(KAIR)--Nearly twenty people gathered in Atchison's Santa Fe Depot Saturday morning for a chance to speak with two legislators during the Legislative Coffee event, presented by the Atchison Area Chamber of Commerce.

United States Representative Lynn Jenkins and State Representative Jerry Henry were on hand to address the public and answer any questions asked.





One issue raised was that of the state budget, and the possibility of sales taxes being raised to help alleviate a projected $600 million shortfall. Henry says this would effect those who can least afford it. He gave the example of an elderly couple living on a fixed income saying that if the Governor raises sales taxes, then “that's a little bit more money that they can't use to buy food or anything like that...it's a regressive tax. The poor, the low income will pay a more of a percentage of that tax than the wealthy do.”





Jenkins says that work on the national budget is progressing, despite the unbalanced budget they were presented by the President and that “thankfully, the President doesn't have to sign our budget resolution. We need to reconcile them between the two chambers so we can agree on marking our appropriation bills...I think now that Republicans have control of the Senate, reconciling those two budgets is going to be much easier this year because we both agree that you need to balance the budget...While the budgets between the two chambers are not identical, they are a whole lot closer than they have been in the six years I have been there.”





Medicare reform was also discussed. Jenkins said that the old Medicare formula was outdated, and was punishing doctors for taking on medicare payments. However, she says that both parties have come together to make a needed change to the program. She says “we were concerned about access issues. Especially for our elderly and folks in rural communities. And so last week, the House passed a bipartisan bill that repealed the old formula, the old sustainable growth rate, and replaced it with something that's modernized, and it will be permanent so doctors no longer have to worry about whether Congress will fund this or not.”





Jenkins adds that the bills passing was a huge victory for both parties. The Senate is expected to pass it upon their return from Easter break, and the President has agreed to sign it.



