In a 45-minute talk with more than 150 seniors Monday morning at Pottsville Area High School, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright shared his views on issues including North Korea, gun control and arming school teachers to heighten security in schools.
"I'm against that. I don't think that's the right answer," said Cartwright, D-17, referring to the National Rifle Association's call for armed officers in every American school.
"When you talk about gun safety laws and how to avoid the things that happened in Newtown or Aurora, there's no one answer that fits all. Everybody knows that. I don't know what the right cocktail is for making things better, but I know we have to do something different because I'm not the kind of person who can just sit back and let something like that happen and not try to change something," he said, speaking at the high school's Robert W. Wachter Auditorium.
Cartwright said he'd support a ban on assault weapons but doesn't see it happening.
"I've been in favor of that position because I think we need to do something different. We had an assault weapons ban in this country for 10 years and the Constitution didn't dissolve and the Republic didn't fall. The 10-year ban expired. Whether it did any good, it's hard to tell," he said.
"Will it pass? No. In the current climate in Washington, what's really been disturbing if you've noticed, the outrage after Newtown has dissipated. I don't know why that is but if you do a public opinion poll right now, you'll find people are thinking about the massacre in Newtown a lot less than they were six weeks ago. Because of that, the enthusiasm for new gun-safety laws has waned quite a bit. I don't think there's going to be a new assault rifle ban in the near future. It's just the way it is right now," he said.
A Scranton lawyer, Cartwright, 51, bested incumbent Tim Holden, Saint Clair, in the April 24, 2012, primary election and went on to win the Nov. 6 General Election.
A resident of Moosic, Lackawanna County, Cartwright's district includes all of Schuylkill and parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton counties.
The Pottsville Area School District invited Cartwright to speak to seniors who are American government students at the high school. He gave a 10-minute talk, then answered students' questions for 45 minutes.
"It's the first time I had the opportunity to meet our new representative and I agreed with most everything he had to say. I think he's a really good guy. I was quite a fan of Tim Holden but so far, he seems to be doing us well," said senior Tyler A. Pangonis.
"I think he answered all of our questions very directly. He didn't try to beat around the bush with anything," said senior Cassandra Eagan.
"I think he was very clear and direct, very personable," said senior Jacob Tarconish.
In response to the questions, Cartwright expressed his views on a number of issues.
On North Korea, he said: "The conduct that they've been up to is part of a pattern and they've been rattling their small saber for many years. It's about keeping the people in North Korea in line by looking tough for them. I don't know why they need to do that. We do have a new leader there who's probably kind of feeling his way a little bit. There's some talk that he may step over a line that he shouldn't be stepping over. Will that lead to a war? Probably not. Now, China has become engaged and they're helping put the brakes on them as well. The overarching reality is that if North Korea started a war, they would be obliterated like that."
When asked about his views of immigration, he said: "I support President Obama's idea of a plan for a tough but fair reform plan. We have 11 million undocumented people in the United States. There are those who run around saying, 'Illegal is illegal. Throw them all out.' We don't do that here in this country. What I want to do is make taxpayers out of those people."
On same-sex marriage, he said: "It's time we stopped discriminating against gay people. I mean, the people who are most stridently against equal marriage rights are the people who don't know any gay people. I think it's also about generations and how they change. I think 10 years from now, people will be asking, 'Why did they even get upset about that?' "
On the expansion of Pennsylvania's Medicaid program, Cartwright said it's something Gov. Tom Corbett should strongly consider.
"The state governor has to accept a Medicaid expansion. Gov. Corbett, his attitude is, 'I don't want to do it.' It's an ideological battle, politics. A lot of Republican governors didn't want to give the president a political victory, even though it hurts the states. It will hurt hospitals which have a lot of patients who depend on Medicaid. I've heard it from a number of hospital executives, if Pennsylvania doesn't accept the Medicaid expansion, it's going to lead to the closure of hospitals," Cartwright said.
Soon after Cartwright took the stage, Tarconish asked him how he plans to serve Schuylkill County.
Cartwright expressed his intentions to defend the elderly and the infrastructure of Schuylkill County.
"Schuylkill County is very heavily laden with people who depend on important federal programs like Social Security and Medicare. If you're following the news, there's been a wave of interest in cutting back on benefits for Social Security recipients. I will oppose that," he said. "Here in Schuylkill County, we have 149,000 people. About 38,000 people in this county are on Social Security. That's a staggering proportion compared to other places. So when you hear me banging the drum about protecting benefits for Social Security and Medicare, you know I'm thinking about Schuylkill County."
He also offered ideas about how to reinvigorate the economy in Schuylkill County. "The answer isn't any different for Schuylkill County than it is for the rest of my district. I believe now is the time we need to be investing in American infrastructure, the roads, the bridges, the rail systems, all of the things the government provides which gives us a platform on which we can operate," Cartwright said. "We have to do a responsible job in taking care of our infrastructure so America can compete on a global scale. We need to provide businesses the platform they need to compete, and we need to provide individuals the education they need."
He encouraged the students to read "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman.
"The world is so much smaller now because of the World Wide Web. You're competing on a global scale, against people from Europe, against people from Asia. Global competition isn't going to make it easier on anybody. There's going to be winners and losers. Unless we prepare our citizens and our companies to compete, we're going to be losers," Cartwright said.
He offered the students advice on how to pursue careers.
"Take a long-range view but set yourself intermediate goals. You may not hit it big in the next 10 years. Work like you can't believe. Don't take it easy on yourselves. Everything I ever got, I worked hard for, and for everything I worked hard for, it paid. If it didn't pay right away, it paid in the long run, and I learned lessons from my failures," he said.
"If you believe that you can't do things, you are lost. If there are negative influences in your life, you must ignore them. You got to believe in yourselves if you're going to achieve what you're capable of achieving," Cartwright said.