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Stearns held town hall meetings in area

 StearnsU.S. Congressman Cliff Stearns spoke of the nation’s financial situation in a town hall meeting at Newberry’s Municipal Building on Saturday.

Stearns also paid visits to Trenton, Gainesville and Micanopy.

“These town meetings provide an opportunity for those attending to bring up the issues that are important to them and to ask questions,” Stearns later said about the meetings.

He gave a presentation to a full house at 11 a.m. about the current and projected financial problems and his proposal of how to solve them.

Stearns said the current national debt exceeds $14 trillion and President Obama’s budget plan would double the debt in five years. Stearns also mentioned his “support for a plan to reduce federal spending by $2.5 trillion over 10 years.”

After his presentation, Stearns fielded questions from the audience. The meeting lasted about an hour.

“We had a good meeting and I deeply appreciated the chance to talk with the people of Alachua County,” he said.