U.S. Sen. David Vitter discussed his concerns over the growing federal deficit and vast government expansion Saturday, urging residents at a town hall meeting to stay informed and speak out on the overhaul of the health care system.

“There is an important debate starting now,” Vitter told the crowd of about 50 residents and local officials. “You need to keep up with it and reach out to your friends.”

Vitter said health care comprises 16 percent of the economy, and added that a government option for health insurance would force private insurance companies out of business and thus force Americans to choose government-run insurance.

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“Do we really want government running our health care?” he said. “You want the efficiency of the post office and the empathy of the IRS in your health care?”

When asked by Loreauville resident Kim Monteaux, a nurse, how he thinks government health insurance would affect health care workers, Vitter said he is concerned that they would become equal to federal employees.

Monteaux said she believes government health care would affect the already strained nurse-patient ratio, and is worried that Congress will rush to pass legislation without thorough review.

“No one’s talking to the people who work on the floor,” she said. “They’re talking with doctors, but doctors come in and out in 10 minutes. They don’t see what we deal with.”

Vitter said so far he has one amendment he plans to propose when the health care bill comes before the Senate, which would force members of Congress to utilize whatever system they put in place.

Other residents like Paul Fair of New Iberia, who called the current government spending a “misuse of tax funds,” wanted to know how Vitter and his colleagues can undo corporate bailouts for the banking and auto industries that have already passed.

Vitter said the bank bailout is set to expire in December, but the bill allows it to be extended for two years.

He has authored a resolution that would ensure the bailouts would end at the end of the year, he said, and also proposed that the 40 percent share of General Motors owned by the government should be distributed in stock to Americans who paid their taxes last year.  

“People say this is an emergency strategy, a financial crisis,” Vitter said. “If the financial crisis is winding down, how do we stop the spending and get some money back?”

Another audience member asked Vitter is he would support term limits for the Senate and the House, which Vitter said he has already tried to push.

Vitter also spoke out on his opposition to “cap and trade” energy legislation, and touted a “no-cost stimulus bill” authored by he and 14 other senators.

The bill would expand offshore drilling and open it to other parts of the country, and then use the federal revenue from increased drilling to fund alternative energy.

“It’s not an either, or thing,” he said. “It’s all of the above. It’s about developing new fuels and new technologies and it’s using oil and gas to build the bridge to the future.”