Congressman Gary Palmer spoke to AP Government and AP US History students at Chelsea High School, where he shared insights about his first year in office as a freshman member of Congress.

Palmer, a native of Hackleburg, told the students that he had never run for political office before running for the seat of US Congressman for the 6th District.  Palmer shared that he is the first person on either side of his family to attend college.  Prior to being elected to office, he worked in the private sector with engineering firms and most served as the president of the Alabama Policy Council for 24 years.

Currently, Palmer serves on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Budget Committee, and Space, Science and Technology Committee.  He told students at Chelsea High School that he is amazed at the advancement of technology within his lifetime and predicts that jobs in space, science and technology fields will continue to grow and become more advanced.

“Reading the budget for NASA is like reading something from Star Trek,” he told the students.  “We are working on unmanned missions to Mars, a mission to Europa – one of the moons of Jupiter – and missions to asteroids to mine for minerals.”

Palmer told the students he feels the most pressing issue facing the country right now is getting the national debt of $19 trillion under control.   He specifically addressed the millions of dollars that can be saved by working in conjunction with the Government Accountability Office to address ineffective or inaccurate spending, specifically with payments of federal funds that have been made in error through programs like Medicare or Social Security.

“We have a lot of 112-year-old people out there still receiving a Social Security check,” Palmer told the students.

Palmer also addressed issues such as tax reform, federal regulations, and the upcoming election. And while he refused to endorse any one particular candidate, he did refer to some of their proposed plans, such as Ted Cruz’s “flat tax” plan which Palmer thinks is a viable solution.  He also noted that high corporate income rates and too many federal regulations are killing businesses and industries or forcing them to relocate their headquarters to other countries.

Palmer also reconnected wth several Chelsea High School students who recently participated in a week-long civic program called Close Up, where they spent a week in Washington D.C. learning more about our government. The Close Up program is sponsored by The Close Up Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization that offers students an in-depth view of the democratic process by interactive participation.

The intensive programs help students understand the key roles they play as citizens in being active participants in the U.S. democratic system. The five-day student program features meetings with elected officials on Capitol Hill, structured learning activities at Washington’s monuments and memorials, and the chance to “live and learn” with students from other schools nationwide. The Chelsea students were paired with other high school students from several states, including South Dakota, Idaho, Oklahoma, Michigan, Missouri, and Wyoming.