Sen. Cassidy talks to residents during recent visit to parish

Louisiana United States Senator Bill Cassidy is making his way around the state to hear the concerns of his constituents.
At the Evangeline Parish courthouse on Friday Cassidy said, “I got the privilege of being elected to represent the people of Louisiana, and with that privilege comes the responsibility of speaking to the people I represent to learn what’s on your mind, to answer whatever questions you have, and to hopefully take that information back to Washington.”
During his visit, Cassidy answered questions from the public addressing issues that ranged from the need to create better job opportunities to Obamacare, and even illegal aliens.
The first question for Cassidy dealt with what he feels are the most important issues we are currently facing in our country.
Cassidy said, “One issue that we are facing right now is how do we create better jobs with better benefits.”
The senator, who called himself a “big believer in the energy economy,” stressed the importance of getting people back onto rigs making and producing U.S. Oil and U.S. Gas.
When facing the issue of creating better jobs, the senator also referred to himself as a “big believer in the genius of the American people.”
Cassidy said, “Our country is still great, but it will become greater not because of the government, but because of the American people.”
Cassidy then enlightened those in attendance on a new invention that Evangeline Parish Police Jury Member Eric Soileau had told him about that is being built in Mamou. He used this example to prove that the American people have the ability to make a difference in the economy with their mind.
This invention creates a way for industries like the oil and gas industry to dispose of water that becomes contaminated from fracking, which is the process used to release gases from the inside of rock. The contaminated water is then disposed of by injecting the water underneath the ground.
“I stopped in Mamou and looked at this invention, and it’s a pretty good invention,” said Cassidy. “You got the ability to do some really good stuff with this water purifier. If somebody is fracking, instead of them injecting the bad water, which seems to be contributing to earthquakes in Oaklahoma, they can purify that water and either use it for agriculture, maybe make it potable, or just let it evaporate in the air. This could take away some of the restrictions on energy production because people fear earthquakes, and we can start producing more energy. If you produce more energy, you build more jobs.”
When he moved to the topic of Obamacare, the senator said, “Obamacare is not sustainable, but what can we do right now? The president is not going to change the law.”
He did however also say that he and other senators have been working on a new bill titled The World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan, which its name he said comes from that fact that “if (Donald) Trump has taught us anything, it’s that marketing can make a difference.”
Next to be addressed was the issue of people illegally coming into the U.S., and for this topic as well, the senator said that little can be accomplished with the president that we currently have in office.
Cassidy said, “We passed a bill to strengthen our boarder protection, and during a recent trip I made to the border of Texas I asked a guy how many people does he think they are catching and sending back to Mexico, and he told me that they were getting about 1/3 of them. But now, they have been told by Washington not to deport anyone who comes here illegally.”
According to Cassidy, whether or not these issues will be resolved will be determined by who is elected the next president of the U.S. this November.
Cassidy said, “It’s going to take the next president to change things. I believe America’s best days are ahead of us, and that we will make America great again.”