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U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga talks during MLive chat about Syria, small government and fiscal policy
MLive - Stephen Kloosterman September 06, 2013

MUSKEGON, MI – U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga answered questions on a variety of questions in a live chat with MLive.com readers Thursday afternoon.

Topics including the possible U.S. conflict with Syria, the prospect of legislative action on the Voting Rights Act, the Senate election race and Huizenga’s voting record as a small-government Republican were all fair game in the Sept. 5 online forum.

Huizenga had been in town earlier in the day to speak to constituent groups and the local Rotary Club.

With his hand in a brace, Huizenga and a staffer tried to get to a large number of the questions during the half hour allotted for the live chat.

Syria was the hot topic of the day, both at Rotary Club and later on in the live chat.

Huizenga added during the live chat that he planned “on attending a classified meeting on Monday” and said he planned to ask federal officials “What are we doing to bring the Arab League into support action?”

On talk over amending the Voting Rights Act:

"I do not know of any specific legislation at this time or any hearings to discuss amending the Voting Rights Act following the Supreme Court decision. We will continue to review should the Administration and Senate and House Leadership determine next steps."

On the election race to replace Senator Carl Levin:

"Democrats have united behind Gary (Peters), and I expect Republicans will have a robust primary."

On his voting record as a small-government Republican, especially votes on CISPA, the Patriot Act and the federal debt ceiling:

"First on CISPA, obviously we have to balance privacy and security. I believe that the bill changed to increase privacy and to allow for companies to voluntarily share information with the gov't. However, it stays within DHS, then they decided whether it goes out to other agencies and therefore not an information 'free for all.'

"One of the biggest items was the legal liability for corporations that they were running into if Congress did not pass CISPA.

"PATRIOT Act - I was not there for the creation after 9/11. This was the reauthorization of parts of the PATRIOT Act that tightened up the act. In light of the recent revelations on meta-data, Congress will continue its oversight and i expect changes.

"Debt Ceiling - the debt ceiling is paying for past decisions. We are trying to change the path to reduce the spending. No one, including Ron Paul, had a budget that balanced in one year. The most conservative budget that was proposed, that I voted for, took 6 years to balance. Which means that we will be borrowing money to fund operations. The real question is what are we doing to change future spending, and for that we need new partners in the White House and Senate."