By Hub City Times staff

MARSHFIELD – Congressman Sean Duffy met with constituents of the 7th District Dec. 18, during a stop at the Eagles Club in Marshfield.

Duffy addressed a wide variety of topics during the one-hour listening session, including the session itself. A few area residents expressed concerns over not hearing about the event until they got an automated call from Duffy’s office the evening before, or heard about it from others.

One resident said the “system seems to be gamed to just get a small number of people – just your supporters – and nothing is out in the media.”

Duffy responded by saying he knew how they felt, having been a constituent of former Congressman Dave Obey before Duffy was elected.

“I’ve lived in this district for 46 years and for 42 of them Dave Obey was my congressman,” he said. “Do you know how many meetings I had like this to come to, where I had a chance to come and ask a question, like you asked me? Not one. I do town halls – you can be left, you can be right – you’re going to have a chance to ask me your questions. I am not afraid to hear from you.”

Duffy fielded questions regarding the ongoing investigation into Russia’s alleged involvement in last year’s presidential election, as well as health care, climate change, and concerns over Canadian National trains blocking crossings.

Duffy also addressed questions and concerns regarding net neutrality, which the FCC has reversed.

“Who is using all of the width – Netflix, Apple and ITunes, Google, Facebook,” Duffy said. “Right? Some big companies out there are using a wide swath of the capacity. So they are saying, ‘In a free market system, why can’t I charge the companies that are using all of our bandwidth?’

“That is what happened before two years ago. There is pressure on both sides to get this right, but I think having an environment that brought us the internet, that let people compete, instead of the government picking winners and losers (is best).”

Duffy recently proposed a bill which would’ve made railroad companies accountable to local laws regarding blocking crossings, and not federal ones. The bill did not receive a hearing.