Yarmuth meets constituents over coffee

Congressman John Yarmuth (D-Louisville) held another in a series of public meetings with 3rd District constituents at a local coffee shop in Louisville this morning. John Yarmuth (D-Louisville)

During the course of a two-hour availability at a Heine Brothers Coffee location, Yarmuth met with a handful of Louisvillians. Discussion between the freshman Congressman and citizens ranged from the Iraq war to energy policy to the politics of the U.S. Senate.

Yarmuth noted he has held similar meetings in venues throughout the district, saying they help keep him in touch with the electorate.

“We’ve done a number of these around town, just to find a place where people come, and make yourself available to talk to whoever’s here and to listen to what is on their minds… It’s nice to assure people that you are interested in what they have to say. That’s the essence of representative government as far as I can tell.” said Yarmuth. “And it helps. You hear people’s problems and you get in a discussion. You can actually discuss case histories and anecdotes. Sometimes politicians get in trouble because they make them up, but, hey, you don’t have to make them up because you actually heard them.”

According to Yarmuth, the issues constituents speak with him about typically are those most prominent in national discourse, but others come with less common or individualized concerns.

“By and large, people everywhere are concerned about the same thing. Health care comes up wherever I go, the war comes up wherever I go,” said Yarmuth. “Today we had a couple of people who were concerned about education and tuition increases. We had one person who is transgendered, and she had an issue with Real ID that we discussed. But, most of them are pretty much the issues you are dealing with nationally.”

Yarmuth plans to continue holding these events, with a future meeting scheduled at a senior citizens’ community. The Congressman’s office also created what Yarmuth says is a digital equivalent of these meetings on his Congressional website.

According to the site, through the “Voice of the People” feature, 3rd District residents can submit stories or personal experiences that Yarmuth may then read on the House floor.