More than 8,000 residents of Virginia’s 11th Congressional District participated in Congressman Gerry Connolly’s Telephone Town Hall Meeting Thursday evening and they made it clear in a poll conducted during the meeting that they want the Congressional Super Committee to use a combination of spending cuts and new revenue to “go big” in reducing the federal deficit.

In a strong showing of support for reducing the federal deficit, 83 percent of those participating in the poll said they support efforts by members of the House and Senate, including Congressman Connolly, to cut the deficit by $4 trillion, instead of the $1.2 trillion goal of the Congressional Super Committee, but that the reduction be made through a combination of spending reductions and revenue increases.

Specifically, the Connolly poll question asked, “Do you support Congressman Connolly’s decision to join a bipartisan group of 100 members of Congress calling on the Super Committee to “go big” and find $4 trillion in deficit reduction, including both spending cuts and new revenue?”  Eighty-three percent of the 614 people who participated in the poll said they supported responded in the affirmative, while 17 percent said no.

The so-called Super Committee, officially known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, has a November 23 deadline to come up with $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and new revenue.  Members of the 12-member committee, half from the House and half from the Senate, are still wrestling with the task.  Some members of the Committee have refused to even consider new revenue, a move that did not sit well with 11th CD participants, based on last night’s poll results.

In early November, the bipartisan group of House and Senate members, including Connolly, sent a letter to the co-chairs of the Super Committee urging them to consider “all options for mandatory and discretionary spending and revenues” to achieve $4 trillion in cuts, rather than the original committee goal of $1.2 trillion. 

Overall, during Thursday’s hour-long town meeting, Connolly fielded 14 questions from constituents on a variety of topics from deficit reduction and transportation issues to matters affecting veterans and federal employees.  Those who were unable to ask a question during the meeting due to time limitations had an opportunity to leave a message for Connolly so he could respond to them later.

Connolly is a strong advocate of the telephone town meetings, noting that it gives thousands of constituents an opportunity to participate.  The format is also very popular among constituents, who can participate from their homes or other locations using cell phones.

“I thank every 11th District constituent who took the time to join in on the call,” Connolly said.  “It is one more opportunity for me to have a good dialogue with the people I represent and provide them with an update about what is going on in Congress.”

You can listen to the telephone town hall by clicking here.