GOP holds town hall to compete with Obama's

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- As President Barack Obama made his way out of town, three Republican lawmakers were arriving for their own session with Bay Area voters. They have been dubbed "The Young Guns" of the Republican congressional leadership and this forum at Facebook headquarters is an opportunity to impress their ideas upon millions of Facebook users.

"This is a chance to have a town hall meeting with Facebook participants and this is a great chance for us to basically talk about our ideas for growing the economy and creating jobs," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin.

Of course this forum kicked off just a couple hours after Obama wrapped up his quick tour through the Bay Area. The congressional trio laughed a bit at the timing of his visit and their forum.

"I think he's actually following us around," said Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia.

But Cantor did respond to some of the president's tough words about the Republican party.

"The president if he want' to go ahead and continue to point blame and assess sort of where we are, you know we're here to talk about an optimistic vision of the future," said Cantor.

Facebook users were able to log onto the forum page and post questions even before the forum began. Those questions ranged from immigration reform, to health care reform, even a bill aimed at online gambling, but the main focus of those questions, was the economy.

A woman at the forum said, "I have three young children. I'm concerned about the future for their generation, if they're going end up paying more and more of the debt that we're accumulating."

Ryan responded, "Our government, both political parties, have been making promises to people it can't keep, about $100 trillion worth if you add up the latest count. What we propose in our budget is let's tackle these problems now. It's a lot better the sooner you do it."

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republicans, facebook, barack obama, politics

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