ST. MARTINVILLE — The focus of U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s Teche Area town hall meetings have shifted drastically since his last visit to New Iberia, with a failing U.S. economy overshadowing issues like energy and immigration reform he discussed in August.

Vitter, R-Metairie, addressed a standing-room only crowd at the Carroll J. Fuselier Parish Council meeting room Thursday, fielding questions from numerous and sometimes fiery residents who wanted answers about the current state of the country.

“We’re in a very serious recession, almost certainly already is and will be the worst since World War II, and it’s still getting worse and not getting any better,” Vitter said. “I think the good news, though, if any, is here in Louisiana. The economy is not nearly as bad here as it is in most parts of the country, and I know unemployment in St. Martin Parish is even better than the state average. But we certainly are not immune to economic downturn.”

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Vitter, who voted against the nearly $800 billion U.S. economic stimulus bill, said he tried to look at the cost versus the benefits, and said the cost would outweigh the few things in the bill he supported, such as money for shovel-ready infrastructure projects and tax cuts for people and businesses.

“The rest of the list, to me, was a laundry list of typical Washington spending, program spending, not things that I thought would really create jobs and pump up the economy in the short term,” Vitter said. “Besides that being a lot of money, all of that by definition is borrowed money.”

One woman asked Vitter what he thought about the future of the health care system, and though he said he does not know what the new administration’s proposal on health care is yet, he is concerned about its direction.

He offered one suggestion for small businesses like restaurants, which have a difficult time finding affordable insurance for its employees, to band together with a national alliance like the National Restaurant Association to “get a national pull of restaurant workers from around the nation and go into the market with those efforts.”

When asked about the bank bailout money and what it does to the banking system, Vitter said he is concerned about the government having too much stake in large financial institutions, which is one of the reasons he gave for voting against the bank bailout.

“Government already has a semi-nationalized banking sector,” Vitter said. “Most of the bailout money has been thrown into big banks, and the government becomes a big owner in those institutions. I don’t see any clear exit plan to reverse that over time.”

Vitter said he opposes strict regulations for banking across the board, though government-owned institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should have oversight. When asked why the government chose not to let banks fail, Vitter said fear had a large influence.

“There’s a dangerous mentality in Washington that certain things are too big to fail,” Vitter said. “If that’s true, then we need to make them smaller and not say the taxpayers will always back you. It all has to be paid for at some point.”

One resident, however, said government oversight in banking could have prevented the housing crisis and the corrupt practices of many large financial institutions.

He asked Vitter twice if he would support a more active U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to which Vitter said he believes some areas need oversight, but that community banks do not need more regulation than they already endure.

“There are multiple examples of unregulated businesses in this country being overcome by greed, and the people who take it in the neck are us little guys in St. Martinville,” said the resident. “We depend on you and the government to do something about that.”

After several residents laid out their grievances at the meeting about abortion, the Fairness Doctrine and other issues, one woman said she is scared of the country’s direction, adding

“We have been hijacked, and we have to stand up and say, ‘No way.’ ”

“The other side wants you to get so dejected that you walk away from town square,” Vitter said. “I don’t want you to do that. You have to get more involved than ever in public debate.”

Vitter confirmed after the meeting he will be seeking re-election to the Senate in 2010.