing revenues, only making investments in our growth, or a balanced plan of all three options, a majority of participants responded that we need a balanced plan.

A balanced plan received 58 percent of support, while only cutting spending was second with 25 percent of the vote.

“Democracy works best when elected officials are accessible to the people they represent,” said Kilmer.  “While this doesn’t replace face to face meetings or town halls in person, this telephone town hall was a great opportunity to hear from the folks I represent and to be accountable to them and answer their questions from 3,000 miles away.  Even though it was 10 p.m. in DC when we wrapped up, I thought it was an energetic and informative conversation about things that really matter to me and our area like balancing our budget and getting our economy moving.”