"We're hitting the ground running," Boren said of he and his staff in Washington, D.C.
Boren named the various committees and subcommittees he is working on, including the Armed Services Committee, that could help Oklahoma.
"The President has laid out a pretty aggressive agenda," Boren said.
Social Security and budget are top priorities. Boren said there are good things about the budget, and others that cause "deep concerns that affect District 2 in Oklahoma," which encompasses Sequoyah County.
Boren admitted there were problems with Social Security, but he said he believes the Social Security program is OK right now. He said for the next 50 years, the government will be able to make payments to those who pay into the system, but between 2042 and 2047 those benefits will start to be cut.
"There is no such thing as a Social Security trust fund," Boren said.
He said when the money is taken from people's payroll checks, the money is used for spending on everything, including the military.
"There is no lock box," Boren said.
Boren said Congress has been taking from the Social Security fund for years, and that fund is getting smaller every year as more tax cuts are done and the nation gets more debt. He said currently each family in the U.S. owes $30,000 to the national debt.
As far as the issue of privatizing Social Security, Boren said he thinks there can be private accounts, but they must be a supplement to Social Security. He added that putting money in the stock market is not secure. He said the whole reason Social Security began was for Americans to have security. He said the government could give people a certain amount of options that people can put their money into, but thinks that should supplement Social Security.
He noted that there was a surplus in the 1990s when President Bill Clinton in office, but that money didn't go to Social Security, but went to do more spending.
He said the tax cuts by the President and more tax cuts that are proposed causes a larger deficit and larger national debt, which cuts into federal funding for various programs.
"I am opposed to President Bush's plan as it stands," Boren said.
Boren said the only solution is either raising taxes or cutting spending. He said where Bush is cutting right now is rural Oklahoma, rural America, veterans, and district attorney's offices.
"We might not agree, but I'll always be open to listening," Boren told the group of about 35 attendees. "Meetings like this help me make decisions."
Boren then fielded questions from the audience, including questions about death benefits for soldiers, and federal funding cuts for various community programs. He said he was the co-sponsor for a bill to increase the death benefit to $100,000 for the families of soldiers killed. He said that increase is not included in the President's budget, and the end date for that bill would be Jan. 31 of this year, which he would like to see extended indefinitely.
"It will pass," Boren said.
Boren said the increased death benefit will end up costing $400,000,000 for all the men and women killed.
"More are dying every day," Boren said.
He said there is not a specific date to pull troops out of Iraq, but Boren said, "We need to start transitioning out of Iraq."
Helen James with Cookson Hills Community Action asked Boren about community service block grants.
"It's going to be zeroed out with the President's budget," Boren said.
Boren said he is opposed to that plan, which affects many programs that serve rural communities.
"The budget has been balanced on the backs of the poor," Boren said.
He noted that negotiations will start now that the President has submitted a budget, and he hopes some of those proposed cuts can be prevented.
Boren also discussed the proposed fees added to veterans and raising co-pay for veterans' prescriptions.
"I have very deep concerns over that," Boren said. "Our veterans should be the ones we're taking care of."
Boren noted that whether people support the war or are against the war, they must support the men and women fighting.
Boren said he will be in Baghdad and Mosul in two weeks as part of a group of six freshmen Congressmen. Boren said while he is there he hopes to make sure that the Oklahomans in Iraq are being treated OK.
"It's tough," Boren said. "We have to support our troops."
