Knight addresses constituents’ questions at private event

Signal File Photo: Congressman Steve Knight speaks about his work in Washington during a public meeting. Dan Watson/For the Signal
Share on facebook
Share
Share on twitter
Tweet
Share on email
Email

At an invite-only breakfast Friday morning, Congressman Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) debriefed the first five months of the federal government’s actions.

Knight talked for an hour about big-picture issues including health care and foreign policy at the Lifton Institute of Media Arts and Sciences-sponsored event at the Sand Canyon Country Club and accepted attendee questions afterward.

Regarding health care, Knight said he thinks there is a lot of “misinformation” circulating about the American Health Care Act. The government will continue to work through problems and get input from physicians, he said.

“People need to have the ability to get affordable coverage in America,” Knight said.

According to Knight, the AHCA bill that passed through the House of Representatives was just a first step and has while to go before it is complete.

He told the audience he wants as many people to have coverage as possible to keep emergency rooms from getting over crowded.

“They need to get covered so they are not inundating our hospitals with emergency room (visits),” Knight said. “There is no place I think of more than the emergency room, than how people shouldn’t be accessing it for the sniffles or they fell down and scratched themselves.”

Congressman Steve Knight, left, addresses the hundreds of attendees as he speaks about his work in Washington at a breakfast meeting held at the Sand Canyon Country Club in Santa Clarita on Friday. Dan Watson/For the Signal

Knight addressed that many constiuents are not happy with his vote and take to Facebook to express their frustrations, but said he never reads comments on social media.

When asked about maintaining social security, he said people should be able to get coverage who pay for it.

“I don’t see how that’s fair,” he said. “If you pay into it, you get it.”

Knight also commented on the importance of foreign alliances and the strength of the armed forces. He said fighting against ISIS and North Korea are ongoing issues that require strategy.

Also, he said handling Russia is America’s “number one issue.”

“They’re a B-plus super power right now that are nuclear capable in certain aspects,” Knight said. “Technologies work very quickly today. If we’re not on the cutting edge, somebody else will be.”

Knight also discussed the difficulties of adapting to President Trump and his love of the “shock factor.”

“It’s going to be a rocky road when you’ve never been an elected person and you start to go through how things work and then you want to change things working through the system,” he said.

Concerning California, Knight said he and other representatives told Jerry Brown they thought signing off on a sanctuary state was a bad idea because California could be overlooked for funding.

“We are hoping it never goes to his desk, and if it does, we’re hoping he’s going to veto it,” Knight said. “It’s a poor idea.”

Getting more funding for transportation should be a priority, he said, particularly to fix the split between the 5 and 14 freeways.

When asked why more federal officials did not have common sense, Knight said he thought there was a “huge amount” of good judgement in all levels of government.

In particular, he thought his efforts to construct a memorial for the St. Francis Dam and to keep Cemex out of Soledad Canyon were both sensible.

 

[email protected]

661-287-5525

On Twitter as @ginaender

Related To This Story

Latest NEWS