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NATCHEZ — Bennie Thompson held a town hall meeting in Natchez Tuesday night. No stun guns were necessary, and no one was arrested, as is happening elsewhere in the country during some similar events.

Instead, the approximately 200 citizens who filled the sanctuary at New Beginnings Missionary Baptist Church listened to Thompson’s take on the current climate in Washington D.C. and the workings of the Trump administration. Thompson worked to explain how the administration’s cuts will impact Mississippians.

Citizens had the opportunity to ask Thompson questions, and did so on concerns such as Social Security, veterans’ benefits, health care and tariffs.

Thompson, a Democrat from Bolton, represents the state’s 2nd District, which includes Natchez and Adams County.

Several thanked Thompson for coming to Natchez and organizing the town hall meeting, remarking they could not recall another congressman ever holding such a meeting here.

“Mississippi is a state that needs help,” Thompson said. “For every $1 we send to Washington, we get between $2.50 and $2.75 back. That means we need help.”

He said those tax dollars come back to help communities by improving infrastructure, providing education, providing health care, and providing many other services and programs that help families, students, veterans, and senior citizens. However, Thompson said much of that funding has been cut or is in jeopardy.

“We have Head Start in all 82 counties in Mississippi. Now they are trying to do away with Head Start. They have cut out health and human services like child care. Students who want to go to college need a little help,” Thompson said. He said programs that would provide federal education loans and grants are being cut, along with programs that help with education costs if students commit to coming back to work in underserved communities for a period of time.

Mississippi’s farmers will face a significant negative impact from the cutting of farm subsidies, as well as a reduced ability to sell their products, like catfish, to other countries due to the tariffs.

Thompson said the U.S. democracy is based on a system of checks and balances, which Trump is ignoring. Rather, he is governing by executive order, issuing more than 150 of them, he said.

“Our founding fathers created three branches of government with a system of checks and balances. The legislative body is supposed to set the laws. The judicial body is supposed to interpret the laws and whether it’s right or wrong and the executive branch is supposed to carry them out,” Thompson said. “Right now, executive orders are the only things that’s happening.

“When I talk to my Republican colleagues and ask them, ‘Why don’t you say something about this?’ They tell me if they do, Trump supporters will find someone to run against them,” he said.

On the issue of Social Security

“Here is where we are now with Social Security … In 90 years, we have never had a Social Security check bounce, we’ve never even had one to be late. Now there are people in Washington who want to convince you there’s something wrong with Social Security. What they want to do is to take the money out of the trust fund and privatize it — pay someone to manage it. And when you manage it, and the stock market goes down, that’s where there’s a likelihood that your check will bounce,” Thompson said.

“If it’s not broken … That’s why people like me are going to oppose any efforts that politicians in Washington try to do to change Social Security. It’s a retirement program. It’s also a disability program. And for people like Bennie Thompson, whose father died when I was in high school, I got a check. It’s a survivor’s benefit, too. I don’t know anyone on Social Security who is not entitled to it. For lots of people in our district, it’s the only check they get in the month. I’m going to make sure Social Security stays just like it is,” he said.

On the issue of veterans’ benefits

“When veterans enter the military, we promise them health care for life. We tell them we are going to educate them. And, when they want one, we will help them finance a house. That’s what we tell them going into the military. That’s a commitment we make to our soldiers. Now that they are coming out, we are trying to take that away.

“We always say we want to thank our veterans for their service, but now they want to cut veterans’ programs. They are cutting thousands of employees from the VA. I can’t imagine how many hours veterans are going to have to wait on a call when they have a question. And they are going to have to drive a hundred miles or more to get health care,” Thompson said.

On January 6

Thompson was chair of the January 6 committee in Congress.

“When people broke into the Capitol in January, I had never seen something like that. I never believed it would happen,” he said. “But they did break into the Capitol, and I was there. My life was in danger just like others’. Ultimately, those individuals were caught and convicted. As politics go, four years later, somebody else gets elected and he pardons every one of them. And you saw with your own eyes what they did. That’s not who we are. We are a better country than that.

“And so I did my public service. I chaired the Jan. 6 committee. We held hearings. We brought all the witnesses in and they told us what happened. We produced an 850-page book that said everything that occurred. And anyone who disagreed, we invited them to come speak before the committee, but they had to speak under oath. You see, you can pop off all you want to, but when you come before the committee, you take an oath. If we catch you lying, we are going to charge you with perjury. That’s what the law says. So none of them came.

“I accept the outcome of the election. I don’t like it, but we are a democracy. Now, my choice is to encourage people who feel like me to wait for the next election, and work like the dickens to change the outcome. That’s what a democracy is.”