![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Latta-in-Van-Wert-3-12-12.jpg\")
<\/a>While members of Congress spend most of their time in Washington, D.C., on legislative matters, Latta said constituent work is equally important to legislators who want to get re-elected. It\u2019s a lesson Latta\u2019s predecessor, Paul Gillmor, and his father, Delbert, who spent 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, learned well.<\/p>\n
The congressman started Monday morning out in Celina and then traveled to Van Wert with three staff members for an afternoon session with local constituents. A steady stream of constituents met with Latta on Monday to talk about issues on which they need the congressman\u2019s help.<\/p>\n
Latta said one issue that has increased significantly is veterans\u2019 issues. With more and more servicemen and women returning from Afghanistan and Iran with health issues, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other medical problems, the Veterans Administration has struggled to clear a backlog of cases that involve veterans of every war since Korea. Latta said it\u2019s one Congress is trying to help solve through legislation.<\/p>\n
Moreover, even with unemployment rates dropping dramatically the past few months, the economy is also still a large issue among Fifth District residents, Latta noted.<\/p>\n
When asked whether he thinks the economy is starting to recover, Latta said talking to constituents has given him a good handle on what Fifth District residents feel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m out; I don\u2019t have to read white papers or attend a bunch of briefings,\u201d Latta said. \u201cI\u2019m out talking to all these folks and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Latta said district business people say they would like to move forward, they tell him there are three main issues holding businesses back. In addition to federal regulations, the congressman cited the effects of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and federal energy regulations as being most important to getting the economy back on track.<\/p>\n
The congressman said businesses are seeing increased health care costs, with some companies paying as much as 25 percent higher premiums this year \u2013 costs increases he blames on Obamacare and its implementation. The expansion of Medicaid is also troubling to Latta, because of the strain it puts on the existing healthcare infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Energy is also an issue because of federal regulations like the Clean Air Act and EPA mandates that could have significant effects on Ohio and other states were most power plants are run using coal.<\/p>\n
In a state like Ohio, where coal-fired plants produce 70 percent of the state\u2019s electrical power, energy regulations could have a big impact on whether the economy makes a full recovery, Latta noted.<\/p>\n
On the legislative side, the conservative Republican didn\u2019t hesitate to blast the Obama Administration and the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate for their failure to provide leadership in solving some of the nation\u2019s most pressing legislative problems.<\/p>\n
Those problems include coming up with a realistic budget plan and cutting back on federal regulations \u2013 two issues Latta said are crucial to facilitating a U.S. economic recovery.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the congressman will be back on the road today, moving to Paulding and Defiance counties, where he will again try to provide answers to constituents\u2019 problems with the federal government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor U.S. Representative Bob Latta was back on the road again Monday, traveling to Van Wert and Mercer counties to talk with constituents and help them with their problems. When not in session, it\u2019s customary to see the congressman out in the Fifth District holding his Courthouse Conferences: meetings with business people or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 16:07:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}