Members of Congress spend a lot of time in Washington.
That’s where they legislate, where they meet in committees and with party leadership. It’s where they interact with lobbyists, it’s where they hold press conferences to talk about the latest hotly debated bills.
But Capitol Hill isn’t their whole world.
Perhaps just as important as crafting deals in Washington, or maybe even more so, members of Congress also have constituents to tend to.
After all, they’re elected to represent the people who live in their district, and those same people who get to decide whether they keep their jobs.
Congressman Dan Meuser is keenly aware of the importance of touching base with his constituency. That’s what brought him to Kutztown on a brisk afternoon earlier this week.
“This reminds you of what you’re working for,” the Luzerne County Republican said, standing outside his last stop of the day at Mark’s Sandwich Shop on Main Street. “You have to learn from the real world rather than just hearing about things from Washington or reading things in the newspaper.
“You hear about what their struggles are, what they care about and what they want you to work on.”
Meuser spent about two hours ducking in and out of businesses along Main Street, speaking with owners and employees about what he can do in Washington to make their lives easier.
As a member of the House Small Business Committee, he said he finds those conversations extremely useful.
“I want to let them know I’m working for them,” he said. “Especially the small business owners who are dealing with so many obstacles as we emerge from the COVID crisis. There are a lot of pressures facing the small business community and we need to make sure they have what they need coming out of this.”
Meuser, who represents a large portion of Berks County, heard from several small business owners about some of the problems they are confronting as they begin to welcome back patrons eager to get back to normal. The problems they highlighted were rising costs, a lack of workers and supply-chain shortages.
Joe Miola of the Golden Avalanche Brewing Co. told the congressman that it has been a challenge to find people to fill open positions at Kutztown Tavern — the restaurant that houses the brewing operation.
“It’s great to see people sitting at the barstools these days,” he said. “It was rough for sure during the pandemic when we were shut down and we are still trying to get back to where we were before it hit.”
Miola said he hopes there will be people willing to return to work soon. In the meantime, he said he has been willing to lend a hand in the kitchen on the nights when the business is booming.
“Everyone is a team player here and you kind of have to be these days,” he said.
At his next stop Meuser met with business owner Elaine Kilgannon at Second Nature Health Food Store a few blocks away. And she was ready for the opportunity to share her thoughts.
“I came prepared,” she said with a laugh as she displayed a sheet of paper crammed with handwritten notes.
Kilgannon listed a number of concerns she has as a small business owner.
She said her main worry has been finding ways to restore her workforce, especially a few months ago when some workers earned more staying home because of the enhanced unemployment benefits provided by the CARES Act.
Another concern is keeping online retailers from stealing her customers away.
E-commerce saw huge gains during the pandemic but the boom mostly helped big business.
According to reporting by The New York Times, 10 large retailers accounted for 68% of all e-commerce sales last year and Amazon alone represented more than half of all online sales.
“It’s our biggest competition,” she said. “And we keep bringing it here. We have these big warehouses going in that take up employees from this area and we don’t have enough to start with.
Meuser said he would keep her concerns in mind when he returns to Washington. He asked one of his staffers who accompanied him on the tour to take notes so that he would have the information on hand.
“It’s important to me that my constituents know that I’m accessible to them,” he said. “I will do whatever I can in my position to make sure that our small businesses have what they need to continue to survive.”
