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Congressman Bryan Steil fields Lake Geneva questions

March 28, 2019

Newly elected U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, met March 15 with the Lake Geneva Regional News editorial board to discuss federal issues.

Here is how Steil responded to questions posed by followers of the Regional News via Facebook and elsewhere:

(The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

Q: What is your view on a "right to try" law giving terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs?

A: The FDA does really important work. And so you don't want to always go around them. I would like to see the legislation that's being looked at. Some of this is kind of what the nuances are. And I would want to see the bill. Senator Johnson had a really good bill that was saying if you're at this stage of a terminal illness and there's a drug that this far along, that you would then have a right to access that drug. I supported Senator Johnson's legislation.

Q: What is your position on decriminalization of marijuana for recreational or medical use?

A: I'm always concerned that we have a lot of drugs, in particular that get into our high schools. So that's kind of front of mind. I would be supportive of the FDA doing research into the effects of marijuana, and analyzing that thoughtfully on the medical marijuana side. So, do the research, have the FDA review, and go through a traditional drug process rather than kind of carte blanche authorizing it. I also think we could look to make sure we right-size the criminal laws as it relates to possession of marijuana.

Q: How do feel about the tremendous increase in vaping among our youth today?

A: That's a real serious problem. We have a real serious problem with nicotine addiction. I'd be open to looking at more federal regulations.

Q: Do you think we have the necessary skill set, if everything goes through with Foxconn, to fill all of those jobs at Foxconn?

A: Yeah, I would think that we do. We have a workforce that's dynamic and ready to go. It's tying out with our high schools, our technical colleges, our four-year universities, to be able to make sure that we have people prepared for the jobs of the future. What jobs arrive and when they arrive and how they arrive — what we're trying to do is make sure that people are prepared for higher-wage jobs.

Q: What do you think the federal government should do to try to reduce gun violence?

A: More than anything, I think we need to enforce the guns laws that are on the books. If you look at, say, the city of Chicago and you see the number of shootings, and you see the number of people who are held accountable for those shootings, something is amiss. We need to make sure that our law enforcement community has the resources to be able to hold those people accountable. I think that's first and foremost, as we look at gun violence epidemic in the U.S.

Q: Do you support President Trump for re-election in 2020?

A: Let's see who everybody is, but yeah, I support the president. I think what we've done policy-wise has been pretty solid. I think we have a really strong economy because we're putting in place good conservative policies.