Underwood Addresses Issues At Town Hall Meeting

PLAINFIELD, IL—Dozens attended a town hall meeting put on by Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, over the weekend to hear about the progress being made to represent the 14th Congressional District of Illinois. The May 5 event served as the third in a series of four town hall meetings, providing a chance for constituents to discuss the issues affecting their lives.

Underwood used the event, in part, to highlight the legislative gains made in Congress during her initial months in office. She touted her efforts to back legislation on paycheck fairness, net neutrality and climate change.

Underwood spoke of working with Congressman Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, to advance pending legislation, titled the Salt Bill, which aims to address the tax code.

“For so many folks, they found that they didn’t quite benefit as expected from the tax cuts that passed at the end of 2017 mostly due to the newly imposed cap on the salt deduction,” Underwood said. “For the first time, the tax plan has a cap of $10,000 for the state and local property tax deductions.”

On average, a tax filer in the 14th Congressional District of Illinois deducted a little more than $13,000 in 2015.

Underwood said the average person in the community lost out under the new framework.

“What our bill does is it raises the cap from $10,000 to $15,000 for individual filers, and it eliminates the marriage penalty, which would allow jointly filing married couples to deduct the $30,000, which addresses the upper end,” she said. “What we were doing is trying to correct this issue, but also help middle class families.”

Also during the event, Underwood took time to hold a question-and-answer session. Among the topics addressed during the town hall meeting were pension problems, gun violence and health care.

One attendee questioned Underwood about her recent trip to El Paso, Texas, where she had the chance to take note of the situation facing the U.S.-Mexico border.

“What are you recommending,” the attendee asked.

Underwood suggests the solution is making sure to provide adequate space for detainees and obtaining more immigration judges. She said the conditions under which people are being treated in Customs and Border facilities is inhumane.

“I think it’s a humanitarian emergency,” she said. “I don’t think that people are being treated consistently with our values. We cannot turn our backs.”

Several used the town hall meeting to question Underwood regarding her stance on Congress and its effort to seek further information to help determine if it is appropriate to get impeachment proceedings started for President Donald Trump.

“Right now, I don’t think that the American people have seen that information as completely to have confidence that this is the right course of action,” Underwood said.

Underwood said she is cognizant of the community and its top concerns.

“I can tell you what I hear from our community, and it’s not about impeachment,” she said.

Some opponents to the impeachment talk made their views known during the town hall meeting, booing people who raised questions about Trump and his presidency.

Newark resident Anthony Magliari said he has mixed views about the idea of impeaching the president.

Magliari, who is a supporter of Underwood, said he appreciates Underwood’s view of impeachment.

“I like your tone there,” he said. “It is terrible and you don’t want to do it, but I think we have to do it, even if it helps [Trump]. … It’s our responsibility to do it.”